If I met someone who lived in the United States and did not know roughly where San Diego was, I doubt I would talk to them for very long. San Diego has hosted the superbowl three times in the last 20 years, about a third of the population watches the game, for adult males it is probably 2/3. San Diego has both an NFL team and an MLB team. Last year it hosted the U.S. open at torrey pines, tiger’s victory as he limped with a torn acl will probably go down as an all time top ten event in golf history. It is also home to the current 3rd ranked golfer, “lefty.” San Diego is home base to the Stars and Stripes yacht racing team. It also has a kinda famous zoo. It is missing a hockey team and a basketball team, but it is on the map.
But you say, “TG, intellectuals don’t watch sports.” I say that’s B.S., everybody has or will follow some sport at some point, otherwise, I don’t need to talk to them, a well balanced person has diverse interests and embraces the occasional escape.
Sports are the great geographical teacher and a big travel commercial. Every college football game includes a few minutes of video and narration from each school, every major sporting event has a little video forray into the area, the history, the people of the host city. I have never been to Green Bay, Wisconson, but I know where it is and a little bit about it (btw, green bay has a lower population that oceanside, temecula, escondido, chula vista, and murrieta. At 100k for the city and 280k for the county, it’s a neat story in itself that it has more season ticket holders than registered voters). I’ve been to the U.K. but failed to visit Chelsea or Manchester, but I know a little bit about those places too, and I rarely watch soccer (maybe the second half of two games a year, at best). Sometimes I make my vacation plans based on the teaser that a sporting event provides, Athens is now on my bucket list because I was exposed to it via the olympics.
So the next time you sit down at a bar somewhere in another part of the country and after intorducing yourself as being from San Diego, if the person looks confused or asks where San Diego is, just find a different seat at the bar.
