When you can't get to the bar for sports talk, you can now hit The Ultimate Sports List. Cleverly, its URL (
www.TUSL.com) is pronounced "tussle," reminding users of the fierce rivalries and friendly banter behind our love of athletics.
The free, social-networking site, launched by Cincinnati entrepreneur Tom Walsh on June 1, features a list of the top 150 sporting events of all time, as voted on by users. Walsh revealed The Ultimate Sports List a few at a time from June 1 to June 11, when the Top Ten made its debut. The diverse offerings crisscross the globe, from Talladega Speedway to the Australian Open.
"There's a twist to it - some places are an event unto themselves - as in 'I don’t care who's playing, I just want to be there.' Events can also be championships, rivalries, or races," said Walsh.
Walsh got the idea for The Ultimate Sports List while organizing Cincinnati's NCAA national hockey finals in 1996. His duties took him to the regional championships in Albany, New York, where he killed a couple of mornings at nearby attractions like the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Inspired, Walsh began a list of other must-see sports events on the plane ride home. He toyed around with writing a book about his list, but settled on creating a website a couple of years ago. Locally-based
Mindbox Studios provided design services, and Walsh began building up a fan base from across the United States.
More than just a "bucket list" of sporting events, TUSL.com boasts a variety of unique features. My Passport allows users to check off sports events they've attended; each earns a rating - such as Couch Potato or TUSL.com Hall of Famer - based on their number and rank of events. My List is each user's Wish List or Top Ten of sports events. A Voting Booth provides random either-or choices on the best sporting events; results are processed to update The Ultimate Sports List each year.
Users can post photos of their sports trips, and share tips on travel and parking. Walsh has partnerships with Kayak.com for travel reservations and StubHub.com for ticket purchase, making TUSL.com a one-stop-shop for planning sports vacations.
Currently, Walsh operates TUSL.com from the downtown offices of his financial services firm,
Walsh Asset Management. He sees sports-loving Cincinnati as a great base for TUSL.com.
So far, three of the events on 'the List' are local - Reds Opening Day, UC versus Xavier for basketball, and Keeneland. He hopes TUSL.com will draw even more national and global sports attention to Cincinnati.
Writer: Elena Stevenson
Source: Tom Walsh, founder, The Ultimate Sports List; www.TUSL.com
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