Let’s eliminate Montreal from the start, it would be too simple. My sporting experience as a spectator also boils down to North America (excluding my Amsterdam Ajax cap which earned me a lot of hate in The Hague). So here goes: Nashville tops the list. Nothing will ever beat the experience in this city, where I saw hockey and football, the two precincts linked by the exceptional Broadway street. Next, Las Vegas, where the Golden Knights have redefined game presentation. For the last two choices, let’s opt for the excitement of the city, so New York, a city that needs no introduction, and Boston, a city where victory meets victory.

Go to New York, the city where you can do half a million things in 2:45, according to Huey Lewis. We guess that attending sporting events is one of them. Go for Boston too: in addition to being home to four legendary professional teams, the city offers an exceptional collegiate sports environment and one of the most famous marathons in the world. But in picking Nashville and Las Vegas, the boss is showing the worst lapse in judgment since the Rangers in the 2003 draft. diluted fan base due to the influx of Americans from other states. Vegas remains a city where sports are secondary, even though the Golden Knights and Raiders play in nice facilities.

To replace these two cities, I therefore suggest Mexico City and Buffalo. Mexico City, because of two legendary amphitheaters: Estadio Azteca for soccer and Arena Mexico City for great lucha libre shows. In six days there, I was able to attend two wrestling shows and a football game, and I could have added some baseball if I had been motivated. As for Buffalo, it’s more out of respect for the dedication of the fans. Are there people more loyal to teams (Sabers and Bills) that have never won a championship?

You have to have traveled infrequently, and also be satisfied with little, to put Las Vegas on this list, a city where you are unable to distinguish the fake from the real, a bit like on a Milli Vanilli album. As a veteran of the group, respected from Anchorage to Milan, I must therefore put the bars on the T’s and the umlauts on the I’s. that all major sports are represented and important, including the purest type of soccer, that played in an arena, as it should be, with the legendary Chicago Mustangs.

Also, between two games, you can catch great blues shows in Chicago, a big plus in my notebook. Then L.A., for the same reasons, although traffic quickly becomes an issue, but there too, there is a solid way to have fun. New York is number three on my prestigious list, because it has to be, and then I’m going to add Dallas to that list, home of the Cowboys, the most prestigious club in American football and also sports in general. Bonus: Dallas is home to the best steakhouse on the planet, Bob’s Steak and Chop House.

Boston, of course, if only for the fantastic spectacle put on by Patrice Bergeron and the Bruins night after night. Not to mention that Zdeno Chara will run the famous marathon on April 17. Nashville? Nice atmosphere indeed, but I keep a shared memory of the press gallery during my only visit to the country country (my neighbor had gas). New York, yes, but the sport is a bit drowned in everything else. Vegas for boxing, otherwise blah. So let’s be serious: Oslo comes at the top of my pantheon, for the joyful craziness surrounding the Holmenkollen cross-country ski race. A hundred thousand people who invade a mountain for three days, a third on the brush, a third with family, a third of sports fanatics.

I also experienced something of an epiphany at the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, held in the Rod Laver Arena, which normally hosts the Australian Open. The Formula One Grand Prix had taken place just before. I had extended my stay to attend an Australian rules football match in the Cricket Ground, the 1956 Olympic stadium that could hold 100,000 spectators. Mass. I flinched when I discovered a bookstore devoted solely to sports books.

Otherwise, let’s be chauvinistic, Quebec, where I am for the Mont-Sainte-Anne Snowboardcross World Cup, has nothing to envy to the others. I have great memories of the 11 presentations of the Grand Prix Cyclists. Alex Harvey’s last Cross-Country World Cup, with tens of thousands on the Plains, was a magical event. The Mont-Sainte-Anne Mountain Bike World Cup has been a benchmark for more than a quarter of a century. The capital also cares for university sports, baseball, the snow pentathlon… It’s not too far from where you live, boss.

The boss saw halfway. Like the time he judged me to buy more CDs, but approved of my affection for Caleb’s Daughters. Boston, without possible debate, is the sports city par excellence. The Bruins, Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics. There’s nothing like going to B-Town to watch a sporting event. Not to mention Harvard, the Cheers and the house where John F. Kennedy was born. Next, New York, because New York. Now the boss has screwed up by failing to name Chicago. Like Boston, the Windy City breathes history. Every fan is spoiled for choice, but the Wrigley Field is a must. Just like the salad bar at Scores. Finally, overseas, London must be part of the picture. Wimbledon, Soccer, Rugby, Wembley Stadium and all other related attractions. The idea of ​​​​eventually being able to cross paths with Harry Styles or the Queen of England (formerly…) also weighs in the balance.