My 10 Favorite Sports Leagues
Another list no one asked for, but encompasses the plethora of sports I love.
Hello there, another random person on the internet with another top 10 list that at the end of the day probably won’t mean much to anyone except those who actually enjoy reading what I write. But, this is also something that’s been on my mind for a while. As we grow, our interests also eb and flow. As the world has become more accessible through technology, that has been very apparent in sports. And that is why I have made this list. There are sports leagues in this list and top 5 that never would have been there prior, maybe even 5 years ago, but that doesn’t mean they are a fleeting interest. Furthermore, there’s some that likely won’t be on the list and are sports that I loved playing growing up. So here it is, Preston’s10 favorite sports leagues he loves to watch as of (let’s be real) November 2022.
College Football
College football has been the most consistent sport in my life. From a very young age I was going to Division 2 games all over the CIAA conference. Since I have had the pleasure through marching band and other means to experience some great college football games and atmospheres. As more of the sport became easily accessible, I realized how much of a sicko I am for the game. I will watch it all. I am the person that has 5-6 screens on at the height of game day. When fall rolls around I always say “smells like marching band”, which is my way of saying, smells like college football. It’s a beautiful time, joyous time, and a wonderful way to roll into the holidays. It is also a unique sport that started out as bastardized rugby/soccer to become what we love today. The traditions and passions are as unique and diverse as the campuses that host the games. It is not a perfect sport, but it is one that is about as close to European passions for their local soccer (football I know I know) clubs that the US has. I can’t explain it, but the fact that I have written countless articles on a plethora of subjects solely related to college football probably is a good indicator as to how much I love this sport. And even as it changes before our eyes, I don’t see that passion going away anytime soon.
Formula 1
Shocking perhaps even to me the person writing this is how much this sport has stolen my heart in such a short period of time. Admittedly I was more formally introduced to it via the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”, and unfortunately for many of the long-time fans of this sport it would disqualify me from being a “true” fan, whatever that means. But, I LOVE this sport. It is the big screen in my mornings when there’s a qualifying or a Grand Prix relegating my soccer watching’s to other smaller screens. Even in its Eurocentric base the sport is one of the most internationally loved in the world along with currently touching 5 out of 7 continents with races. I’ll write about this more in depth later but I have always been aware of the sport, because of Lewis Hamilton, but it just wasn’t on my radar as an appointment viewing most of my life, both because of lack of access and what other sports were taking up bandwidth in the sports section of my brain. Lewis is my favorite driver, but I have grown to love teams, personalities, and drivers all up and down the grid, to the point of being sad when some don’t get contracts renewed, weirdly attached to teams that in their own way rotate in and out (which has always been a thing) and watching the entire grid for points. It is also a sport with phenomenal history which I have scoured all corners of the internet to learn as much as I can about the sport. That is probably the biggest giveaway of all as to why it’s so high on my list. If I want to become an expert on your sports history, I must really love it. I’ll shut up now, I think I could talk about these top 2 for hours on end.
UEFA Champions League
In terms of competition nothing compares when it comes to soccer. It is truly the best of the best with players from all over the world playing on what are essentially international all star teams from respective European leagues. As the competition has grown in revenue, we aren’t getting the Benfica, Ajax, and Dortmund winners we could perhaps see even 10 years ago, but that doesn't mean “smaller” clubs like these can’t make a deep run and knock off some of the juggernauts. The midweek matches are as must-watch as the domestic matches these clubs play. Why the more profitable teams seem to be more successful as of late is due to the fact that there are more games being played in soccer worldwide, period. Therefore, you have to have great squad depth. And given the revenue generated from success in this competition, that success is paramount. If your club is the best of the best when it comes to domestic success, European glory is really what you want most. Like all things sport related, it is not a perfect game. There’s plenty of controversy, conspiracy theories, and incredibly questionable calls. But, the passion the fans show and the spectacle that these games are is truly second to none. I hope to experience a handful of these games at some point in my life.
Barclays Premier League
Domestically, in my opinion, at the present time nothing compares to the top to bottom competition that is the Premier League. The top European League has seemingly rotated over the years whether it be Serie A, German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga, but as the money became more prominent in the sport the league that seemed to raise its entire profile and not just that of a handful of teams has been the Premier League. There are always 6-8 teams competing for those 4 coveted Champions League spots. The middle of the pack is full of teams that can beat anyone at the top. Even teams fighting for relegation are not to be taken lightly. Everyone has something to play for and points come at a premium. The competition has come down to the final days for both championship and relegation countless times. It’s a league where I will truly watch every match if it comes across my purview because of the intensity top to bottom.
I admittedly fell in love with the league when I found out my favorite player from the 2006 World Cup Didier Drogba played for Chelsea, but I had been aware of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, and the like before. But again accessibility changed and passion just poured out of the screen. Traveling to England and Wales with my college choir I had some funny experiences wearing my Chelsea scarf. In Coventry Cathedral a man asked if I was really a Chelsea supporter? From there we had a nice conversation, he told me he was a season ticket holder, and why he was surprised to see a Chelsea scarf in Coventry. Not a week later we were in Llangollen, Wales for their International Eisteddfod, and I had another conversation. An older gentleman was talking to our group with a couple of us sporting our scarves and he said, and I quote, “You seem like a nice lad but I’d like you a whole lot better if you weren’t wearing that F***** Chelsea Scarf.” He said it in jest perhaps only because I was an American but it let me know just how passionately they love their clubs over there. That interaction has stuck with me since and I became instantly hooked to the whole league.
College Softball
My second collegiate sport appearing on this list and one that has truly stolen my heart to the tune of starting a tour of softball stadiums starting in 2023. While their place on this list in terms of rank is perhaps higher than I would have put it 5 years ago, I have always been a fan of softball, and college softball. In high school my sophomore year we played softball in PE. I got to pitch and loved the speed of the sport. Since this was in the before time, in the long long ago, I was aware of the sport but it wasn’t like it was playing constantly on ESPN, especially during the regular season. But I still knew the biggest names in the sport, of the domination from teams west of the Mississippi River, and the joy that I had watching it. After my time at JMU, the sport started to become more national, with schools especially in the southeast pouring more resources into it. While I didn’t make it to many softball games in college, I knew JMU was on an upward trajectory and had been avidly following them basically since leaving. As JMU inched closer and closer to their WCWS breakthrough in 2021, it seemed like the sport itself started to grow in popularity as well. But like I said, my love for this sport isn’t solely tied to JMU success, I love the atmosphere of the games in general. It is a sport where the athleticism pops off the screen being played on a smaller diamond at high speeds, and the passions of the fan bases are clear too. Behind football and both men’s and women’s basketball I believe it’s the 4th most popular NCAA sport with more than a handful of programs turning profits. And, as this sport continues to grow in popularity, I see this trend continuing especially as softball players don’t have to go overseas anymore to seek out professional opportunities. And yes, I am a college softball sicko too. Multiple screens in the spring are absolutely the norm.
NBA
Growing up basketball was always floating around in my top 3 in terms of favorite sports. I played, went to high school tournaments with top teams, avid college basketball fan, And One Mixtape Tour/streetball, Olympic Basketball, all of it. It’s not that my love for the sport has fallen off even though it might seem that way from the outside, it’s more that other leagues have taken up more of my time. When I was a kid, the NBA was always a must watch. I became a Lakers fan as I got older because Derek Fisher was their point guard, “short” and left handed like me. And of course, there was that Kobe guy. But basketball has often been compared to a symphony on the court, or a ballet event. That has nothing to do with the toughness of the players (despite what fans of other sports might say) but how their performances often seem virtuosic in a way that doesn’t always come off in other sports. The way they fly through the air, the smoothness of shooting, well executed dribbles and passes almost seem like a dance to music. It is kind of hard to describe. As players have become more mobile, which I am all for, it is understandably somewhat difficult for folks to become as attached to teams like they used to. The same could be said of college basketball, but such is the world we live in today. It’s not a criticism, but I just can’t tell you all the players on the Lakers and Wizards like I used to. Do I still love the sport? Absolutely. It’s a sport I probably play the most just because of how easy it is to find a ball and hoop where I am. I’m just not turning on the random NBA game staying up till 2 AM like I used to, especially since I can watch Inside the NBA clips on YouTube and get score updates to my phone.
NFL
Let’s be clear, I am still an NFL fan. I’m just not a degenerate like I am for those top 5 sports on this list. But, I definitely used to be. Sundays used to be what I treat Saturdays like now. I grew up knowing all the players for all the teams and watching every single NFL game I could watch. It would be easy to say that my love for the sport waned as Washington started to become more irrelevant and the misdeeds of the owner/organization became more brazen, but it has just been falling behind in general as of late. I don’t think it’s because most sports outlets try to shove as much NFL down your throat as they possibly can (I get it, it’s their money maker), but it certainly doesn’t help. I’m not going to get on a moral high horse and talk about the callous way they treat their players as company assets/objects rather than people with families, because that is in a way what players know they are getting into but the way in which things are done and discussed especially in the NFL is a bit more cut throat. The production on the field is still second to none, the Super Bowl is amazing (and the day after should be a holiday), and I put on games like almost everyone does on Sunday. I’m just not as invested as I used to be, which is ok, people grow and interests shift. But if it’s Washington playing on a Sunday at the same time as the US Grand Prix for Formula 1, I know where my focus is going to be.
FAWSL
For those of you unfamiliar, the FAWSL is the top women’s soccer league in England. It has been around for a while, but as the women’s game has grown in popularity and revenue, this league has established itself much like its male counterpart as the most well balanced and widely covered of the soccer leagues in their respective places. They are clubs under the same stewardship/ownership of their male counterparts (Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, etc.) and as the game has grown, those bigger clubs are starting to put more into their women’s teams. The league has become more balanced as a result but the cream of the crop continues to be Chelsea and Arsenal, with Manchester City, Manchester United, and to a lesser extent Everton and Tottenham pushing those two at the top. What I love about this league is the fact that they also employ some of the best women’s players in the world. With the USWNT primarily based in the NWSL, there aren’t too many Americans in the league but players such as Rose Lavelle, Sam Mewis, Crystal Dunn, Christen Press, and others have applied their trade in England. The games aren’t as easily accessible as I would like, but when the top teams do play, I say it is a must watch. When you are one of the top teams, a single loss can derail title hopes. The league often comes down to the last match of the season, and what more do you want from a points based sport?
UEFA Women’s Champions League
It’s just like the men’s championship. The best teams in the world are basically all star teams for the women of mostly European based players. There are your usual clubs that also grace the upper echelon of the men’s side such as Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Barcelona that are staples, but teams like Wolfsburg and arguably the most successful women’s club of all time Olympique Lyonnais are clubs that are constantly competing with the best in Europe despite the lack of recent success internationally of their male counterparts. As with the men, the amount of money that a club gets is based on advancement in the tournament and therefore plays a huge role in the kinds of players each club can sign. I may be getting in on the “start up” floor with these last two leagues, but as these clubs start to invest more in their women’s clubs as the women’s game continues to grow in popularity, I believe the intensity will be matched by those who are also supporters of their men’s sides. I love the league because it has the top players from all around the world, again even if most of the USWNT is still based in the NWSL. But, the rest of the world, especially Europe, is investing more and has closed what seemed like quite the gap over the last few years.
Championship (England)
The second professional league in England is possibly the most intense in terms of professional grind and length. 24 clubs play 46 matches starting before the other top professional leagues in Europe. For perspective, the Premier League plays 38 matches. Apart from the length of the season, the stakes of this competition are high. Promotion and relegation are a way of life like other league structures in Europe, but the differences between the league above and league below are incredibly vast. The top two clubs get promoted to the Premier League with the next 4 participating in a playoff where the winner earns the 3rd and final promotion spot. That final game is known as “The Richest Game in Soccer” because that final promotion spot is worth 160-170 million pounds in revenue annually. It can be a life changer for clubs, even if they are constantly bouncing between the two leagues. At the other end of the spectrum being relegated to League 1, the 3rd tier of English soccer, is a massive budget cut. As a result, these matches are incredibly intense across the board. The supporters are just as passionate as those from the biggest clubs, and with the hopes of competing against top competition week in and week out (as opposed to one offs in the FA Cup and the like) that is big a motivator for players and supporters alike. Along with being home of many clubs that have been around for over a century with rich history and success like most clubs across the United Kingdom, the reason for such high passion is obvious, and would be so even without stakes being so high.
Outside Looking In
The leagues here are those that I watch a lot, but probably not as much as I used to as a child or in general for various reasons. But, I do like to keep tabs on what’s going on because I probably have a vested interest in a team or two in the league.
German Bundesliga
Major League Baseball
Major League Soccer
College Basketball
National Women’s Soccer League
So, there you have it. As you read this and rip it to shreds, keep in mind this isn’t counting one off playoffs. This is a league as a whole. Things like March Madness and Playoff Hockey are second to none in terms of entertainment. Tennis grand slams, golf majors, the World Cups, they are all great one offs. Perhaps I’ll do a list of those later. And if you liked what you read here stay tuned! There will be plenty of sports musings and other thoughts to come.