1. Haltime at a college football game. Part of the attraction of collgeg football is the school spirit, and that would be incomplete without the marching bands at halftime. Particularly when you have one of the great bands (Texas A&M, USC, Texas, most any Big 10 band), the halftime show is as good or better than the game itself.
2. NCAA Selection Sunday, when we fill out our brackets.
3. The lighting of the Olympic torch at the opening ceremonies.
4. Induction ceremony at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
5. The 7th inning stretch, but only when everyone sings "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

Filling out your NCAA brackets and waiting for that first game on Thursday. You know you have a chance until a school like Bradley or George Mason shows up and proves to everyone but Billy Packer that schools outside the Big East or ACC belong in the show. Until then you and everyone else in your pool think that this may be the year they will win!

The Best Non-Game Sporting Event? Selection Sunday for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. It starts March Madness - weeks worth of hopes and dreams and illicit gambling adventures. We invite friends, fire up steaks on the grill(s); have calls out during the show to our friends across the country. Nothing brings a families together than laughing at somebody's school poor seed, claiming that your alma mater got jobbed, and hoping that some unknown Cinderella publicly humiliates (insert your rival school’s name here - Duke, UK, UCLA, ETC.)

Tailgating anywhere in America on a football Saturday. (Not Sunday. Tailgating should be left for college football!)

How about the NCAA Selection Show? If One Shining Moment makes the cut, surely the show the bursts bubbles all over the country and sparks angst in Billy Packer over all the teams he never saw should be in the top five.

The NBA Lottery. The very fact that it is conducted is testament to the fact that the NBA draft has potentially more impact on its sport than any other. If it was not possible to significantly alter a franchise's future via a top draft pick, there would be no need for a lottery. For all of their scouting and statistical analysis of players, basketball GMs can only grin wryly and pray that those capricious lottery balls come out in their favor.

Baseball: The winter meetings typically turn out to be more exciting than the non-wavier trade deadline.

Basketball: Yup, Selection Sunday.

Football: Pre-game for any college football Saturday. The perfect way to start a weekend.

How about the Super Bowl commercials?

ESPN College Game Day. The guys set up on the college campus of one of the big games of the week and really capture the excitement felt by the whole university.

BTW, One Shining Moment was moving the first 5 times I heard it. Time for a new song, or better yet, some actual sounds from the games and the players who just won the championship.

Mike from Chicago

The entire race weekend experience at any NASCAR event or the atmosphere around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning on Thursday before the Indy 500 and going all the way through to the end of the race.

the morning police report. it keeps you up to date on what the egotistical, ungrateful, and horrendously short-sighted sports figures did the night or weekend before.

Ceremonial team shaking of the hands after an NHL playoff series, especially a 7-gamer when the two teams have been pummeling each other for a couple of weeks.

Yep-Selection Sunday as many have said, but also National Signing Day for college football recruits

It's not just Fantasy Football Drafts, it's ANY Fantasy Sports Draft.

What Jimmy described for the fantasy football draft happens every February for the fantasy baseball league I'm in.

Any time Isiah Thomas makes a trade, signing, hiring or firing. Its amazing to see how inept a person can be and not lose thier job. Its also great fun to watch Knick fans explode.

The Heisman Trophy ceremony? The Green Jacket ceremony at the Masters? The ESPY's? Heck no, heck no, and no.

5. NFL Hall of Fame Inductions.(for true football fans who appreciate history)
4. NBA Draft (many comedic moments)
3. 7th inning stretch at baseball (perfect timing within a game)
2. Ring ceremony for a defending champ (if it's your team)
1. NFL pregame 9-10AM PST (especialy week 1, the most anticipation of the year)

The winning team skating the Stanley Cup around the rink after the deciding game.

the parade of athletes at the olympics opening ceremonies (which stands in stark contrast to the tackiness of the dancers/performers and assorted "entertainment" filling up the other 3 hours)

It used to be the Hall of Fame inductions. But now that I've heard Chris Berman say "Raaaaaaaaaaiduhs," "New York Football Giants" and "Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field" for the 3,534,634th time, I can't watch it anymore

Rather than "One Shining Moment", I prefer Kenny Loggins "This is It" that NBC used to run at the end of its March Madness coverage with Dick Enberg.

I would have to say the NHL trade deadline, ive seen friends of mine stay home from work to watch it all day, and my work almost all but shut down until the deadline was over

Funny you think the Swimsuit issue is a "non-game sporting event". Outside of the fact a sports-focused magazine puts it out, there is nothing sports related to the main focus of the issue. Heck, with that definition you could say Playboys' "Girls of the Big 10/Big East/Southwest Conference/etc." is a non-game sporting event.

World Cup Selection....finding out who's in your favorite team's group, which is the Group of Death, and which teams got it easy. :-)

Bill - in Chicago.

I hope you were adding Playboys' "Girls of the Big 10/Big East/Southwest Conference/etc. to the list.

I would count it. I would put it above the swimsuit issue then.

*The hoisting of the Stanley Cup by the captain of the winning team. Sure it's not as great when it's not your own team, but the Cup is the only trophy of its kind: win it and your name is forever etched into its surface.

*And (as mentioned earlier) the handshakes at the end of an NHL playoff round. These guys get beat up by each other for 4-7 games and then still have enough respect for each other for the losing team to congratulate the winners. It's a touch of sportsmanship not always seen in sports anymore.

*The wave going around a full baseball stadium.

*ANY fantasy draft day. For those of us who do other sports than football (hockey and baseball for me) draft day is still a blast. All that hope going in and then the plan quickly destroyed when all your guys are taken before you can get them.

*The NHL trade deadline and NHL draft/first week of the NHL free agent period. There aren't quite as many blockbuster deals with the salary cap in place, but it now makes for some interesting signings.

*The Home Run Derby/NHL Skills Competition. Do they mean anything? No. Do a lot of people want to dump them? Of course. But you know what? They're fun, and isn't that what it's really supposed to be about?

Tailgating Tailgating Tailgating!!! Nothing can beat hanging out, bending your arm a few times, watching a friends sattelite feed of gameday while eating a bbq version of your opponents mascot. after that, i always love the random sports conversation with a stranger. standing in line in a store, someone mentions the game, you pipe up, and out of nowhere you have a new friend for 5 minutes.....nothing binds strangers together better than a quick random conversation about sports.

I agree with most of the list except for the MLB trading deadline. It's a joke because trades can be made through the waiver system. Here are my top 5

1. Fantasy Football Draft- is usually the best day/night of the year for most guys
2. NCAA Tourney Brackets announced
3. NFL Draft- you get your hopes up, then the Lions select WR 3 years in a row.
4. Swimsuit Issue - you're lying if you say you don't wait for this issue each February
5. ESPN Gameday
6. The day that NCAA College Football comes out

Tailgaiting. Hours and Hours of food, drink, friends, and football.

How can you not include the Scripps Spelling Bee...brilliant children making us all feel dumb.

Here's another vote for the Stanley Cup---I associate the handshake with the Cup presentation, so to me it's all one event. There is no greater moment in sports, because it not only represents true competitive endurance and sacrifice, but also repect for the other team and humility. How many other modern atheletes show these qualities?

1 - NCAA Selection Sunday
2 - NBA Lottery
3 - World Cup Group Stage selections

1. Selection Sunday
2. NFL Draft
3. College Gameday
4. Home Run Derby
5. Seeing Marissa Miller in SI SWimsuit Issue

Going to work/school the day after your team wins it all..so sweet

the saturday before the first sunday of the NFL...still hot enough for shorts, and the anticipation is, again, sweet

watching Bang The Drum Slowly or the original Bad News Bears on TV...uncut, unedited, great baseball movies

pitchers and catchers report...spring is officially in the air, and it smells, yes, sweet

As an American who now lives Down Under, I would like to add to the list a great event that coincides with the weeklong horse racing event in November in Melbourne (think the triple crown mushed down into one week). There are races on Sat, Tues, Thurs, & Sat with the biggest being Tuesday's Meblourne Cup. Thursday is officially called Oaks Day, but it is also the same day that they have the Spring (yep still getting used to Nov being Spring) fashion show at the race. Naturally the actuall fashion show means very pretty models doing their thing, but the fact that it happens at the races means that every young woman in Melbourne comes to the races completely dolled up. While the Oaks Day races are fun in and of themselves, the off-track activities are what give the day it's nickname, Bloke's Day.

Undoubtedly, the best non-game sporting event in all of history is the "Dotting of the i". There is nothing in sports like it, and there never will be.

5)Getting to the park early enough to catch balls in the outfield seats during BP.
4)Playing the National Anthem at the Olympic games during the medal ceremony wondering if the medal winner will tear up. (Except for the TV closeups where you can count the nose hairs)
3)Battle of the Bands - Grambling vs Southern. Too bad that the network won't show the entire performance.
2)NFL Draft Day.
1)Super Bowl Commercials

5. Heisman Trophy Presentation
4. Bobby Knight post-game interview - always interesting!
3. Olympic Medal Ceremony where gold medalist is from USA. National Anthem playing (hopefully singing along), gold medal around your neck, tears, etc. Lots of emotion!!
2. NCAA Selection Sunday - if your team is on the bubble, a must see. Plus the womens brackets are announced on the same day.
1. NFL Draft - no doubt about it.