So with ESPN's recent critical comments, is it? Here is one fan's (me)Iditarod 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qelDpWi455s

Who cares what the hell ESPN thinks. The Iditarod is a memorial to the dogs who ran and who died running to save the children of Nome. It is a celebration of the courage of those who ran behind those dogs into a cold night that froze their flesh black. leonhard Seppala and his lead dog Togo, ran the longest part of the relay in conditions that are beyond description.

Excerpt taken from Wikipedia.org

"Leonhard Seppala and his dog sled team, with his lead dog Togo, traveled 170 miles (274 km) from Nome from January 27 to January 31 into the oncoming storm. They took the shortcut across the Norton Sound, and headed toward Shaktoolik. The temperature in Nome was a relatively warm −20 °F (−30 °C), but in Shaktoolik the temperature was estimated at −30 °F (−34 °C), and the gale force winds causing a wind chill of −85 °F (−65 °C).

Henry Ivanoff's team ran into a reindeer and got tangled up just outside of Shaktoolik. Seppala still believed he had more than 100 miles (160 km) to go and was racing to get off the Norton Sound before the storm hit. He was passing the team when Ivanoff shouted, "The serum! The serum! I have it here!" (Salisbury, 2003, page 207)

With the news of the worsening epidemic, Seppala decided to brave the storm and once again set out across the exposed open ice of the Norton Sound when he reached Ungalik, after dark. The temperature was estimated at −30 °F (−35 °C), but the wind chill with the gale force winds was −85 °F (−65 °C). Togo led the team in a straight line through the dark, and they arrived at the roadhouse in Isaac's Point on the other side at 8 PM. In one day, they had traveled 84 miles (135 mk), averaging 8 mph (13 km/h). The team rested, and departed at 2 AM into the full power of the storm.

During the night the temperature dropped to −40 °F (−40 °C), and the wind increased to storm force (at least 65 mph (105 km/h). The team ran across the ice, which was breaking up, while following the shoreline. They returned to shore to cross Little McKinley Mountain, climbing 5,000 feet (1,500 m). After descending to the next roadhouse in Golovin, Seppala passed the serum to Charlie Olsen on February 1 at 3 PM." Wikipedia.org




Togo was a troublesome pup, who had been given away as a house pet because of the distractions he was causing in the kennels. The dog jumped through a window of his new owner to get back to his first owner, Seppala. After which he was kept.

Togo got his first chance at pulling a sled when he tried jumping a 7 foot fence, catching his rear leg in the top of the fence. A kennel assistant heard the yelping and cut the dog loose from the wire mesh. The injured dog took off and caught up with Seppala and the sled team 45 miles away. The musher felt he had no choice but to harness the dog to the sled. By the end of the first day on a harness the dog had been moved up to share the lead position, and logged in 75 miles.

So, back to the original question...my answer is who cares. Wake me up when ESPN does something important.

VHawk

"So, back to the original question...my answer is who cares. Wake me up when ESPN does something important."



World Series of Poker or Curling?

Definitely curling. My cousins have been national champs and runner's up at worlds!

Isn't the World Series of anything a once a year event. Even the World Cup is every 4 years. But the world series of poker is on every day of the year? Wow, should I take 1 card or 3?

Sorry, the iditarod is a competition, not a sport. And who cares what ESPN says. The iditarod is pretty cool. Keep the tradition alive.

Exactly. An annual competition. ESPN can blow me.

They are the E! Network of sports celebrity tabloid drama.

Agreed!!

ESPN thinks basketball is a sport

ESPN 8 "THE OCHO!"

Did someone say curling as a sport? What kind of training do you do for curling? Curling is the ice version of shuffle board.

Sport: "1. An active pastime; recreation. 2. A specific diversion, usually involving physical exercise and having a set form and body of rules; game"

From the American Heritage Dictionary.

So curling seems to fit. Pretty hard to classify poker as a sport. So is the iditarod a sport for the dogs or a sport for the musher?

Have you seen how much the musher runs in one of those events?

Gotta stay warm somehow.

I Googled to find the ESPN criticism but only found last year's. After reading a couple of the posts after the article about last year's winner, I realized how unknowledgeable the fools posting are. One poster said that he couldn't see what the big deal was about the mushers since all they did was ride on the runners with the dogs doing all the work.
What a maroon!

Is horse racing a sport?

I have never been much into sports but I do consider my self an athlete.

The Gephardt family runs one of the lodging facilites that we put our folks into ... watching the amount of time, effort, and training they put into the race ... most of the NBA crybabies would last a week, at most!