Must See Sports Events, This Year — Any Year

Summer, fall, winter, spring: Every season has its great moments in the world of sports, scripted into place on an annual basis with summer, arguably, the greatest sports season of them all.

Here are some “must see” sporting events to put on your schedule.

The Masters
The Masters is the crowning championship of all golf – of the four major tournaments in the sport, the Masters is the most glorious of them all. So, let's start with that one as the first great summer season sports spectacle that should certainly be on your bucket list.

Why? Well, even if you don't know golf, The Masters is a spectacle. Every blade of grass appears groomed for each location; the azaleas are in full bloom and the Augusta National Golf Course is known the be one of the most spectacular landscaping wonders of the world.

Wimbledon Tennis Tournament
This major tennis event is an endurance contest for fans and players, alike, starting with opening rounds of play in 2017 on July 3 and running through to July 16.

That's a lot of grass court tennis that takes place at the All England Club in London, England and is one of the four major tennis tournaments of the season (known as Grand Slam events), along with the French, U.S. and Australian opens.

You'll want to get your Wimbledon tickets early, especially for the later rounds, because this tournament's wind up is one of the great summer sports moments. You might want to attend the penultimate rounds, when you cans see several of the players who have made it that far, rather than the last day of the show, when there are only two players left standing. Either way, it's the talk of the sporting world for two weeks every summer.

The Kentucky Derby
This mile and a quarter race for the country's top three-year old horses maybe the most hyped up race of the year – it's just a two minute race, after all – but its is also a celebration of the best of the best and shows what suspense and tradition will do for a race. That and a $5 bet will have you leaning on the rails screaming for all you are worth. In two minutes of thunderous speed, you might just lose your voice.

Yes, this is much more than a race, it's an adventure, it's an extravaganza! The race is symbolic of the southern states in all their glory – from the parades to the ubiquitous mint juleps, you won't want to miss it.

The Tour de France begins July 1 and runs through July 23.
That's a long, long bicycle race and this year Chris Froome is gunning for his fifth title. This must-see event in 2017 will include stints on all five of France's mountain ranges. They really put those cyclist through the paces, that's for sure.

The Major League Baseball All Star Game
All of baseball stops for a mid-summer break, in 2017 on July 11, for the annual game that includes the best in the game.

Yes, All-Star games are hokey put ons that allow the best talent in the game to doff their caps in front of the fans and maybe smash a few homers in the annual Home Run Derby, but the truth is baseball is a game of pride. So what happens when the best pitchers in the game stare down at the best batters one after another? Its a great test of bragging rights and nobody wants to walk away a loser, even if it's just a plate appearance to appease the games ravenous fans. It's great fun. (Go American League!)

World Series of Major League Baseball
OK, the little league baseball players are cool, but the pageantry and magnificence of a major league World Series is still the premier summer sports capper every time (it may be called the Fall Classic but it's played by the “boys of summer”). Impossible to ignore, this event pitting the winners of the American and National Leagues in a seven-game stand in October will often capture the attention (and the imagination) of the entire country, whether your favorite team is participating or not.

2017 will be the 113th Major League Baseball championship series. And for the first time in decades home field advantage will not be decided by the league that won the annual All-Star game. Due to a fluke tie in the game several years back (2013), this year's home field advantage in the series will be decided by the league champion with the better record with the better record.