RON SEIBEL: A dream sports vacation? The world is wide open

So we’ve reached the first week of July, or what is basically the middle of summer for those who go by the school calendar.

Unless you have to deal with the end of the fiscal year at work or have some other obligation to take care of, this week is one for vacation, a time to travel or to just stay around the house or around town. It’s a time to pause, a time to refresh.

Even high school athletes who train during the summer are supposed to take this week off. All three of Georgia’s high school governing bodies mandate the week of July 4 as a dead week, one in which no group training or other organized activity is to take place.

So let’s throw out this question related to vacation, just for something a little different: If money and travel logistics are not an issue, which sporting event on another continent would you like to attend the most?

Let’s tag a couple of qualifiers on here. The event has to take place regularly in the same location, so the Olympics and the World Cup do not count. And since it’s so easy to travel to most places in North America and there are so many events from which to choose, let’s exclude our home continent.

So, with a desire to go to as many continents as possible, here are my choices. Let me know about your choices by replying to this column’s posting on the Albany Herald’s Facebook page or by tweeting your responses to my Twitter page (@ronseibel) or the Albany Herald’s sports Twitter page (@herald_sports1).

Tour de France: There’s something that’s just a bit different about watching the final week of the Tour de France.

Usually, Tour organizers set the three-week road cycling series up so that the final half is run through French mountains, such as the Pyrenees or the Alps. The mountain stages give the race separation, testing the stamina of the world’s top riders.

What catches my eye, however, is just how intense the mountain cycling fans are and how much interaction there is with the riders during the race. Fans descend right on top of the riders, getting in their ears in an attempt to will them up the mountain. There isn’t much like it in sports.

Soccer in South Korea: I know I excluded the World Cup from this question, but any game involving the South Korean national soccer team playing at home could be a fun experience, thanks to one of the world’s best fan bases.

South Korea’s soccer fans, known as the Red Devils, are among the most joyous in sports. They’re chanting and singing the whole match, and they know how to have a fun time. Their 2002 World Cup run put them on the map, and they had a chance to celebrate again last week when the team shocked Germany.

I’m not much of a soccer fan. But a home match for South Korea, be it a friendly or something more important? Count me in.

AFL Grand Final: No, not the old American Football League or the Arena Football League. This is the Australian Football League, as in Australian Rules Football. And the championship game in late September or early October is the southern hemisphere’s Super Bowl.

An ESPN staple during its early days, Australian Rules Football is a fast-paced game that is fun to watch. Players collide at full speed without padding, trying to catch somebody else’s punt and then turn around kick it through goalposts. Until recently, goal judges wore something close to white lab coats.

I rediscovered the sport eight years ago, when Collingwood and St. Kilda played in the Grand Final. I went home late from work following a Friday night high school football shift at the newspaper I worked at, and the Grand Final was the only game that was on live TV at the time. I kept it on for a couple of minutes, only to keep watching because the game remained close.

My reward for keeping the game on? Watching Collingwood (whose fans kept chanting the team name like a fog horn) and St. Kilda (a team that borrows the Notre Dame fight song) play to a tie. Did they resolve the tie that night with overtime? Nope. They made them come back the following weekend and play the thing all over.

If only the Falcons and the Patriots had gone the replay route a year and a half ago …

Contact sports editor Ron Seibel at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ronseibel.