Lee Abbamonte
Try to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world
Farewell Old Friend
By Lee | 
4 Comments » 
As I am sitting here in Arizona watching the final game at Yankee Stadium (depressed that I am not there), I feel compelled to write about some of my memories of the cathedral of baseball. As a lifelong Yankee fan, I have probably been to over 500 games at Yankee Stadium since my father took me to my first game on August 3rd, 1985 where the Yankees beat the White Sox 8-4, including three World Series (and it would’ve been more but I was away in college), ten post season series and some of the most memorable moments in modern baseball history.
(more…)
He’s Back!
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
It has been a tumultuous year for the best tennis player of all time but Monday, Roger Federer was able to wrap up his fifth consecutive US Open championship and 13th overall major title. He thoroughly manhandled Brit Andy Murray who was making his grand slam final debut after his convincing win over top ranked Rafael Nadal. As a huge Federer fan, I was delighted to see him back on top after losing the past two major finals to Nadal. Combine those finals with his Aussie Open semifinal appearance and his semifinal major streak reached 18-which is unbelievable and has never even been approached and probably never will be. Federer’s “off” year, which would be anyone else’s best year was punctuated by this historic win as he sets his sights on regaining the top ranking by the end of the year.
(more…)
Random Sports Rants
By Lee | 7 Comments » 
I haven’t written much about sports lately, except for the pointless Olympics that start tomorrow, because I’ve been away and really busy lately but I have some things that are driving me nuts in the world of sports and they need to be said. I almost hate to give it more coverage than it already has, but this Brett Favre fiasco has reached its boiling point with me. It’s not only that he’s a jerk, selfish and super annoying but the fact that he has had these tearful press conferences each of the last three years, where he can’t decide if he’s going to retire of not. He’ll say that he wants to spend more time with his family or dog or driving his tractor or whatever the hell he does in Mississippi, and then he drags it out as if anyone really cares outside of Green Bay. But that’s not the worst of it.
(more…)
Who Cares About the Beijing Olympics?
By Lee | 11 Comments » 
I am a sports fanatic and I love the Olympics. I have been to every Summer Olympic city and most of the Winter Olympic cities. I could tell you the host cities for every single Summer and Winter games. I could list you most of the gold medalists for the major events since the modern Olympics began back in 1896. In fact, I could even tell you winners from the Intercalated Games of 1906 that nobody even knows occurred. I am not trying to blow my own horn but rather illustrate the fact that as a huge Olympics fan-I couldn’t care less about the upcoming Beijing Olympics that start Friday.
(more…)
Olympic Gender Testing
By Lee | 4 Comments » 
This is absolutely brilliant. Apparently, in an effort to prevent cheating and doping, they are now testing not only for steroids and performance enhancing drugs at the Beijing Olympics but they have an entire lab devoted to testing if supposed female athletes that physically look like men are actually males. As a matter of fact, this has been going on since the 1968 Mexico City games when the East German women were suspected of being men. Moreover, at the 1996 Atlanta games, 8-yes 8, women tested positive for being men! How great is that?! They were eventually cleared after a thorough “under the hood” inspection was conducted! This is just too funny, imagine being a woman and some chromosomal test concludes that you are a man and you then have to conclusively prove that you are a woman…I love it. I mean really, whose job is it to conclusively determine a persons sex and how does one qualify for that job? Somehow I don’t think that Amanda Beard was ever suspected of being a man-at least I hope!
(more…)
Viva Espana
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
Spain stared their demons in the eye and conquered their competition today as they dominated play against Germany in their convincing 1-0 win in the final of Euro 2008. There was no doubt who was the best team, today, and the whole tournament. Spain shed their 44 year label of being chokers on the worlds largest stages of the Euro Cup and the World Cup. “El Matador”, Fernando Torres, gave Spain the lead in the 33rd minute and they never looked back. Germany never even threatened to score. For the Liverpool striker, it was validation of his amazing 33 goal rookie season with Liverpool after a subpar Euro 2008 up until today. He may give Ronaldo a run for World Player of the Year yet. But for Spain, let the celebrations begin in a suddenly united Spain, and certainly not end any time soon.
Wimbledon Draw Is Out
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
The tennis Gods are not smiling on Roger Federer in his quest for an unprecedented sixth straight Wimbledon Championship. His side of the draw is murderous while Rafael Nadal’s on the other side of the draw is a cake walk. Except for a possible semifinal matchup with two time finalist Andy Roddick. However, Roddick has been very unreliable in majors as of late and his window of opportunity is closing quickly.
(more…)
The US Open and Tiger
By Lee | 7 Comments » 
What else can be said about Tiger Woods. If you have been watching this week at the US Open, you have seen some incredible drama, moments and shots from the best player that ever lived. Really, it’s hard to summarize how great this guy is and how calm he stays under pressure and how he just always seems to rise to the occasion. Yesterdays putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff reminded me of another great from another sport-one that he has been compared to many times.
(more…)
Euro 2008
By Lee | 4 Comments » 
I’ve been meaning to write my preview and predictions for Euro 2008 for a week now but better late than never. First of all, this tournament is awesome in so many ways. It is second in my view only to the World Cup and only because it is missing the great South American players. This particular European Cup is also great because it is missing England and I know for sure how much that pisses off or should I say devastates the Brits! In fact, I hear it’s so bad that the BBC doesn’t even cover the event! But getting away from taking the piss out of the Brits (which is always fun), this tournament has a lot of great teams and features many of the worlds best players. In the end I believe that the 2004 runners up, Portugal, will be the Champions of Europe.
(more…)
Rafa Rules Roland Garros
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
Rafael Nadal proved once and for all yesterday that he no equal and really no challengers to his dominance on clay as he thoroughly dismantled the best player in the world, Roger Federer, in three sets at 1, 3 and love. It wasn’t even close. I have seen nearly every match the two have played and never have I seen one completely destroy the other the way Nadal did yesterday to punctuate his amazing clay court season. Federer’s only reprieve is that the clay season is now over and he can set his sights on a 6th straight Wimbledon title and cementing his number one ranking.
(more…)
Pages
- About Lee Abbamonte
- Ask/Contact Lee
- Country List
- Country Qualifications
- Mt. Kilimanjaro Journal
- Mt. Kilimanjaro Video Slideshow
- Newsletter
- Press Clips
- Radio Spots
- Sponsorship
- Standards for Visits
- Useful Travel Links
- Why Travel?
Email Updates
Categories
- Africa
- Airlines
- Asia
- Australia/New Zealand
- Caribbean
- Central America
- Europe
- General Travel
- Indian Subcontinent
- Middle East
- New 7 Wonders
- North America
- Oceana
- Picture of the Day
- Random
- South America
- Top 5 Lists
- Travel on TV
- Trip Blog
- Trivia
- World Sport
Monthly Archives
Travel links
- Cheap Air Tickets
- Travel Insurance
- Travel Blogs
- Globetrekker Videos
- Youth Hostels
- Written Road
- Last Minute Hotels
- Airport Parking
- South Africa Travel
- Soccer Blog
My Links
- Travel Sites