Contributed by Aurora LaJambre, Catalogs.com Info Guru

Some people collect stamps or Victorian fairy lamps, others collect experiences. For instance, sports fans often travel with a mission.

Whether it’s to see a baseball game in every major league stadium or to attend every away game for an entire season, dedicated sports fans find a way to make their missions happen even it takes a while.

Top 10 sporting events to score tickets to:

10. The Masters

First held in 1934, The Masters is a golf championship hosted by the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Rich with tradition, the match attracts golf’s biggest stars to play a 4-day stroke of 18 holes a piece with an average winning score of 8 under par. Applications for series badges to attend the 4-day event are not available. The waiting list, which reopened in 2000 after closing in 1978, is now closed. Single-day tickets are available by application only. Golf players and fans, score them if you can!

9. Wimbledon

Whether you follow tennis or not, images or tea and pendulum-eyes may come to mind when you think of Wimbledon. Held at the All England Lawn & Tennis Croquet Club in southwest London, Wimbledon matches are played on grass courts and as the headlines in July 2010 proved, Wimbledon tennis matches can last an epic 103 games between 2 athletes, the 5th set alone was over 8 hours and 11 minutes. Enjoy this consummate experience for tennis fans!

8. Stanley Cup

The physicality of the game of hockey is only a small part of the sport’s magnetism. If you caught the 2010 Olympic hockey final where Canada narrowly defeated the U.S. for gold, you understand the emotional rollercoaster ride that is the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup and why it’s a must-see at least once.

7. National Basketball Association Finals

After a 93-game season, the top two competing teams play up to seven games in their pursuit to be crowned world champions. With slam dunks and 3-point shots, crowds are cheering from the first point to the last second on the clock. Whether your team wins or loses, you get to see star players in action, celebrities schmoozing and all of the glitz, glamour and sweat that make the NBA so dramatic and tickets to the finals so hot.

6. World Series

For many, baseball is a definitive American sport. Each annual World Series becomes a part of baseball history. Regional rivalries play out on the field, fans duke it out in the form of stadium waves and everyone eats a hotdog.

5. March Madness

March Madness gives college basketball athletes a chance to shine on a national media. The tournament begins with a pool of 64 teams in 4 brackets. Score tickets to one of the first games in the tournament and you may see major upsets like the team ranked #16 in the bracket defeating the top team. Games are shorter than NBA games, but equally high scoring and just as exciting.

4. Kentucky Derby

Though still on the fringe of the main stream sporting world, the Kentucky Derby is an iconic, top 10 sports event because there’s nothing else like it. All you need to get swept away in the excitement are tickets and a big funny hat. Historic long shot winners, like 2009’s Mine That Bird, keep everyone on their toes from the horses and jockeys, to the horse owners and crowds. Mine The Bird had 50-to-1 odds, the longest odds for a derby winner in 85 years.

3. Super Bowl

The stadium energy of mid-season a football game is a mere spark compared to the explosive excitement of the annual Super Bowl. After a 16-game season, the number one team from the American Football Conference faces the number one team from the American Football Conference for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and diamond-studded rings.

2. Olympics

Every two years, for two weeks, gymnastics, track and swimming ice dancing and snowboarding become the most exciting sporting events in the world. The best athletes from dozens of competing countries face one another to earn gold for their country. The ensuing national rivalries, competition to host the next events, and corruption rumors fade into noise once you’re there. Submit now for Olympics tickets.

1. Soccer World Cup

Every four years, soccer fans across the world take extremely long lunch breaks to watch the World Cup matches in the company fellow hooligans. If you missed the first World Cup hosted by an African Nation in 2010, you may not want to miss the biggest soccer event in the world hosted by one of the biggest soccer-fanatic countries in the world, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Over the course of about two months, 32 nations battle it out on the soccer field in 2-3 games per day. Join the company of world leaders and some of the most colorful fans in the world at a World Cup match.

In recent years, increased media coverage of different types sporting events beyond football and baseball introduced fans to an array of lesser known sports. Today’s top 10 list of sporting events looks very different that it would have ten years ago or ten years from now.