What is this?

Od·ys·sey: 1. An extended adventurous voyage or trip. 2. A long wandering and eventful journey. 3. A quest to go see a baseball, basketball, hockey, and football game in every city in one year.

The idea for a sports odyssey goes back many years. I read Bob Wood's book Dodger Dogs To Fenway Franks, in which he visited all 26 major-league ballparks in the summer of 1985. Since then, I've followed with some interest other people who have done the same thing, accounting for expansion, and working new angles, like the guys who went to 30 parks in 30 days.

It's also been done for other sports; John Nordahl's book Travelling follows him around the country to every NBA arena, and The Sporting News sent some kids to a game in every NFL city a couple of years ago.

But the Holy Grail of sports travel - every baseball park, every football stadium, every hockey and basketball arena, in one wild year - has never been done, as far as I know.

And I won't be doing it...this year.

But since I've been making up a tentative schedule for the last few years (just in case my lottery numbers come in or some unknown rich great-uncle gives me the Mr. Deeds treatment), I wanted to take the next step. If I can't physically do it, I'll virtually do it.

Call it a dry run. This is something that I want and intend to do for real, someday. This virtual oddysey will lay some of the groundwork, help me figure out some of the stuff I'll see along the road, and hopefully capture the attention of someone who might be able to lend me a couch for a night or a connection to Lambeau Field tickets.

So what will be here? A day to day posting of where I'll be traveling. Information and links to stops along the way. Links to the websites of the kind folks who would be sharing their couches and locals' knowledge of all the various cities if this were for real.

What won't be here? The location of every Wendy's I'd stop at along the way. My mix tapes in the car (sorry!). The singular experience of getting sick of mix tapes for a while, then trying for 45 minutes to scan the dial and find something other than country music or old-time preaching while staring out the windshield at the continuous sameness of the Saskatchewan countryside while driving 500 miles out of the way in the dead of winter to watch the Mighty Ducks at Calgary in a game with no playoff implications and no earthly purpose for being scheduled in the first place.

So, you see, there's something to this virtual trip after all. It's a good start.