In my pantheon of great sports memories, I have many of the classics of a downstate Illinois sports fan.

Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout game, the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals, University of Illinois’ amazing comeback versus Arizona and the U.S. soccer team’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Portugal to open the 2002 World Cup.

You may be thinking at this point that one of those things does not belong, and, unfortunately, you are right.

American sports fans sometimes become so myopic, focusing on the games that lead off Sportscenter each night, that they miss some of the best moments sports has to offer.

Beyond the local prep teams, the television and the Internet have given people the chance to see sports they never would have had access to in the past.

Not many other people saw that soccer match (one of the great upsets in recent World Cup history). For one, it’s soccer. For another, it started at 3 a.m. Central Time because it was being played in Europe.

I had never been much of a soccer fan, but I got up that early anyway out of curiosity.

I was treated to the exhilaration of an early 3-0 lead, to which the astonished European announcer could only cry out breathlessly: “And the United States is drubbing Portugal!”

In a war, that’s not a big surprise. In the world’s biggest sporting event, it was a bombshell.

But that moment’s over, and all the bandwagon fans that jumped on to see the U.S. advance to the quarterfinals three games later never quite got to recreate the buzz.

However, here’s your chance to break out of the regular sports mold.

The Arena Football League kicked off its 20th season yesterday.

The Chicago Rush took on the Colorado Crush at 2 p.m., perfectly (and not coincidentally) filling the void left by the week off in the NFL.

Next week, the Rush play their home opener. Most of their games are on NBC.

Arena Football is just like regular football, except faster and higher scoring. The field is half the length of a regulation football field, and there are walls on each end.

You don’t have to watch Arena Football, but you should pick out something to expand your sports horizons.

The Winter Olympics are coming up, the perfect opportunity.

Curling is a sport of choice for unusual sports fans. I won’t try to explain that one, but watch it. It’s intense. I’ve also heard that Chicago recently acquired a professional lacrosse team.

Sure, the Super Bowl will still be great. And baseball season starts soon. But don’t you wish you could impress girls by knowing what a chukker is, and how many there are in a polo game?