THE WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS With the boys of summer going strong long into the fall, you’ll have plenty of time to grab a hot dog and a beer, sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during a seventh-inning stretch, and strive to catch a foul ball. So forgo the ballpark experience for now and let these competitive showcases feed your sports addiction. You’re sure to find the Summer National Fencing Championships (held June 28—July 6 in Austin) engaging. Just don’t take any of those épées, sabers, or foils with you to the Great Texas Balloon Race, where July 11—13 you can watch eighty balloons, skilled pilots vying either to toss a ring onto or to pull a ring off of a twenty-foot pole, and later, tethered balloons fired to illuminate Longview’s night sky. And on July 19 and 20, catch a ride to the Texas Ski Ranch in New Braunfels for the Cable Wakeboard National Championships, a no-boat-required affair where participants do tricks off ramps while being pulled by a circulating cable suspended over the water. All three events should be home runs, so to speak. (See Dallas: Sports; and New Braunfels.)
