Once again the SoCal Special Olympics Summer Games will be held on the Long Beach State campus, today and tomorrow—we ran a preview last week, but I wanted to take a moment to stress the importance of this event.

1,100 athletes will be competing in six sports (aquatics, track/field, basketball, bocce, golf, and gymnastics) on the university’s campus.  Jered Weaver will be on hand to congratulate athletes, and the logo himself, Jerry West, will be passing out medals on Sunday; David Beckham and Misty May are among those we’ve spoken to at Summer Games—the support of the community and the university for this event has always been incredible.

Competition in all of the above sports will take place between noon and 5pm on Saturday, and 8am and 3pm on Sunday—I sincerely hope that in between World Cup matches and Lakers games you’ll find a few minutes to go and watch.  When I covered my first Summer Games two years ago, I was overwhelmed by what I saw.

The Summer Games are almost exclusively covered as a human interest story—while the athletes and families who participate do have extraordinary stories to tell, I was struck by how strange it is that Summer Games is never covered as a sports story.  After all, it’s the largest sporting event in Long Beach, with thousands of people heading into the city from all over the Southland.

When I encourage people to attend, the biggest thing I always try to get across is: this is an amazing spectator event.  Everyone who’s been to one knows that, and yet it’s hard to convince those who haven’t that that’s the case.  First-time attendees are often surprised at the high level of competition in all sports, and at the competitive fire in the athletes.  While almost everyone who crosses the finish line is happy to do so, every event will also feature heated competition between athletes who want to win, and who push their bodies to the limit with a consistent intensity that’s only seen in spurts in professional games.

That fire, and the spectacle of people competing against their human limitations, are why we cover sports—from high school to college to the pros.  That is what sports are, at a basic level—and if that’s why you watch sports, if that’s what you enjoy about competition, then I would urge you to come by campus this weekend and take in a basketball game with us.

Of course if you can’t get away from home, we’ll have full coverage of this amazing event posted on the site Sunday night!