For such a relatively young country, America has moved pretty quickly to establish a long history of traditional sporting events.

In fact, throughout the year the majority of American holidays are so crisscrossed with events from the sporting landscape that it can be hard to separate them in our minds: the Rose Bowl is held on New Year's Day; the U.S. Open coincides with Labor Day; the Indy 500 races on Memorial Day weekend.

But tradition can't be confined to a calendar. As summer winds down over these next few weeks we will see both the Little League World Series and tennis' US Open.

There may be nothing more American in sports than baseball -- particularly when children take part in our national pastime.

Right now, as is the case every summer, Little Leaguers are given the chance to live out their baseball diamond dreams in Williamsport, Pa. Since 1947, the sleepy Pennsylvania town has hosted the Little League World Series every year, quickly earning its place among American sports traditions. Just six years after its inception, the event was nationally televised, and announced by Howard Cosell on the radio.

While the event itself took an international turn in 1957, when Mexico became the first foreign team to win (now the final always pits the US champion against the international champion), the event still remains a shining beacon of pure Americana, both for those playing and for those just watching on the hill.

The day after the Little Leaguers pack up and go home, just a few hours away another classic American event gets underway, the US Open. It is appropriate that the American representative of tennis' Grand Slam takes place in the city that most defines our varied national community, New York. The U.S. Open is a jostling subway car, strangers elbow to elbow and everybody's all "You talkin' to me?" It's Jimmy Connors bent at the knees and shouting, Andre Agassi slugging returns deep into the night, chair umpires futilely asking the crowd for quiet, the Williams sisters becoming legends on their own terms.

It has been the site where America's most celebrated tennis stars have had their most stirring successes. The Open, in wonderfully typical American fashion, has also been a forum for political and other issues to be played out; be it transsexual Renee Richards' debut as a participant in the women's draw, to the Open being the first Grand Slam event to award prize money equally to men and women, to the introduction of instant replay at a Grand Slam event.

Beyond watching our children play and putting big issues on center stage, another American narrative is the story of westward expansion in the 19th century, made possible by the relationship between man and horse. The Kentucky Derby celebrates this bond, while also adding the equally American spectacle of rich people blowing large sums of money on their hobbies. Its two symbols are the most American of flowers (the Roses they run for) and the quintessential American spirit (bourbon, sweetened as to become unrecognizable with sugar and mint).

The Derby, along with the US Open and Little League World Series, are just a few of the many events to celebrate the American way of life, through history and tradition, and often too, pomp and circumstance. So whether it's New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, or a lazy summer afternoon, we can always thank American tradition for giving us a good sporting event to watch on TV.