Rich’s Power Rankings: Sports’ Top Ten Greatest Tournaments

Rich came into Wednesday with a list and zero interest in defending it. His Power Rankings, presented by SoFi, took on the ten greatest sports tournaments on the planet, and he opened with a shrug that doubled as a dare. "I don't care," he said, bracing for the inevitable "you seen already" from the peanut gallery. Then he ranked them anyway.

10. Westminster Dog Show. A left-field opener, and Rich owned it. "This is a top 10 tournament on planet Earth," he insisted, admitting his real motive is a spot behind the mic. "I would absolutely kill, figuratively, to host one of these on television."

9. Tour de France. Not a cycling guy, Rich still tipped his cap. "It is the big deal," he said of the endurance grind that winds through the French countryside and finishes in Paris with the yellow jersey on the line.

8. Stanley Cup playoffs. This slot started as Olympic men's hockey, until the show's resident hockey voice pointed out that the tournament loses its grip when the United States is not involved. Rich pivoted to the Cup and stood by the placement despite pushback that eight might be low. "Playoff hockey overtimes are exhilarating. Absolutely razor's edge exhilarating."

7. US Open tennis. Rich called Wimbledon a classic, praised the green grass and the dress code, then made it a New York thing. "Can you do it with people heckling you at 1:30 in the morning?" he asked. The night sessions, the seven train, the 2 a.m. finishes, that is his tournament.

6. NBA playoffs. Rich admitted a bias here, because he ranked baseball just above it. The NBA postseason, he said, "just feels like a total slog to get through six, seven weeks sometimes."

5. Baseball playoffs. The World Series earns the edge, and Rich explained why with a hitter reaching base. In May, a runner on in the second feels survivable. In October, "season's over. This guy's scoring." Every pitch starts to matter, and Rich called that scintillating.

4. March Madness. Men's and women's together, and yes, he noted, freshly biased since Michigan won. "It is truly Cinderella stuff," Rich said, from buzzer beaters to office brackets that pull everyone in.

3. NFL playoffs. "There's nothing like the NFL playoffs," Rich said, singling out divisional weekend and its final eight. "It's the last weekend where there's multiple games on multiple days."

2. The Masters. "It's a tradition unlike any other," Rich said, praising the only golf major played at the same place every year. Augusta National has its own personality, where memories attach to individual holes and no lead is ever truly safe on Sunday.

1. The World Cup. Rich conceded this might be recency bias, then leaned all the way in. "This has been nothing short of amazing and epic and can't get enough of it." He pointed to a Harry Kane image from within the hour, a two-goal day for England, as proof of the star power driving it. Unlike sports where an unknown can steal a moment, Rich argued, the World Cup delivers the biggest names on the biggest stage. "It is star-powered and star-driven," he said, right before someone at the desk floored him with the only acceptable exit line. "I'm with you until Cape Verde takes the whole thing down."