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 of 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. In April alone, we saw the Boston Marathon (the country’s oldest race) and the Masters (the unofficial start of Spring), and this weekend, in an event like no other, the Kentucky Derby begins the annual run for the Triple Crown – for the 135th consecutive year.

As far as tradition is concerned, it doesn’t get any older than the Boston Marathon, which was inspired by the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Olympics. And given that it’s held annually on Patriots’ Day, a civic holiday that marks the beginning of the Revolutionary War, it’s hard to find an event more American.

The oldest annual marathon, it has been run every year since 1897, and is arguably the most widely known race in the world. From Heartbreak Hill to the “scream tunnel” to Rosie Ruiz to the roughly half-million spectators it draws each year (making it New England’s most-viewed sporting event), there’s no shortage of lore to make its history, and tradition, especially rich.

Tradition is not exclusive to a Boston run, however; just ask those that walk Augusta.

While it is not the oldest American golf tournament, The Masters is something more: an annual sign that warmer weather will indeed come. It offers the comfort of the familiar in the form of green jackets and the accumulated memories of 75 years on the same vernal stage.

The Masters isn’t a championship: it’s an invitational run by an extremely private club. Its status as one of golf’s majors is the product of press hype that centered on the legend of Bobby Jones, co-founder of the club and co-designer of the course. Three-quarters of a century later, hype has become history—seemingly the way more than a few American traditions have been founded.

Beyond hype, 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 Boston Marathon and The Masters, 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 or Thanksgiving, we can always thank American tradition for giving us a good sporting event to watch on TV.