But none, perhaps, is as compelling as the showdown brewing in this year's $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic.
"You put him in there, and now you can't take him out of there," Manager Joe Torre said before his Yankees beat the Indians, 5-3, at Jacobs Field, sweeping what was supposed to be a showdown series with a compelling blend of arrogance and exuberance, experience and youth.
It's even harder to imagine a U.S. president making a compelling argument for staging a nuclear showdown with Russia over, say, Estonia.
But an end-of-the-year tournament showdown off separate tees would be much more compelling, a battle of the sexes among 100 pros over 72 holes.
He is so immersed in Australian rugby league that Burgess talks longingly about his desire to play in the compelling State of Origin series – an annual best-of-three showdown between New South Wales and Queensland.
A courtroom showdown between the S.E.C. and Mr. Cuban would make for compelling theater.
They arrest him, but just as Braggs is about to be executed he escapes, precipitating a series of entirely predictable chases and showdowns which Parker's no-frills prose somehow makes compelling.
And while there will be limited opportunities for the fast-twitch racers, the early sprint showdowns among Cavendish, Farrar, and Petacchi will surely provide for compelling theater.
None of this has any bearing on Adlington, or the showdown between the pair in the pool, but it does all help make Pellegrini one of the most compelling personalities in her sport.
If only the current showdown between MPs and the auditor keen to punish their abuse of allowances in recent years were as compelling as the English civil war.Instead, the row is the latest phase of a scandal that broke in May, when many MPs were shown to have feathered their nests with taxpayers' money.
