Happy birthday America's Cup

Despite some doubts about its original name, one thing is for sure. It all started 155 years ago, plus one day. Yesterday, the America's Cup turned 155 years old and we spotted a very interesting story on the BMW Oracle Racing blog where the author gives a concise overview of the first days of the world's oldest sports competition.

We suppose that nobody in 1851 could have imagined the evolution of a race with "just an ordinary trophy that had a familiar design and had cost 100 pounds". We now have a global event of unprecedented scale whose total budget exceeds one billion dollars, with all continents participating for the first time, held in a Mediterranean port and lasting four years.

The America's Cup has survived many wars and has obviously evolved, adapting itself to modern times. A proof of its constant evolution is the meeting that will take place on October 4 in Milan, as published on the Challenger Commission website. We assume that a preliminary committee will be talking about everything from soup to nuts -- protocol, organization, format, events, sports and marketing. It will be interesting to see what the America's Cup will look like on its 156th birthday, but first we'll have to see who beats Alinghi, if obviously there is anyone that can beat them.