Thursday, September 30, 2010

Make 'em jealous

I was going to call this post "Your sports claim to fame" but not all of us really have one, like my buddy AA, whose "claim to fame" triggered this idea.  So the idea here is to have you tell us about the most famous, infamous or memorable game(s) you've attended and or that mean the most to you.
I would encourage you to make a mention of those games in the comments to this post as an introduction to writing a complete post yourself, so that people can more appropriately comment on your claim to fame.
If you'd put "attending games" in the labels box below, that would enable us to have all of them in one category.  Also, it would be a great way to bring back something some of us used to do on our old message board, which was to tell us about attending games right after you do so, so that we can live vicariously through you.
One of the things I'm most proud of as a fan is being able to say I've seen events in many historical venues that no longer exist -- Boston Garden, Maple Leaf Garden, Montreal Forum, Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, saw the very last Nascar race at Riverside Speedway, Tiger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Capital Center, LA Forum, The Salt Palace and RFK.  (I know, some of these still exist but they're not used for the purpose that made them famous).  Does seeing the Rolling Stones at Olympic Stadium in Montreal count?  Many of these involving treasured roadies with my brother.
Probably the most personally memorable game I attended was:  I was at the LA Coliseum on Jan 5th 1986 to see the Patriots upset the heavily-favored Raiders in a second round playoff game on their way to their first Super Bowl appearance.
Most famous, or infamous:  I was in attendance at the Daytona 500 in February of 2001 when tragedy struck.  If you're a sports fan, you know what happened then.
Personally infamous:  I wanted to take my daughters to see the Celtics and I wanted to be able to say I'd seen Michael Jordan play.  March 10th 2002 with my daughters and brother at the Fleet Center, Celtics vs Wizards -- he didn't play!
Milestones:  I was at The Big A in Anaheim on July 27, 1986 for the Angels and Red Sox, the very first game in history where both starting pitchers were 300 game winners, Tom Seaver vs Don Sutton.  Curt Schilling's 200th win, at Fenway on May 27, 2006.
Personal honorable mentions:  My grandparents came out to visit me when I lived in San Diego County and, being huge baseball fans, I wanted to take them to a game at Jack Murphy Stadium.  That game was played on Sept 28, 1987, a game in which the SF Giants clinched the National League Western Division in a 5-4 win.  My very first game at Fenway Park (wish I had this ticket stub) sometime in 1971 with my grandparents and one of my uncles.  Father's Day at Fenway with my daughters, June 15th 2003 (their first trip to Fenway).  Weekend on the infield of the Coke 600 in Charlotte, May 24th and 25th 2003 with my bro and good friend Jim (thanks Jim!)  July 29th 2008 at Nationals Park, where my buddy George, an underdog to 8 year old boys, was voted Fan of the Game.  The above-mentioned Yankee Stadium (and very late night Times Square) trip with my Bro, Cuz and two of my best friends.  And finally, June 23rd 2009 for the Red Sox first visit to DC in nearly 40 years, along with several of my best friends.
So let's hear about your treasured memories attending games.

2 comments:

R.J. said...

Let's see here...

Most memorable: I attended an LA Kings - Colorado Avalanche preseason game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. A friend and I were the only Kings fans in the section we were sitting in and when we did a very vulgar Kings chant some Avs fans wanted to fight us. We exchanged a lot of smack talk until they said "They're pissed because they don't have a football team" My response? "You're right. We're from San Diego". Doh!

Most famous: I really can't think of one at all. Like anything happens in San Diego! Okay, I went to nearly every home game the San Diego Gulls had that season when they had 132 points in the regular season. Our IHL team was so good we probably could have beaten the expansion Ottawa Senators that year.

Personally infamous: At one of those games I had beer thrown on me and I got into a little scuffle with that fan afterward. It's one of the main reasons why I stopped going to games and prefer to watch them at home.

Milestones: I saw Tony Gwynn reach 2,000 hits. Sorry but it's the closest thing to a real milestone I can say I attended.

Honorable mentions: As a kid I saw Hank Aaron play for the Atlanta Braves just after he hit his 715th home run. I also got to see George "Iceman" Gervin play when he was in the middle of his run as NBA scoring champion when the Spurs came to San Diego to play the (still) sorry Clippers.

Anonymous said...

Tony Stewarts first career cup win at Richmond, Jeff Gordon's 1st career cup win at Charlotte are two that come to mind. And I did enjoy Zeb and Tom coming to Charlotte for the race, we had a blast on the infield....... BuffettFan Jim