First Remembered Sports Moments

[tubbs1518]

I was just curious what everyone remembers as their first sports memory from each sport. Here are mine:

NFL: Super Bowl XXX Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh Steelers. It wasn't really a game that I really cared about, but I remember that was the first time I went to a friends house and watched a football game. The earliest moment I can really remember being EXTREMELY excited about was the Music City Miracle.

MLB: Watching the 1995 American League Division series. Edgar Martinez got a game winning hit that Griffey beat the throw to the plate on. It won the series.

NBA: Jordans Game winner against the Jazz. After that it was Iverson crossing Jordan over.

NCAAB: Bryce Drews game winning shot for Valpo in 1998. This was the game that really got me into watching the NCAA Tourney. After that I watched the Tourney every year.

NCAAF:Wide Right III in 2000,Ohio State beating Miami in 2002 and McGahee tearing he knee all up.

[Curtis]

October 14 1980 at the Vet with my family. Game 1 of the World Series and the Phils won that game. October 21 1980, although I was watching from home, the Phils won the World Series over the KC Royals.

May 31 1983, The Sixers swept the Lakers in 4 (fo!)games to win the NBA title. Moses Malone baby! Fo Fo Fo!!

September 30 1979 I was at the Vet with my family and watched the Eagles beat the Steelers 17-14. I remember seeing Bradshaw's balding head and I thought he was as old as my grandfather who had the same amount of hair.

January 11 1981, Eagles beat the Cowpunks in the NFC Championship to go to the Super Bowl.

[wxwax]

A lot of mine are easy because I first watched US sports in 1976.

Soccer: impossible, really. Probably stuff from the 1966 World Cup.

NBA: Phoenix Suns playing the Boston Celtics in the NBA playoffs in 1976. Cool Suns shorts and unis, Paul Westphal. Tommy Heinsohn.

NFL: Detroit Lions in a pre-season game in 1976. I remember asking my brother if they were any good. Same answer now as then. Some things never change.

NHL: Montreal Canadiens in 1976 Stanley Cup Finals.

Baseball: Mets or Yankees on a B&W TV in 1969. Bored the heck out of me.

NCAA basketball: Georgetown in McDonough gym in the 1976-77 season. John Duren had a pro body but no outside shot.

Olympics: Munich games 1972. Sexy shorts on the female sprinters, Mark Spitz. Not so much the massacre.

NCAA football: Ohio State 1976 season. No idea who they were playing.

Bicycling: Eddy Merckx highlights from the Tour de France in the mid-60's.

Auto racing: The old start to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the guys ran to their cars from the other side of the track. Mid-60's.

Boxing: Ali vs somebody. Back when boxing was big. Early 70s.

[Pruitt]

First TV sports moment (or at least the one I still have a memory of): Otis Taylor scoring in Super Bowl 4.

In person: My first Leafs game with my grandfather. Can't tell you the date, but the Leafs won 8-1 (or a similar score).

First football game: Redskins Bears pre-season game at RFK. Must have been 6 years old.

First Baseball game: Tigers-Brewers in Detroit about the same age.

Great memories all, but in reality, they exist as still pictures in my mind.

[msclemons]

My earliest sports memory is going to an Angels game and watching Nolan Ryan pitch. This was back when he was young, wild, and threw 108 mph fast balls. Of course, I was 7 years old so I climbed all the way up to the back wall of the stadium, stood up on tiptoe and watched the fireworks at Disneyland. I have no idea what happened during the game.

[Curtis]

Great memories all, but in reality, they exist as still pictures in my mind.

Yeah, I remember so many moments. I remember being at Phils and Eagles games when I was 6 or 7. I remember going to Yankees Stadium, Memorial Stadium to see the Colts. RFK for Skins/Eagles. Bunch of Orioles games. I remember laying in bed listening to Phillies games on the radio when I was supposed to be asleep. I would use the little white ear bud to listen to Harry the K and Ritchie Ashburn call the games.

[edave]

The Packers were playing someone, don't recall who, mid season, 1966. My mom stuck around long enough to help me figure out which team was the Packers.

Mid summer, likely '66 or '67, Richie Allen hits a huge line drive to center left at Connie Mac, hits a light which bursts. My first home run and it was amazing. I'd never seen anything like that before. I did see Allen break another light out there before he got run out of town. Second best Phillies moment was when Lefty beat Pittsburg by a run somewhere late in the season of futility where Carlton had 27 of the teams 49 wins. Great game, awesome seats.

Lew Alcindor!

[Andy Freeland]

NFL: Super Bowl XXX Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh Steelers.

The first football game I remember was also Cowboys vs Steelers Super Bowl, but the Steelers won that one. And it had fewer X's.

First sporting event of any kind that I remember was White Sox @ Red Sox in 1974 just short of my 5th birthday, sitting in foul territory down the 3rd base line in Fenway. White Sox won (either 3-2 or 2-1).

First NBA game I ever remember seeing was about 2 weeks ago, and I will have forgotten that one by the end of the week.

[KabaModernFan]

NFL: Super Bowl XXXIV. I was five-years-old and I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime because we were hosting a Super Bowl party and I got to watch the whole thing. This is my first vivid memory of football and I remember jumping in fright when everybody else went crazy after the final play. It was very loud. I still feel like One Yard Short is one of the most underrated plays, and games, in Super Bowl history. To this day I still have a sentimental attachment to the Rams and Titans, and I like to see them do well.

NBA: I went onto Basketball Reference to make sure I had all the details right on this, and I actually found the exact game I was looking for. It was February 23, 2000 (about one month after Titans-Rams, apparently early 2000 was a very important time in my life than I remembered) and I was watching basketball on TV. I knew what basketball was, so I must have watched some games before, but this is the first vivid memory I have of watching basketball. The Miami Heat were at home playing against the New Jersey Nets, and I remember watching in awe as a man by the name of Alonzo Mourning seemed to be a professional playing in a little league game. Thanks to Basketball Reference I can find the box score of that game, and Mourning scored 43 points, notched 16 rebounds, and recorded five blocks. The Heat won the game 99-85. It's when I fell in love with basketball and it's when I became a Miami Heat fan. So strangely enough, it would seem that my first true sports team love was the Heat, and then the Ravens came along a few months later.

[Bengals1181]

Super Bowl XXII, 1988. Redskins/Broncos