OT: Best sports moment / event you've seen in-person
ElDuderino_AZ
Arizona
So I'm curious...what's the best or coolest sports event / moment you've ever seen in-person? A championship clincher, perfect game, history-making night, or just an iconic play?
There are some old folks in here... anybody see Ty Cobb go 5-5 or lose money betting on the 1919 White Sox? Willy Mays' catch? Fisk's homer? Bo Jackson run over Bosworth?
I got to see Bo with the Royals a couple times vs the Angels as a kid in CA, saw Michael Jordan play baseball with the Birmingham Barons when they had games in Scottsdale, was there when the AZ Cardinals won the NFC Championship, and sadly, was there when the Kings beat the Coyotes to go to the Stanley Cup Final. Oh, and I was there in Tempe at Sun Devil Stadium when Cardinals played the 49ers on MNF, and Steve Young got laid out, ending his career.
But one stands out: Cardinals @ Dbacks, 1999. It was AZ's second season and they were on-fire. Randy Johnson was on his way to four straight Cy Young awards, Mark McGwire went deep 70 times the season earlier, and my buddy and I, having just graduated high school, decided to go to as many Randy Johnson home starts as possible that summer.
5th inning, AZ up 3-1, bases loaded, nobody out, McGwire steps into the box. Johnson delivers... McGwire hits a fly to CF. Steve Finley makes the catch, fires it home to get Placido Polanco tagging from 3rd, and then Damian Miller turns and throws to 3rd to get Edgar Renteria tagging from 2nd.
A bases-loaded triple play, with arguably the greatest lefty of all-time vs the guy who had just hit 70 HR.
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- Roy Halladay's perfect game in Miami in 2010
- Mavs beating the Heat and winning the NBA championship in game 6 in 2011
- 2012 US Olympic gold medal game in women's soccer
- Giants winning the WS with a sweep in game 4 of the 2012 WS
- Sean Manea's no hitter vs Red Sox in 2018
Lol
Saw AJ Burnett throw a no hitter against the Padres and didn't even realize it because there were always men on base since he also walked 9 guys.
Got tickets and watched game 3 of the 1998 World Series. I had never been to a baseball game where I lost my voice the next day from getting into the crowd and electricity of that game.
Whatever you think about him, Barry Bonds could rake. He loved playing in San Diego and I saw a few of the most prodigious homeruns I had ever seen in my handful of years with Padre season tickets.
Saw a couple of SF Giants playoff games during their world series run years. The energy at those games was also amazing.
Sat in the top row of the Oakland Colosseum during a Wildcard game between Oakland and Houston in the days Earl Cambell played
Finally got to see a lot of bad ass hitters from the 70's until today. When I was a kid in the 70's, those guys seemed superhuman. Vlad Sr. was one of the most dangerous hitter I saw as an adult. He would just about swing out of his shoes sometimes.
Boone's walk off v Boston in the ALCS 2003
Purdue's blow out of thee Ohio State Univesity. 2018
Notre Dame's win over over FSU in 1993 31-24
Would have LOVED to be at that Purdue win. Watched it on TV, though. Big Michigan fan, so I hate that team that shall not be named. Thank you, Purdue!
December 2003, between semesters at ASU, I was in Hawaii right before Christmas. I had gone surfing out there a few times but my buddy had never been. In the middle of the week, we decided to rent a Jeep and head up to the north shore. The plan was just to check out the waves at Pipeline, hopefully find a bar on the beach with a hot bartender, grab lunch and a few beers, and then drive back to Waikiki. But that would not be the case...
Instead, we showed up at the beginning of the final day of the Pipeline Masters, the last event of the triple crown of surfing. Andy Irons beat Kelly Slater, at that time a six-time champion.
Parked, walked across the street to the beach, and there it was: free "seats" to the Super Bowl (please don't sue me, NFL) of surfing, Kelly Slater, the Michael Jordan of surfing, running six feet in front of us to paddle out and catch another wave. Andy Irons (RIP), Slater's heir-apparent holding him off to win. That whole day was killer. It was cloudy, right before Christmas, so the beach wasn't crowded. And yes, pro surfer groupies are way way way way way hot.
Fun fact: Jaromir is an anagram for Mario Jr!
Thought of another that was fun: Phoenix Open Pro-Am in 2007. Bill Murray was booed mercilessly when his drive on the famous par-3 16th hole landed in the bunker. But then the guy chipped it into the cup, got a monster ovation, and did snow angels in the sand. Bill fucking Murray!
BC beating Clemson at Clemson in 2007 on a Matt Ryan bomb with about 3:00 left and a spot in the ACC Championship Game on the line. The fan experience at Clemson was just incredible as a whole.
University of Denver beating Maine 1-0 in the 2004 NCAA hockey National Championship game in Boston, with Denver killing off a 6 on 3 powerplay int he last minute (5 on 3 plus Maine's goalie pulled for the extra attacker). Craziest, most unique ending I've ever seen. Was very cool to see in person.
My dad told me a story about a soccer game he went to at the old Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. This would have been in the 50's when he was a kid. I have no idea who was playing, but those crazy soccer fans got so riled up with loyalty to their respective teams they threw a guy out of the upper deck. He crashed and died, injuring several other people where he landed. They were all carried out by police and stadium employees, and there wasn't even a time out called in the game.
It took 5 minutes for the workers to clear off the fairway because all of the party goers were throwing their beer cans and stuff out in the fairway. We got totally hammered, and I hammered a blonde milf later on that night in her scottsdale condo. Good times!
The second, which I sadly remember much more clearly, was the 2001 Daytona 500. I grew up as a HUGE Dale Earnhardt fan and from my seat about halfway between turn 4 and the start/finish line I was heartbroken when I saw him wreck coming through the final corner. Then I sat in utter disbelief as the scene played out afterwards. My friends and I were sitting in the hotel bar when I heard the words that are seared into my brain "after the accident in turn four at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt" and the entire bar went completely silent. The next day as I was driving up I95 I heard on the radio that his car hauler was just a few miles behind where I was with a huge line of cars following it. I pulled off at the next exit so I could get a glimpse of it and as it went by there was a line of cars that had to be at least a mile long behind it with their lights on following it like it was the hearse at the front of a funeral procession.
But holy shit, Meat, you were there for that ace?!? That's awesome. I used to be a pool boy at the resort next to the golf course, all the players would stay there. In English class one day in high school, girl who was a maid there told me she was cleaning a room and the door opened...in walked Tiger. After all the Perkins waitress stuff I thought back to that and wondered if Tiger nailed her...she was good-looking.
Forgot about another "sports event" I saw... working at that hotel, we also hosted men's and women's tennis tournaments. I saw Anna Kournikova laying out. Red thong. I was 18, she was 18... I was absolutely too chicken shit to say hello.
https://youtu.be/EduujxPmRJA
It was the loudest thing I ever heard; a close game all the way. I yelled myself into a case of laryngitis. At the end, when the Ducks won, I'm jumping up and down and hugging this friend's parents (who I'd only met a time or two). It was great.
Luckily I was like 300 yards away.
One of the most exciting sporting events I’ve ever seen was being on the risers for the first round of March madness in the 1980’s. That was one of the best nights of my life!
The women's team (Detroit Shock, RIP) had a huge brawl once. My twin sister was trying to rush out onto the court to fight the players from the other team but luckily for her she was stopped by security. Lol. That whole situation was crazy to witness, including Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn's reactions.
Nina those sound awesome, especially a bunch of women brawling in front of those guys! I was living downriver for a year in high school in the 90s...would have loved to be at the Joe the night Darren McCarty beat the crap out of Claude Lemieux. And more recently, Comerica Park for Magglio Ordonez' walk-off to go to the World Series would've been epic.
https://youtu.be/6P4wg21mLf8
https://youtu.be/fPcoFK8jem8
Thought of a couple other interesting moments... I was leaning up against a wall or a pillar or something outside of a sports book Vegas, and suddenly a blur right in front of me and I got slammed... Shook out the cobwebs for a second and looked down to see Mike Tyson looking up and me saying, "I'm thowwy, thowwy!".
And at an Irish bar across from my office on my lunch break, this little Mexican dude was wasted (11:15am), kept bugging me, wanting to fist bump every few seconds. Bartender called his girlfriend to pick him for being too drunk. Turns out it was former silver medalist and five-time world champion Michael Carbajal.
We walked in, free of charge, and the dome was packed. The players were brought in and were in shock. We all were. The Twins went on to beat the Cards in 7 games is a season where GM Andy McPhail said “we were just trying to get organized and then we ended up winning the whole thing”.
I will die happy.
Bonds hitting HRs #71 and #72 same night (yes I understand he was roided out).
Bonds HRs #600 and #700
Final game of 2002 NLCS to reach WS
Must-win games 6 and 7 of 2012 NLCS to reach WS
Bumgarner's 2-0 win in 2012 WS
Bumgarner's 5-0 complete game shutout in 2014 WS
Another fun one - Game 6 of the Diamondbacks-Yankees World Series in 2001. Dbacks lit up Andy Pettit and NY for something like 19 hits. Game 7 would have been nice, but only saw that one on TV
Finally - numerous UA great basketball wins in McKale Center in the Lute Olsen years. Steve Kerr, Sean Elliot, and all the greats that followed.