Guys, did that bring a tear to your eye?

Ok, so we all know that real men don’t cry…except at maybe sports. So, what were the last few things that had you getting a bit misty? I’d ask the women, but that damn thread would be longer than Guy Stuff.

For me? Well, its pretty far and few between, but I’ll give it a shot.

[ul]
[li]Ending a long distance relationship 2 years ago.[/li][li]Cal Ripken breaking Gehrig’s record.[/li][li]Walter Payton’s announcement and subsequent death of Kidney disease.[/li][li]Putting in eye drops.[/li][li]Watching a rebroadcast of “The Miracle on Ice”, Lake Placid 1980 US Hockey beating the USSR.[/li][li]Jordan winning the 4th title after losing his father.[/li][/ul]

Thats about all I can think of the last 5 years or so. Come on guys, share. The girls will think you’re “sensitive”…but not too sensitive.

coming home from a business trip to a ring and a note

hearing that one of my close buddies from the Marines had died (he was 25), well, technically, I cried at the funeral. He’s the first person I’ve ever known that died. God speed, Brian.

If most of your “crying bouts” are brought on by sporting events, “sensitive” is about the last word that will come to most women’s minds. :wink:

Hell, I got a little misty watching “Magnolia” the other night. I cry at movies quite frequently.

Omniscient wrote:

Don’t tell me you cry when you run out of Budweiser, too!

The last five years?

  • At my aunts funeral, 4 years ago, where I and 3 other family members carried her coffin to the grave. I was able to make it through the ceremony without tears, but wept like a baby in the parking lot afterwards. She was only 49. Dammit, I’m tearing up just typing about it.

  • I shed a tear at my grandfathers funeral, about 5 weeks ago. Didn’t really cry, but I got real misty when I put my hand on his coffin in the crematory. He died at 87, after a long and mostly healthy life.

  • I got REALLY misty when I shook a Canadian veterans hand in Maastricht in 1995. I was thanking him for liberating my country. Most of you will know which thread to check for the entire anecdote.

  • And admittedly, I did tear up a bit when Holland lost to Brasil in the 1998 World Cup semi-finals. Not in Euro 2000 though - if you miss two penalties during the game, you don’t deserve to win it anyway. But in 1998, we were SO close to making the finals - and we would have REALLY deserved it. Plus, we would probably have beaten France in the finals. Damn.

My kids have choked me up. They can be so sweet sometimes.

I did have a few sports-related mistings:

The Yankee Stadium tribute to Thurman Munson after his death in 1979.

Joe Carter’s HR that ended the 1993 World Series. Think about it, he did what every little boy that picks up a bat dreams of: he hit a home run and won the World Series! Just seeing the joy on his face as he hopped around the bases made ME feel like a 12-year-old again!

-First movement of Bach’s Sonata for Unaccompanied Cello No. 1. Reminds me of an old, beloved girlfried who gave me the equivalent of a ring and a note.

-The end of It’s A Wonderful Life. Ah, shaddap already. I know it’s a big ol’ piece of schmaltzy schlock but I just can’t help it.

-Thomas Tallis’ Spem in alium. There’s this one point where all 40 voices come in after a moment of silence. It’s powerful stuff. Same for ‘es wurde Licht’ from Haydn’s The Creation.

-Thinkin’ about my dog and my grandpa Ramström. Miss 'em both terribly.

That’s the news this week from Lake Olentzero, where the men are geeky, the women lust after them anyway, and the children argue with you no matter what you say.

I first thought there had been a terrible zipper accident when I read the title but am happy that there wasn’t.

Being the man’s man that I am I find that I tear up at all manner of things… life, death, taxes, you name it. I can be such a big sap at times.

Just thinkinging about zippers and their potential for damage has caused a little tear in my right eye…

Hoping Mrs. Rastahomie isn’t looking

  1. That commercial for Office Max where the woman mouths “Thank You” as she sees her husband several rows over buying a bunch of school supplies. snif

  2. Mark McGwire hits #62. snif

  3. September 26, 1989: The Cubs win the division. snif

  4. The ghost of Fantine slowly enters the stage and sings “Come with me, where chains will never bind you” to a dying Jean Valjean. snif

  5. Every time I watch a tape of the Challenger exploding. snif

  6. Old Yeller. 'Nuff said. *snif

  7. OK, this hasn’t happened yet, but when it does: when I learn that Ronald Reagan has died. bawl and weep

Just to cover my ass a bit, let me elaborate on mine. The events if you’re not familiar are a bit more deep than simple sporting events. Just like some people cry at movies, its the real life stories behind the athletes and history behind the events that make them emotional beyond the typical sports nut in me.

Jordan’s 4th title was won in '96, about 2 years after his father was murdered. He and his father were very close, and he was always present at most all games he played from little league to '94. He played his heart out, on Father’s Day no less, and won game six to clench his 4th title at home in Chicago and dedicated it to his dad. Its was one of the only times you saw him cry over a victory, and you could feel him releasing 2 years of emotions on the court. It says something to every father and son who watched.

The Miracle on Ice obviously brings out that patriot inside me, and make you get misty during that playing of the Anthem.

Payton was a guy who I grew up with, and him passing away meant alot of things beyond just the games he played.

Ripken’s night was special both because you can’t help but feel emotional hearing the story of Lou Gerhig, a guy famed for his talent and durability, and watching a disease take away all his physical abilities, and also seeing a guy as likeable as Ripken celebrating with his fans at home, and finally his wife and kids. Its probably the image of him celbrating thats more emotional than the significence of the record.

And yes, I do cry when i realize I forgot to stock the fridge :).

Ditto, but now that you mention it, it has been a long time since I’ve seen it.

Ok, here goes.

Two nights before my wedding my best man (who flew all the way down from Alaska) and I went out and got smashed. When we got home my sister had left a message on my machine wishing my good luck and all that (She was in New York going to college and was in the middle of finals, she couldn’t make it). Well, being all drunk and emotional, I lost it. That was the only time in my adult life I have ever really cried.

I’m disappointed that none of you macho men mentioned the end of Braveheart. That one got me.

I started crying three minutes into Saving Private Ryan and didn’t really stop until about fifteen minutes after the final credits.

Most of my other teary bouts were during times of mass stress when I was on the verge of a breakdown. Nothing especially eventful; just absolute exhaustion and inability to control my emotions. Does that make me sensitive?

<hijack>
Braveheart always gives me chills down the back of my neck.

I always find myself sitting up very straight or standing at attention to the National Anthem and getting a chill on the last line as well. Must be something about the burden overcome by those seeking the freedom so many of us take for granted.

</hijack>

Actually, the sap I was right after the ring-and-note thing, I cried a tiny bit during the final episode of Mad About You, it was just very sweet and touching.

The end of Life is Beautiful. I just absolutely lost it.

Most recently was yesterday, when I heard the news of exactly how bad my GF’s breast cancer has spread. I almost went home from work for the day.

When I realized I had no more worlds to conquer.

  1. While slicing raw onions.

Okay, sorry, I’ll admit it, I have this bizarre tendency to cry AT CHILDREN’S BOOKS. And not necessarily SAD children’s books.

Frinstance, I have this picture book called REBEL, which I read several times to my daughter when she was younger, and to my son now…it’s about this poor town in the Philippines or someplace, where the victorious General drives into town with his armies and his tanks and shit, and announces to the farm people assembled in the schoolyard that he’s the Leader now, and everyone will pay tribute to him, and all the school lessons will be about his glorious victories and stuff. Suddenly a sandal is flung from the schoolhouse, which clips the General on the ear and knocks his hat off. He’s furious, and demands that everyone be dragged from the school, and that the child with only one sandal will be displayed in a monkey cage as punishment. The soldiers pull everyone out, and each person…children, teachers, administrators, janitor…is now wearing only one sandal. This final line is something about the General driving out of town with all his jeeps and tanks and soldiers, “but he could still hear the laughter.”

Damn. Breaks me up every time.

I also cry at Michael Foreman’s WAR GAME, a picture book about the famous Christmas Day Truce. It’s about a group of British farm youths who happily join up with the Army in 1914 for some jolly good times as soldiers, and ends up with all of them being horribly slaughtered in the trenches. My wife took that one away from me before I could read it to the kids any more…

I cry all the fucking time. It’s pathetic, really. Ask Drain Bead about it. Don’t ask me. I’ll probably cry.

The OP takes a joke line I thought up - A real man can cry, but it has to be about sports - but sports moments will make out-and-out bawl as well.

As for sports moments that come to mind:[ul]
[li]When Kerri Strug nailed that one-legged landing at The Olympics.[/li][li]Watching Ali shaking with the Olympic torch in his hands at the opening ceremony in Atlanta.[/li][li]Whenever I watch the reply of the Giants SB against the Broncos and they show a sign in the crown “Dad, our dreams have come true,” because my Dad is a huge Giants fan who instilled that in me.[/li][li]Every time the Yankees won a World Series.[/li][li]When they replay Hank Aaron’s 715th home run with the fans patting him on the back.[/ul]The absolute worst was when that runner pulled a hamstring in the Olympics, and wasn’t gonna be able to finish, but his father came out of the stands and him finish the race. He is crying his eyes out, you can see the love his father has for him in his eyes as he carried his injured son across the finish line. The stills alone make me bawl and I am, in fact, crying right now at the memory of this.[/li]
I will also cry at commercials, movies and even television shows.

I’m a huge fucking pussy, essentially.

The last really good cry I had - the kind lasting a day - was when Wally passed away…


Yer pal,
Satan - Commissioner, The Teeming Minions

*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Five months, three days, 15 hours, 12 minutes and 46 seconds.
6265 cigarettes not smoked, saving $783.17.
Extra life with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 18 hours, 5 minutes.

*“I’m a big Genesis fan.”-David B. (Amen, brother!) **

I went to see the recent Kevin Costner movie For Love of the Game with my brother and Mr. Sunshine. When it was over, they didn’t get up to leave right away like they normally do…and then I realized that they both were crying. Just a teeny little bit, but crying they were! I was flabbergasted. You’ve never met two more manly men and to see them with tears in their eyes at a movie was too funny!