Turns out the rules of time travel are kind of funny, though: I can send you only to the spectator seating area of a sporting venue, and only for the duration of a single event. By “event” I mean a single game, match, race, etc. You can go to a Super Bowl, for instance, but not an entire World Series; you must pick one game. And you can’t choose the 1968 Winter Olympics, but you can choose the Men’s Figure Skating finals thereof.
Also, if you attempt to leave the venue you’ll instantly be pulled back to your own place and time. So there’s no point choosing an early soccer match at Wembley Stadium because you want to explore 1920’s London. It won’t work. You can explore Wembley Stadium and that’s it.
And, oh yeah, after you’ve time-traveled once, you can never do it again, so you have one and only one choice.
So, within those parameters, what sporting event will you attend and why?
To answer my own question, I think I’d have to go to the 5-year-old Yankee Stadium on Saturday, October 8, 1927.
The '27 Yankees were arguably the greatest team ever fielded, and on October 8 they completed their sweep of the Pirates to win the World Series by breaking a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the ninth. Even though he went 0-for-5, I’d get to see Lou Gerhig play, and I’d see Babe Ruth hit a home run. I don’t think it gets better than that for a baseball fan.
Game 7, 1960 World Series. I’m surprised it’s not football, but while I’ve seen the Steelers win the Super Bowl I’ve never seen the Pirates win the World Series, and that game is the definition of historic. The Pirates had no business winning that Series. If you look at the numbers it wasn’t even close. Yet there was Mazeroski, hitting a very rare home run in a huge pitcher’s park to win it for the underdogs.
Hmm, I am not a big sports fan so I think I will go for the jousting tournament that almost killed King Henry VIII.
I chose this for no particular reason. I’ve been reading books on the time period and I think it would be interesting to see how everybody reacted when the King went down. The sport itself doesn’t really interest me, but the time period and the people involved do.
So put me down for Greenwich Palace on 24 January 1536.
I don’t particularly want to go there, but there is an event I would like to see on TV with modern technology. The 1960 US Open in golf. Hogan at the end of his career, Palmer in his prime, and very young Jack Nickaus in the mix.
Golf tournaments are not all that fun to attend, a spectator misses so much of the action.
If I got to choose won, the US/Soviet Union Olympic semi-final hockey game in 1980. It had to be electric.
Another vote for 1980 Miracle on Ice game between US and USSR.
Close second would be the Kirby Puckett game 6 of the 1991 World Series between Minnesota and Atlanta.
Choice between
Miracle on Ice
Game 6 of '75 or '86 WS
Game 7 of '04 ALCS
Havlicek’s steal
At Heartbreak Hill the year it earned the nickname
Super Bowl XXXVI (Pats beat Rams)
'83 Sugar Bowl
'87 Fiesta Bowl
Game JoePa set win record
I’ve watched the game on DVD many times. I would have loved to be there in person. Not a Flyers fan now, although I read a lot of books about Bobby Clarke during the 1970s when I was in elementary school.
