# If you could attend any ONE sporting event in history, what would it be? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 7, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545 "2011-09-07T21:20:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/61 "2011-09-08T18:41:48Z")
June 19, 1846, Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey. The first documented baseball game, between the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club and the New York Nine. Would love to see how the game was played back then. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/62 "2011-09-08T19:18:06Z")
1950 World Cup - Brazil vs. Uruguay. To be there are the final whistle with 174,000 other people must have been amazing and eerie. The greatest upset in sports history. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/63 "2011-09-08T20:06:17Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > And you folks picking the Ice Bowl…you’d really want to sit out in that weather? Hell, yes. I’ve been to a number of very cold games at Lambeau (though, obviously, none that were quite that cold). I’d cope with 3 hours of that cold, to be able to see that game. Also, I’m hoping that the OP’s time machine will allow me to bring modern cold-weather clothing along. I’d likely be in far better shape, from that standpoint, than most of the people who attended. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/64 "2011-09-08T20:57:44Z")
Well, yeah, I’m seriously biased, but I’d love to be in the stands during Game 1 of the '88 World Series. I watched it on TV, but the opportunity to have been in the stands would have been awesome. Second choice would probably have been the Miracle on Ice. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/65 "2011-09-08T21:41:07Z")
Too easy of a choice…[Miracle on Ice.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_Ice) Just reading the link of how they matched up against each other and the road they took just to get to that game is inspiring. Only 2 guys were 25 years old, and the rest were college kids (22 and under) going up the best professionals of a huge country…a team that beat other NHL teams and all-stars in exhibition games just before the Olympics, a team that routed the kids 10-3 just 2 weeks before that semi-final. I would have love to been a fly on the wall in the locker room any moment the team was there…to hear Herb Brooks squeeze and twist the kids emotions to get them to be world beaters. There was a lot more going on than just the game and I would have loved to see what actually happened in that locker room. But I would have missed what Herb said to his team in the second intermission of the finals… > [@](#): > > The United States did not win the gold medal upon defeating the USSR. In 1980 the medal round was a round-robin, not a single elimination format as it is today. Under Olympic rules at the time, the group game with Sweden was counted along with the medal round games versus the Soviet Union and Finland so it was mathematically possible for the United States to finish anywhere from first to fourth.[35] > > Needing to win to secure the gold medal, Team USA came back from a 2–1 third period deficit to defeat Finland 4–2.[14] According to Mike Eruzione, coming into the dressing room in the second intermission, Brooks turned to his players, looked at them and said, _ **“If you lose this game, you’ll take it to your graves.”** _ He then paused, took a few steps, turned again, said, _ **“Your fucking graves,”** _ and walked out.[36] ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/66 "2011-09-08T21:44:12Z")
A Gladiator game in Ancient Rome. One where they flooded the coliseum and had a sea battle. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/67 "2011-09-08T21:48:46Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I think that seeing Superbowl C would be kind of cool. I like this idea. I’d go see game 1 of the 2111 World Series. Maybe Jamie Moyer will be one of the starting pitchers. ---
**Author:** ![pitcairnpete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@pitcairnpete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pitcairnpete)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/68 "2011-09-08T21:55:13Z")
Sorry to be tacky, but it would be the world cup final, 1966. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/69 "2011-09-08T22:15:10Z")
Recent as it was, I’m tempted to say Federer vs. Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/70 "2011-09-08T22:33:11Z")
Just to be a jerk (which I’m not… Really!), I’d go back to the last game of 1908 World Series and dress like a mad hermit - rags, sandals, staff, beard, etc. Then I’d contrive to be tripped up or beer bumped by a Cubs fan exiting the park, and go through an elaborate ritual of laying a curse on him and his team, yea, unto the seventh generation. Then vanish in a time machine yank-back to my own time (_fwip_!) Sure I’d miss the game, but I’d enter baseball lore itself. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/71 "2011-09-09T00:53:03Z")
David VS. Goliath…Smackdown in the Valley! Failing that, the rest of the White Sox game that my church group left early from…it was starting to rain, we left, and apparantly it continued, went into overtime and into the history books for something or other. I’d like to know what I missed! ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/72 "2011-09-09T00:56:33Z")
Oh wait, I have a better one…the game I’m missing RIGHT DAMN NOW cause of the stupid power outage. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/73 "2011-09-09T01:25:12Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Hmmm…it’s probably a toss-up between the Miracle on Ice, or the 1991 Stanley Cup finals. The Miracle was awesome, but it’s hard to turn down the chance to see Super Mario in his prime, hoisting up Sir Stanley’s Cup for the first time. LORD Stanley. I’m going with Game Six, 1993 World Series. How could I not? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/74 "2011-09-09T02:05:27Z")
Interesting. [Here](http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/1932-video-habs-morenz-scores-to-tie-leafs) is a newsreel of a 1932 hockey game between Montreal and Toronto. Fascinating from a historical perspective, but I’m not sure i’d really enjoy watching this style of hockey for a whole game. I’m sure the novelty of seeing a game from this era would be interesting, but I far prefer the game that I’ve seen in historical games from the 1960s and beyond. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/75 "2011-09-09T02:42:39Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > LORD Stanley. :smack: I knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/76 "2011-09-09T14:05:12Z")
Along tennis’s second [Battle of the Sexes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Sexes_(tennis)#Riggs_v_King) to see Billy Jean King hand Bobby Riggs his ass on a tennis racket. ---
**Author:** ![Post\_Miss\_Post](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Post\_Miss\_Post](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Post_Miss_Post)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/77 "2011-09-09T14:29:20Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > The Berlin Olympics of 1936. So that I can shoot Hitler in the face. Yeah. I came to say this. Not so much the shooting in the face, but I’d have loved to gauge the crowd when Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal. If (as per the rules) I have to choose one single event - the 100 meters for the sheer thrill of the dash. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/78 "2011-09-09T19:14:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Along tennis’s second [Battle of the Sexes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Sexes_(tennis)#Riggs_v_King) to see Billy Jean King hand Bobby Riggs his ass on a tennis racket. My dad saw that match and said it was embarrassing. Bobby Riggs was retired and pushing 60 at the time of the match (though his ego was still in its teens). ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/79 "2011-09-12T15:05:02Z")
Probably gladiators, or Achilles vs Hector if that counts. But I’m also tempted by US vs England in the 1950 World Cup (probably a bigger upset than the Miracle on Ice), or finding one of Pele’s games to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Sundrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sundrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sundrop)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545/80 "2011-09-13T00:25:21Z")
Picture it. 1957. Kansas City, MO. Municipal Auditorium. The NCAA Men’s Basketball final watching my beloved Tar Heels defeat the Kansas Jayhawks with the phenom Wilt the Stilt Chamberlain. To be in the stands, watching Frank McQuire coach Cunningham, Kearns, Rosenbluth, Brennan and the rest of the legends to an undefeated season, would be my blue heaven. Add in that it is the only NCAA men’s basketball championship to go to triple overtime, that it laid the groundwork for ‘March Madness’ and helped turned basketball into a second religion in North Carolina that’s the sporting event I’d pick in a heartbeat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-attend-any-one-sporting-event-in-history-what-would-it-be/595545.md?page=5)