Your Best Sports Fan Moment

The Game Room
1

Could be something you witnessed in person, or something you just saw on television, or something else altogether.

For me, it was 1996, Game 6 of the World Series.

Me, a 29 year old life-long Yankee fan, at Yankee Stadium when the Bombers win their first title since '78.

I had gone to Game 2 with a good friend, without tickets. We got to the Bronx very early and just soaked in the atmosphere all day. We eventually found a kid who “knew a guy” and for $50 each we were allowed to sneak past the sawhorse blocking the entrance to the bleachers while the security gaurd looked th other way. We stood the whole game as the Yankees lost, to go down 2-0 to the Braves. Things looked bleak.

Joe Torre’s first Yankee team rebounded, however, first with David Cone winning Game 3 in Atlanta. Then came the Jim Leyritz homer of Marl Wohlers in Game 5. Andy Pettitte sent the series back to the Bronx with his brilliant outing in Game 5 (maybe the best game I’ve ever seen pitched. 8 1/3 inning shutout including that gutsy throw to 3rd in the 6th inning with no outs to nail Smoltz.)

So I head back to the Stadium with my buddy and his girlfriend with no tickets. We wait all day with no luck. Finally, about 30 minutes before first pitch a guy walks by offering a single ticket for sale. My buddy looks at me and says, “take it, we’ll get in.” I buy the bleacher seat and head in. What a game. Jimmy Key battles Greg Maddux. The Yanks take the lead and hold it as the crowd starts to count down the outs. I’m way out in the left field bleachers, surrounded by crazed strangers who are as close as family. Every Brave out results in double high-fives and bear hugs. “9 MORE OUTS! 9 MORE OUTS!”… Finally, the last out is made into Charlie Hayes’ glove and the crowd goes wild. Controlled bedlam as people celebrate madly, but without going over the line. We stand around horse from screaming as the team celebrates and finally leaves the field. We head for the exits, continuing to chant and yell, and I make it back to the subway. I get off the train at 34th and start walking down 7th Ave. to my Chelsea apartment. Cars are streaming down the street honking their horns in the late night and calling out the windows, acknowledging my Yankee hat.

I make it home and collapse. The next day I call my buddy who tells me him and his GF got tickets at the last minute too, and had seats BEHIND HOME PLATE for the game with some cool people they partied with all night. I couldn’t have been happier for them.

It doesn’t get better than that.

2

Missed the edit window, but Jim Leyritz’ homer was obviously in Game 4. :smack:

3

October 27, 2004.

4

That doesn’t count. :stuck_out_tongue:

5

Watching that ball go through Bill Buckner’s legs.

6

Jokingly asking my friend last year right before the Chi/Ind superbowl what he would do if Hester ran back the opening kickoff for a TD. He said he would do 2 sommersaults in his living room (hey, we’re old). Then the kick off happened and I was screaming at the top of my lungs every 5 yards of the runback. I couldn’t believe that happened and my buddy did do his sommersaults.

We won’t talk about the rest of the game…

7

Well, there was this little football game a month ago…

8

I’d almost say October 20, 2004. Coming back from 0-3 to win the ALCS was such an incredible rush that the World Series itself felt more like an afterglow.

9

Yes. I will never forget how the final out unfolded in slow motion for me…

10

Watching Diego Maradona sink to his knees and cry during the 1990 World Cup final against West Germany.

Not a fan of either team - just an incredibly emotional moment.

Either that, or Ayrton Senna’s performance in the 1993 European Grand Prix (Formula 1) at Donington Park in England. His McLaren-Ford wasn’t half as good as the dominant Williams-Renaults. The track was soaking wet. It didn’t matter. Senna was transcendent - nobody on the track could touch him.

It was his last great performance until his death in 1994, which to this day is the only thing that ever made me cry (after about my seventh birthday).

11

My best fan moment was attending Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins, in 1996, against the Rockies.

My buddy and I were invited to the game by a mutual friend, who won tickets in a radio contest (he answered a trivia question completely unrelated to sports). That mutual friend had absolutely zero interest in baseball, and was even considering not going so he could see a play. At the last minute, he invited us to go.

Now, my buddy and I always had a running joke at any game. We’d start out going, “okay, he’s got a perfect game.” Then…“Perfect through one.” And so on, until a walk or a hit. Then, it was “well, he’s still got a no-hitter”, or “we still got a shutout.” (Dumb, I know, but just something we always did).

Well, in this one, it wasn’t a joke. By the fifth inning, we were going “holy shit, he’s got a no-hitter through five!” By the 7th, Leiter got a standing ovation when he came up to bat (and Al Leiter swung like a rusty gate). From that point on, every out he got was tense, adrenaline fueled excitment until the last out.

The mutual friend never did understand what all the fuss was; I mean, it was a “boring” game to him, since one team didn’t even get any hits.

12

As a die-hard LSU fan, the 2003 and 2007 season BCS championship games were gold for me.

As far as in person goes, I was in the stands (student section) for the “earthquake game” vs. Auburn at Tiger stadium in 1988. A 6-0 battle going into the last 2 minutes. LSU drives down the field, converting some very difficult yardage and downs. Then, on 4th down, a 15-yard TD pass to snag the victory 7-6. I went nuts. The whole stadium went nuts. I was hugging people I didn’t know and jumping up and down.

Ah, I love college football.

And now for something completely different. I don’t really care for ice skating or winter sports in general, but I do watch the winter Olympics. The 2002 women’s figure skating. Keeping half an eye on the TV. Oh, look, there’s some girl named Sarah Hughes. Wow, she’s in the running. Cute. U.S. team, okay, let’s go Sarah. She was trailing the leaders going into her last program. Ok, I’ll watch.

That was just magic. This girl, this amateur high school ice skater on a world stage, skates the best program of her life. You could tell by the look on her face as the music stopped that she could not believe what she had just done. She was amazed at herself and overcome with emotion as the tears of joy fell (well before the scores came in). I teared up myself. I just felt so *glad * for her. She took the gold and she deserved every ounce of it. What a special thing to have done; what a special thing to have watched.

13

Oh, for events at the stadium, it Yankee Stadium on October 1, '61*.

14

Game 7, 1982. I was there. I was twelve. Sutter gets Gorman Thomas swinging, place goes berserk, Cards win for the first time in my life.

Little did I know at the time that it would take three times as long as I was alive for my team to win it all again.

(Weird story about that. ESPN Classic showed Game 7 a few years ago - I had never seen the TV footage before. As I’m remembering the game, recalling the batter and that he gets on base, it pops up to where my family’s seats were. Quick crowd shot of foul ball, then back to the action. I remembered that pitch getting that close to us. Thanks to DVR, I rewound and slo-mo’ed. There I was - third row past where the tunnel railing ends - wearing my red hat, my brothers and parents next to me, clear as day. Pretty strange seeing your twelve year old self on TV 25 years later).

15

Three way tie for me:

  1. As a teen in Atlanta, watching Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth’s record.
  2. Watching Cal Ripken tie and then break Lou Gehrig’s record.
  3. Watching the USA whip Portugal in Incheon.

Was in attendance for all three.

Biggest disappointment was not spending the dosh to see my Gators win the Football or Basketball national championships. Not sure I would have enjoyed the Super Bowl in person, I think that was just as much fun on TV. Ditto the Lightning’s Stanley Cup win, which will probably be the only one they ever get.

16

I was in the Portwalk.

17

1993 World Series. Game Six.

Mitch Williams vs. Joe Carter.

18

Tigers winning the AL Championship in 2006. I was at a bar with my buds (we were all just old enough to be there legally), and we saw them win the division. The whole place went nuts.

It was awesome, because I’d had a strange summer. My only constant companion was the 3AM rebroadcast of the Tiger games. It was so much fun to watch.

19

Royals winning game 7 if the World Series in 1985. Just watching the Cards come unglued was…an experience. Brett and Sabes embracing is an image that will live forever in Royals fandom.

Second best is June 18, 1997, when I actually got to visit Kauffman Stadium for the first and thus far only time. As a bonus, the Royals won! Hopefully making my second trip there this June.

20

My favorite in-person moment was the Miracle at Midnight. It was the first NFL game I’d ever attended. The Jets were down 30-7 going into the fourth quarter, and most of the fans had left. We had adopted the “25 point rule”, so were within 2 points of bailing on the game ourselves.

But since it was so empty, at the start of the 4th quarter we moved down from the nosebleed section to the mezzanine section at about the 20 yard line of the goal line the Jets were attacking in that 4th quarter. Watching that comeback, and screaming my throat bloody raw well past midnight on a work night, will forever be etched into my memory.