Prompted by a discussion on Silver and Blue Sports I was inspired to write about my top five all-time sporting events I’ve attended. As I read through some of the really good ones, I realized my list was not nearly as cool as so many of them, but all of them have some great memories.
Here they are:
5. 2005 Nevada-Fresno State game at Mackay Stadium. I love the cold for football and that was a good one. Nichiren Flowers catching the touchdown in the south end zone, then Robert Hubbard taking a knee at the goal line was outstanding.
4. 2006 WAC title game at Lawlor Events Center. The USU-Nevada game was awesome, and when the wolf howl rang in near the end the place went nuts.
3. 2008 Dodgers-Red Sox preseason game at the LA Coliseum. Seeing baseball in the Coliseum was sweet. I caught a home run ball during BP, then lost it going after another one. Blake DeWitt homering off Jonathan Papelbon was great.
2. 2006 Battle in Seattle. Some Gonzaga toad sitting in our section started talking all kinds of smack when Fazekas fouled out, then wouldn’t look at anyone who was trying to razz him after Sessions and Ikovlev hit their threes to seal the deal.
1. 1985 Dodger Stadium – Valenzuela vs. Gooden. My first baseball game. We had annoying Mets fans (are there any other types of Mets fans) in front of us running their mouths in their NY accents about “seeing us in Octobah” after Gooden locked the Dodgers up and punched out 14 guys or something. Check the final standings from 1985, then pop off Mets fans.
There are some other honorable mentions, including several Dodgers-Giants games at AT&T Park in San Francisco. I got to see Jeff Kent get booed so loudly several times, but once he launched a 3-run home run over our heads in the left field bleachers. Watching Giants fans have aneurysms is awesome. I’ve also been able to see Barry Bonds hit some home runs in person, which is pretty cool no matter what your stance on the guy. I was also in attendance when he stole his 500th base. Man, remember when the Giants were competitive? But the most memorable Bonds moment was when I saw him, on the same day Hong-Chi Kuo tossed us a baseball, hit a 3-2 pitch about 550 feet into the water off of Kuo, who was a rookie at the time. It was an awesome at-bat and a great matchup.
Once we hit traffic on the Bay Bridge and missed the first four innings of Edwin Jackson-pitched 2-hit baseball. We considered skipping the game, in favor of heading to Berkley and watching USC-Cal, but the radio broadcast intrigued me as Jackson walked tons of guys but still owned the Giants. As we listened to the radio on the way home that day, USC fell in overtime to the Bears. I would have hated seeing that.
Anyway, if any of you have a memory to share, do it. Link to your spot in the comments or leave it there. I love hearing stuff like this
Comments
sonny ruckstuhl wrote:
#5 would have to be the clinching Game 4 of Seattle Sonics v. Golden State Warriors in 1992 playoffs. George Karl as coach with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp just beginning to play at a high level. And the Warriors had Mitch Richmond, Chris Mullin, and Tim Hardaway.
#4 would be LSU-FSU in 1982. Playing for an Orange Bowl bid, LSU won in a rout as fog moved in and oranges were flying from the stands. This was the first time LSU made it to a major bowl in my lifetime as Alabama had owned the SEC for much of the 60s and 70s. It was also important as I was failing two classes at the time, knew the parental units were going to be pissed in a few weeks when grades came in, and marked the high point of my slacker, inebriated student time as a freshman at LSU.
#3 NO Saints v. Buffalo Bills in 1973. The Saints sucked, as always, that year. But OJ came to town and the Saints won in a shutout and were the only team to hold OJ to under 100 yards in his 2003 yard season. Also, in that game, the refs had called a penalty on the crowd for creating too much noise. The crowd sustained the noise until they reversed the penalty!
#2 was UNC-Georgetown NCAA final in 1982. From Patrick Ewing blocking or goaltending the first five attempts at the basket to Jordan hitting the jumper, definitely the best college game I ever saw. On the way home, got out of a speeding ticket as the Louisiana State Trooper had to pick which car to let go as 3 of us were speeding. He stopped the other two cars. What a night!
#1 is a bit cheesy as it involves my son’s little league team. He pitched solidly until he maxed out the # of pitches in the championship game last spring. Then, scored the winning run in the bottom of the 5th (and last) inning. It was magical and mattered more than any of the others. And, it emphasized how rare those moments are for anyone who plays sports.
Honorable mentions: 1971 Saints-Lions game when Tom Dempsey, with a club foot, kicks a 63 yard field goal to win the game. My Uncle Fred made us leave and we were on the catwalk on the outside of Tulane Stadium when he made the kick. 1987 SEC baseball tourney with LSU and Albert “Joey” Belle winning the championship. All w/o Joey going all “Trick or Treater” on anyone. 1992 Denver-Seattle Monday night game when Seattle beat John Elway’s Denver squad for their only win of the year. Man, did they look like the Saints that year.
Apr 8, 11:22 PM
Ryan Jerz wrote:
You’ve been to some sweet games. I forgot to think about college baseball. There were some dandies at Peccole in the ’90s with Long Beach State, CS Fullerton, and heated rival Pacific. I remember a great one (only for the thrills) with Pacific where there were about three bench-clearing incidents complete with a guy in the stands running so much smack that I swear he caused most of the trouble.
I also saw a fun one at Moana Stadium with the Silver Sox and the Palm Springs Angels. The Angels had this guy who looked exactly like Chris Sabo (rec specs) playing third base. This guy near my cousin and I was obliterated and kept yelling “Hey [whoever], SINGLE A. Ha. Ha. Ha” “Hey ump, SINGLE A. Ha. Ha. Ha” And, of course, “Hey Sabo, SINGLE A. Ha. Ha. Ha.” The players’ wives were giving him nasty looks, and after the game they had to get between “Sabo” and this guy, who deserved to have his ass kicked by the players. Not necessarily great, but certainly fun.
Apr 10, 10:14 AM
Laura wrote:
1995, UNLV at Nevada football, in the depths of the Horton at UNLV era. I wasn’t there, but my brother and his friends made the cover photo of 3 different newspapers.
Apr 10, 10:23 AM
Ryan Jerz wrote:
Your brother wasn’t that kid flipping off Quincy Sanders, was he? What an awesome picture that is. (And I know that’s not him).
I think that was the same game that a UNLV guy cheerleader was taunting Wolfie so Wolfie laid him out. The Melee at Mackay. Classic.
Apr 10, 10:26 AM
Ryan wrote:
I posted mine on SBS (activereno) and the 1995 Nevada-unlv game was my number 3. I was only 9, but I still remember the game like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the field the whole time… It was awesome.
A few memories that stick out:
- After the game when the brawl broke out, I was almost trampled by 3 thugs who jumped the fence and ran out onto the field. I’m 99% sure they were friends of Quincy Sanders, and they went out there to back him up.
- After the game when the Nevada guys were leaving the field with the cannon, I shook hands with as many players as I could. I was so pumped.
- I didn’t hear about this story until a couple of years ago: My uncle and his friend were hanging out on the Mackay track, right where the visiting team walked to the locker room. The first half ended and the security started to block off the crowd with a rope so UNLV could “safely” walk to their locker room. My uncle, his friend, and some random dude were stuck in no-mans land—they were inside the rope and all of the sudden UNLV started to run past them.
Before they knew it, Jeff Horton was two feet away. The random dude decided it would be a good idea to throw his full beer right at Horton’s face… completely drenched him. The cops tackled him and rubbed his face raw on the Mackay track.
Only in Reno…
Apr 10, 11:22 AM
Ryan Jerz wrote:
That beer drenching story sounds familiar. What a crazy time. I have a friend who is UNPD and he says that we have the worst fans he has seen, and this includes traveling with the team. I’ve seen more than one beer fly out of the south end zone at the opposing team. My cousin, who played WR at Utah State in the early 90s said they never heard so much cussing and getting spit on as when they walked to the locker room at Mackay. With all of that, you’d think our home field advantage would be better than it is and we might steal a win against a real good team sometime.
Apr 11, 10:42 AM
Ryan wrote:
Growing up going to Nevada games, I just assumed that was typical behavior for college football games (fights in the stands, opposing coaches being pelted with debris, chants with the F-bomb, etc.). But going to games at Iowa for the past two years made me realize how unique Mackay is.
People go to Iowa games to watch football; people go to Mackay to have a good time. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but I think it’s interesting to compare and contrast the differences.
Apr 12, 06:56 AM
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Ryan Jerz is an all-around good guy who shoots photos and video, builds websites, and works in athletics at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received a Masters Degree in 2007 from the University of Nevada, Reno's Reynolds School of Journalism.