Any Game Could Be THE Game...
I am slowly gearing up for the weekend tilt in Milwaukee between the Bucks and Denver Ipecacs (more on that below). Of course, the presence of the lowly Nuggets makes the game less of a draw than it could be, especially since it's the second time I will have seen Denver this year. But as I thought about it, I realized that the quality of the teams competing often has no bearing on whether you will see something special happen in any given contest. It always helps to have good teams, and it adds a layer of enjoyment to the proceedings, but it isn't strictly necessary to have a memorable experience.
And that got me to thinking: What are the most memorable things I've seen in person, from a sporting perspective? As I mentally surveyed the hundreds of football, baseball and basketball games I've seen in person, I felt a little flat. The fact is, I haven't seen anything that is a milestone, or historic. But I have seen some interesting things, including:
Cecil Fielder hitting a ball literally into the last row of general admission in Kansas City, off of Tom Gordon. It was a BOMB. The crowd went "Oooooooohhhh". Had to be 475 feet at least, and it seemed like it was in the air forever.
Bo Jackson hit a dramatic homerun off of Bobby Thigpen in the bottom of the 11th to win a game. Another bomb, and it was the year that Thigpen set the saves record. Bo Jackson was special, but that wasn't the most amazing thing I saw him do in person. That was...
In the year he got a September call-up from the Royals, his first major-league action. Just raw tools, few skills. But man, what tools! He was in right field, and Kirby Puckett was on first. Somebody hits a shot into the gap; Bo cuts it off. I remember looking at Puckett, who could run for a 5'2", 290 pound man, as he was rounding second. Bo didn't even have the ball in his glove yet. Bo gets the ball and fires a cannon shot that basically hits the bag at third. If it got 10 feet off the ground, I'd be surprised. Puckett couldn't believe it, and neither could anybody else. Best throw I ever saw in person. Maybe the best PLAY I ever saw in person.
Those are all baseball stories. I've seen a lot of great basketball games, but nothing that really stands out to me. I've seen Kevin Garnett hit a game-winner as time runs out, when everybody in the building knew he was going to do it. I saw KG get 24 boards against the Kings in December of 2001. But I have yet to see a truly memorable individual performance in a basketball game.
From a historic standpoint, I saw Stephon Paige set the then-NFL record for receiving yards in a game, with 309 vs. the Chargers in the mid-80's. That's a lot of yards, folks. The interesting thing about that game was that the Chiefs started with Bill Kenney at QB, who then got hurt, and finished with Todd Blackledge (Hiss!) Both ended up throwing for over 250 yards, which I also believe was a record. Fun game.
Who knows? Maybe Nene Hilario will go off for 50 Saturday night? Maybe George Karl will spontaneously combust. You just never know.
I'd love to hear about some of the memorable things you've seen at games...
You'd Vomit Too If You Had To Watch This Team...
So, Denver Nugget Rodney White literally vomited on the court last night. I don't even know where to go with that. I just thought you would want to know.
12:45:45 PM 
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