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Challenger

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by bigpern23, Jan 28, 2011.

  1. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    I was in sixth grade. I was in the lunch room standing in line to put my tray away. Twenty-five years later, I could tell you exactly where I was standing in line. I could tell you who I was talking to, and what we were talking about.
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    There's a story/urban legend I've heard more than once that a well-known writer went to cover the Challenger Launch and blew off actually going because he was hung over. He actually filed a story about how glorious it was to see, so on and so forth... because he had no idea what had happened.

    I think I remember hearing about this as all of the Jayson Blair stuff was breaking.

    Obviously the desk prevented the story from running.
     
  3. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    OKC and Columbine barely registered with me. I think I was at my uncle's house in Long Island when the Murrah building blew up. No clue about Columbine.

    I remember the San Francisco earthquake in '89 and the start of the first Gulf War much more vividly than OKC or Columbine.
     
  4. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Oh, and I remember the O.J. chase better than all except 9/11.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Yeah, good call on both the earthquake and the OJ chase...
     
  6. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Definitely remember San Francisco and O.J. as well.
     
  7. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    I was a senior in HS and we had the day off because there were some standardized tests which were given that week which I didn't need to take that day.

    I seem to remember that I was watching The Price is Right in my bedroom and that the launch was not covered live (at least on WCBS in New York City). I watched all day even though there was nothing to really report.

    Probably only the OJ chase stands out in my mind as much as a TV event.
     
  8. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    McAuliffe being on board was definitely what has made this memorable for so many.

    I actually don't recall where I was when this occurred, but I can remember distinctly about the Columbia explosion.

    Don't recall OKC or Columbine either. I do remember the OJ chase, but probably mostly because I was having a 30th birthday party at a pool hall with a bunch of my friends.

    Two other events that I do have a perfect memory of where I was when the news came across--the announcement of John Bonham's death (on a school bus going to high school) and Princess Di's crash. Actually went to bed that evening thinking she'd survive and was shocked to wake up the next morning and find she had died.
     
  9. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    I was in second grade. We were sitting in class and our teacher turned on her transistor radio (well before schools had TVs in every room)...she mentioned something about there being a problem with the shuttle. I think we may have gone home early that day, I don't remember for sure.

    Just viewing the replay of the coverage on CNN's website now....I know Oswald was shot on live TV, but besides that and 9/11, can you think of another time where you'd been watching TV and knew that someone had died?
     
  10. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    I was in junior high, and only had a half-day of school scheduled because we had to take a standardized test which took about a half-hour, then filled out the remainder of the time watching some kid cowboy movie from the 1960s.

    Got home, made a peanut butter sandwich, and turned on CBS to watch the Price is Right. Instead, the news was on about the Challenger exploding. I went and told my mom, who was reorganizing her bedroom closet. She didn't seem too affected by it until later on.

    Can't really think of one off the top of my head. I saw Earnhardt's crash, but it didn't look that serious, until a short while later when they announced he died.
     
  11. doctorx

    doctorx Member

    Working in Avon Park, Fla., maybe 70 miles from the cape. Had become nonchalant about shuttle flights and wasn't even thinking about it. Saw the plume of smoke and at first thought it came from a nearby citrus processing plant. Then the phone started ringing.

    Made a point of watching Discovery go up the next time. Teared up.
     
  12. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Second grade here too. I believe we watched it live, but my memory is hazy. The school didn't have too many TV sets, so it could have been a joint watching experience with other students in other grades. Or the teachers could have turned it on after the explosion happened out of curiosity. I do remember being extremely sad and terrified though. Not sure we went home early, but we could have.

    The next few days were no picnic either. I remember having trouble sleeping and a lot of bad dreams stemming from what adults were saying about what happened to the people in the shuttle when it blew up.
     
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