Your Favorite Single Game

Steelers vs. Indy Colts, second-round playoff game.
So much excitement. So much drama.
The controversial call, the inexplicable fumble, Ben's tackle, the wide-right field goal. That was as breataking a sporting event as I've ever seen.

 

As remarkable as it was, it wasn't shown live.

Thus, for many people who knew the result before the puck was dropped on TV, there was no "I can't believe this is happening!" drama. It had already happened.

Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals suffers from the same problem. An incredible night (Lakers win title without Kareem as Magic goes for 42 points, 15 rebounds) . . . but it was shown on tape delay.

 

Does not include 4/2/72, the best hockey game I've ever seen. Sabres 3, Flyers 2, Gerry Meehan scores with four seconds to play, knocking the Flyers out of the playoffs.

Unless you were far enough north - er, lucky enough to watch CBC out of Brandon, home of the world-famous Wheat Kings ...

 

Jeonju, South Korea -- 6/17/02

U.S. 2-0 Mexico

 

There are three games which go in my pantheon ...

1. Game 5, 1982 ALCS -- I was there to see my Brewers win their only pennant.

2. 1990 NCAA Tournament, Ball State beats Oregon State on a last-second shot (actually BSU's whole '90 tourney run) -- I was a freshman at the time and there is nothing quite as intoxicating as being a student when your team becomes the Cinderella story of the tourney. BSU also beat Louisville in the next round to advance to the Sweet 16 where the Cardinals lost an epic against eventual champ UNLV -- one of those honorable defeats that sticks with you for eternity.

3. Super Bowl XXXVI: Packers beat Patriots -- Still the only championship a team I'm a fan of has ever won.

Honorable mention (I was there for them all) ...
-- 1991 Final Four: Duke beats UNLV
-- 1996 NCAA tourney: Princeton beats UCLA
-- 1989 & 1995 Indianapolis 500s

 

I'm 24 years old.

The only championships my teams have ever won all came within a 25-month span: 1995 Braves. 1996 Packers. 1997 Michigan Wolverines.

None before, none since. Kinda crazy.

 

Could be. McCurdy pissed everyone off ... with the exception of BSU fans of course.

All I know is that UNLV wore Ball State hats on road trips the following (undefeated until Duke) season to remind them of the near-miss they nearly suffered. I remember George Ackles explaining it in a CBS interview why they were wearing Ball State hats.

About the only thing I ever liked about those UNLV teams.

 

Sack up. Pussy. ;D

I can't believe you're only 24. I figured anyone who appreciates baseball history like you do--and has 10,000 Tom Nevers baseball cards to boot--had to be my age or older.

So many games to choose from...so I'll go with one that hasn't been selected yet: Villanova-Georgetown 1985. The Perfect Game.

 

An excellent choice, Xan.

I just turned 17 and had tickets to this game. It was during Spring Break and I had my dad's car. . .

Only problem was, I was slammed with a nasty bout of pleurisy, which kept me bedridden. Couldn't find anyone to take the tix off my hands (it was 1982 in SoCal, after all, and in my area, I was about one of 7 Kings fans), so I watched the game on TV. Not good for someone having breathing problems at that moment.

Watching Glen Sather stew and grimace was one of the more pleasurable moments of that experience.

Runner-up... 1986 ALCS Game 5. I was in the right-field bleachers at Anaheim Stadium with my dad (an Angels fan), his fiance' and a girl I was dating at the time. First and last time I walked out of a sporting event as a fan physically and mentally exhausted.

 

I'm too young to remember "The Catch" live, but I wish I was.

So I'll have to go with "The Catch II" with T.O. beating the Packers because my reaction resonated on the family.

I was home on X-mas break and when T.O. made the catch. I jumped, screamed, and gave my 12-year-old cat a heart-attack. Seriously. My sudden cheers shocked her and sent her spinning from the living room to the kitchen like she just touched a hot wire fence. She just slugged around the house until her passing a few months later.

Given her age, it was time to slow down. According to my folks, she wasn't the same after I left that X-mas.

 

Dude, you were a bit of a frontrunner in your youth . . . . . . that's the only way I can describe someone who is a fan of three teams from such different areas.

As for me:

Attended:

U.S. 2, Colombia 1, 1994 World Cup. Own goal cost a man his life, unfortunately.

Watched on TV:

1988 World Series Game 1. Jose canseco grand salami off center field camera early. Kirk Gibson secures himself a place in baseball lore late.