OT: What Is Your Earliest Sports Memory?
This concept has sorta gone viral this week (there's another series of issues that obviously takes much more precedence, but they are outside the scope of this blog). People are recounting the earliest news they can remember.
Today, I've seen a few people on twitter discussing the earliest sports moment they can remember. For reference, there was a thread in 2010 on the blog asking for earliest Michigan FB memories. It was a while ago, and only Michigan Football related. This is a bit wider.
It's Friday, it's July, it's time for this thread. What is your earliest sports memory?
The first datable sports memory I have was Kirk Gibson's bottom-of-the-8th home run in Game 5 of the '84 series. My family was watching it at another family's house on an old, small color tv. I gather people were going rather bananas, but my memory is vague. Still, I remember it.
A close second was the '85 Michigan-Iowa game.
Phillies blowing the Pennant chase in 1964. I was little and did not understand what was going on, but I kenw all the adults around me where upset.
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Given the generally Cleveland-esque performance of their sports teams, they should be.
Here's a video about the epic '64 collapse, unprecedented at the time:
Going to a Tigers game in '84 against the Royals. Also remember the Tigers winning it in '84.
First distinct Michigan football memory: listening to the '86 Ohio game with my dad sitting on the flooboards of his Cadillac to keep warm.
Memories I will miss making with my kids: Listening to games on the radio. I have a lot of good memories of that, back when radio was an important way to follow sports. I doubt my kids will ever really appreciate it.
Ernie Harwell was the greatest. I remember hearing that voice when I was young and hanging with friends and their dads would all be listening. Backyards, and garages and Ernie.
Lying in bed at night listening to the west coast games as you fell asleep on a hot summer evening! Ernie Harwell!
That was the best man - I still have the "Nobody but City National Bank" jingle still wired in my head from back in the 70's.
I have that memory ingrained into my soul as well - a sweet precious memory. Cicadas & Ernie in the daytime, crickets & Ernie at night! And in '68 the teachers would roll out the old giant ass TV on the A/V cart and put the World Series on, and we'd watch the game until the dismissal bell rang. Imagine, weekday daytime WS games!
But my earliest is going to Michigan Stadium on Saturdays with my Grandparents in the early-mid 60s when we were apparently not very good, but it was a shit ton of people to a little guy!
It was a very important occasion, not to be missed for those several Saturdays each Fall. They sat with and near the same group of people decade after decade - I remember those types of things older people say when they haven't seen another couples kids or grandkids in a couple seasons: "That's little Jimmy? Why, I would never have recognized you, you've grown so much! My gracious, where does the time go?!"
And now I say that!!!
I would've been 8 years old at the time and I clearly remember watching this game with my father. I also remember that Super Bowl and the 1968 Detroit Tigers but this is the earliest one I can pin down and say I remember watching.
Does OJ's '95 acquittal count? Born late '88...
1980 or 1981- i remember Clark Gillies breaking Ed Hospidar's face, making it explode. Fell in love with hockey and in hatred of the Islanders after that.
Nick Lidstrom scoring the first goal of game 4 in the 97 Stanley Cup finals (I'm not that old). I remember wondering why it still counted even though the puck came back out of the net. For some reason I thought it had to stay in.
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He had the yardage for the first down, Michigan could have run out the clock.
Sadness.
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Mickey Lolich went 3-0 (all complete games) to earn MVP. Denny McLain, 31-6 in the regular season, was 1-2 with Tigers scoring only 1 run in the two losses (and 13 runs in the game 6 win).
Bob Gibson was unreal on the mound for the cards until he and Lolich met in game 7.
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My dad trying to explain to me why the Bears had to "choose" between Bob Avalini (sp?) or Mike Phipps as their starting QBs, while the Steelers were starting Bradshaw -- as a result of the coin flip in the 1969 draft.
My earliest memory of the Bears was how difficult it was for teams to tackle Bobby Douglas. I also remember Abe Gibron on the sidelines.
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I vaguely remember the 1988 Olympics and the 1989 Super Bowl happening but really it's probably the Pistons/Lakers Finals in 1989.
And yes, my parents bought me the cartoon Pistons Championship Shirt (both years).
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ripped off during the Rose Bowl. Not sure what year it was but we were having a family New Years's dinner and my dad, uncles and grandpa were all hootin and hollarin about it.
That's awesome.
I was in USMC back then and had a roommate that loved Notre Dame. Half the room was my Michigan gear (posters, signs, etc.) and the other half was Notre Dame. We were stationed in 29 Palms, California and the game started at 9 am on west coast. We killed a Coors Light party ball between the two of us plus various shots and passed out shorty after the field goal. That was a great day and great game.
My Husky alum parents took me to the 92 Rose Bowl where I promptly fell in love with the other team and their helmets.
phrasing. don't call your parents husky unless they're husky.
I also remember watching the USNT soccer in the quarterfinals get dominated by I think Brazil in 1994
That one still hurts, although wins in '96 and '97 helped.
But I wasn't really into sports and definitely not following sports until a bit later. Probably the Mike Vernon - Patrick Roy goalie fight on the way to 2 Stanley Cups.
Reflecting on this, it's extremely apparent that the position of hockey goaltender has changed fairly radically since the '90s. Brodeur was the last of that kind.
I remember the '85 Bears, which is weird, because I am a Vikings fan. But that is my earliest sports memory. I wish it was something different
Bob Ufer calling a Ricky Leach UM game in the late 70's on the radio. My earliest sports memory is a fond sports memory.
The first game I actually remember watching in full was Michigan and Washington in 2002. I was 8.
My wife was very pregnant with our son during that season, and after that game I told her I know we agreed on William for a name, but I had changed my mind - to Brabbs!
The '92 Rose Bowl when Washington kicked our ass. First happy one was the Lions only playoff win since Ford bought the team a couple weeks later. (I think)