In honor of today...best/worst sports memories?
For those of you who are sports-oriented, what's the best/worst you've felt about a PERSONAL play during athletics? (I would think/hope that we all feel best about winning important games and worst about losing important games.)
The positive plays I have probably rerun over and over again in my head are double plays in baseball. I grew up loving baseball, and the best feeling was turning a double play. Nothing made me feel more like a pro than tagging 2nd and whipping the ball to 1st. One time I was playing first with a runner on second; a ball was hit to the shortstop, who checked the runner and then threw to me, and then the runner made for 3rd, so I threw it across to the 3rd baseman, who tagged the runner for a 6-3-5 double play.
Probably the negative play I rerun the most in my head was a play on special teams where I had to block a dude who went on to start at Michigan. It...uhhh...did not go well for me. He didn't knock me down or anything, but I probably ended up 2 yards farther back than where I started. It didn't even hurt. I just knew I was overmatched. I also struck out to end a game once, and I wanted to chop down the dugout with my bat.
So what's the best/worst personal feeling you've experienced in sports?
Being at the Braylon/MSU comeback game in person
Best- high school state finals, threw my personal best in the shot. Michigan coach happened to be there recruiting another kid...I ended up at Michigan he ended up at BGSU. I sacrificed spring break and graduation, wanted to focus on my last meet. It paid off.
Worst...same season, at the league finals I had it in my head the shot circle was off...it got the better of me and I finished third barely getting a legal throw in. I should have won easily. I guess better it happened at leagues than regional or states it was a learning lesson.
College had some great memories as well...those were the foundation of everything else though
Worse play in recent memory was the block punt by MSU and the return for a TD with only a few seconds remaining.
Best play, may be Carter's last second TD catch for a TD to beat IU.
Yes agreed on the Carter TD
I used to play a lot of slo-pitch softball from 1975-1999. Playing left-center with the bases loaded and no outs, a line drive in front of me that I charged and caught about knee high. I then threw home getting the runner. The runner on second had taken off on the crack of the bat and went back and tagged up. He then took off for third and was thrown out by the catcher.
TRIPLE PLAY!!!
I remember playing softball 20 years ago on our men's team. We were only allowed 1 home run (out of the park) per game, unless you were over 50 and at the time I was still in my 30s. Well we were playing the last game of the season for first place in our league and were down two runs in the bottom of the 9th. Bases were loaded and we still had the one home run left. Well, I hit a grand slam, and we won the game and finished in first place. That was the extent of my personal sports greatness. My high school football team was not very good and I quit when I was junior to work part time after class in High School to save up for college.
Wait, what happens if you accidentally hit another home run? Are you out?
My parents had moved from Michigan to Missouri when I was in college, so I went there for the summer before my senior year. I decided to be an assistant coach for my little brother's baseball team, and the head coach invited me to be on his slow-pitch softball team with a bunch of his buddies from high school. I was 21, they were not, so they agreed to let me be on the team for that reason only. I'm not a big guy, so not the sort to knock flies over the fence. After a couple games they decided I was pretty good, though, and we had a fun summer, although we weren't exactly in competition for the league championship. I arrived late at our final game due to work, but I was put in to pinch-hit with the bases loaded in a close ball game. I weakly fouled one over first base on the first pitch, and the outfielders all moved in a couple steps. I was sandbagging, though, and proceeded to rip one over the third baseman's head down the left field line. The left fielder charged the ball, clearly misjudging its velocity, and it rolled all the way to the fence. I flew around the bases, scoring standing up with an inside-the-park grand slam homerun, my one and only homer in years of playing baseball and softball, and we won the game. I still had to buy the beer, but I didn't have to pay any for it that night!
LOL, but I played slo-pitch softball almost as long as you did, from '73-96. I played in 2 leagues for several years in the 70s and early 80s, and even did 3 leagues for two consecutive years at one point, plus many many weekend tournaments. Before softball, as you probably also did as a youth, I played a couple years of little league baseball, too.
I finally gave up playing ball myself after first my oldest daughter started playing ball at age 7 and then my 2nd oldest the following year at age 6. I realized then it was time to call it a career and pass the torch to them.
My oldest, BTW, still is an avid softball player; she played at every level of little league/youth leagues and part of the way thru high school. Parental politics unfortunately soured her on high school ball, though, as she was the last one cut as a junior when clearly she was better than a couple gals who made the squad; she didn't even bother trying out as a senior. The itch came back a couple years later and at age 32 she'd still be playing---and I'd still be watching and cheering her on--if not for covid.
My granddaughter is now the budding softball superstar, she's (in my biased opinion) athletically more gifted than I or my kids were. I'm hoping for her sake (and the sake of ALL kids everywhere) we're back to relative normal sometime soon.
1996 to 2002 were the most fun I had playing slo-pitch softball. We were in all men's, class B league and luckily we had some good players at work and recruited some great players from Texas Tech, who played college baseball. Our SS was like a vacuum cleaner. But after I got assigned to Kansas we could only get IM teams together, with people who never played any kind of baseball before. After several years of losing a lot people got sick of playing and never showed up. Our team just folded 5 years ago. I could probably still play well but I'm not as fast in the outfield as I use to be. I'd probably play first base.
Assuming play means me as a player and not as a coach:
Best: I was defending a legit 6'11" dude who went on to play at Santa Clara with Nash. I had no hope without subterfuge, so I made myself look even shorter than I was, pretended to look away, and then when they threw the ball into the post, I exploded and stole it. It was a key play, helped seal the win.
Worst: Summer before my senior year in HS, in a camp All-Star game with Dan Majerle (as faculty) and his brother playing, I found myself out ahead of almost everyone. The exception being the other guy on my team who had outgrown me and become better than I was; he was playing against me in this game. I knew it wasn't going to go well but for some reason I still went up with it on the break. I was soundly, harshly rejected. Still hurts man.
The last 2 minutes of the game in 2006 broke my heart. The game itself was glorious, truly a battle for the ages, and everyone felt like we were going win it for Bo. We had to win it for him.
Playing shortstop, leaped high to spear a line drive & doubled up the runner on first.
The worst: basketball 6th grade. I had a lot more experience playing hockey & was a defensive defenseman. I was regularly praised for taking out opponents near the net. Back to basketball... Some kid on the other team had a fast break & I was the only thing that was going to stop him from scoring. Let's just say it's not the kind of play that belongs in basketball. I could feel the scorn of pretty much everyone that witnessed it.
Best: 1998 Rose Bowl
Underrated worst memory. Losing the 1993 football game to Illinois. That loss knocked us out of the Rose Bowl race and sent a deflated team up to Camp Randall the next week. We had that game won until the Ricky Powers fumble. I had no idea that was preparation for the same damn thing to happen at NW in 2000.
Best - Winning district title in footbal senior year.
Worst - 2k16 o$uu game.
Worst: 6th grade football. I was... Not very big at the time. Most of the other starters were. During a game, I filled the A gap as a LB on a designed run play and got absolutely wrecked by the RB. Not great.
Best: HS Baseball, Sr yr. I pitched a shutout, hit two home runs and a triple in the same game. I never felt so unstoppable on the diamond. Also, I never had a game like that again, lol.
Set my family driveway free throw record at 52. Barely missed topping it at the NCRB while hitting 97/100. Hit the first 49.
Worst was losing the last competitive game in 8th grade where our perfect record was lost.
BEST:
Was on the golf team in high school. Was medalist in my first meet as a sophomore and was all conference that year.
WORST: During my junior year on the team we had a meet in the north Detroit suburbs at a course I had not played before. Was paired with my best friend against the top two seeds from the other school. There always are announcements on the first tee, and they were generally of no importance so I did not pay attention to them, yet my friend did. Anyway, the first hole was a par 5 dogleg left and the two opponent players, playing on their home course by the way, drove nicely down the middle of the fairway, but with no way on making it home in two. I figured that I could hit it down the adjoining hole to the left and cut off 75 yards that way. Executed it perfectly, then my partner shakes his head and said it was OB. Apparently the announcements on the first tee included being aware of an in-course out of bounds related to that adjoining hole. Up to that point in my life I had never heard of such a thing, but now realize it is there primarily for safety reasons.
two hoops smiles since i was never a hoops player or even a fan until grad school:
1. at U of M the coaches thought it would be a great cross-training idea to have us hockey players play hoops at the CCRB before we could take the ice per NCAA regs. our idea of a 'foul' differed markedly than what most would think. those games were wild.
2. grad school (D-1 school), playing a red-shirt freshman 6' 11" center (nickname: minute bol) in intramurals. stuffed him when he thought he'd gotten free on a jam. the guys on my team were crowing about that for quite a while. i smiled and kept playing, but deep down i was pretty proud of that one.
Best and worst on the same play. My junior year of HS football I rarely played, mostly because I was terrible. Late in the season we were beating an opponent bad enough for me to go in at nose tackle. I was so freakin' excited that I finally had a chance to play. I dug in at the line. Started breathing heavy, but I was ready for the snap. With all that pent up energy, I got to the QB quick enough to cause a fumble. My fellow scrub MLB recovered and my night was done. So happy, yet so disappointed. One play and done. $%#
Best - Michigan vs Notre Dam UTL I as a Sophomore. Insane ending. The whole student section was there an hour after the game ended.
(the triple OT win again Illinois was cool to be at too. A few other big wins also)
Worst - Probably the blocked punt against MSU. Was in the student section (had recently graduated). Felt sick to my stomach as it all happened. The entire student section just went dead quiet.
(the close loss to OSU on the 2pt conv when Gardner had a broken foot was awful too. We were all so ready to rush the field...)
Senior year of football.
Best: Good start to the season. Caught a game winning 2 pt conversion in a game where we were down 18-6 with about 2 min. left. Then had a 63 yd td on a trap play in a close game we pulled out the following week.
Worst: The 3rd week got speared and ended up with bruised ribs. Kept playing and had to go both ways and play some lb which led to me getting repeatedly owned by their 240 pound fullback / heavy weight state wrestling champ. During the film session the next morning it was like an episode of Peanuts with me serving as Linus’ blanket getting drug all over the damn field.
NEGATIVE: Semifinals of the State Cup in 8th Grade, I was the 6th shooter in a shootout, and kicked it over the bar a la Robert Baggio. Heartbreaking; don't think I missed a single one in practice. A few years earlier, a kid kicked in a go-ahead goal that went off my left shin - not exactly an own goal but it felt awful (it may have cost us the division IIRC).
POSITIVE: Slide tackling a kid into a puddle in 6th grade; water shot up like it was a log-flume ride, saved a likely goal, too. All Star game in basketball in 7th grade, blocked a shot Mutombo-style and it went high off the gym wall- the equivalent of like the 4th row of seats. Played defense in lacrosse at Michigan in the club days, scored a goal that sealed a win against Colorado State who I believe was #1 at the time.
Best: Won my Semi-finals match during the MHSAA state wrestling tournament my Senior year 1-0. The kid I beat had defeated me several weeks early at Districts. I still remember the feeling of of those final 10 seconds or so pretty vividly. Obviously, the Finals match did not go as well.
Worst: From 4th grade to 7th grade, my little league football team won 1 game. I LOVE football and to always be losing broke my little heart. Add in the fact that my little brother's team was coached by a dad with college coaching experience and I was one sad kid.
- Best: 'Under the Lights' 2011. Will probably be my favorite game I've ever been to for a long time.
- Worst: Cody Parkey's 'double doink' field goal attempt against the Eagles in the 2018 NFL Playoffs.
The worse game I attended was the 1988 Michigan vs #1 Miami game. We were leading 30-14 in the 4th and Miami came all the way back to be within 2 points with 2 minutes ago. Miami went for an onside kick which seemed to fool Michigan (not sure why it would?) but our front line just froze in place while Miami covered the onside kick. Of course they nearly ran out the clock and kicked a FG to win the game 31- 30. The team had just lost a close game to ND the week before.
Best: 9th grade football. I was a track guy but played RB in 7,8th grade as I was by far the fastest kid on the team. In 9th grade I make the team and again was the fastest kid. The coach's son was my nemesis. He 'won' the starting rb spot even though I outperformed him in practice. I heard from others he told his dad some lies saying I was a bad kid etc. Because of this I would not play at all. I was the 3rd string rb. 3 games into the season(with his son sucking as usual) he gets knocked out of the game. 2nd string goes in and is also knocked out. First snap I get I take it to the house. 2nd time I got the ball I again score a td. I ended the day with 198 yards and 3td. I was then the starter for the rest of the season and my nemesis was relegated to 3rd string.
Worst: state championship.100meter hurdles. I was winning the race but clipped the last hurdle. ended up placing 5th
That's fantastic!
Some people here are just reading the title and not the details? Anyway, a very enjoyable thread, Magnus.
Best: Crete Monee Pow Wow senior year of HS. I was a co-captain on our cross-country team, but just OK as a runner. As the 7th man I usually didn't really factor in the team scoring - basically the worst runner on the varsity team. But this race (the "world's largest cross country meet" - over 100 teams) is flighted, meaning the 7th man runs against all the other 7th men, 6th vs 6th etc. We didn't know for sure what kind of team we had yet, but had hopes for a strong day, and of course my flight went first. At the mile mark I was in 27th place and I thought "oh no, the guys are going to kill me." The added pressure at that moment made me step it up, and over the next two miles I reeled in 22 runners, finishing 5th. Easily the best race I ever had, and surprising the hell out of my teammates. That raised expectations for the rest of day, everyone else went out and kicked ass, and we ended up in 4th place overall behind three of the state heavyweights. (The downside - I had finally figured out how to compete at a higher level, but then got sick and missed basically the rest of my senior year, so I couldn't build on the moment.)
Worst: Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Medellin Colombia, playing for the Argentinean national team. We were way out of our league, but happy to be there and playing as hard as we could. Down a few points to a strong Colombian club team, we were in the midst of a comeback, and I made a great continue cut that should have ended up in a score to cut the lead to one. But my teammate threw short and I had to catch the disc before the goalline. A teammate from my club team came free in the endzone and.... I threw it wide of him (ala Maryland/OSU in 2018). The other team went down and scored, and that was that. I can't tell you how much sleep I lost replaying that moment again and again. We probably weren't going to Win anyway, but we definitely weren't going to win after that. I'm still bummed 10 years later....
November 1969, south endzone of the Big House, sitting with all my 9th grade friends watching Michigan kick the living poop out of Woody's team 24-12. We even got a football out of the stadium that day. Rushed the field, tore down the north endzone goal posts.
Bo who?
Yeah, that got fixed that day.
Worst? Why bother even thinking about that?
7th grade basketball tryouts. Dribble from mid-court to the free throw line. Pull-up for a shot. Everyone got two chances to show their game. I dribbled up left-handed (trying to show what I got), and pulled up. A few kids before me airballed and I was not having that. "Just go up strong and confident". So I did. And chucked the rock right over the backboard. Cut first overall, for the win.
the two best are both from my days in ann arbor.
intramural football, my first year in grad school, playing a team that featured some members of the baseball team (i.e., really good athletes)...our ball, somewhere inside the 10-yard line, my brother at quarterback. he's rolling left as i cross the back of the end zone, and he tosses a prayer to the corner. somehow i get up into the air over a division 1 athlete, squeeze it, and come down in the absolute corner of the endzone. one of the dudes from the baseball team says "nice grab, man." that's it.
pickup basketball at the ccrb, 1987. not too busy, only one game going. i look over and it's gary grant, rumeal, steve stoyko, plus some other dorks. but they're short a guy, and they wave me over. holy crap. but i run with them, and i end up on gary grant's team. he's not dominating - he's not passive, he's just letting the game come to him, keeping everyone involved, not going one on one unless he's guarded by rumeal. he's so, so smooth. you only need the tiniest opening, and the ball is in your hands. at one point, i get a backdoor cut, the ball's in my hands like a bullet, and (unlike practically every other time in my life), i make the layup. i look up, and gary grant - all-american, future nba first-rounder - is smiling and pointing at me. so great.
(unrelated - at another point, i get matched up with rumeal in transition...he catches the ball on a pass, and i do the usual untalented white-guy thing of spazzing out - waving my hands, moving my feet, the works, anything to avoid getting posterized. he gets this annoyed look on his face, and HOLDS THE BALL OUT TO ME. so there i am, slapping at the ball, and i can't get it out of his hands. he's just so strong. that's when he starts the dribble and does what we all knew would - he takes me to the basket and dunks all over my head. this was also great.)
worst - junior high football. we were pretty lousy - started out 0-3 and got drilled every week. (we'd eventually turn into a wrecking crew and win a state title, but not until our three junior high teams came together at the high school). game 4, we're finally staying with someone. late in the fourth, within a touchdown, we force a punt, our guy takes it all the way home and we take the lead. unfortunately, one dumbass on our return team (yes, it was me) clipped someone 10 yards behind the ball, it came back, and we lost. dumbass.