Monday, June 15, 2009

Favorite: Sporting Event

Ok, this week's question, courtesy of the NBA champions Lakers (man do I hate the Lakers): what is your favorite sporting moment of all time?

For me, it's a tough call. I have my '78 New York Yankees, which is my coming of age baseball team, much like the current Yankees are for my Little Boy. Plenty of Michigan football games might fit the bill. Then there are some of the 90's Yankees teams. Great teams, great games.

But at the end of the day, it's an easy call for me. My favorite sporting moment, bar none, was Michigan winning the NCAA basketball National Championship in 1989. First there was the drama of the tournament itself. And then added drama that Michigan's coach quit right before the start of the tournament. And then there was the not so insignificant fact that I was born a Wolverine, and this was the first national championship of my life. And lastly, it occurred during a period in time in which I was consumed by college basketball. Man, was that game gratifying. I got to watch it with my Old Man, too, which was pretty cool.

So that's mine. Second would probably be more of personal nature: crossing the finish line of Ironman in 1999. That too was a pretty special moment.

Anyway -- let's hear it from the peanut gallery.

7 comments:

neil s. said...

Umm, I think your brother - a future wolverine -- was there in '89 too. Those were 2 unforgettable weeks, capped off by you with tears streaming down your face after the game and Mom calling you "a big baby."

I put the '97 football national championship right up there. Particularly the win over OSU - when Glen Steele and the rest of the D could not be stopped. Every member of that team was a hero.

gailaj said...

1986 Mets World Series (sorry Yankees fans...which includes my 11-year old son). After watching the Mets go through some lean years, it was unbelievable when they won...

quirken said...

Howard: Completely selfish request, but would you please dedicate a post to a blow by blow of that Ironman? I have been obsessed with watching Universal who continues to feature the show Classic Triathlon, which is the 90 minute presentation of the world championships in Kona from the last 15-20 years.

As a side note, are you watching Universal Sports, which is all HD NBC sports stuff like cycling, triathlon, track and field and other awesome stuff like the 2009 Boston Marathon? Channel 251 on Comcast. Seriously awesome.

nick

Unknown said...

1988 Rose Bowl
Michigan State over USC

I was only 10, and my two brothers were even younger, so I can't remember much of the game, but I remember how excited my father and all of his friends were.

This became the moment when my brothers and I became unflinching MSU fans (and we've had plenty of times to flinch since).

I think my dad still has some of those plastic championship cups lying around.

Anonymous said...

nicholas. whoever you are. i was at that ironman on lake placid.rather than "blow by blow" it can best be described as " throw by throw"(as in through up). gs

Payro said...

Any of the LSU games at Tiger Stadium I went to as a kid with my Dad. Smells of booze and hot dogs, bags of peanuts, drinking watered down coke, and of course, a crowd like you never hear anywhere else. Drunk cajuns all over the place. My uncle, whose season tickets we were using (he somehow had a block of 12), would show up sometime in the first quarter with a date, a different woman at every game, and he'd leave sometime in the third quarter after he had made the rounds of everyone nearby. We'd take the bus to and from Opelousas, and there would be plenty of drinking each way. Good. Damn. Times.

neil s. said...

Damn, roadtrip to LSU stadium? That soundds like a blast!