Most famous game you attended

I recall that because by then FSU's lockerroom was closed to the media, requested player interview were being done in a storage room under the student end zone stands, which had latticed concrete block in one corner. Not only was Greg Jones not keen to answer questions as he sat on a bucket in the semi-dark, there were still hundreds of fans on the field a few feet beyond the concrete loud as hell and still more trying to peek through the openings in the lattice to see who was in there and to do some taunting, too. Jones was a Beaufort, SC guy.

 

Yeah, that sounds like a teasip.

 

I hope you said "Aggies."

 

Jogging my memory, I'm realizing I haven't been to any really well-known games.

I guess the biggest was the 1998 NLCS Game 5, Padres vs. Braves at the Murph. Was hoping to see the Padres clinch the NL pennant in person, but then Michael Tucker hit that three-run homer out of nowhere. Also notable in that Kevin Brown and Greg Maddux (who retired Tony Gwynn for the save) both came in as relievers that night.

A few years earlier, also at the Murph, I witnessed SDSU's near upset of Miami in 1990. That game was also notable for a wild brawl that happened after the Aztecs' last score, a two-point conversion, that, for better or worse, really got the crowd rocking. Not sure, but Dwayne Johnson, years before The Rock was born, might have been in that donnybrook. Either that one or the one they had two years later at the same site.

One near miss: Was almost there for Nolan Ryan's fifth no-hitter, although it would have happened in Anaheim in 1978, when I was 10 years old, and sitting in the fifth row behind the Angels dugout. Ryan one-hit the Indians, with Duane Kuiper getting the lone hit in the fifth or sixth inning. Didn't see the hit, as me and my friends, as we were wont to do, got restless and decided to walk around the stadium. When I got home, my dad said he saw Kuiper's hit in the highlights and thought third baseman Carney Lansford should have made the play on that.

 

Along those lines, I saw Nolan Ryan get career strikeout number 4,994 against the Mariners on August 16, 1989.

He got number 5000 in his very next start.

 

Saw Cain's Perfecto in '12. Still get chills thinking about it.

 

I went to Michigan in the late 80s/early 90s so I saw a lot, including --
-Desmond Howard's Heisman pose after his 93-yd PR vs. OSU
-The first game where all Fab 5 started (huge buzz when they came out in the all-maize uniforms)
-Notre Dame (#1) vs. Michigan (#2) in 1989 (Rocket Ismail's 2 KR TDs)
-Well after I graduated, Michigan vs. MSU (1997) -- highlight was Charles Woodson's one-handed catch

Noteworthy baseball games:
-Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS. I was at Fenway about 50 feet from where David Ortiz's grand slam landed in the bullpen. As a Tiger fan, it ripped my heart out.
-ARod's MLB debut and John Valentin's unassisted triple play the same night (Fenway Park, 1994)
-Al Reyes hits Nomar Garciaparra on the wrist (Nomar's decline can be traced right back to that. Derailed a likely HOF career)
-Roger Clemens's first start in Boston in 1997 after signing with Toronto
-The Red Sox debut Wally the Green Monster at "Family Appreciation Day." He's viciously booed off the field and is banished to charity appearances and walking on the concourse for the next several years.
-Steve Carlton's AL debut in Detroit with the White Sox after the Phillies released him. Unimpressive. Saw him 2 more times in AL uniforms (Cleveland and maybe Minnesota?) before he retired. Never saw him in person with the Phillies when he was actually good.

NFL:
-Patriots first home playoff game (Jan. 1997 vs. Pittsburgh in the fog)

NBA:
-Not much. A bunch of nondescript Pistons games and Celtics regular season games.

NHL:
-Not much. Nondescript Red Wings and Bruins regular season games.

 

Game 6, 1986 World Series.
Bears/Dolphins, Orange Bowl, Dec. 2, 1985.
Inaugural Wrestlemania, March 1985. Theme song: "Easy Lover" by Phil Collins.

 

While covering a game in Las Vegas, I was asked by a rather high-ranking XFL administrator to do a story/sidebar on the cheerleaders. Told him I had no interest in that story. He asked me if I got to go into their dressing room - which was a trailer just beyond the end zone - for the interview, would that change my mind. Not sure why, but I still said no.

 

18-1. I covered the 1.

 

Not gonna lie, ya’ll seen a lot of contests I never even heard of.

 

I was also at the 1987 Orange Bowl when Oklahoma dumptrucked Arkansas and Spencer Tillman ran all over the Razorbacks.

I was at Game 1 of the 1993 World Series and Wrestlemania 6 (Hogan - Warrior)