35 years ago tonight.

That was the call for CBS Radio, which did the World Series back in the day, right?

I remember this call now.

 

Al Michaels is a real life sports version of Forrest Gump. It's staggering the number of iconic games he's called and odd sports-related incidents (like this and the OJ chase) that he's been involved with one way or another, all across the sports spectrum.

 

I had a ticket for one game in that World Series. Flight got delayed one day because of the earthquake, and then I flew in on Oct. 19. Stayed with a friend and she showed me the city, and we walked around a lot and surveyed all the earthquake damage. Big, 6-inch cracks in the sidewalks everywhere around the Palace of Fine Arts, which was scary and sad, and dozens of aftershocks for the next week. That was scary, too.

Most bizarre memory: We were walking around the Marina District one night after dark, must have been Oct. 20, and down the block below us the cops were going door to door by car, loudly announcing over their external speakers that residents had just 15 minutes to grab whatever they could and then evacuate their homes because of structural concerns. So, all these big, expensive homes were lit up with spotlights from the cop cars, and we watched everyone clear out, lugging their valuables. All the women came out carrying stuff like family files and photo albums and clothes, stuff like that, as much as they could hold, and EVERY GUY we saw came out carrying his BIG-ASS TV SET. We burst out laughing as we saw that play out. In that surreal setting, it was comical.

I was able to extend my stay a couple of days, trying to make that one ballgame, but finally had to fly home Oct. 26 and go back to work. And so of course the Series resumed play the very next day.

In the end, though, it didn't matter. Our tickets were for Game 5.
Incredible week, though. The memories are still vivid, all these years later.

 

Joe D lived in the Marina district, I think. When he had to evacuate, he supposedly left with a grocery bag filled with $600,000.

 

Another good one is at about 35 minutes in the video, where CNN identifies a seismologist as being from UCLA and he quickly corrects the anchor to say he is at Berkeley.

 

"I don't like the guy and he could have done a better job in this unprecedented spot, but at least he's better than Mike Tiirco."--16-year-old BYH @poindexter

 

I lived through that!! Here’s my story, right before the quake hits, I’m leaving the senior atty’s office having dropped off a brief and he yells “f*ck” and I think “was my brief that bad?” Then all hell breaks loose.

Leaving downtown was an ordeal that night.

 

I'll ask my friend if they have an RV park for you.

 

I’m amazed ABC was able to get audio back in 20 seconds. I know everything was fed by backup phone lines then, but I figured many of the lines would’ve been knocked out by the quake.

Some Mandela effect stuff… could’ve sworn I remembered Michaels shouting “fuck” right after the video cut out, but I was wrong.