Ten Great Sports Memories

PoliBlog: Politics is the Master Science ? FFM: Sports Memory Lane (Via WashingtonMonthly.com)

Poliblog asks, so I play along. But just to be different, I'm going to break this up into two separate lists of live events and tele-viewed events.

Live:
1 - 1994 NBA Finals, Game 7. Rockets Win First Title. The most I'll ever pay for sports tickets, that's for sure.
2 - 1999 IHL Finals, Game 7 - Houston Aeros vs Orlando Solar Bears. Yeah, I know it's minor league, but it's still hockey and it's my hometown. That entire series was enough to age anyone an extra decade. The Solar Bears seemed to come back from every defecit but the last one. Many of the folks on the team would go on to the NHL, including coach Dave Tippett, who would be coaching for the Dallas Stars, save for a messy labor issue.
3 - UH vs Texas A&M, 1979: Coogs' First Win on Kyle Field. This was a great season to watch Cougar Football and the folks occassionally allowed us kids to make a game with them. This one, in particular, was a nice comeback win in enemy territory.
4 - 1980 Cotton Bowl, UH vs Nebraska. The win was similar to the above entry in that it was a comeback win, with QB Terry Elston connecting for the win in the final minutes. If I hadn't had the lead-in to this type of play a few months earlier, it'd rank higher.
5 - 1989 - UH vs Texas in the Astrodome. At the height of the Run & Shoot era, the good guys prevailed at home 47-9. This ranks high for one reason alone - I utterly detest UT. It also has a permanent spot in the memory banks due to a rather nifty trick play that saw Andre Ware line up as a receiver, with David Klingler in the backfield. They nearly connected for a TD and it still ranks as the coolest play in the playbook.
6 - 1982 Texas High School Football Playoffs: Trinity vs Mojo. My first taste of what MoJo was all about, and we beat em 8-7 in the final moments. It was the only loss the team had suffered all season ... actually, it was the first loss Odessa Permian suffered in the 80s.
7 - 1982 Texas High School Football Playoffs: Trinity vs Bell. The two schools were in the same school district and football division, yet they met in the State Quarterfinals. During the NFL strike, this meant erstwhile Cowboy fans had something to witness, as over 32,000 showed up in Texas Stadium to watch a 14-14 tie. Our arch-nemesis, Bell, would prevail on a tie-breaker that left nobody happy.
8 - 1982 - Trinity High vs Bryan Vikings. I kid you not, I witnessed this game from a stairwell in the apartment complex near the stadium. A friend and I squinted to see how the school we would soon be attending would do against "A&M Jr." They held their own and staved off a late comeback attempt by Bryan, stopping them on a two-point conversion that would have put them ahead. The running back stopped was Rod Bernstein, who later went on to have quite a successful NFL career after doing tons of damage to our defense. To this day, I maintain that the average Viking linesman was a full two feet taller than any of our guys.
9 - 1997 Preseason (if memory serves correct) - Raiders vs Cowboys. I know it was a mere preseason game, but I also knew it might be my last chance to take in some quality time of David Klingler as starting QB. He dazzled and impressed for a full quarter, putting up a couple of long TD passes that should have reminded anyone of his heyday. Alas, Jeff George was the money man and he took nearly all of the snaps that season. Klingler would be gone the next season, failing to make the cut as Green Bay's #3 after one mere preseason appearance.
10 - The End of the Oilers. A tie entry here because I have to rank two events as signposts on this trail. One was the preseason game against the San Diego Chargers that got cancelled because the team determined that the field was unsuitable for playing on. It was clearly a concerted effort on the part of Bud Adams to lay the foundation that he needed a new playpen before bolting. The other is Warren Moon's last game as an Oiler, which came in yet another Joe Montana comeback in the playoffs. The amazing thing of it was that this was the same Oilers team that won their final 11 regular season games during the Buddy Ryan era of defense. Yeah, the punch was in there, too. But to see Montana dismantle a defense that had made lesser men crying on the sidelines (see: Esiason, Boomer), his mastery and patience of the chaotic 46 Defense was something to behold. But alas, this was the final straw for the Oilers putting up with "close, but not close enough." Something had to give and everyone knew it'd be the QB and a few of the coaches. We knew the end was near when this all went down.

Tele-viewed:
1 - 1980 Miracle on Ice ... impossible to top this one. Check back in 100 years and this one will still be at the top of the list.
2 - 1983 NCAA Finals, Houston vs NC State. I just remember watching the show that followed to cut to a break and announce that the Coogs had really won, after all.
3 - 1986 NLCS Game 6, Astros vs Mets. This was a very surreal day on the UH campus. I left for the gym (basketball class, to be precise), and the teach just let us do whatever we wanted while a handful of radios blared the early innings. Upon realizing what a waste of a day this was, we were let go early (nobody had broken a sweat pertaining to basketball). I got back to the towers and there was a throng of students watching the game on one of a few TVs in the concourse. When Billy Hatcher hit his home run in the 14th, there wasn't a sound to be heard outside of the TV set.
4 - 1983 NCAA Final Four, UH vs Louisville. Simply put, the best college basketball game ever played.
5 - 2001 NHL Finals Game Seven, Denver vs New Jersey. Ray Bourque is a one-man study in persistence and this game was the payoff for him. After 22 seasons as a certifiably Hall of Fame-caliber defenseman, Bourque finally won a championship. Not entirely sure, but this may be the last time I actually shed a tear over a sporting event.
6 - 1995, Orioles vs Angels - The Streak. As a kid, me and my friends used to marvel at certain records that would be never likely be broken. Since then, we've seen Pete Rose become the hit king, Cal Ripken take over The Streak, Kerry Woods whiff 20 Astros in a game, and thee players hit more home runs than Roger Maris in a season. I put Cal's atop all of those since it represents the most difficult, IMO.
7 - Game 4 of the 1995 NBA Finals. Clyde Gets His Ring. This might rank higher if it were the first championship, but Clyde Drexler getting his just rewards as a pro still merits attention.
8 - 1980 Wimbledon Finals. Borg over McEnroe. I'm not a huge tennis fan, but back before I was old enough to spend my summers working, I recall sleeping in and taking in any sports on TV. Tennis just happened to be on a lot. The match, as any will recall, was a slugfest and watching Borg hit title #5 on the grass courts was an accomplishment that anyone could appreciate.
9 - The Catch: 1 & 2. Sure, everyone knows The Catch by Dwight Clark. Since I was an expat Houstonian living in the DFW area at the time, the Cowboys were my #2 team and that one stung a little. But the predecessor to that catch was the one done in the 1979 Cotton Bowl. While I can never take anything away from the obvious talent that is Joe Montana, I still maintain that Kris Haines caught the ball somewhere around the 5th row of tubas that were behind the end zone. I don't have to review the tape, either ... I just know I'm right on that one.
10 - 1992 Texas High School Football Championship. My alma mater, Trinity HS, would go on to lose 52-0 at the hands of perennial powerhouse Converse Judson. Yeah, it sucked, but for all the years our school got close back in my day, this was a fair consolation prize. I just remember informing my mom that I would not leave the house to run an errand because I had to watch the second half.

Special mention ...