Best pro sports games you've attended

[S.K.o.S.]

I don't have too much personally but I thought this could be a fun thread. Try to limit yourself to one from each sport.

MLB: 6/20/2000, Tigers over Jays 18-6. Tigers set a franchise record with 8 HR.

NHL: 12/29/2007, Capitals over Senators 8-6. Crazy game, Ovechkin with 4 goals, Mike Fisher with a hat trick, and there was a Donald Brashear vs. Chris Neil fight.

NFL: n/a

NBA: n/a

[Joe Lucia]

Oh, there have been a lot...I've =been to a handful of hockey games and a shitload of baseball games. The best hockey game was pretty clearly Game 3 of the 2011 Cup Final in Boston. 8-1 Bruins, and the most electric sports crowd I've ever been a part of.

 

As for baseball...I was at the Cubs-Braves game two years ago where Bobby Cox's number was retired, and Carlos Zambrano nearly caused a brawl by headhunting. I was pretty drunk and irritated after experiencing MARTA for the first time in years.

[The Man Known as Dan]

I was there when McGwire hit 62. Never will forget it.

Game 1 of Blues/Sharks last year was epic.

[Gonzalez]

Marlins Vs. Giants NLDS Game 4. Nothing beats seeing a series end on a potential game tying run being thrown out at the plate live.

Oh look they got the whole game online.

[piranesi]

Game 5 (of the then 5-game series): Blues vs. Pens. April 14, 1981.

 

Double overtime in the final game.  Back and forth madness.  Mike Liut and Greg Millen were throwing themselves across the ide making maddening saves.

 

Mike Crombeen, who had ten goals all year.  4th line tough guy...scores the series winner.

 

 

I'm somewhere in this mess...but behind the other goal and ten years old.

 

It was only when I got home that I got to hear Dan Kelly's awesome call:

 

"...AND THE CHECKERDOME HAS EXPLODED!!!!!!!"

 

Back then, kids would gather by the locker room and they would hand out busted equipment.  I got a borken Perry Turnbull stick with bloodstains on it.  I taped around the cracked part so it would stay in one piece, but cut little notches in the tape so you could see the blood. Still have it.

[Greggulator]

A few that come to mind:

 

1) The epic Nets/Pacers Double OT playoff game. Reggie Miller dunked (!) to extend the game. Craziness from that brief, fleeting era when the Nets were worth watching.

2) Some Phils/Mets game a few years ago that went into 13 innings. Carlos Ruiz played third base for a bit. Six infielders a few different times. Just one of those crazy nights of baseball. There was also a lot of very good anti-Mets heckling in my section.

 

3) First game in NYC after 9/11. I hate the Mets but exploded when Piazza went yard in the 8th. I also loved the stunning "Liza!" chant after Liza Minelli's 7th inning stretch.

 

Best sports, period:

 

1) La Salle beating Butler this past season. My alma mater upset a Top 10 team for the first time in pretty much history on a late-game layup from senior Ramon Galloway. Ramon struggled the entire game but ended up driving since the Explorers had no time outs. The students stormed the court. A rousing applause for a few minutes for the team post-game. A few La Salle folks (and perhaps myself) wiped a tear or two away.After the game, Ramon broke down in the press conference. Tears of joy? Nope. He said that all he wanted to do was hug his mom after the game -- she was going through some sort of emergency and wasn't there.

[Jrag]

Bulls/Pacers Game 1 during Rose's MVP year is probably my favorite.  We bought standing room only tickets and somehow found our way into some pretty damn good seats.  Bulls came back from down 10 with 3 minutes to go or some crazy shit like that.  They gave Noah a live mic after and he just started screaming all sorts of random things.

[odessasteps]

not best, but maybe most memorable was covering Manon Rheamue's first road game playing for Atlanta vs the Ice in Indy.

 

She was amazingly pretty in person.

[Dewar]

Milt Stegall, four catches, 234 yards, four touchdowns on Thanksgiving Day 2005 for the Blue Bombers against the BC Sucks Lions. And he dropped a fifth touchdown pass that would have put him close to 300 yards. Most dominating performance I have ever seen.

[Zimbra]

Patriot's Day, 1998: A Red Sox day game against the Indians.  Slow Mo Vaughn drives in the winning run for the Sox in the bottom of the 11th.  Then we walk out of Fenway to watch the marathon.  Good day.

[Newb82]

My first NFL game. 1991 season week 2 Steelers at Bills. Jim Kelly throws six TDs, four of them to the man who would become my favorite player of all-time (and the reason the # 82 is in my username): Don Beebe. Bills win 52-34.

Ahhhhh...the days when the Bills weren't terrible.

[Reggie20x6]

I worked just about every Blues game from 1997-2003. Nothing memorable really stands out there. If I had been in LA during that playoff game where they came back from down 3-0, in the 3rd, and won 4-3 - I'd probably say that. The entire Sharks/Blues series from the 99-00 season was probably my most memorable moment, in terms of absolutely hating sports. That was the only year where there was a real confidence that we could actually make a run. We were going to walk right past San Jose, until Bergevin threw the damn puck in his own net and the wheels blew right off. Turek giving up that goal from the red line was just the clincher on a real sh*t sundae - I was so disenfranchised by that point that I expected something that awful to happen.

 

I also saw the NFC Championship game which ended like all other Eagles' seasons seemed to end during that run: McNabb driving late for the win. Drops back to pass... Pick-Six and the Rams go to the Super Bowl. I immediately rushed out of there, with my then-girlfriend, like the building was on fire.

 

There was also the San Antonio/Miami Heat game this year, which was set to be the biggest regular season game of the year... until Miami lost to Chicago and the Heat didn't dress Wade or LeBron. I think the wife and I lasted half a quarter before we left to get home early.

 

...

 

In somewhat happier thread-related news, the Yankees lost this game, but the crowd was nuts the whole way through (the multiple lead changes helped). The atmosphere was so much fun that I actually didn't even remember that the Yankees ended up losing on a walk-off single until I looked it up.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN199907100.shtml

 

It was at Shea, but our section was primarily Yankee fans, and there were dueling chants and fights the entire game. The highlight being two guys fighting in the upper deck, which ended with one guy trying to *pick up and throw the other guy over the barricade* before people rushed to stop it.

 

Almost saw the best game ever and a homicide all in the same day!

 

So, yeah - I should probably just stay home.

[ARMDRAGON]

Game 4 of last year's Cards/Nats series. Werth's walk-off was such an awesome moment. The next night would be the worst game I've attended.

[DouglasC]

Football: 2009 Grey Cup, with the insane "too many men on the field" ending. Being one of only 3 people in my immediate area cheering for Montreal made it even better. 

Baseball: Justin Verlander's no-hitter in Toronto. It was 9-0, or some blowout score, at the time, so we were safely at a point where you don't feel guilty cheering against the home squad. And one walk away from perfection. 

Hockey: I've never been a Leafs fan, but when a buddy told me his dad had some extra tickets in the grays for a playoff game, I couldn't refuse. Which had me in the building for Gilmour's this-way, that-way, this-way-again goal in double OT vs. St. Louis. 

Basketball: I haven't been to many, but seeing the Raptors wipe out a 20-point deficit to beat the Wizards in 2005 was probably the best.

[JRGoldman]

My dad and I had season tickets to Georgetown games for a bit, and I remember a couple of the games with Iverson, particularly one against a Ray Allen UConn team, which was awesome.

I also saw Tim Hardaway drop 50 one time, which was cool.

[Charlie M.]

NBA : Michael Jordan scored 19 points in the final 6 minutes against the Vancouver Grizzlies to bring the Bulls back in 1995.  The 4th quarter starts 3 minutes into this video:

 

There was also a Grizzlies/Raptors game where Big Country scored like 40 points.

[Jiji]

 

From the Whitecaps' inaugural MLS season. Down 3-0 at the 70th minute, they score the second and third both deep into injury time to draw. The comeback starts at ~4:50.

[Devon Malcolm]

I was at THAT Champions League match when David Beckham broke his metatarsal in 2002, the injury that sent the entire country into panic ahead of another hilariously failed World Cup campaign. It was an amazing night, though, simply because of the quality of the match and the drama that unfolded with his injury.

[TimLivingston]

I was at the Chiefs/Raiders game in 2010 where the Raiders came back with a FG to send the game into OT and then won it in OT with it.

 

Also, an awesome 49ers/Cardinals opener on Monday night where they won with a jet sweep.

 

Me and EricR were at the Nationals/Giants game a couple months back where Gregor Blanco tripled off Rafael Soriano to send the game to extras and Pablo Sandoval hit a homer to end it that landed in Barry Bonds territory in right center.

 

But the killers for me? I was at in #18 and win #19 in 2002 when the A's went on their 20-game winning streak: Tejada hits one off the foul pole to win it and then walks off with a single up the middle against a five man infield.

[odessasteps]

No memorable Dunedin Jays games during your tenure?

[Cole Miner]

I think the stand out would have to be a Phillies game. David Cone struck out 19 which was the national league record at the time. Had seats behind home plate for the game. Perfect game to have those kind of seats.

[Super Ape]

My new champion is Friday night's Union game against Chivas USA; it was my third game, and before that they'd never scored a single goal.  After going down 1-0 at the half, they rallied three unanswered (including a beautiful shot by Michael Farfan on an indirect penalty, vs a whole wall of Chivas players in the goal) to take the win.

 

It would probably be the undisputed champion forever and ever amen if I'd won the charity 50-50 and took home almost three grand, but what can ya do?

[TimLivingston]

No memorable Dunedin Jays games during your tenure?

The two big ones in my head are a game where an umpire got hit with a broken bat and got taken to the hospital, and a player from each team alternated sides as base umpires. It was the most surreal thing ever.

 

I also had a game where Travis d'Arnaud went gonzo off Matt Moore with a grand slam.

 

There was also an 18-inning game where there were no hits for a 10 inning stretch.

[Gonzo]

Game 7, 1991 World Series. Upper deck along the first base side.

 

I could live to be 120 and never see a better pitching performance than the one that Jack Morris put on that night. Absolutely amazing.

[Justin877]

First and only NFL game to this point, but I went to the NFC Championship Game (Lions @ Redskins)on January 13, 1992.  I went because my older cousin who was a furniture sales rep got tickets to entice him to visit a water bed factory.  Odd story but a good game.  I grew up a Redskins fan as a kid and I got to see them in RFK