Your earliest sports memories

[TripletDaddy]

Man, here I thought you were older than 20.

He just has a short memory.

[falafel]

He just has a short memory.

Man, here I thought it was later than 1998.

[Eddie]

Watching a rugby match at CCNZ with my dad.

[Sullyute]

Going out to Rocky Mountain Raceway (or whatever it was called back then) and watching Sprint car races.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Attending my first MLB game with my dad on my birthday. The game was at Seals Stadium as the ultramodern Candlestick Park was under construction. A rookie, Willie McCovey, playing in his fourth or fifth game had the game-winning HR. Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-1.

[clackamascoug]

Personally, it was in the 5th grade and I was the new kid in school. First day I was the last one picked for Dodge Ball at recess. Second day I was the first one picked. Third day I was the one picking. All through high school I was a Dodge ball phenom, and could have gone pro.

#55 LeRoy Jordan.
During morning breakfast I would read the side of the 1/2 gallon milk carton about the Utah Stars Bill Harmon and Zelmo Beaty.
Kresimir Cosic in the Field House. Ernest L doing push-ups. My Dad was BYU faculty and we had season tickets to the new Marriott Activities Center. He and I went to the games together. East end foul line, Row 13.
Kareem and Wilt. Hated the Celtics.

[FMCoug]

Attending my first MLB game with my dad on my birthday. The game was at Seals Stadium as the ultramodern Candlestick Park was under construction. A rookie, Willie McCovey, playing in his fourth or fifth game had the game-winning HR. Giants beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-1.

Mine is similar. I can remember going to a baseball game with my Dad, who died when I was 4. So I was very young. Not sure if it was MLB or not. Could have been HS or college for all I know. But I remember it clearly. We lived in Grand Rapids, MI so a Detroit Tigers game seems unlikely. Maybe minor league ... no idea.

[chrisrenrut]

Football, I remember the Steelers and Rams in the Super Bowl. I also remember the pencils with the NFL team names and colors we would get a before school started. Utah football was horrible in the late 70's and 80's, so my best memories were going to games at Rice Stadium and throwing the nerf football around on the AstroTurf before the game, and the grass in the south end of the stadium during the first half.

Basketball, I remember liking the 76ers with Dr J, Moses Malone, and Daryl Dawkins, And hating the Celtics with Bird and McHale. I remember debating with my friends how to pronounce Kareem Abdul-Jabar. I also remember attending Ute games with my dad when Tom Chambers, Danny Vranes, and Pace Mannion, played. I also remember listening to away games on the radio with Wild Bill Marcroft on the call.

Baseball. I remember liking the Pirates because of their colors, their sweet striped hat, Dave Parker and Willie Stargell in his last years. There seemed to be more iconic players back in the 70's and 80's, like Carl Yastremski, George Brett, Robin Yount, Ozzie Smith, Nolan Ryan, Fernando Valenzuela, Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose, Johnnie Bench, Ricky Henderson, Cal Ripken, etc. but then again, maybe that is because I stopped caring about baseball in the 90's.

I vaguely remember hearing about Pele playing for the New York Cosmos, and wondering what the big deal was about this old man.

I was into tennis, and remember watching Chris Everett-Lloyd, Martina Navratilova, and a very young Tracey Austin. For the men, I rooted for John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, and hated Ivan Lendl and Bjorne Borg.

[SoCalCoug]

Mom: We've signed you up for soccer.
Me: What's soccer?

[wuapinmon]

1980 UGA National Championship and Herschel Walker. My dad turning the antenna to get a better signal up in Rabun County.

[CardiacCoug]

1980 Miracle Bowl happened when I was 5 and made me a BYU fan for life.

I remember watching Danny Ainge kicking butt in 1980 and 1981 games. I was so obsessed with BYU basketball that I would sit with a notebook listening to KSL for every game and would write down all the player names from both teams and write little 2s and 1s next to their names as I listened to the radio broadcast so I would have my own stat sheet and know who was doing the scoring. Life was tough before the internet.

In 1982 my Dad took me to the NCAA West Regional Final games at the Marriott Center -- remember seeing Patrick Ewing throw down a sick reverse dunk on the first play of the game -- maybe against Oregon State? Pretty cool that in 1982 there were NCAA Tournament games in Logan and Provo.

I remember going to the watermelon busts for BYU football in the early 80s -- got Jimmy Mac's and Steve Young's autograph at those.

[PaloAltoCougar]

My earliest football memory was of Cal playing in the 1959 Rose Bowl when I was six. If people had informed me then that Cal would not return for the rest of the century (and who knows when, if ever, in this one), I would have dismissed them as fools!