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I have lived in the Boston area my entire 57 years of life. As a fan I have witnessed a lot of sports history in this city/area. I loved hockey as a kid, and I vividly remember being in my porch with my Dad when Bobby Orr scored his iconic goal to win the Stanley Cup. That is a moment etched in the history of this city and in the sports world, legendary. I've I seen many ups and downs known throughout the sports world. The Red Sox have experienced a lot of pain. The 1967 Impossible Dream year where they didn't make it to the mountaintop. Bucky Dent. It ended in legendary fashion, being the first baseball team in MLB history to come back down 3-0 in a series, and we did it against the Yankees on our way to our first World Series in 86 Years. Legendary in the sports world. I just missed the true legendary Celtics history of dominating championships. The Bird win was big , as was Pierce's. But other cities have experienced that in their own right.
What I just witnessed in this Super Bowl cemented in me something that I will never see anything like again, that being the New England Patriots of the last 16 years. The journey is made of legends, and has been high profile throughout the world. The story behind this Super Bowl you can't script. The Super Bowl itself was one for the ages. Whether it was truly needed or not, that win cemented some pretty impressive statistics in sports history. Four "best evers" were cemented in this fan base's eyes: Best QB ever, best coach ever, best owner ever, best NFL dynasty ever. All debatable, but not so much in this area.
There are great historic moments and periods of time in all sports history. Comparing the Patriots to anything outside the NFL just isn't apples to apples. I marveled at Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Secretariat, Pele and now Messi, etc. As a lover of sports, so many moments. But that Super Bowl and the accomplishments leading up to it and all the records and Deflategate and Brady....I highly doubt as a sports fan anything will ever eclipse that. I've been lucky to have witnessed so many championships in my life (and others before my time) where other great cities like Atlanta only have 1 in their sports history. Just plain luck, and it's probably a reason I love sports so much more, that layer of being in a city built with many champions (can't forget Marciano or Hagler).
So what moment or time period is highest on your list?
I'm a lot younger than you(I'll be 29 this year). When it comes to Boston, I really wasn't around for much of the huge struggles. I was 13 when the Patriots beat the Rams and was around the same age when the Celtics and Bruins became competitive as well. 2003 was painful for the Sox but three titles since '04 can't complain.
Chelsea winning the cup in 1997, the second of my lifetime but the first after a barren 27 years (I cant remember the first because I was only 6 months old), England winning the rugby world cup in 2003, Chelsea's first league championship for fifty years in 2005, Chelsea's first Champions League win in 2012.
Maryland Terrapin basketball from 1995-2003. I was a teen, young adult, and a "super fan" who watched nearly every minute of game time for about 2 decades. No offense to my wedding day, and the birth of my kids, but the Terps winning the National Title was as a good a feeling as there is. The previous two events I had some control over and helped make it reality, but sports? It just happened, and I was witness to it.
If you are a Terp fan, you know our history is full of being the loser of great games (Mike Gminsky's tip, David Thompson goes legendary, the 20 point choke against Duke in the Final Four the year before, etc. etc.) so winning one was something I thought I would never see.
Alas, all good things come to an end, and my fandom declined when Gary left, then ceased all together when MD went to the Big 10. Good football conference, but I would rather bleed out my eyes than watch 1/2 that league (including Mich. St) play college hoops. We left the most exciting conference in the county AND our traditional regional rivals for a bigger payout from sports TV to cover bloated administrative salaries. I left too, my heart is still in the ACC.
the early 70s to the late 80s, when nascar was still real.
Yup. Owner-drivers, one, maybe two car teams, actual differences in spec. between nameplates, 2 trips to all the small Southern tracks..........and Davey Allison, RIP.
I pretty much followed Tiger Woods for the duration of his career. I attended several Masters tournaments and witnessed his first shot off the first tee in his first event as a Pro there and the beginning of a great stretch. I watched him play in person in Europe and on the tour. Pretty historical stretch of some of the greatest dominating golf in the history of the game and even more noteworthy in terms of his race in a sport pretty much a professional sport 95% or more probably played by White golfers. It got to the point where I became less interested in TW and more in the people who followed him. I'd go to tournaments and purposely not see him and watch the throng from afar. It was a circus. Tiger fatigue.
Now I wish he'd just leave the tour and design courses.
Two championships from my teams since I've been alive: 1989 A's and 2015 Warriors. Both seem to have an asterisk since the A's never got a victory parade (thanks to the quake and overall depression of when it happened) and supposedly the Warriors only won because Cavs players were injured.
Most of what I've experienced as a fan is heartbreak...the Kirk Gibson home run, the Jeter throw to home, Tejada arguing on the basepaths during a live play, last year's three consecutive losses to Lebron & Co. Not to mention when the teams are bad, they're REALLY bad. I'd love that one definitive championship no one can argue, which the entire fanbase can celebrate without feeling "guilty".
I will say that Scott Hatteberg home run to give the A's their 20th consecutive win was one glorious moment as a fan.
Canada vs Russia: the 1972 Summit Series. Absolutely nerve-wracking, spine-tingling suspense and excitement, capped by a euphoric, come-from-behind victory.
Nothing else close in my book.
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