First Sports Memory

[phatj]

Earliest TV memories probably watching Lakers games on our new (color!) TV in ca. 1981. (My dad is an LA native and my mom lived there for a time as well. Also that team featured Oregon State alum AC Green, and as I grew up in Corvallis, OR where OSU is located.)

The Bears/Pats Super Bowl is memorable to me for reasons having nothing to do with the game itself. Friends of my parents hosted a party and I was running around with other kids there. At one point I was running in from outside and went head-first into a closed sliding glass door. I bounced off but the door shattered. I wound up with a couple tiny cuts in my forehead and my parents wound up with a big repair bill.

[BigEd76]

ABC news announcing Jerome Brown's death, Barkley leaving, Eagles losing to the 49ers (in the playoffs IIRC). Whichever of those happened first.

The Barkley trade was about a week before Jerome's death in June 1992.

Eagles lost to the Niners in the 1996-97 playoffs in San Fran. They also lost regular season games in 1991 (Vet) and 1992 (Candlestick).

[Polar Bear Phan]

My first in-person sports memory would've been either at a Phillies game or the Nazareth, PA dirt track. I remember commenting about "Mike Ship" who of course was actually Mike Schmidt. Given when Schmidt retired and when the dirt track closed, I can't be certain which was first.

Pretty sure my first television memory was Emerson Fittipaldi spinning out Al Unser, Jr. with two to go in the 1989 Indy 500.

[Soren]

ABC news announcing Jerome Brown's death, Barkley leaving, Eagles losing to the 49ers (in the playoffs IIRC). Whichever of those happened first.

The Barkley trade was about a week before Jerome's death in June 1992.

So I was 8. Sounds about right I guess, either way it really frames my over the top pessimism fairly well I think.

[Uncle Milty]

My first in-person sports memory would've been either at a Phillies game or the Nazareth, PA dirt track. I remember commenting about "Mike Ship" who of course was actually Mike Schmidt. Given when Schmidt retired and when the dirt track closed, I can't be certain which was first.

Pretty sure my first television memory was Emerson Fittipaldi spinning out Al Unser, Jr. with two to go in the 1989 Indy 500.

Nazareth dirt track? Your old!

[BatFlipsFTW]

Not sure why I fixated on live events on my earlier post, but now that I think about it, earliest sports memory is actually watching the 1968 Olympics. I must have had some familiarity with it before, since I came to them already a huge fan of Jim Ryun, who couldn't match Kip Keino's blistering pace in the altitude of Mexico City and wound up a disappointing second. Also remember Bob Beamon's world record long jump. In my memory the sound somehow cut off, and I thought he had hurt himself as he came leaping out of the pit. Instead he was excited about having beat the old mark by like two feet. I also remember watching the medal ceremony with John Carlos and Tommie smith, but with complete incomprehension about what was going on.

Good stuff

[BatFlipsFTW]

Randall on TV or a Penn State football game at the Beav.

[Phred]

I remember when I was really little, my dad napping on the couch with the Eagles game on many times. I also remember going into the room and trying to quietly change the channel only for him to tell me that he was watching it (even though he was "asleep"). Magic. The same thing would happen on weekends in the summer with baseball games. It took me years to perfect the same ability to watch a game while simultaneously napping.

My brother is 4 years older than me. Baseball cards were always a part of my life. As was Little League and catch in the backyard.

My parents took my brother and sister to the Vet for games before I was old enough to go. They would regale me stories of the scoreboard (IT DID SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST KEEP SCORE) and the stadium experience.

I remember watching the 1980 post-season. Probably the first time I actually watched games. Also, the 1980 Superbowl...we moved the TV into the living room and ate subs on TV trays. Special stuff.