football

The Top Five–Sports Memories

After thinking about my favorite baseball memories, I realized how many good sports memories I have, too, and Super Bowl weekend seems like the perfect time to share them, because they begin with…

  • The Super Bowl Shuffle–The Chicago Bears were the champions of Super Bowl XX in 1986, but what I really remember is the Shufflin’ Crew, The Fridge, Da Coach, and my dad buying me a championship t-shirt from a roadside stand on his way home from work. This is one of my earliest sports memories, and it has very little to do with the game itself…I don’t even like football! But this is the first city championship I remember, and the enthusiasm of the fans and the chemistry of the team lives in my memory.
  • The 1993-peat–This might be my number one sports memory ever. The Chicago Bulls had already won two NBA championships in my lifetime, and recently, too…in 1991 and 1992. But it’s all about the numbers, and the 3-peat was just meant to be, with the electrifying 3-point shot by John Paxson in the last second of game six concluding the fairy tale season.
  • Eight Gold Medals in Beijing–The first of my favorite sports memories as an adult was Michael Phelps’ improbable eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. I watched every race, hung on Rowdy Gaines’ every word, and when the eighth medal was on the line, I watched live, late at night, the only one awake in the house, and almost woke up the neighborhood with my screaming and jumping up and down as he won the race.
  • 11 in ’11–Following up on my love of the 1993-peat is the St. Louis Cardinals’ 11th World Series trophy in 2011…isn’t it fun when the numbers line up? This was the victory that almost wasn’t, or that shouldn’t have been, as the Cards didn’t even secure the wild card game spot in the playoffs until the final day of the season. But as the perfect team progressed through each series, I believed more and more that they could win the whole thing. In the end, game seven was a formality, because everything that needed to be said happened in Game Six, one of the best games in the history of any sport.
  • Play “Gloria”–Getting to see the St. Louis Blues win their first Stanley Cup was a rare treat. The city rallied around the team and their biggest fan, Laila Anderson, with a theme song of “Gloria.” This memory is extra special, because like the 3-peat, it happened within a few days of my birthday. We really went all-out for this win…the Fab Five and I even went downtown for the victory parade and rally, and a few months later, I got to kiss the Stanley Cup!

Do you have special sports memories?

A Glimpse of High School

Last Friday, we did the Friday Night Lights thing at the local high school, which, if you know us, might seem out-of-character for our family.

We were there for a specific reason, though…Moose had the opportunity to play with the high school marching band before the game!

I’m really excited that he got to see what it’s like to play with a group that big, and he seemed to enjoy the experience!

I guess if he ends up playing in the marching band next year, football might become a more regular part of my life…I’ll probably survive!

Football Friday

Moose’s school tried something new today–Football Friday. It appeared to be the idea of our new-ish principal, who must be a big football fan. They had all of the students get together in the afternoon, mixed them up so they were no longer organized by grade, and had a tailgate party–Moose said he had a hotdog and chips. Then they all played games, (I’m assuming somehow related to football), on the fields behind the school.

Of course, the idea was that the students all wear their St. Louis Rams apparel. That obviously wasn’t going to fly with us, and in the absence of any Packers clothes in his size, Moose wore a University of Michigan jersey. They put face paint on him at school, and he also got several strands of Mardi Gras beads, I’m assuming as prizes. The day was a big hit with him–I’m just hoping they do something equally fun in the spring, before baseball’s Opening Day!

Why Everyone Should Support the Packers

I think this is an excellent rationale for why everyone (outside of residents of Pennsylvania) should support the Green Bay Packers in the Superbowl:

I realize that people who live or have lived in Pittsburgh and in Pennsylvania generally will support the Steelers.

I urge everyone else to support the Packers.   Liberals should like them because they aren’t owned by some rich capitalist; rather, they are publicly owned.  Conservatives should like them because they represent small town America.  Let’s make this a campaign for national unity (except for Pittsburgh).

via Packers and Steelers go to the Superbowl | Cranach: The Blog of Veith.

Quote of the Day

Due to the score of the Packer game, I can’t stop thinking of this quote from the third season Thanksgiving episode of Friends:

42 to 21, like the turkey, Ross is done!

Looks like we’ll be saying the same about Atlanta soon!