What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

[MARTZball]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

Eight years old, first ever Brisbane Broncos game at Lang Park vs Manly where we trounced the then defending premiers (see Rugby League).

[chance]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

1996 in the 3rd grade at the old McNichols Sports Arena Nuggets vs Sixers Iverson's rookie year.

[24]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

2000 world series at the stadium 4get which game it was but boy was it one of the most exiting moments of my life. right now im on my way to miami for the superbowl and its my first NFL game so i am pumped gotta love flying with wifi

[rockchisler]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

The earliest I remember is coincidently Nets Vs Pistons ( They playing Tonight) at the Silverdome, My dad won a contest for being in the correct seat and won Hats and a Marty Mcfly Vest.

[matt8204]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

Giants/Jets, last game of the 1987 regular season at the Meadowlands. Giants won, 20-7. I was only five, so my memories of the game are vague, but I do remember drinking hot chocolate in the stands because it was a brutally cold and windy day. Went with my dad.

My first hockey game was on February 10, 1991, Canucks @ Devils. Devils won, 2-0 and we all got a hockey stick and puck on the way out of the arena. Fell in love with the sport that night.

[NinerFan1983]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

^ What a game that was. That had to have been awesome to see in person, especially if you're a Warriors fan.

It was amazing. The crowd was so loud.

There was even a drunk guy in our section who kept yelling really loud. "MAKE THESE FREE THROWS PLEEAAAAASE" whenever a Warrior was at the line. Then whenever a Celtic was at the line, it was the opposite.

It got to where everybody started catching on and yelling the "PLEEAASSE" part along with him.

Good times.

How the hell can you guys remember this stuff? I have no idea what the first game I went to was.

Mine were recent, plus one of which even I even posted a YouTube clip of on page two of this thread.

Anybody ever go to a playoff game?

[jb12780]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

New York Rangers vs. Boston Bruins 1999-2000 season. I was in 2nd grade.

That night happened to be free hat night, and of course, Radek Dvorak had a hat trick. The game had to be stopped for 15 minutes cause all the hats on the ice.

[Madman55]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

Hmm... I'm not sure if it was a Manitoba Moose (IHL) Game, or Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I know both teams won the first game i went to. As for playoffs, last year the Moose made a run to the finals, and I was at every home game (Including when the Bears won the cup. )

[Kriech23]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

Don't know if it was the my first pro sports event but, it was the Steelers and Falcons tie at Heinz field. It kind of sucked that I watched the whole game and it ended in a tie.

[Watson]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

1999 Falcons/Saints game. 17-20. Not us.

[BurghFan]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

Don't know if it was the my first pro sports event but, it was the Steelers and Falcons tie at Heinz field. It kind of sucked that I watched the whole game and it ended in a tie.

That game sucked because the Steelers blew a 17 point 4th quarter lead . My first Steelers game was also against the Falcons way back in 1990 at Three Rivers Stadium. Steelers won that one 21-9. I believe that was also the first year the Falcons wore black helmets.

[Herky]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

In 1985 my grandpa took me to a Minnesota Twins game when I was 8. They played the Yankees and I remember Ricky Henderson getting as beer dumped on him in the outfield.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

My first pro game was when I was 8 years old, unfortunate for me it was a Yankee Game....

[Husker_OS]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

I think it was the '92 Alabama vs Vanderbilt football game. I was 5.

[Jdurg]

Re: What Was Your First Pro Sport Event Experience?

For me, it was May of 1993. My dad was/is just deathly afraid of NYC and driving there, so he never really took me to Yankees games as a kid. We'd just watch them on TV. Our neighbors across the street, however, were an elderly couple who are basically like grandparents to me. The guy had tickets to a Yankees/Red Sox Game at Fenway Park and had two extra. So he invited me and my dad. I still remember the smell of the pinetar in the air around Fenway Park and the Italian Sausage carts all around the outside of the park. While I would have loved to have been at Yankee Stadium, the fact that I got to see a major league baseball game in person had me happy. Plus, the Yankees' ace (Jimmy Key) was pitching against some rookie for Boston (Paul Quantrill). Paul O'Neil, who had recently come to the Yankees and was becoming my favorite player, launched one over the Green Monster in that game, but Mo Vaughn hit two homeruns and the Yankees lost. I always hated Mo Vaughn. I also remember how small those seats were, and I was only 12 years old! lol.

We were going to go back to catch a game in Fenway against Boston in September of 1994 with our seats right in the first row in right field in the corner. But the strike came and wiped that out and my father said "**** this!" and it took him a while to pay any further attention to baseball again. (The World Series Victory in 1996 helped, I think. ) But in the summer of 1998 his work had a bus-trip set up to Yankee Stadium for a Yanks/Sox game and got two tickets. So I got to see Yankee Stadium for the first time, and it was the year where NY was winning EVERY game and was nearly unbeatable at home............. except for that day. Bret Saberhagen outdueled Hideki Irabu and Mo Vaughn hit a homerun to give Boston a 2-0 victory, I believe. I wanted to see Mo Vaughn die. lol. So I had been to two games, and seen two losses.

I then went off to college and in the fall of 1999 I was down at school in Pennsylvania, got REALLY drunk at a party, and when I got back from the party decided to go online and get tickets for the ALDS game against Texas two nights later. Of course, I had no idea how the hell I'd get up to the Bronx from the SE Pennsylvania area. lol. But I got the tickets, posted an announcement on the school message board, and got a ton of replies. One from a guy who lived across the river in Jersey and said we could crash at his parents' house after the game. So we went to the game and the seats were in the third deck on the third base side, 7 rows from the front. The view was GREAT and the place was LOUD! Yankees won the game, and I still remember the chill coming down my spine as Enter Sandman played when Mariano Rivera came in. NY ended up winning the series and the World Series that year. As I left the stadium, I got caught out near the player's entrance and security foolishly trapped me in by the player's exit. lol. I got to shake hands with the entire team before security realized that they screwed up and sent me on my way. But that was my first playoff game, and my first Yankees victory in person.

For football, a few years ago a friend of mine gave me a free ticket to the Giants/Vikings game (this was before Eli) if I'd be willing to drive. So I said yes since I had never been to an NFL game before. Drove down there with a ton of stuff for tailgating, and set up shop next to some other people who were tailgating to the extreme. They had a huge propane tank, deep fryers, lobsters, steaks, etc. Still, they LOVED the Italian Sausage, cheese, zitti, and herb dish I made as well as some of my other tailgating foods. So they gave me some of the lobster for some of my dish. It was awesome. Went into the stadium to catch the game and was also stunned to hear Bob Sheppard's voice as the PA guy at the stadium. I thought that was awesome. Giants lost. Heh.

After that, I have been to the old Yankee Stadium a ton of times. A friend of mine worked at a company who's owner had season tickets to the old Yankee Stadium. So every year he'd buy some from her for one game in the summer and we'd head down there. They were great seats (a few rows behind the tarps on the first base side) and the Yankees always seemed to win. (I haven't seen the Yankees lose a game in person since that game with my dad in 1998!) Unfortunately, I lost touch with my friend as he moved elsewhere so those tickets dried up.

In 2008, I was at a bar and having some drinks when someone walked in and just started talking. He had gotten stood up by a girl he was seeing and had two tickets for a game at Yankee Stadium the next day that he was going to take her to. So he asked if I wanted them, and I immediately texted my boss and said "I'm taking tomorrow off". Myself an another colleague went and caught the game during the last year of the old stadium. Yeah, the seats were in the upper deck on the first base side of the stadium, but it was free tix. Ended up talking with a family of Canadian folk who were in NYC for a vacation and wanted to see the old stadium for the historic aspect of it. They were really cool and ended up buying quite a few rounds of beers for me and my friend. lol.

This past year, I went and saw a LOT of games at the new stadium. At least 8 or 9 of them. I lost count. One of them was with tickets that I got from work. I had completely obliterated a deadline for a database release by getting it out there only a couple of days after the last subject had their last visit. This was for a very important submission in Europe and made my management, and the company, very happy. The VP of the company has a ton of tickets to Yankee Stadium, and as a thank you he gave me two of them through our interoffice mail as he knew I was a Yankees fan. (I had talked with him in our work's gym a few times). I was stunned by that and ended up taking my dad. That is where my dad learned that it's super easy to drive to the New Yankee Stadium and got him to go to a lot of games with me this year. I also got to see the Yankees play the Red Sox on my birthday this year. John Smoltz got lit up by the Yankees and FINALLY, I got to see the Yankees beat the Red Sox. It was great.

Finally, when playoff tickets went on sale I went and got two. One for me and one for my dad. My dad and I got to see the very first EVER playoff game at the new Stadium. Third or fourth row in the right field stands behind the scoreboard out there. Got there early to catch batting practice, then watch the Yankees beat the Twins for the first of their 11 playoff wins last year. Every time I go to see the Yankees in the playoffs, they win the World Series that year. My dad was, and still is, incredibly psyched about that game and tells everyone he sees that his son took him to the first game at the new Yankee Stadium with great seats. I plan on going to many, many more games this year and if it weren't for my financial issues I was going to get a short season ticket package of a dozen games or so. My only big "must" is to get tickets for my birthday again this year as it will be my 30th birthday, it will be on a Friday, and the Yankees will be playing the Red Sox. I plan to get four tickets (one for me, one for a friend of mine who lives in Peekskill, and one each for my best friend and his wife who will be up in the area around then) and catch the train into Manhattan where I'll meet up with my friend, we'll get a hotel room in Manhattan (can get a cheap room with two beds for only $100 a night. Not looking for some luxery complex as I'm only going to be in there for a few hours). Catch the game that night, then the next day my dad will drive down to Yankee Stadium and I'll just get on the Subway and meet him in the parking lot there, drop off my small suitcase, and go catch the Saturday game with him. (He said he'll get tickets for that Saturday game). We'll then drive back.