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The best that you saw play....in the 4 Major team sports.
Coinstartled
Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
This may not be all that easy.
Only went to a handful of NHL games but saw Gordie play in Detroit for the Wings. Easy pick
Had to be Mickey Mantle in baseball in the late 1960's against the Tigers.
Probably attended 8 NBA games from the early 70's to the late 80's. Don't recall the opponents so Isaiah Thomas gets the nod.
Lions were easy as they had little talent beyond Barry Sanders. Don't recall too many opponents beyond Minnesota and Tampa Bay so Barry is the easy choice. For a couple years before his career was cut short by injury, I'll give an honorable mention to Billy Sims.
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Gotta go with Mickey Mantle in Fenway Park, sometime in the late 50s. Somehow my dad seemed to always get tickets in that little "pizza slice" of seats behind the Red Sox bullpen, to the immediate right of the 420' sign. Jackie Jensen hit a deep fly ball over (ovah) Mantle's head and it rolled to the corner. Quite a thrill for a young kid to be looking down at #7 about 10 feet away. Of course, Ted Williams played in that game as well as the infamous Jimmy Piersall.
Great memories of Fenway, just a thrill to go there.
Oh yeah...Larry Byrd and Magic in the Boston Garden...speaks for itself.
Oddly, no hockey, although I grew up about 40 miles from the home ice of the Bruins.
Football...not a fan, but Deion Sanders in his prime in Atlanta. Prime Time was really on an ego trip then!!
George Brett and Ken Griffey Jr.
I saw Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguiz play but I don't count them since they were cheaters.
Lemieux in Pittsburgh
Rose in Cincinnati
Jordan in Chicago
Deshaun Watson - Clemson, Tempe, Tampa, Houston
Top 10 Cal Fractional Type Set
successful BST with Ankurj, BigAl, Bullsitter, CommemKing, DCW(7), Elmerfusterpuck, Joelewis, Mach1ne, Minuteman810430, Modcrewman, Nankraut, Nederveit2, Philographer(5), Realgator, Silverpop, SurfinxHI, TomB and Yorkshireman(3)
Lebron James, Jim Brown and way too many Baseball players going back to the 60's to remember.
Orr
Jordan
Barry Sanders
Schmidt
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
My all restaurant/nightclub team includes Thomas, Laimbeer, Lynn Swann, Franco Harris, Horace Grant and Bob Lanier!
Paul Ott Caruth
Lenn Sakata
Chuck Nevitt
Don't have a hockey one.
Saw Ted Williams as manager of the Washington Senators in1969... Saw Ernie Banks at Wrigley in 1973. They were playing Philadelphia and two young guys Mike Schmidt and Grer Luzinski managed to find Sheffield. I saw Nolan Ryan strike out 19 Red Sox...
I see to remember the best moments more than who might be thought of as the best players.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Baseball:Reggie Jackson's home run in the 71 All Star game. The ball hit the light transformer on the right field roof.
Nolan Ryan No Hitter 16 K's may of '91 Arlington, also in '93 when Robin Ventura made his ill fated trip to the mound only to have his clock cleaned by Ryan. Worked a lot of sporting events in Dallas in the early '80's making sure the beer kept flowing, so I was fortunate to see quite a few players.
Hockey - Wayne Gretzky/Patrick Roy. The first game I ever went to was right after Gretzky went to St Louis and they played the Avalanche in Denver. I also went to many Avalanche games in the mid/late 1990s.
Baseball - Hank Aaron/Johnny Bench/Pete Rose/Nolan Ryan/Mike Schmidt/Tony Gwynn/Dave Winfield/Willie McCovey/Rickey Henderson. Most memorable was being at Nolan Ryan's 7th no-hitter in Arlington. I grew up in San Diego and went to many Padres games in the 1970s/early 1980s. I was also at a Ryan one-hitter in San Diego, and at his almost 8th no-hitter in Arlington against the Angels.
Football - Probably John Elway. Went to the games in Denver between the Chargers and Broncos in 1996 and 1997. Also went to many Chargers home games in 1980 and 81 during the height of Air Coryell
Basketball - i've been to I think, one ABA and three NBA games in my life; the ABA game in San Diego against the Kentucky Colonels, one NBA in Denver against Houston in 1995 or 1996, and the other two in San Antonio against Phoenix and another team I don't even remember. All I remember about them is that Wilt Chamberlain was the coach in San Diego at that time, and the game between the Spurs and Suns was when Shaq played for Phoenix (but he didn't play in that game).
Steve
Lessee...
NBA - only been to a handful of games; I'm gonna say Isiah Thomas
NFL - again, only a handful; best would definitely be Barry Sanders
NHL - never been to an NHL game despite being a hockey fan growing up in Detroit; have seen 100 or so college games though - best player would be Paul Kariya when he was at Maine
MLB - I've seen a lot of great players but probably the best of 'em all was Clayton Kershaw, who I saw pitch in Seattle.
NHL - Gretzky in the '93 Cup Finals....In fact I attended every Kings home playoff game that season. Even though they lost to Montreal in the Finals, it was an unforgettable time.
NBA - Magic vs. Bird, Lakers vs. Celtics, etc. etc.
NFL - Peyton Manning won his first Super Bowl vs. my favorite team, Da Bears. I paid several thousand dollars to stand in the rain, ruin a digital camera, and cry in my beer. I did it all with my teenage son by my side. I'm glad we went.
MLB - Game 3 of the 2016 World Series - Cleveland 1, Chicago 0....My kid was with me again for this one. And we got to see the team that would be Champs. Every Cub was there, + some Old Timers and there was Bill Murray channeling Daffy Duck for the 7th inning stretch from the Press Box. So yeah, ultimately they were the best of the best.
Harmon Killebrew, Alan Page, Mike Modano.
George Brett, Frank White and Tony Gonzalez
Lafayette Grading Set
Larry Bird, David Ortiz, Tom Brady
Dem are good
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Let's do college
I've been to literally hundreds of college hockey, football and basketball games from 1968 to present ( young pup )
Football. Charles Woodson
Basketball-- Bill Walton
Hockey Paul Kariya
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Hockey - n/a
Baseball - Griffey
Basketball - Magic
Football - Rice
Baseball - barry bonds, barry Larkin, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, al Oliver, Gary carter
Football - Dermonti Dawson, Eddie George, Greg Lloyd, Brian sipe, Ozzie newsome, Jerome Bettis
IT CAN'T BE A TRUE PLAYOFF UNLESS THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONS ARE INCLUDED
Since we are are going deeper into the lineups....I will add Al Kaline and Eddie Mathews.
Steve Yzerman
Roger Staubach
Dennis Rodman
Most memorable games I attended:
Gretzky at the Forum his first year with the Kings - ELECTRIC! Every time he touched the puck the whole place was on the edge of our seats.
Second most electric was Shaq and Penny for the Magic at Golden State. Those two guys were incredible together.
Saw most great national league players of the 70's along with the Yankees in '77 and '78 World Series. Not memorable though.
Jordan against my Sac Kings on a couple occasions here in SacTown.
Magic, Kareem, and Showtime Lakers, several times, in the 80's at the Forum.
Saw Sosa hit three HRs at Wrigley and a 4th off the top of the fence if I recall correctly.
Saw McGwire v. Sosa at Wrigley in '98.
Went to several Ram's games in the 70's including Merlin Olson's last game. Nothing memorable though.
Oh hey - Christian McCaffrey running all over Iowa at the 2016 Rose Bowl. Looking forward to seeing what he can do in the NFL.
kirk gibson
jordan...pick
james harrison TD return .
hockey...meh i guess the penguin "dynasty" but only saw in highlights none live
Football - the 92-93 Cowboys.
Baseball - the 75-76 Reds.
Baskekball - the Bulls of the 90's... 2 three-peats.
Hockey - N/A