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The Sports Vault Thread

Started by TheNorm, March 14, 2020, 10:43:32 AM

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TheNorm

Yes, there's bigger things going on in the world right now, believe me I know. But sports was still an escape for a lot of people (myself included), and the postponement/cancellation of almost every sporting event for at least the next month or so will sting a lot of people.

I saw a tweet Thursday asking what would ESPN and the others do to replace all those live events. I suggested (as did others) just open the vault. So screw it, that's what this thread is for.

Whenever I've got time, I'm going to put up a game that I feel is worthy of being watched. Could be a classic that everyone knows about, or it could be sentimental to you. Feel free to play along. A couple writers I follow on Twitter started doing the exact same thing yesterday; I even thought about posting the game they shared yesterday but I really don't feel like triggering Crewe (think 1992 Wild Card).

Today...I think I'll just go with what they posted today. The Detroit Lions one and only playoff victory since 1957, a shellacking of the emerging Dallas Cowboys. Check out Summerall and Madden when they were still coherent.

https://youtu.be/soH33XuFUk0
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

BojackHorsefella

Oh man, this is such a great idea. I hate trying to upload from my phone, but definitely have some memories I can contribute.

Crewe

Quote from: TheNorm on March 14, 2020, 10:43:32 AM

I even thought about posting the game they shared yesterday but I really don't feel like triggering Crewe (think 1992 Wild Card).


LOL! Come at me bro  :D

Great idea norm

TheNorm

Quote from: Crewe on March 14, 2020, 01:58:45 PM

LOL! Come at me bro  :D

Great idea norm

Well...I wasn't meaning to but FB and Twitter kinda reminded me that today was Jordan Poole Day, so...sorry?

2018 NCAA Tournament, Round of 32: Michigan v. Houston

https://youtu.be/I8EBu6ScWiQ

Was half asleep, getting ready to turn off the tv and go to bed when the end happened. Lost my voice screaming and jumping around the house, had a couple more beers and caught the second half of the replay at 3am.
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

BojackHorsefella

THE YEAR IS 2000

In 1999, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nearly made it to the Super Bowl but for one Bert Emmanuel catch (which was a catch) against the Rams in the NFC Championship game. The Rams won, went on to defeat the Tennessee Titans in the Super Bowl, and Kurt Warner was forever cemented in NFL history.

The Bucs were still around, though.

After that amazing championship game, the NFL had to capitalize, and naturally both teams played against each other the following season. Dec 18th, in the midst of the playoff hunt in Tampa, Florida, at Raymond James Stadium, on Monday Night Football, to be precise. The Rams knew they'd face their toughest challenge yet, the Bucs knew they wanted revenge.

It was a school night, and I stayed up late, in my room, against my mom's rules, watching the game on a volume of like 2 and trying to contain myself when Warrick Dunn pitched that ball back to Shaun King.

For your viewing pleasure:


Crewe

So here's my contribution.
Mario Elle and the kiss off

Rockets won the title with a fantastic run in 94, the cities first pro championship (sans 60 AFL Oilers) and it was insane around here, rightfully so. This was the infamous "Choke City" campaign started by our own stupid newspaper after starting down 0-2 at home against Phoenix.
Move to 95. As a fan, you know how hard it is to repeat and all you hope for is a respectable run. Consecutive appearances would be nice, but at least get to the Conference finals.

For the second year in a row, we meet the Suns in the semi's. Barkley guaranteed a victory, saying no way the Rockets could beat them in 7.
This was a gut wrenching game and it came down to the final 10 seconds when Mario Elle backed it all up and drained a 3 with the game tied.
Free throw out and Houston was back in the Conference finals where Olajuwon embarrassed MVP David Robinson and then went on to cruise through Orlando in four, winning back to back. This was the key moment because this is the only series the Rockets were tested.
I think a lot of people dont recall just how great those Houston teams were.

Full game


ESPN highlights (Craig Kilborn, remember that guy?)




TheNorm

Great choices fellas, both those games were incredible. That Game 7 was a treat! As much as I love Shaq and the Admiral I still feel Olajuwon was the best center I've seen in my time. Some talent on both those squads, too. KJ absolutely balled out.

Thing I'm loving from both your posts is hearing the personal stuff on the side. Buc talking about how he had to hide watching this game since it was a school night, to Crewe talking about just how tense that game really was for anyone watching...that's the stuff. Keep 'em coming and I will too.
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

Crewe

Quote from: TheNorm on March 19, 2020, 03:54:33 PM
Great choices fellas, both those games were incredible. That Game 7 was a treat! As much as I love Shaq and the Admiral I still feel Olajuwon was the best center I've seen in my time. Some talent on both those squads, too. KJ absolutely balled out.

Thing I'm loving from both your posts is hearing the personal stuff on the side. Buc talking about how he had to hide watching this game since it was a school night, to Crewe talking about just how tense that game really was for anyone watching...that's the stuff. Keep 'em coming and I will too.

yea thats what makes it more interesting and is the kind of thing I was shooting for with the scene it thread.
Good stuff

TheNorm

That reminds me, I've got a few to add to that one. Been on a Leslie Nielsen kick lately and he deserves a post there haha
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

TheNorm

Missing baseball today, so here we go. The year is 1984 and thanks to a historical 35-5 start and one hell of a baseball team, the Detroit Tigers are in the World Series against the San Diego Padres. The good guys take 3 out of the first 4 games and are poised to clinch the series at home. A city is electric and can't wait on a Sunday afternoon (yes, back in the day when baseball would play World Series games in the middle of the afternoon and you didn't have to worry about staying up until 11pm-midnight in the Eastern time zone).

Meanwhile, 11-year old me along with the family have to go to a birthday party for a friend of the family at a place called Major Magic's, which was this magical place that served pizza and had games for the kids, like Chuck E. Cheese but better. For me it was kinda cool because they had a bunch of arcade games, but at the same time, I also wanted to watch the game. Luckily their big room for the adults had a big projection screen and was showing the game below. I'd run along for a little while to play video games with the other kids at the party (and we'd also play lookout for each other while we cheated at Skee-ball), but I'd always venture back every little bit to catch the game. Luckily I was in the room when Goose Gossage waved off pitching around Kirk Gibson in the bottom of the 8th, and the room erupted. Was getting ready to run back out to play another video game (hey, I knew the score but I was still 11...and video games lol) at the top of the 9th when my dad said "you might want to stick around for this last part". Glad I did because I also got to see the room erupt in cheers, high fives, and hugs with friends and random strangers alike when the Tigers clinched the one and only World Series title I've seen my team take to this point.

But there's also more to this story. Major Magic's was in the suburbs in a place called Clinton Township, around 15 Mile & Gratiot. We lived between 8 & 9 Mile (yes, 8 Mile is a place and we all lived on both sides of it) in St. Clair Shores and slowly made our way down Gratiot to get back to the house. It was like nothing we'd ever seen before: bumper to bumper traffic on an early Sunday evening, cars honking their horns in a joyous and happy medley. New to my parents since they had only moved here in 1972 from the Philippines, and well, up until 1984 Detroit teams weren't exactly making championship appearances.

Finally make it home around 830 or so...and one of the other things I remember and loved from back in the day was a mini-series called V. Well V: The Final Battle was also scheduled to begin part 1 of 3 that night, and I was really excited to see that too. The local NBC station was still broadcasting postgame celebration coverage (this was also back in the day when Detroit infamously tended to riot after championship wins; they'd embarrassingly do this again in 1989 and 1990 when the Pistons went back-to-back before people finally talked some fucking sense into the community), but luckily jumped right to the show at 9pm. Was lucky enough that my parents would let me stay up late to watch it too. :)

Anyway, thanks for reading all this. Without further ado, I present to you Game 5 of the 1984 World Series between the San Diego Padres and the Detroit Tigers, playing in front of a sold out crowd at Tiger Stadium. Enjoy Vin Scully on the call as well.

https://youtu.be/cK6_XSf8UL8
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

TheNorm

Couple of things I want to add to this:

I really really miss Tiger Stadium. It's not just home to my earliest memory (I vaguely remember my dad carrying me out of the stadium to get into a cab, and it was raining), but also...it was just a great ballpark. Loved seeing games there.

As for Kirk Gibson...while it's typically his other clutch HR in a World Series that gets more of the press, you'll never convince me it was better than the one he hit off of Gossage. Sure I might be slightly biased, but I'll still always contend his '84 dinger was just a bit bigger.
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

Crewe

great story norm and I know just the kind of joint you're talking about, we ha Mr. Gatti's.

I know its not legit, but I hated Dodger Gibson with every fiber of my being. All I remember were the announcers Gibson this Gibson that, Gibson Gibson Gibson. Only thing I remotely appreciated him for was beating out that cokehead Strawberry for MVP in his one good year in LA.

Keep in mind, as an Astros fan, I was bred to despise everything Dodger anyway so there's that.

TheNorm

March 26, 1997.

Mention that date to just about any Red Wings or Avs fan and they'll know exactly what you're talking about. There's also no way in hell I could let this day pass in this thread without mentioning it here. Let's start with a little trip down memory lane.

In the 1990s the Red Wings began their climb to become annual contenders for the Stanley Cup. One criticism (fairly or unfairly) about the team is that they were a little soft. Pushed around by the New Jersey Devils in the 1995 Stanley Cup Final, the team came back stronger in the 1995-96 season and even set a league record for points in a season. As for the Colorado Avalanche in their inaugural season after relocating from Quebec, they were a decent squad but not expected to do much until they acquired goaltender Patrick Roy from Montreal (that in and of itself is a story for another day). These two teams met in the Western Conference Final, and the Avalanche dispatched the Wings on their way to a Stanley Cup trophy. But one incident that would ignite this rivalry took place in Game 6: Avs forward Claude Lemieux hit Wings forward Kris Draper from behind into the boards with a vicious cheap shot, one that would require Draper to have his jaw wired shut for a couple months and facial surgery. Lemieux would only get suspended two games in the Finals for the incident. The Wings and their fanbase wanted blood.

Fast forward to the following season, and these two teams are on a collision course again. The first three matchups all went in the books as wins for the Avalanche, and while there were skirmishes here and there not too much happened...but the buildup to the last game of the season between the two (on March 26th) seemed to be a bit different. Beat writers acknowledged that if the Wings were to have any chance against the Avs in the playoffs, they needed to not just avenge what happened the previous season-they needed to win the game to get the proverbial monkey off their back. The stage was set for a wild night at the Joe.

As for me, I was slogging through my next to last year at Michigan but I also knew I had to see this game. I left campus for downtown in an effort to find tickets, but they were just way out of my price range. So I rang up my good friend Marcie and told her to meet back at my parents house. My brother was also a senior in high school and also had some friends over to prepare to watch what was about to unfold. :)

This game is unfortunately not found in full on youtube, so first off I'll just bring you to the flashpoint of what we were watching back in Detroit that night. Forsberg's a little bitch for going after Igor Larionov, arguably one of the classiest players out there...but he paid for it. They all did.

https://youtu.be/uXHKHT8N6eA

Crazy, right? We were all going nuts, ecstatic with what happened...but at the end of it all we were still losing the game. More fights would happen throughout the game, but nothing quite like what happened above. Fast forward to the third period, and the Wings are still down...but begin a comeback for the ages. I could say more, but you really should just watch the highlights below (it's only 15 minutes for the full game and includes clips from the fight above, but what else are you doing? LOL).

https://youtu.be/voy7FIMQj6o

I'll always contend that while winning the fight and exacting revenge on that little turtle bitch Lemieux was important, winning the game was even more important for the Wings chances in the playoffs because it showed that they could hang with them and beat them (which they did, just two months later). Having the game winner come from McCarty was just icing on the cake.

The Wings and Avalanche would combine for some more great hockey over the following seasons, and it may be the last huge blood rivalry the league has seen.
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

Crewe

That was a great time for hockey. I must say, as a Stars fan, I sorely despised the Red Wings for a long time. Especially when they were all Russians. Hey, it's a Cold War grudge, don't judge me.
I was even for Colorado, who I hated as well, but man, hard not to pull for Detroit after that nonsense.
Sad thing is, it was a great game by talented players.
People always said how Roy got demolished by Vernon. is anyone watching the same fight I did? Roy got some great shots in and sure, he got cut up, but I thought he more than held his own, easily.
Lemiuex on the other hand. How fitting he went down with a cheap shot too right?
Wasn't it the first time they met the next year where he and McCarty dropped the gloves at the opening bell but Claude turtled?

Hated it, hated it, hated it when he came to Dallas.

This is the kinda shit I used to love in the IHL Aeros, good times.

TheNorm

Quote from: Crewe on March 26, 2020, 08:20:05 PM
That was a great time for hockey. I must say, as a Stars fan, I sorely despised the Red Wings for a long time. Especially when they were all Russians. Hey, it's a Cold War grudge, don't judge me.
I was even for Colorado, who I hated as well, but man, hard not to pull for Detroit after that nonsense.
Sad thing is, it was a great game by talented players.
People always said how Roy got demolished by Vernon. is anyone watching the same fight I did? Roy got some great shots in and sure, he got cut up, but I thought he more than held his own, easily.
Lemiuex on the other hand. How fitting he went down with a cheap shot too right?
Wasn't it the first time they met the next year where he and McCarty dropped the gloves at the opening bell but Claude turtled?

Hated it, hated it, hated it when he came to Dallas.

This is the kinda shit I used to love in the IHL Aeros, good times.

Oh I get it, heard that a lot-too many Russians, etc. I was a little ambivalent at first...but then I saw Fedorov play and knew I wanted more. What an untapped market...did you know in that same draft they almost landed Pavel Bure too? League mistakenly told them they couldn't though. My god Fedorov and Bure on the same squad would've been fun to watch.

Was funny, before the Wings faced off against the Flyers in the 97 Finals, I took a trip down to South Carolina to visit a friend. Had a stopover in Philly and wore my Yzerman jersey. Man, the boos I was getting there just in the airport waiting for my connection. Fun times. :D

As for Vernon and Roy...yeah Roy held his own. He also had the size advantage though, that's why a lot of people think Vernon "owned" Roy. Vernon was scrappy man...

And as for the fight between McCarty and Lemieux the following season...Lemieux actually squared and dropped the gloves first, held his own.
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr