The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Memorable moments, good and bad, at early age create sports fandom
The first Monday in April will always be a huge sports day for college hoops fans. But for one fanatic in the 1980s it was a national holiday.
I filled a bunch of VCR tapes (if you’re reading this and don’t know what a VCR tape is, ask your parents) with recorded NCAA men’s basketball championship games from the decade.
Villanova-Georgetown in 1985, Louisville-Duke in 1986, Syracuse-Indiana in 1987 ... Hade ‘em all. The holy grail — for me at least — of that college basketball decade is one of the reasons why I’m writing this column.
It’s one of the reasons why I’m in this profession.
It’s one of the reasons for my sports fandom.
We all have our reasons why we love sports. It could be one player, one season, one moment, one game. We have our favorites, but they usually occur during our early years, our wonder years.
For yours truly, it was from about 1980 to 1986. I was all about the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, and college football and basketball. I couldn’t get a enough, and the impressions are endless.
Here’s one man’s top five viewing moments that paved the way to being a sports fanatic:
BROWNS AT VIKINGS, DEC.
14, 1980 » This was the first sporting event I remember where I was watching it, so that has to count for something. It was the called “The Miracle at the Met” as the Browns lost at the Vikings, 28-23, when Tommy Kramer threw a 46-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Ahmad Rashad before Hail Mary passes were a thing. The TD came with no time left on the clock, and it was a punch to the gut. The loss gets overshadowed by the Kardiac Kids’ “Red Right 88” playoff defeat to the Raiders but the shocking ending at Minnesota was soothed when the Browns won the next week in the regular-season finale at Cincinnati to clinch the AFC Central Division.
NORTH CAROLINA VS. GEORGETOWN, NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL FINAL, MARCH
29, 1982 » I missed the 1979 NCAA final that pitted Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird, but this one wasn’t a bad consolation prize three years later. For a 12-year-old allowed to stay up past 11 p.m. for the first time on a school night to watch this classic, it was basketball heaven. A young Michael Jordan made the game-winning shot in the final seconds, and then Georgetown’s Fred Brown mistakenly passed the ball to James Worth in heartbreaking fashion, no matter which team you were rooting for. The Tar Heels’ 63-62 win underscored the game’s importance, as it helped pave the way to the term “March Madness” and Jordan’s greatness. The game featured Jordan, Worthy and Georgetown freshman Patrick Ewing. That’s pretty good.
MIAMI (FLA.) VS. NEBRASKA, ORANGE BOWL, JAN. 2, 1984
» Bernie Kosar said hello to the nation with an emphatic performance that lifted the Hurricanes to new heights. The quarterback from Boardman shocked the football world, and put himself on the national map by leading his team to a national championship over heavily favored Nebraska. Kosar threw for 300 yards and two TDs in the game, which is best known for Nebraska coach Tom Osborne’s decision to go for a 2-point conversion in the final seconds. His team trailed, 31-30, and went for the win but the conversion failed. As time has passed, the game carries more weight. Miami’s passing attack ushered in a new era that was the bridge to the beginning of today’s spread passing attacks while leaving the three-yards-and-a-cloud of dust rushing attack mostly in the rear-view mirror. The game isn’t underrated for drama. But for the impact it had on the future of the game, it’s very underrated. CAVALIERS VS. CELTICS, 1985 FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFFS, GAME 3, APRIL 23
» You might be wondering, what game? This one meant a lot for a fan wondering what it felt like to watch your team win just one playoff game. One of the most unlikely teams to accomplished that for the first time in my lifetime was the 1984-85 Cavaliers. They started the season 2-19, yet finished 3427 and made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. A bestof-five first-round matchup vs. the powerful Celtics seemed like sweep city, but the Cavs fought tough in the first two games, losing, 126-123, in Game 1 and 108-106 in Game 2. In Game 3 at Richfield Coliseum, my favorite Cavs player of the all-time — along with a great name to boot — World B. Free wouldn’t allow Cleveland to get swept. He scored 32 points and dished out eight assists in a 10598 win. The series was over soon after as Boston won Game 4, 117-115. Larry Bird might have stolen the show (he averaged 34.6 points in the series), but my World wasn’t too shabby. He averaged 26.5 points.
JETS AT BROWNS, AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF GAME, JAN.
3, 1987 » Kosar was at it again, and again wearing orange — but this time for the Browns in the form of his helmet. His 489 passing yards in the team’s epic double-overtime, come-from-behind 23-20 win was the NFL playoff record until Tom Brady bested it in this year’s Super Bowl. More important, it was the team’s first playoff win since the 1969, and continued a buzz that might never be duplicated again in Northeast Ohio when it comes to football. If you didn’t live it, it’s difficult to describe.