Non revenue college sports, especially if the team is good.
College softball is 2 hours, fast paced, fun, and at Michigan the women will occasionally hit homers that land in the middle of the baseball field, startling the center fielder in the baseball game.
College soccer is also excellent- especially in a passionate rivalry.
College softball is awesome and everyone should try to go! It is also exceedingly family-friendly from both a pricing standpoint and a general lack of drunken belligerents in the stands standpoint.
Was on spring break a couple years ago in Tucson and decided spur of the moment to go to an Arizona softball game. Happened to be vs FSU. Standing room only. Weather was perfect. Lots of homers. Home team won. And bonus: it was alumni night so Jenny Finch threw out the 1st pitch. Great night.
I went to a game in my hometown once when back from college. This is many levels down in the hierarchy of the minor leagues, not directly affiliated with any NHL team. So you're seeing young guys not good enough for the AHL and old guys still chasing something. (RIP Elmira Jackals).
My Dad and I went to dinner beforehand, and showed up mid-way through the first period. Walked into the stadium and in the tunnel to the stands. A very friendly usher offered to help us find our seats. He looks at our tickets, turns around to lead us into the stands, and then stops and says "I can't seat you right now. There's a fight going on!"
We walked into a full out brawl right as the benches started to empty. Goalies skating out to center ice to meet each other. Backup goalies squaring off. Refs frantically going from scrum to scrum, failing to pull anyone off. Coaches jumping onto the ice and shuffle running over to try to help, and then getting dragged into the fight.
It took about 30 mins for the whole thing to settle. The refs escorted guys off one by one as they were able to peel them away. Then they huddled for a long to figure out what to do while the equipment managers had to go round picking up gloves, helmets, sticks, jerseys and other stuff.
They kicked damn near everyone out and the teams played the game 8 v 7 including goalies the rest of the way. Toward the end of the 2nd period, the players that were kicked out started trickling in and sitting in the section behind us and a shouting/shoving match between a few of the guys who still hadn't gotten it out of their system ensued until security came and escorted them out of the arena entirely.
Games where the result and the teams themselves are completely overshadowed by a surprise guest or event:
I happened to be at the Tennessee *men's* basketball game when Pat Summitt (RIP) ran out onto the court dressed up as a cheerleader and led everyone in the most rousing rendition of Rocky Top I have ever heard.
Oh man, reading this brought back great/terrible memories of RFK Stadium. The new facilities at Nationals Park and Audi Field are 1000 times "nicer" by any metric. But there aren't any feral racoons running around in the new places. What a dump, I loved it.
I think RFK really was the definitive "what a pile of shit, I love it" stadium. Like you said, Audi Field is wildly better as a place to *watch* a game, but there was nothing quite like the actual stands bouncing under the barra brava and such.
I hit two categories here with the Metrodome: a game I had no stake in AND the final season of a crummy venue. I was in MPLS in late '09, and caught a game against KC the final week of the season. Had a great time.
The most I've ever enjoyed a baseball game was a late season game against Chicago at the Dome while the Twins were scrapping with Detroit for the ALCentral. Packed house booing AJ whenever he came to the plate, unbelievable roar at every big play, etc. I miss that shithole.
absolutely electric atmosphere for those DC United games. And maybe that's it, like you said, it belonged to the supporter's group, the fans, to us, and not to someone in a luxury box
I will say that a packed evening game at Audi Field when the barra brava are in full flight is pretty damn good. My first game back in person was the game in July when they beat Toronto 7-1, and the joint was jumping.
I have to agree with your takes, especially since they confirm my belief that my hometown of Toledo is a fantastic sports-watching city. Mud Hens games are a great way to spend a summer afternoon. Watching the now-defunct Storm in the dilapidated, perfectly named Toledo Sports Arena was everything minor league hockey should be - poorly lit close confines, atmosphere defined by stale smoke and beer aromas, and shouts of "Red ice!" from the opening face-off. The Walleye and their fancy new downtown arena are also a lot of fun.
Of course, the best sports experience in town is watching the Rockets at the Glass Bowl. My personal favorite was watching Bruce Gradkowski turn a 27-7 halftime deficit against hated rival BGSU into a thrilling 49-41 victory on their way to a MAC championship (the most important conference championship, according to the experts).
Toledo is only a half-hour drive from my house just south of Ann Arbor, give or take. Tickets are nicely priced, and you get to see future Tigers in a ballpark where the love of the town is genuine because no one else is going to do it.
Just sit on the first base side for summer evening so you get some shade.
To your "a completely random game that you have absolutely no personal stake in", I'd add that it's significantly better if you don't fully understand the sport. Toronto hosted the 2015 Pan Am Games and the great thing about the Pan Am Games is that aside from the standard olympic sports they also have events like Roller Figure Skating or Basque Pelota or Water Skiing. It's also decidedly not the olympics because as long as Canada wasn't playing in the game you were buying tickets for, they were maybe $5 and nobody really cared if you went into a second game afterwards without a ticket.
Another top tier viewing experience, to add to your minor league baseball, is seeing an elite player against much worse competition. It can be "deGrom threw 41 pitches in three innings of work against the Palm Beach Cardinals, allowing just one baserunner on an error and striking out eight of the 10 batters he faced" or a guy trying to rehab his career signing a minor league deal for whatever reason and just lighting their opponents up. Doesn't have to be baseball, can just be any game where wins and losses seem off the table immediately, you're just watching to see what that guy can do.
On that note, Toronto had a pro Rugby League team in the English system from 2017-2020. The original owner was some Australian mining magnate who loved the game so much he was cool losing money to spread it to new places. He paid for a full team that was at least a tier above the league it was playing in their inaugural season. They went 20-1-1 in 22 games, and outscored the opposition by 950 points in those 22 games. The fans barely knew what was going on (rugby league's essentially a midway point between american football and rugby union) but would cheer for stupid things like trying to get players to kick the ball out of the stadium and hit a streetcar on the conversion attempts (which did happen, and was great when it did). The perfect sports viewing experience.
I remain convinced that there's a market for rugby league in North America, if someone can figure out how to crack it other than "eccentric millionaire having fun"
We're about to find out if there is when the NARL starts up for their first season in 2022. The Wolfpack play DC in a non-league game this saturday for their first game since folding and being resurrected with new ownership in a different league entirely.
Looking it up, the league hits that early MLS sweetspot of faux-european teams taking on authentically north american teams so you get games like the Boston 13s RLFC vs Phoenix Venom, or Cleveland RL vs. New York Freedom. Love it, hope it works out.
Best sports experience: Standing near the finish of a marathon. I cry, can't help it, watching the runners come in, knowing what they've been through - the long, lonely miles of training, the injuries, the fatigue, the courage. It's all there, and it's free.
Here, we shout-out the guy who sets up a tailgate at the ass-end of Haines Point every year for the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler and hands out beer and Oreos to runners at his own "aid station." That dude rules.
One of my most cherished memories from my decade living in New York was finishing the 2011 NYC Marathon in Central Park; I chucked my water bottle so I could high-five as many people as possible as I sprinted to the finish. Grateful for every one of those spectators.
Boston Marathon is always the best day of the year up here. It's such an amazing event to watch. My wife and I would often camp out at top of heartbreak hill by BC and cheer on the runners as they get to the point where they are hitting the Wall big time.
I went to George Mason and attended a bunch of games against VCU back when both schools were making tournament runs every year. Last head to head I attended, we won on a last second three. I apparently tried to fight an old VCU fan who came down to yell at our student section, despite having my right arm in an immovable brace after major shoulder surgery. I have no recollection of this and my friends who claim it happened are known liars (citation needed).
2. MLB team doing its first meaningful winning
Went to a ton of Nats games leading up to the first world series win. I had moved out of town by then but the years leading up to it were still exciting because we could all tell this was going to be a good team, we just weren't sure how good they could be.
3. NFL at home, but mostly for food
For years I'd host NFL games at my place and cook up a bunch of food. That's actually how I got to know my wife, who didn't care about football but would come to hang out and eat. These events were what I used to justify a huge TV, which is one of the first things that had to go after we got married. Not still bitter, why do you ask
To build off #1: easily the most fun I had at a sporting event while *in* college was the 2003 UC-UofL game, where the Bearcats blew the doors off the #4 Cards, AND Rick Pitino got ejected. Jeering him from the student section as he walked the length of the court to the tunnel was a delight. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=230532132
Delightful indeed! Beating Louisville is the Lord's work. When Laranega left GMU, he reportedly encouraged Luke Hancock to transfer. He went to UofL and promptly won a championship. I wish them all ill.
You hit on a lot of them, the cold weather MLB playoff game is definitely a favorite. The one that I love that no longer exists is an NCAA hockey regional in your team's own building. Michigan hosted the Midwest Regional at Yost in both 2002 and 2003, and 2002 lead to "The Molly Incident" which has been handed down in story and song.
I do enjoy a solid "there was an incident" sports story, much like how--and I don't know if this is true or not, but I believe it to be--stadium vendors started selling beer/water/pop bottles with the cap already removed specifically because of Browns fans and the 2001 "Bottlegate" game against Jacksonville: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottlegate
To add a couple more now that I have thought about it:
A Cape Cod League game. Totally low stakes, beautiful setting, and occasionally you get the Irish guest workers on the Cape who are coming out to see what it's about and providing the most brilliant running commentary on baseball and America you will ever hear.
A Catholic League middle school girls basketball game being played in the Palestra for some reason (this actually happened in 1999 when I was visiting Penn and wanted to see the Palestra. We even helped the one coach who had six girls on the court and didn't realize it without the ref catching on.)
A college quiz bowl national championship game. Having played in three, they don't get huge crowds, but you get to see the highest level of competition and marvel and how the bleep did they know that so fast?
I visited Iowa City for the first time in 2017 the day they played the Buckeyes. I had no rooting interest, but watching everyone lose their minds as the Hawks put up 55 points out of nowhere was unforgettable.
I am not a fan of the Louisville Cardinals, and in fact spent many C-USA/Big East years rooting against them, BUT. I happened into tickets for the 2016 Gameday game against then-#2 Florida State, when the Cards won 63-20 behind 5 TDs from Lamar Jackson, and I imagine it was something similar to this. I've never experienced quite that level of collective shocked glee.
The entirety of the 2013 Southern League (AA) Championship series. It would end up being my last full year in Birmingham, and the Barons had just opened a new downtown stadium. My buddy Will and I competed to see who could go to the most games. Both of us ended up in the high 20s. But the Barons were good that year, and won the championship. I was at every home game of the series, buying tickets to the next one on the way to the bike rack to get home. After they won it in 7 we went to the brewery all my friends worked at next door, and eventually the players brought the trophy over, and I snuck behind the bar to touch it.
Speaking of BYU, a random connection ... in 1972, I was on the freshman football team at the Air Force Academy. We played a game there and I remember the field and the stadium from the visitors side (which was basically nothing but the towering home side stands).
One of my teammates was a guy named Brian Billick, who was also in my math class. He left during or after our second semester freshman year. Later we heard he had transferred to BYU. Then, apparently, had some success coaching in the NFL before heading to the TV broadcast booth.
In addition to Brian, another classmate on that freshman team was Randy Spetman. He stayed to graduate and later came back to the Academy as a full colonel, serving as athletic director. He then moved on to Florida State as AD in 2008.
Just goes to show, you live long enough and pay attention, you find people from your past go on to do great things. :)
Very niche and specific, but: any time the home team makes a playoff run on the heels of a local tragedy. Putting aside all the other stuff about that team, but the Astros' 2017 WS run after Hurricane Harvey put the whole city under water made those playoff games electric in a way that can't be replicated.
Add to that the previously mentioned "bad team is finally good" aspect of that year, and those home games were loud and euphoric and cathartic in a way that I can't describe. Lots of hugging strangers. It was definitely too loud to hear a trash can.
See also: Saints after Katrina, BoSox after the marathon bombing, A&M beating Texas after the bonfire collapse (another one I got to be there for), etc.
this is an unpopular opinion but as someone with no strong feelings on the Astros either way I don't give a crap about what they supposedly did, they were clearly not the only ones doing it.
One of my most enjoyable sporting experiences was ArenaBowl XXXI- the teams were 7-5 and 2-10 going into the playoffs, the 2-10 team won the whole thing, tickets were 8 bucks, Rob Base played halftime and they set off the confetti after the final play...but there was a flag, so they had to play an untimed down, in a two-score game, with confetti all over the Astroturf. No one was all that invested in the outcome, and the arena was like maaaybe half full. For a certain kind of person, it was perfection.
I also have a fondness for attending any football game in the snow- you end up there with the people that could only get tickets to this game and THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE IT WORK DAMMIT or the complete psychopaths that are generally more docile in the cold. Plus, weird weather games are always fun, and it's way better to be in the snow than a monsoon.
On a more positive note, the energy in a college town before a big game is so great. That town-wide buzz is so specifically college sports and I love it dearly. Getting out of class on a Tuesday night and walking past the RVs that are already setting up for Saturday is just so surreal and great. If you have a rooting interest or not, highly recommend going to a game like that, but in an actual college town.
- In Madison, WI, the absolute best sports bang for your buck was UW women's hockey: high-level play, devoted and involved fans, and I once got in to a game for the sum total of two canned goods. Deeply underappreciated sport. (I expect this is similar in Minneapolis and Ann Arbor.)
Actually, college hockey in general is a pretty good option, at least in Minnesota and Wisconsin where I've been to most of my games. Intense, intense student sections.
- I was a swimmer in high school, and going back to catch a meet over Christmas break my first two years of college (when I still had friends on the team) was a great experience.
PSU didn't have a D-I hockey team until after I graduated, but I did go to a game a few years ago and I am Capital-A-Angry that we didn't have that when I was in school. Hockey with a student section is the absolute best.
Went to a D-IIO school in Vermont, and college hockey on a night when it's dark at 4:30 PM and over in time for you to still go out and party was a ton of fun. Heckling a goalie from the student section is the only time I can honestly refer to "we" for a team I did not play on. We lost a game, and the first thing the goalie did was flip us the bird. Worth it.
Also- I used to be a much bigger NHL fan and the one playoff game I went to was just A+ atmosphere. People give NJ crap all the time, but I could take the train to the Devils game in Newark and then walk to the area. Everyone cares, the seats were overpriced, and the sound of like 20,000 people holding their breath and then exhaling during an overtime goal is easily more memorable than like 20 other live games put together. Even a regular season NHL game has a great atmosphere.
Non revenue college sports, especially if the team is good.
College softball is 2 hours, fast paced, fun, and at Michigan the women will occasionally hit homers that land in the middle of the baseball field, startling the center fielder in the baseball game.
College soccer is also excellent- especially in a passionate rivalry.
College softball is awesome and everyone should try to go! It is also exceedingly family-friendly from both a pricing standpoint and a general lack of drunken belligerents in the stands standpoint.
Was on spring break a couple years ago in Tucson and decided spur of the moment to go to an Arizona softball game. Happened to be vs FSU. Standing room only. Weather was perfect. Lots of homers. Home team won. And bonus: it was alumni night so Jenny Finch threw out the 1st pitch. Great night.
Minor League Hockey - Validating your reasoning.
I went to a game in my hometown once when back from college. This is many levels down in the hierarchy of the minor leagues, not directly affiliated with any NHL team. So you're seeing young guys not good enough for the AHL and old guys still chasing something. (RIP Elmira Jackals).
My Dad and I went to dinner beforehand, and showed up mid-way through the first period. Walked into the stadium and in the tunnel to the stands. A very friendly usher offered to help us find our seats. He looks at our tickets, turns around to lead us into the stands, and then stops and says "I can't seat you right now. There's a fight going on!"
We walked into a full out brawl right as the benches started to empty. Goalies skating out to center ice to meet each other. Backup goalies squaring off. Refs frantically going from scrum to scrum, failing to pull anyone off. Coaches jumping onto the ice and shuffle running over to try to help, and then getting dragged into the fight.
It took about 30 mins for the whole thing to settle. The refs escorted guys off one by one as they were able to peel them away. Then they huddled for a long to figure out what to do while the equipment managers had to go round picking up gloves, helmets, sticks, jerseys and other stuff.
They kicked damn near everyone out and the teams played the game 8 v 7 including goalies the rest of the way. Toward the end of the 2nd period, the players that were kicked out started trickling in and sitting in the section behind us and a shouting/shoving match between a few of the guys who still hadn't gotten it out of their system ensued until security came and escorted them out of the arena entirely.
This is phenomenal.
I dont like fighting in hockey. But this was so spectacular and so over the top that I have to be impressed with it.
So what you're saying is you went to a fight and a hockey game broke out
Games where the result and the teams themselves are completely overshadowed by a surprise guest or event:
I happened to be at the Tennessee *men's* basketball game when Pat Summitt (RIP) ran out onto the court dressed up as a cheerleader and led everyone in the most rousing rendition of Rocky Top I have ever heard.
Oh man, reading this brought back great/terrible memories of RFK Stadium. The new facilities at Nationals Park and Audi Field are 1000 times "nicer" by any metric. But there aren't any feral racoons running around in the new places. What a dump, I loved it.
I think RFK really was the definitive "what a pile of shit, I love it" stadium. Like you said, Audi Field is wildly better as a place to *watch* a game, but there was nothing quite like the actual stands bouncing under the barra brava and such.
The Metrodome fell (ha!) into this category as well: terrible venue objectively, but it could get loud at its best.
I hit two categories here with the Metrodome: a game I had no stake in AND the final season of a crummy venue. I was in MPLS in late '09, and caught a game against KC the final week of the season. Had a great time.
The most I've ever enjoyed a baseball game was a late season game against Chicago at the Dome while the Twins were scrapping with Detroit for the ALCentral. Packed house booing AJ whenever he came to the plate, unbelievable roar at every big play, etc. I miss that shithole.
absolutely electric atmosphere for those DC United games. And maybe that's it, like you said, it belonged to the supporter's group, the fans, to us, and not to someone in a luxury box
I will say that a packed evening game at Audi Field when the barra brava are in full flight is pretty damn good. My first game back in person was the game in July when they beat Toronto 7-1, and the joint was jumping.
I have to agree with your takes, especially since they confirm my belief that my hometown of Toledo is a fantastic sports-watching city. Mud Hens games are a great way to spend a summer afternoon. Watching the now-defunct Storm in the dilapidated, perfectly named Toledo Sports Arena was everything minor league hockey should be - poorly lit close confines, atmosphere defined by stale smoke and beer aromas, and shouts of "Red ice!" from the opening face-off. The Walleye and their fancy new downtown arena are also a lot of fun.
Of course, the best sports experience in town is watching the Rockets at the Glass Bowl. My personal favorite was watching Bruce Gradkowski turn a 27-7 halftime deficit against hated rival BGSU into a thrilling 49-41 victory on their way to a MAC championship (the most important conference championship, according to the experts).
AAA baseball, ECHL hockey and MAC football are the perfect confluence. Toledo might be the best sports town.
I had a college roommate from Perrysburg who raved about the atmosphere at Storm games.
and the LPGA, including but not limited to the recently concluded Solheim Cup
[informercial patsy voice] but how's the indoor olympic ice sports scene in Northwest Ohio?
scott, it's vibrant
Matt Sussman? Now there's a name I have not heard in a long time.
whatever happened to him
Toledo is only a half-hour drive from my house just south of Ann Arbor, give or take. Tickets are nicely priced, and you get to see future Tigers in a ballpark where the love of the town is genuine because no one else is going to do it.
Just sit on the first base side for summer evening so you get some shade.
To your "a completely random game that you have absolutely no personal stake in", I'd add that it's significantly better if you don't fully understand the sport. Toronto hosted the 2015 Pan Am Games and the great thing about the Pan Am Games is that aside from the standard olympic sports they also have events like Roller Figure Skating or Basque Pelota or Water Skiing. It's also decidedly not the olympics because as long as Canada wasn't playing in the game you were buying tickets for, they were maybe $5 and nobody really cared if you went into a second game afterwards without a ticket.
Another top tier viewing experience, to add to your minor league baseball, is seeing an elite player against much worse competition. It can be "deGrom threw 41 pitches in three innings of work against the Palm Beach Cardinals, allowing just one baserunner on an error and striking out eight of the 10 batters he faced" or a guy trying to rehab his career signing a minor league deal for whatever reason and just lighting their opponents up. Doesn't have to be baseball, can just be any game where wins and losses seem off the table immediately, you're just watching to see what that guy can do.
On that note, Toronto had a pro Rugby League team in the English system from 2017-2020. The original owner was some Australian mining magnate who loved the game so much he was cool losing money to spread it to new places. He paid for a full team that was at least a tier above the league it was playing in their inaugural season. They went 20-1-1 in 22 games, and outscored the opposition by 950 points in those 22 games. The fans barely knew what was going on (rugby league's essentially a midway point between american football and rugby union) but would cheer for stupid things like trying to get players to kick the ball out of the stadium and hit a streetcar on the conversion attempts (which did happen, and was great when it did). The perfect sports viewing experience.
These are all amazing.
I remain convinced that there's a market for rugby league in North America, if someone can figure out how to crack it other than "eccentric millionaire having fun"
We're about to find out if there is when the NARL starts up for their first season in 2022. The Wolfpack play DC in a non-league game this saturday for their first game since folding and being resurrected with new ownership in a different league entirely.
Looking it up, the league hits that early MLS sweetspot of faux-european teams taking on authentically north american teams so you get games like the Boston 13s RLFC vs Phoenix Venom, or Cleveland RL vs. New York Freedom. Love it, hope it works out.
I had no idea, obvously - I'll keep an eye out for a DC game (their website isn't showing anything by way of a schedule yet)
Best sports experience: Standing near the finish of a marathon. I cry, can't help it, watching the runners come in, knowing what they've been through - the long, lonely miles of training, the injuries, the fatigue, the courage. It's all there, and it's free.
Here, we shout-out the guy who sets up a tailgate at the ass-end of Haines Point every year for the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler and hands out beer and Oreos to runners at his own "aid station." That dude rules.
One of my most cherished memories from my decade living in New York was finishing the 2011 NYC Marathon in Central Park; I chucked my water bottle so I could high-five as many people as possible as I sprinted to the finish. Grateful for every one of those spectators.
Boston Marathon is always the best day of the year up here. It's such an amazing event to watch. My wife and I would often camp out at top of heartbreak hill by BC and cheer on the runners as they get to the point where they are hitting the Wall big time.
I would do too that if I lived anywhere near Boston. Way to go!
Hard to argue with your rankings.
1. College basketball with stakes.
I went to George Mason and attended a bunch of games against VCU back when both schools were making tournament runs every year. Last head to head I attended, we won on a last second three. I apparently tried to fight an old VCU fan who came down to yell at our student section, despite having my right arm in an immovable brace after major shoulder surgery. I have no recollection of this and my friends who claim it happened are known liars (citation needed).
2. MLB team doing its first meaningful winning
Went to a ton of Nats games leading up to the first world series win. I had moved out of town by then but the years leading up to it were still exciting because we could all tell this was going to be a good team, we just weren't sure how good they could be.
3. NFL at home, but mostly for food
For years I'd host NFL games at my place and cook up a bunch of food. That's actually how I got to know my wife, who didn't care about football but would come to hang out and eat. These events were what I used to justify a huge TV, which is one of the first things that had to go after we got married. Not still bitter, why do you ask
To build off #1: easily the most fun I had at a sporting event while *in* college was the 2003 UC-UofL game, where the Bearcats blew the doors off the #4 Cards, AND Rick Pitino got ejected. Jeering him from the student section as he walked the length of the court to the tunnel was a delight. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=230532132
Delightful indeed! Beating Louisville is the Lord's work. When Laranega left GMU, he reportedly encouraged Luke Hancock to transfer. He went to UofL and promptly won a championship. I wish them all ill.
You hit on a lot of them, the cold weather MLB playoff game is definitely a favorite. The one that I love that no longer exists is an NCAA hockey regional in your team's own building. Michigan hosted the Midwest Regional at Yost in both 2002 and 2003, and 2002 lead to "The Molly Incident" which has been handed down in story and song.
https://mgoblog.com/diaries/ten-years-later-2002-regionals-molly-and-greatest-weekend-yost-history
The 2002 NCAA Regional is why schools are no longer allowed to host regionals in their own arena. (This may not be true, but it feels true.)
I do enjoy a solid "there was an incident" sports story, much like how--and I don't know if this is true or not, but I believe it to be--stadium vendors started selling beer/water/pop bottles with the cap already removed specifically because of Browns fans and the 2001 "Bottlegate" game against Jacksonville: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottlegate
To add a couple more now that I have thought about it:
A Cape Cod League game. Totally low stakes, beautiful setting, and occasionally you get the Irish guest workers on the Cape who are coming out to see what it's about and providing the most brilliant running commentary on baseball and America you will ever hear.
A Catholic League middle school girls basketball game being played in the Palestra for some reason (this actually happened in 1999 when I was visiting Penn and wanted to see the Palestra. We even helped the one coach who had six girls on the court and didn't realize it without the ref catching on.)
A college quiz bowl national championship game. Having played in three, they don't get huge crowds, but you get to see the highest level of competition and marvel and how the bleep did they know that so fast?
I visited Iowa City for the first time in 2017 the day they played the Buckeyes. I had no rooting interest, but watching everyone lose their minds as the Hawks put up 55 points out of nowhere was unforgettable.
I am not a fan of the Louisville Cardinals, and in fact spent many C-USA/Big East years rooting against them, BUT. I happened into tickets for the 2016 Gameday game against then-#2 Florida State, when the Cards won 63-20 behind 5 TDs from Lamar Jackson, and I imagine it was something similar to this. I've never experienced quite that level of collective shocked glee.
People forget that happened
I had forgotten, but I am happy to be reminded
The entirety of the 2013 Southern League (AA) Championship series. It would end up being my last full year in Birmingham, and the Barons had just opened a new downtown stadium. My buddy Will and I competed to see who could go to the most games. Both of us ended up in the high 20s. But the Barons were good that year, and won the championship. I was at every home game of the series, buying tickets to the next one on the way to the bike rack to get home. After they won it in 7 we went to the brewery all my friends worked at next door, and eventually the players brought the trophy over, and I snuck behind the bar to touch it.
Speaking of BYU, a random connection ... in 1972, I was on the freshman football team at the Air Force Academy. We played a game there and I remember the field and the stadium from the visitors side (which was basically nothing but the towering home side stands).
One of my teammates was a guy named Brian Billick, who was also in my math class. He left during or after our second semester freshman year. Later we heard he had transferred to BYU. Then, apparently, had some success coaching in the NFL before heading to the TV broadcast booth.
In addition to Brian, another classmate on that freshman team was Randy Spetman. He stayed to graduate and later came back to the Academy as a full colonel, serving as athletic director. He then moved on to Florida State as AD in 2008.
Just goes to show, you live long enough and pay attention, you find people from your past go on to do great things. :)
You know, in the history of modern writing, you just can't beat A Kalamazoo Kumite
Very niche and specific, but: any time the home team makes a playoff run on the heels of a local tragedy. Putting aside all the other stuff about that team, but the Astros' 2017 WS run after Hurricane Harvey put the whole city under water made those playoff games electric in a way that can't be replicated.
Add to that the previously mentioned "bad team is finally good" aspect of that year, and those home games were loud and euphoric and cathartic in a way that I can't describe. Lots of hugging strangers. It was definitely too loud to hear a trash can.
See also: Saints after Katrina, BoSox after the marathon bombing, A&M beating Texas after the bonfire collapse (another one I got to be there for), etc.
this is an unpopular opinion but as someone with no strong feelings on the Astros either way I don't give a crap about what they supposedly did, they were clearly not the only ones doing it.
Also, MLB clearly doesn't since [points at AJ Hinch as new Tigers manager.]
I was at the first game held at minute maid after harvey and yeah, it was electric in there.
One of my most enjoyable sporting experiences was ArenaBowl XXXI- the teams were 7-5 and 2-10 going into the playoffs, the 2-10 team won the whole thing, tickets were 8 bucks, Rob Base played halftime and they set off the confetti after the final play...but there was a flag, so they had to play an untimed down, in a two-score game, with confetti all over the Astroturf. No one was all that invested in the outcome, and the arena was like maaaybe half full. For a certain kind of person, it was perfection.
I also have a fondness for attending any football game in the snow- you end up there with the people that could only get tickets to this game and THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE IT WORK DAMMIT or the complete psychopaths that are generally more docile in the cold. Plus, weird weather games are always fun, and it's way better to be in the snow than a monsoon.
On a more positive note, the energy in a college town before a big game is so great. That town-wide buzz is so specifically college sports and I love it dearly. Getting out of class on a Tuesday night and walking past the RVs that are already setting up for Saturday is just so surreal and great. If you have a rooting interest or not, highly recommend going to a game like that, but in an actual college town.
- In Madison, WI, the absolute best sports bang for your buck was UW women's hockey: high-level play, devoted and involved fans, and I once got in to a game for the sum total of two canned goods. Deeply underappreciated sport. (I expect this is similar in Minneapolis and Ann Arbor.)
Actually, college hockey in general is a pretty good option, at least in Minnesota and Wisconsin where I've been to most of my games. Intense, intense student sections.
- I was a swimmer in high school, and going back to catch a meet over Christmas break my first two years of college (when I still had friends on the team) was a great experience.
PSU didn't have a D-I hockey team until after I graduated, but I did go to a game a few years ago and I am Capital-A-Angry that we didn't have that when I was in school. Hockey with a student section is the absolute best.
Went to a D-IIO school in Vermont, and college hockey on a night when it's dark at 4:30 PM and over in time for you to still go out and party was a ton of fun. Heckling a goalie from the student section is the only time I can honestly refer to "we" for a team I did not play on. We lost a game, and the first thing the goalie did was flip us the bird. Worth it.
Also- I used to be a much bigger NHL fan and the one playoff game I went to was just A+ atmosphere. People give NJ crap all the time, but I could take the train to the Devils game in Newark and then walk to the area. Everyone cares, the seats were overpriced, and the sound of like 20,000 people holding their breath and then exhaling during an overtime goal is easily more memorable than like 20 other live games put together. Even a regular season NHL game has a great atmosphere.