Enjoyable read. I grew up in a small S. Georgia town and had similar experience being the antenna twirler for the household. We had Albany as a third choice if Jacksonville or Savannah weren't available.
Tommy, re: Spurs fans not feeling especially magical this morning, I'll introduce my Most-Painful Way Possible Theorem®. Many fans have experienced it. It's bad enough to lose a pivotal game, but what's the most painful way possible? Being up 29, letting your opponent back AND watching your team, head by 1, pass up forcing the other team to foul inside 15 seconds AND then losing on a put-back at 1.2 seconds to play. Yeah, that qualifies. (I won't bore you with my recollection of my Texas Rangers being within 1 strike — twice — of winning their first World Series in 2011. It's too soon.)
I think of the Bill Buckner Game as having the highest possible score under your theorem ... but last night's game might make the top 10. And of course the Rangers are near the top of the list.
“Our dating lives were not robust.” Small town teenage boys everywhere…….I was about ten years ahead of you, Tommy and I was about a thousand miles west of you, in rural west central Texas, and before satellite of any kind, but aimless cruising sounds quite familiar!
Reading this reminded me that most of my shared viewing of sports happens in airports these days. I generally despise air travel, but the one time it is kinda fun is when there's a big game on and a bunch of people gather outside one of the terminal bars to watch while they wait to board their flight. I've felt that the fact that it still happens even when people can stream the games on their phones is another small piece of evidence that we humans still need that group experience.
We were on the road in 2008 when Steph Curry made his legendary run through the NCAA tournament with Davidson ... we watched pretty much all those games in airport terminals. One of my favorite memories.
Good one! I’m small town Georgia, too, so I love your stories. This reminded me of a story my dad told me about hitchhiking from Columbus, Georgia to Florida as a teen. He and his cousin took a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter to sustain them for the trip. On the night of the Joe Lewis- Max Schmelling championship rematch in 1938 they sneaked under a stranger’s window and listened to the fight on the radio. Apparently that was a huge sports moment and he never forgot it. Btw-I don’t think his dating life was robust either!
Glad “my” Nuggets were part of your happy window watching memory! Still trying to recover from Spurs loss over here but happy to see New Yorkers’ enjoyment and togetherness
I wish for you the experience of being in Europe during World Cup. We were in Assisi - World Cup was not on my radar. Walked into an EMPTY restaurant (and we weren't that early). The whole staff was watching the game in the kitchen on a tiny tv. The next night we figured it out and joined the whole town on the square and watched from our outdoor table on a huge screen set up for everyone. By the time we got to Rome, we knew that Italy had won because everyone one was honking their horns and circling the colosseum with people and flags hanging out the car windows. Iconic memories.
I was working at a little newspaper during the OJ verdict. The editor sent me to the mall where there was a bank of TVs in a department store. Dozens of people gathered there to watch.
oh man, or a.m. radio at night, when I could get WJR the flagship station for the Detroit Tigers 🐅
Nothing better than baseball on the radio.
This is just excellent. Great idea for a story and connection to an all-time game. Love this.
Thanks, Alex! You are killing it with your newsletter, too...
Appreciate that so much, Tommy.
Enjoyable read. I grew up in a small S. Georgia town and had similar experience being the antenna twirler for the household. We had Albany as a third choice if Jacksonville or Savannah weren't available.
We were over on the coast and too far from Albany ... so where were you?
Tommy, re: Spurs fans not feeling especially magical this morning, I'll introduce my Most-Painful Way Possible Theorem®. Many fans have experienced it. It's bad enough to lose a pivotal game, but what's the most painful way possible? Being up 29, letting your opponent back AND watching your team, head by 1, pass up forcing the other team to foul inside 15 seconds AND then losing on a put-back at 1.2 seconds to play. Yeah, that qualifies. (I won't bore you with my recollection of my Texas Rangers being within 1 strike — twice — of winning their first World Series in 2011. It's too soon.)
I think of the Bill Buckner Game as having the highest possible score under your theorem ... but last night's game might make the top 10. And of course the Rangers are near the top of the list.
“Our dating lives were not robust.” Small town teenage boys everywhere…….I was about ten years ahead of you, Tommy and I was about a thousand miles west of you, in rural west central Texas, and before satellite of any kind, but aimless cruising sounds quite familiar!
There's something great about doing nothing.
Reading this reminded me that most of my shared viewing of sports happens in airports these days. I generally despise air travel, but the one time it is kinda fun is when there's a big game on and a bunch of people gather outside one of the terminal bars to watch while they wait to board their flight. I've felt that the fact that it still happens even when people can stream the games on their phones is another small piece of evidence that we humans still need that group experience.
We were on the road in 2008 when Steph Curry made his legendary run through the NCAA tournament with Davidson ... we watched pretty much all those games in airport terminals. One of my favorite memories.
Good one! I’m small town Georgia, too, so I love your stories. This reminded me of a story my dad told me about hitchhiking from Columbus, Georgia to Florida as a teen. He and his cousin took a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter to sustain them for the trip. On the night of the Joe Lewis- Max Schmelling championship rematch in 1938 they sneaked under a stranger’s window and listened to the fight on the radio. Apparently that was a huge sports moment and he never forgot it. Btw-I don’t think his dating life was robust either!
Glad “my” Nuggets were part of your happy window watching memory! Still trying to recover from Spurs loss over here but happy to see New Yorkers’ enjoyment and togetherness
I wish for you the experience of being in Europe during World Cup. We were in Assisi - World Cup was not on my radar. Walked into an EMPTY restaurant (and we weren't that early). The whole staff was watching the game in the kitchen on a tiny tv. The next night we figured it out and joined the whole town on the square and watched from our outdoor table on a huge screen set up for everyone. By the time we got to Rome, we knew that Italy had won because everyone one was honking their horns and circling the colosseum with people and flags hanging out the car windows. Iconic memories.
Snort-laughs: "Our dating lives were not robust."
I was working at a little newspaper during the OJ verdict. The editor sent me to the mall where there was a bank of TVs in a department store. Dozens of people gathered there to watch.