In honor of the hockey season starting and NESN playing the 1990 Bruins vs Whalers playoff game on Bruins Classics, I decided to do Top 5 Sporting Events Seen Live. Now, I've never gone to an All-Star Game or any professional championship and I've never seen a no-hitter, so this list is more the weird and exciting things I have happened to see in my 25 years of going to sporting events. Its not a very majestic list, but I think its fun...
5) Man Walks Across Green Monster
This goes back to the good old days when there wasn't seats atop the Green Monster. Those of you familiar with Fenway Park know the Green Monster is a three or four story tall wall that sits out in left field. Back before they put the seats up there, the top of the wall was just a two foot wide strip of wall with a net behind it to stop baseballs from flying into the street behind it. The wall went right up to a section of seats in right field. So we're at the game, having a good time, when I look up and see a guy walking across the wall, four stories high, with nothing between him and the outfield grass below. A homerun had been hit the previous inning and this crazy (and probably very drunk) guy thought he would just climb up on the wall and walk across it to pull the ball out of the net. Needless to say, we stopped watching the game, as the guy slowly crawled out to the ball and then slowly back to the seats where, of course, the security team was waiting to haul him away. I've never heard of anyone trying this before or after.
On a similar note, during one of the Yankee games I went to, a fan jumped or fell (not sure which) out of the upper deck of Yankee Stadium in to the safety net that catches foul balls behind the plate. A couple of years ago this happened again on National TV and they acted like it had never happened before, but I knew different.
4) WrestleMania XI
Putting this on the list is bitter sweet for me. I had always dreamed of attending a WrestleMania event. It was always so bigger then life and the thought of having been there live to see Hulk Hogan body slam Andre the Giant or Roddy Pipper beat the crap out of Mr. T was beyond belief. So, when the greatest event in wrestling was coming to Hartford, CT, I lost my mind. The bitter part is the fact that it is considered one of the worst WrestleManias held. I got to see Bret Hart, my all time favorite wrestler, wrestle live with Roddy Pipper as special guest ref, but there wasn't much more in the highlight column. At the very least, I get to say I attended a WrestleMania and that's cool enough to put this on the list.
3) Bruin Fan Goes After Ref
So, we're at a Bruins game, sitting pretty close to the ice, behind the Bruins bench and the ref is having a horrible game. He's missing obvious calls left and right. It gets so bad that we see Glenn Wesley, one of the Bruins defensemen, come over to the bench with a huge gash over his eye he got from a high stick. The Bruins coach yells at him to go over to the ref and show him what he missed. The Bruins crowd was going crazy and then, while the players were lining up for a face-off, a crazy (and probably drunk) fan climbs up over the boards, falls to the ice and starts to charge the ref. Out of nowhere one of the linesmen comes flying over and hits the guy with one of the best open ice hits I've ever seen. The guy slides into the boards and players pile on top of him, taking many liberties, I'm sure. Now, there have been a few instances of hockey players climbing into the seats to fight the fans, one instance where a fan reached over the boards into the penalty box and grabbed a player and many instances in other sports where fans have run onto the field, but I have never heard before or after of a fan jumping on the ice. It was crazy!
2) Heat II (Ryan vs Clemens)
Thanks to Roger Clemens this match-up means less then it once did, but it still only happened twice and I got to see it. You have to remember, this was before Clemens took steroids and was the most feared started in baseball. Nolan Ryan was aging but still had a few no hitters left in him. If Clemens hadn't gone and tarnished his reputation, this would have gone down as a match-up of the two best power pitchers to ever step on the field. Clemens won, but it was a great game with more excitement then is common for a regular season game.
1) Bruins vs Whalers 1990 Adams Division Semi-Finals Game 4
In the grand scheme of things, this wasn't all that important a game. It wasn't an elimination game. It was the first round of the playoffs. But I have never had a more electric experience at a live sporting event. At the end, it felt like the Bruins had won the Stanley Cup. Bruins/Whalers games at the Hartford Civic Center were always crazy to attend. Since Boston and Hartford are so close, there were always a ton of Bruins fans at the games and the two sides would end up in a number of bloody fights in the stands. The fans of the two teams did not like each other! The Whalers were a far inferior team that year. The Bruins had finished with the best record in hockey and were favorites to take the cup. The Whalers had limped into the playoffs finishing in the last qualifying spot. But none the less, the Whalers were up two games to one and had jumped up 5-2 going into the third period in this game. The chances of coming back from a 3-1 deficit were slim and there was a sense of doom for us Bruins fans. But somehow the Bruins fought back and scored 4 goals in the 3rd period to win the game. The Bruins fans went crazy, even though we were in Hartford all you could hear was "Hear We Go Bruins" chants. The celebration spilled out into the streets as car horns honked for Bruin jerseys and fans hi-fived each other and continued chanting all the way to their cars. It was insane and one of the greatest sport related feelings I've ever had.
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