It's time once again for the Friday Fives. This week, I'm giving you My Top 5 Sporting Events and My Worst 5 Sporting Events ("sporting event" meaning a game I was personally at).
My Top 5 Sporting Events
Honorable mention (tie): Jamie Silva ripping the ball fully out of a Virginia Tech player's hands, 2007 ACC Championship, and Nathan Gerbe's 360 degree spin-o-rama penalty shot against Providence, 2008 Hockey East Quarterfinals
I normally don't/won't do honorable mentions, but these two singular plays were so incredible that they deserved a mention. Silva's "I'll take that, thank you" was probably the most BA play I've ever seen in any sport, and Gerbe's goal was, in a word, unbelievable.
5. BC shutting out Notre Dame 17-0 at Alumni, November 8, 2008
In the middle of what was, at that point, a lackluster year, fighting just to keep our ACC Championship hopes more alive than credible, a 17-0 shutout at home in primetime was quite the morale-booster. However, because it was against our archrivals, it was exponentially sweeter. And to cap it all off, as Jimmy "The Emu" Clausen and Charlie Weis walked ashamedly and hobbled, respectively, off the field, we in the band just kept on playing for a full 10-15 minutes after the game ended. The Superfans all stayed and danced and sang, and it was just a great night to be an Eagles fan.
4. BC wins the 2008 Beanpot in overtime over Harvard, February 11, 2008
I don't think I'd ever been prouder or more excited playing the fight song (I'm also in the Pep Band) than after Nick Petrecki scored to give the championship to the Eagles. I just couldn't wait to be done with it so I could keep on cheering. Special mention goes to Gerbe, who did his best Bobby Orr impression after banging home the winning goal (again in overtime) to beat hated BU in the semifinal. That was something else.
3. BC beats No. 6 Duke at Conte 80-74, February 15, 2009
Beating No. 1 UNC down in Chapel Hill was fun, to be sure - but it had nothing on this. Mostly because we, the fans, got to share in it this time. I had been planning to play in the Pep Band that night to make sure I got in, but I decided to go with some friends instead, using my Student-Athlete privileges to get a free ticket. Am I ever glad I did. The atmosphere was electric from start to finish, it was a great game, and to make it even better, Tyrese scored his 2,000th point. The last 20 seconds were almost unbearable, with the tension to celebrate building up as yellow shirts came pouring from everywhere to crowd the baselines. And at the buzzer, all hell broke loose. I'm proud to say that I stormed the court - not in the front, but I was still out there - and it was just an incredible thing to be a part of.
2. Mo Vaughn hits a walk-off grand slam to beat the Mariners 9-7, April 10, 1998
Out of all the games I saw in my youth at Fenway, this is the one that sticks the most indelibly in my mind. It was Opening Day, and if that wasn't enough of a reason for this one to be special from the get-go, it was the first game we saw where the Red Sox played my brother's new favorite team (long story how he switched from the Sox to the Mariners, and eventually the Yankees). So the game starts, and Randy Johnson is pitching for the Mariners. He was absolutely phenomenal, and his line doesn't even do it justice - 8 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs (both earned), 3 walks, 15 strikeouts. For some unknown reason known only to him, Mariners skipper Lou Piniella took out the Big Unit for the 9th and put in his closer even though Seattle was up by 5. The Sox then proceeded to send 6 men to the plate to face 3 different pitchers, all of whom reached base. Piniella made another pitching change, and up stepped Mo Vaughn with the bases loaded, Sox down 7-5. He proceeded to launch a line drive down the right field line so hard that if you blinked, you missed it. We couldn't tell very well from our grandstand seats in left field if it was fair or foul, but one explosion of sound from the corner told us all we needed to now. Mo had wrapped it around the Pesky Pole, and the Sox had improbably scored 7 runs without making an out to win. My brother was inconsolable and bawled his eyes out.
1. Red Sox go back-to-back-to-back-to-back and beat the Yankees 7-6, April 22, 2007
If this was the only baseball game I went to in my entire life, I would be perfectly content with that. Simply the best and most surreal experience I've ever had at a game, in any sport. If it wasn't enough that the Red Sox pulled off one of the rarest feats in baseball - they did it against their archrivals, on primetime, on the Game of the Week. Words can't do it justice, so I won't even try. The game in and of itself was a very good one, back and forth - not to mention Dice-K was making his first start against the Yankees. It will just suffice to say that as I stood in disbelief after Varitek's homerun (following Manny's, Drew's, and Lowell's), again slapping five with a guy in front of me I didn't even know as we both shrugged at each other at the ludicrousness of what was happening, I didn't care whether we won or lost. It was enough just to have that experience, and to think, as Wily Mo Pena strode into the batter's box, "Bet he hits one out too." He didn't, but as we gave a standing ovation to no one in particular after the fact, we all knew we had just seen something incredible.
My Worst 5 Sporting Events
Honorable Mention: My JV team loses 36-0, April 2004...in baseball.
Yes. You read that right. In baseball. I have never in my life been part of anything more pathetic. To give you an idea: I pitched 1 1/3 innings, and gave up 11 runs - only about 2 or 3 of which were earned. At one particularly bad point, my catcher walked out to the grass in front of home, took off his mask, and yelled at my team for everyone to hear "Get your heads in the game!". Keep in mind, this is WITH the mercy rule. Had there been no requirement that the game go until the 5th before the mercy rule kicks in, we would've been 10-runned in the 2nd inning. To our credit, we improved in the next game - we cut the margin of defeat in half and lost 21-3.
5. BC loses Music City Bowl to 6-6 Vanderbilt 16-14, December 31, 2008
This was just not fun all the way around. While we were by no means harboring delusions of grandeur - not with the immortal Dominique Davis taking the snaps - our defense was one of the best in the country, and we were confident we would throttle a mediocre Vandy team that had been on a downward slide since having a hot start. We were wrong. Victimized by a terrible pass interference, a fluky turnover on a punt, poor overall play by Davis, and just plain bad luck, Vandy somehow escaped with the win. And to top it all off, it was absolutely freezing. Holding a metal trumpet did not make this last part much easier to bear.
4. BC loses to USC 72-55 in the 1st Round of the NCAA Tournament, March 20, 2009
The worst part about this was that we were actually up 34-30 at halftime. While we weren't playing particularly well, it was heartening to know that we were still winning, and that we would in all likelihood play better in the second half. Well, that didn't exactly happen. The second half went more along the lines of us getting doubled up and playing 20 minutes of lackluster basketball. Tyrese couldn't buy a bucket to save his life, and meanwhile, Taj Gibson couldn't miss. We spent most of the second half being dejected, waiting for the inevitable buzzer that would end the travesty in front of us - save for when we had to act up for the CBS cameras right in our faces.
3. BC loses perfect season to FSU at home, November 3, 2007
The buildup to this game was positively - dare I say? - epic. Us, at No.2, unbeaten and coming off the greatest win I haven't seen in person against Virginia Tech, against the always-dangerous Florida State, on ABC, in primetime. A near-hurricane had been pounding campus all day, forcing us inside for our pre-game concert. I distinctly remember looking out the windows of the luxury boxes and seeing the rain absolutely whip around in gale-force winds in the stadium, thinking "that's the hell we're going to go play in?" Wearing smelly old rain ponchos, we trooped out to withstand the hurricane, the older kids telling us how incredible playing in bad weather was. Well, the hurricane had pretty much died by the start of the game, although the rain and wind lingered for a half or so as shadows of their former selves. So that was the buildup. The game itself was a disaster. Back and forth, back and forth, BC always seeming to be the one playing catch-up. Matty Ice decided to take himself out of the Heisman race on his own and throw 3 picks, the last an absolutely devastating pick-6 as we were driving for the tying FG in the last minute. I never thought I would be so bummed by anything other than a Red Sox game, but I was in the pits. One of the senior trumpets tried to put it in perspective, saying "it's only one game, we're still 8-1." That was all well and good, but we all knew we had just lost our shot at going to New Orleans for the national championship - and that was what stung most of all.
2. BC loses 2008 ACC Championship to Virginia Tech 30-12, December 6, 2008
After losing Matt Ryan and Jamie Silva, no one really expected us to do that well the next year - least of all me. So it was quite a surprise when we found ourselves improbably down in Florida on the first weekend of December for the second year in a row. Visions of pulling off the upset danced in our heads, as we all told ourselves how mediocre Tech's offense was, and how punishing our defense was. We were fooling ourselves. This was probably the most laughably depressing game I have ever seen. BC was totally outclassed in every aspect, most of all in our inability to contain the scrambling of Tech's QB Tyrod Taylor. That, and Dominique Davis looked as if he had never played quarterback before. Just a game I'd rather not have to remember more than I need to. Watching the same team celebrate with the same fans to the same fight song from the same band was too much.
1. BC loses 2007 ACC Championship to Virginia Tech 30-16, December 1, 2007
This was a much closer game than the score indicates - and that's why it was so unbearable. We thought we had it made, we knew we were going to Miami for the Orange Bowl, all we had to do was beat Tech and we'd be all set. We had the top senior QB in the country and the best safety period. We couldn't lose. And then we did. One thing I have to say about the atmosphere - as Enter Sandman played and Va. Tech came out, it was like the whole other side of the stadium was moving. I mean, literally - we were staring at a red and orange solid wave of jumping, screaming fans that made up 90% of the crowd. So, the game - like the FSU game, back and forth, back and forth. Except we were in control for most of the game. And then Tech blocked an extra point and ran it back for a defensive two-point conversion. After that, we did nothing and Tech did everything. Oh we kept it close, but the momentum was all Tech's. So Eddie Royal catches a TD pass with 6:30 left in the game, and we need to score a TD to answer. We got all the way down to the Tech 14-yard line, and on 4th and 4, Matty Ice gets intercepted. Tech ran 3 times and punted, so with 28 seconds left, we had the ball 65 yards away from the endzone. He had done it once against Va. Tech, so why couldn't he do it again? Except this time our Golden Boy threw two incomplete passes, and then, the kicker to end all kickers, a pick-6. Although we got the ball back, we were down 14 with 11 seconds left. There was no hope of a miracle this time. And as we all forlornly watched the opposing side of the stadium roar and shake, having oranges thrown up at them by the players, I was sure that I would never feel that badly at a sporting event ever again.
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