First Boston Sport experience?

jimnance said:

Yeah man I got no recollection of T.Williams. I was like 6. But Bruschi of course on the very short list of my favorite Boston athletes. An even better dude off the field.

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I'm older and remember Teddy Ballgame well. Flew jets in combat and missed prime playing years. My Dad loved the guy as did I.

1972 Red Sox V Tigers. I would have been 6 or 7, we sat right behind home, maybe 10-12 rows up. Rico Petrocelli hit a grand slam in the 13th to win. I didn't really get fully on board until the '75 team.

mine was a Bruins / Nordiques game in maybe 79/80 on channel 38..... I was 5 or 6 depending and it was the first time I remember actually understanding what was going on and knowing the rules of whatever sport I was watching

1980 - Watching the Red Sox. Watching the Bruins.
1982 - Watching the Patriots. Watching the Celtics.

First Sox game attended was in 1980. I was the only one in my family other than my younger brother who like the Bruins. So I didn't go see them until 1988... 1990, I skipped school and took a buddy of mine down to Boston to get Tix to the Bruins/Montreal Series. We were able to get really good Tix surprisingly.. It was the Shut-out for the 1st game of the series. Also went on the 27th..

Boston Garden...late 70's...the old man took me to a game against the Nets when Dave Cowens was still playing...it was pre-Bird era. I was like 5 or 6...and wanted to leave in the 3rd quarter. But we had parked where they had blocked parking...meaning bumper to bumper parking..so we couldn't get out. Dad listens to the game on the radio while I read a comic book, LOL.

Fenway...early 80's...Carl Yastrzemski was my hero...brought a glove in hopes of catching a foul ball...we sat close to the Pesky pole...no foul balls. Then a neighbor would take me to 10 games or so every summer...he knew everybody...would bring me up to those fancy boxes...the security guard would just let him up the elevator...the dude knew everyone. I ate some baked beans, hot dogs, and etc...in one of those luxury boxes. Then in the early 90's...I would go and sit in the bleachers a lot on my own....

Bruins...only went to one game in 1984...can't remember if we won or not.

Patriots...a friend's old man took us....Sullivan Stadium...I'd say early 80's...we were only like 7 years old...running through the concourse...I knocked over a dude carrying hotdogs, beer, and etc...he cursed me. Then the same neighbor had a son who took me to a game....they all were in their early 20's...and drinking heavily...I was like 12 or so...and we had a small inflatable Pat Patriot that we taped around a tree facing the foot traffic down route 1...we taped a hot dog and some foil wrapped balls to its nether regions...then sat back and laughed at folks' reactions when they walked by, LOL. I loved that crappy stadium for some reason...and the racetrack next to it...my old man would lay some action...the racetrack was weird...it wasn't folks riding horses...but they were on a two wheel carriage behind the horse...I forget what its called.

Other than that, my earliest memories were watching the old man watch the Celts/Sox/Bruins a lot on TV up to the 1986 World Series (that year my Grandfather passed away, and Dad kinda believed that Grandpa pushed the Sox to the WS), then he just stopped watching sports for a while after Buckner let the ball go between his legs. I would watch a ton of Celtics games during the Bird era...and some Sox games to see Clemens kick ass...also B.C. games...including the Flutie Hail Mary (Flutie was from the town next to ours). I didn't really get into the Patriots until the Bledsoe/Parcells/Kraft era...I mean they were always on TV on Sundays...and I was still pissed we lost SB XX in that fashion....then they were downright terrible while I moved out of state in the early 90's. Mostly watched Celtics and only the Celtics in the late 80's/early 90's....rooted hard for Dinoi Radja, Domnique Wilkins, John Bagley (who even dropped 50 in a NBA game once), Ala Adelnaby....that was a tough era.

FWIW... first Pats game... also with my dad... against the Buffalo Bills.

Our nosebleed seats landed us in the middle of a bunch of rowdy Bills fans. We were hoping they'd be quiet; OJ Simpson was out injured.

However, Roland Hooks (WHO?!?!?!?!) ran for 155 yards, Grogan threw 4 picks, and the Bills won, 24-14. Basically knocked the Pats out of the playoffs. Ugh.


Only real bright point: a 93-yard kickoff return TD by Raymond Clayborn... at a point in the game when there was still hope. LOL

As an aside, I slept out for ALCS and World Series tickets in 1986.

It wasn't very cold out for October in Boston, but it was cold enough (50?)

Anyway, I got 4 seats: ALCS was $15 each, World Series was $25 each.

upstater1 said:

As an aside, I slept out for ALCS and World Series tickets in 1986.

It wasn't very cold out for October in Boston, but it was cold enough (50?)

Anyway, I got 4 seats: ALCS was $15 each, World Series was $25 each.

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I attended Game 5 when Bruce Hurst pitched a really good game and the RS beat Dwight Gooden 4 - 2. For some reason the game started late. I lived about a hour and a half from Fenway. I think I got home about 2 or 3 in the AM and had to work the next day. It was worth it though.

I watched game 6 on tv at home and I swear even at my age today, I could have made the play on that slowly hit ball to first base. Thanks for nothing Buckner.

Game 7 was another heartbreaker as the "Curse of the Bambino" did its thing once again.

Last MLB game I attended: game 1 of the 2004 World Series, again with my dad, but also my two sons.

At the time, it was the most I'd paid for anything that didn't have a transmission. (4 tickets, $6K)... but the boys hadn't hit college yet. LOL

Great seats between home and third, the flyover, Aerosmith, James Taylor... and the Sox won11-9, with Manny tripping on the sprinkler head, and Bellhorn winning it with a 2-run shot off the Pesky pole. Best game of the series.

NCPATSFAN1971 said:

"What was your first Boston sport experience? - What got you hooked?"

The first team that got me hooked was "The Impossible Dream" 1967 Red Sox.

IMO, that team coached by **** Williams was the scrappiest and most likeable Red Sox team ever. As the 67 season wore on they kept on coming from behind to win games that made me and most Boston Fans believers. Unfortunately the 67 season ended with the RS losing game 7 of the World Series to the Cardinals. That seventh game was played on the day of my best friends wedding and at the reception we were getting updates on the score. When they finally lost the game and the series, the wedding reception became about as gloomy as a funeral. (Poor Bride) I'll never forget that season and can still name the starting lineup from memory.

BTW, I remained hooked on the RS for many years but must admit that I've become more of a "fair weather" Red Sox fan now for too many reasons to mention. Patriots have been and still are number one now.

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Cool story. Mine is similar, but a few years later, 1975. The amazing rookie seasons of Lynn and Rice, and that outfield with Evans. Fisk, Yaz, Tiant, so many great players. Bill Lee a great favorite, obviously. The Fisk HR in game 6. Never knowing if we would have been over the top had Rice not been injured. When you consider how much talent CIN had, it's amazing we took them to seven, and still were in the game till the last at-bat.

Most people nowadays have no idea what it was like to be a fan back in 1975 in a small town in CT around two hours away from Boston. Never mind no phone or Internet, even cable TV was just coming through at that point in time, and my parents weren't going to pay the extra $$$ just so we could get WSBK TV38 so I could watch the Sox. For me the only way to follow the team on a regular basis was the AM radio, WTIC 1080. Ned Woods and Jim Martin. Night after night. Staying up late for the West Coast swings. Reading box scores and stats out of the newspaper. Going to the one newsstand in town that got papers from Boston, looking but not buying, hoping someone left an old copy at the diner. I did have a subscription to Baseball Digest, read that cover to cover when it came in the mail. Reading TV Guide as soon as it came out to find out if the Sox were going to be on the Game of the Week or Monday Night Baseball, planning the weekend around that if they were. You had to be passionate to follow the sport back in the old days.

And, as others have mentioned, for me the passion is on ice. The game is just too slow paced. As a special treat, during the playoffs the games get even slower. There's so many other things to do with one's time these days. Committing 2.5 hours * 162 games just isn't gonna happen, especially with the current ownership not re-signing its home grown talent.

I won 2 tickets to Fenway from McDonald's after putting my name in a raffle for this bike I wanted.. I was probably 5 or 6.

We get to Fenway, box seats, and my dad had worn jeans. They made him put on chef pants

2018 Patriots vs GreenBay

Hyped said:

I loved that crappy stadium for some reason...and the racetrack next to it...my old man would lay some action...the racetrack was weird...it wasn't folks riding horses...but they were on a two wheel carriage behind the horse...I forget what its called.

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Harness racing? Harness racing - Wikipedia ....

Hyped said:

I didn't really get into the Patriots until the Bledsoe/Parcells/Kraft era...I mean they were always on TV on Sundays...and I was still pissed we lost SB XX in that fashion....then they were downright terrible while I moved out of state in the early 90's.

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I think we were on the same path. Kinda liked the Pats on and off from the 70s to the 90s, then when Parcells came to town for me his press conferences became "must see TV", and of course the team actually playing well helped make it all a lot more interesting to watch.

Bill Lee said:

Cool story. Mine is similar, but a few years later, 1975. The amazing rookie seasons of Lynn and Rice, and that outfield with Evans. Fisk, Yaz, Tiant, so many great players. Bill Lee a great favorite, obviously. The Fisk HR in game 6. Never knowing if we would have been over the top had Rice not been injured. When you consider how much talent CIN had, it's amazing we took them to seven, and still were in the game till the last at-bat.

Most people nowadays have no idea what it was like to be a fan back in 1975 in a small town in CT around two hours away from Boston. Never mind no phone or Internet, even cable TV was just coming through at that point in time, and my parents weren't going to pay the extra $$$ just so we could get WSBK TV38 so I could watch the Sox. For me the only way to follow the team on a regular basis was the AM radio, WTIC 1080. Ned Woods and Jim Martin. Night after night. Staying up late for the West Coast swings. Reading box scores and stats out of the newspaper. Going to the one newsstand in town that got papers from Boston, looking but not buying, hoping someone left an old copy at the diner. I did have a subscription to Baseball Digest, read that cover to cover when it came in the mail. Reading TV Guide as soon as it came out to find out if the Sox were going to be on the Game of the Week or Monday Night Baseball, planning the weekend around that if they were. You had to be passionate to follow the sport back in the old days.

And, as others have mentioned, for me the passion is on ice. The game is just too slow paced. As a special treat, during the playoffs the games get even slower. There's so many other things to do with one's time these days. Committing 2.5 hours * 162 games just isn't gonna happen, especially with the current ownership not re-signing its home grown talent.

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There's a lot to unpack here, Bill.

I am in central NH, there was no cable even offered in our area. Friday nights, channel 6 out of Maine carried them, and I could get them on the black and white TV my grandparents gave me on rabbit ears. It was a real treat. Every once in a while they were on Monday Night Baseball on ABC and I would watch that as well. Other than that, it was AM radio. Sounds very similar.

That 1975 WS had so much star power. Today, it would be must see TV. I maintain that if Fred Lynn had stayed here, he would have been a HoFer.

The passion is on ice for me as well. The game is so bleeding slow. For everything the current ownership has done right, '04, '07, '13 and '18, they have pissed me off more with their pink hat pandering and their refusal to keep the home grown guys. They feed us BS in the media and we are supposed to be dumb enough to lap it up. Pass. It'll be more this year when they let Devers and Xander go. Then they'll overreact and sign whoever is the hot free agent du jour and all will be forgiven. you'd think they could do no wrong, right? Yet they continue to irritate. In my ways, it's our regional birthright to b!tch about the Red Sox I guess.

Bill Lee said:

Harness racing? Harness racing - Wikipedia ....


I think we were on the same path. Kinda liked the Pats on and off from the 70s to the 90s, then when Parcells came to town for me his press conferences became "must see TV", and of course the team actually playing well helped make it all a lot more interesting to watch.

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Yeah, that's it...harness racing. I was too young to lay some action on those races...but I loved their hotdogs and sitting in the grandstands with my old man...rooting for a specific numbered horse/rider/trifecta that the old man bet on. Good times.

And yeah, I didn't watch the Pats at all in the 70's-early 80's...they were on TV on Sundays, but I was outside riding my bike or doing something like that. By the time I started to follow the Pats...the Celtics were at the apex of the Bird era...and even the Sox/Bruins made it to the championship series of their respective sports in 1986 and 1987. The Pats' SB loss was soooo disappointing, but in those days...I didn't really understand how much of an underdog the team was. I remember going up 3-0.....oh man...then everything went to hell...and I went to boarding school in Washington D.C. the early 90's....even became a Redskins fan for a while. The Redskins were very good in those days and my Patriots news was limited to Monday morning capsules in the back of USA Today's sports section. When Parcells/Bledsoe came on board, I felt like we had instant credibility....then Kraft bought the team...and at the same time DirecTV became available in bars all over CA where I lived/still live. Prior to that, I'd catch the Pats on TNT...TNT used to have Sunday Night Football! And the Pats weren't on Monday Night Football for a long while...I think like 10 years. When the Pats won 7 straight...following Bledsoe's 70 attempt game...I was HOOKED for life.

watch the Red Sox on TV a lot growing up, ch. 38 or 56 if I remember correctly. My dad took me to my first game and we sat in the bleachers. i still remember to this day as you walked from the concourse into the stadium where the seat were, how green the grass was. As soon as you come out of the tunnel everything was so vibrant. Truly unbelievable.

also went to a Pats game at Schaefer Stadium when I was young and i think we played Miami. My memory of that was how cold and hard those aluminum bench seats were. My arse is still numb

Mine go back a long way too.

The C's were an early start for me. Starting in the late 50's my uncles had season tickets (it was a time when blue collar guys could still afford them) so I saw a bunch of games with them including one that I won a horse (but that is another story). Around the same time my Dad had a 2nd job helping in a concession stand so sometimes he took me in to help and watch some of the game.

My first clear memories about the Sox was going on the T with friends to Fenway. 75cent unreserved Grandstand or 50cent Bleacher seats. 10 cent rides on the T including transfers and a bunch of parents could get a day off from their over active kids for about a buck and a quarter (which includes a few packs of lifesavers for food) AND have them back for dinner. Plus if we went Grandstands we could sneak down to the box seats around the 7th inning if it wasn't a sell out

My dad took me to a Pats game at BU that first season. I can't remember which game now, but it had to be fairly early in the season since winter coats weren't involved.

Both my parents were big Bruins fans, but I didn't get to go to a game until the early 70's when the "big bad Bruins" were the #1 team in town. Because I worked in bars a lot full time in summer and part time during the year, I had a nodding acquaintance with Derrick Sanderson from the bar softball leagues; (He own a popular bar back then Zelda's My first hockey game at the Garden was for the HS "Tech Tourney" which would FILL the garden for that end of season tournament.

I was born in the darkness.

First love was the Sox, late 1970s when I was 6 or 7. Saw a couple games at Fenway. Saw the PawSox way more, which was fun. Screw you Worcester.

Then the C's in the early 80s with Larry. I went to a couple of C's games in the mid- and late-80s when my dad would land free tix. Some of the best times of my life.

Then the Pats after they squished the fish.

It is all flipped now. Couldn't care less about the Sox except when they play the Yankees, who I still hate.

I was too young appreciate '67, but my older brother explained it, and played the record for me. It's the most important season in team history. We took the Green Line in & got seats way up above left around '71. We also had Ted Williams sleeping bags.

I wheeled the old B&W TV into my room to watch the Bruins with Bobby. Production on those TV38 broadcasts better than NESN ever was. My godfather came to spend the night once when I was away at camp, and when he came downstairs for breakfast he told my parents he woke up, looked around, and said to himself "...Am I a Bruin?" They ruined their uniforms in the fall of '74. I still cannot believe it. Looked stupid ever since, and the other 5 original 6 get it but we don't.

First Celtics game vs. the Knicks circa '73. Gahden was rocking. Fans carrying signs across the floor before the game. Bos-NY rivalry in full swing. All those banners up their in the rafters, along with the retired numbers.

Walked into my dad's office, he had the TV on watching the Patriots. I ask him what's going on. "I'm hoping they get far enough behind that they'll put Brian Dowling into the game."(I think they did). The Bob Windsor TD at the Met a singular sports moment of my life. Nothing but happy memories of the old stadium. I guess I get along with drunk people. I fell in love with the Patriots because they were mocked and denigrated yet played hard, had the best logo & uniforms, they were OUR team, and even at that young age I saw right through the media B.S. I consider Fairbanks the most brilliant coach we ever had. Having the Super Bowl stolen in '76 is a collosal moment in the history of the sport, possibly its nadir. What was going to otherwise be one of the top moments in all of the glorious Boston sports history. Lives and careers were affected, mostly negatively as a result of Dreith, although a lot of Pats fans were born that year. Sure, Sullivan was going to continue being Sullivan, but once that Lombardi Trophy is here it's here for keeps. 25 years later there was gratification, just in horrible, miserable uniforms.

I hope it’s not Fenway tonight for anyone.