Clubhouse Chatter: Picking just one (vivid) childhood sports memory

What our Sports staff has to say while waiting for the games to resume.

Opening Day at Wrigley Field 1969. Got home from school in time to see Willie Smith's home run win it for the Cubs. I was 11 years old and already a Cubs fan, but that day solidified my lifelong love for the team, win or lose.

- John Radtke

When I first became a sports fan, Chicago was Loserville. There was a real crusher in the 1973 NBA playoffs, when the Bulls blew a late lead in Game 7 on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. Conversely, when the Bears finally made the playoffs on the last-second field goal in the slush at the Meadowlands in '77, it felt like they won a championship, because success was so rare back then.

- Mike McGraw

My sentimental favorite was watching the 1971 AFC Divisional Playoff Game in the basement of my aunt and uncle's house in Naperville on Christmas Day. The Dolphins beat the Chiefs 27-24 in double overtime on a Garo Yepremian field goal - though mainly I remember a Jan Stenerud miss. By the time the marathon contest ended it was only myself and Uncle Bob left in the basement. I was 10.

- Dave Oberhelman

I was about 5 when I got a beer spilled on my head at Chicago Stadium. It affected me deeply. It's a smell you never forget.

- Barry Rozner

Sometimes the strangest things stick with you. Like finding out from Jack Brickhouse that Elvis Presley had died. Or the time Jose Cardenal, a right-handed hitting left fielder for the Cubs in the 1970s, found himself on second base with first base open. As the pitcher got ready to throw an intentional walk, Cardenal took his leadoff, stacked his hands one on top of the other and held them high, urging the batter to be ready in case the pitcher missed anywhere close to the plate. Cardenal was the kind of personality who caught the attention of little kids.

- Orrin Schwarz