Clubhouse Chatter: What's your most vivid sports memory from childhood?
What our Sports staff has to say while waiting for the games to resume.
Seeing the ball go through Leon Durham's legs in the 1984 playoffs for the Cubs in game five of the NLCS at San Diego. As painful as that was as a kid, I can't imagine what it was like for die-hard, lifelong Cubs fans.
- John Lemon
My sophomore year in high school, our basketball team got to the championship game of this midseason tournament called the Bi-County Tournament. We had never before in our history won the tournament. We were ahead late in the game when I chased after a ball that was going out of bounds. I tried to save it and flip it back into play when my legs suddenly fell out from under me and I came crashing to the floor. Face first. I broke out one tooth and severely damaged another (to the point where I eventually needed a root canal and a crown on that one too). It's sad because I was so happy to win that game. It was our team's first championship in that tournament. But in all of the pictures after the game, where everyone is smiling and laughing and having a good time with the trophy, I had red eyes from crying and I looked sad because I wasn't smiling. It hurt too much to smile and let the air hit that tooth.
- Patricia Babcock McGraw
The '85 Bears won it all when I was in high school. It's hard to explain to kids now just how much that team dominated the conversation in this region. We hung on every news report during the week. The players were stars. The games were events. It wasn't a matter of if they'd win. It was a matter of by how much. Walter Payton, the best defense ever assembled and a cast of larger-than-life characters like Jim McMahon, Steve McMichael, Otis Wilson and the Fridge provided many vivid memories. I remember like it happened 10 minutes ago.
- Jerry Fitzpatrick
Living in Pittsburgh, I was at church on Dec. 23, 1972. I missed the end of the AFC divisional playoff game between the Steelers and Raiders, missed Franco Harris' "Immaculate Reception," missed arguably the greatest play in sports history. Will never forget the look on my dad's face when I got home and asked, "What happened?"
- Scot Gregor