Clubhouse Chatter: The best game I ever covered was ...
What our Sports staff has to say while waiting for the games to resume.
Cubs or White Sox World Series clinchers? Bulls in Utah in 1998? Three Blackhawks Cups? Too obvious. I'm going off the board with the 2012 Ryder Cup and Sunday singles at Medinah. Truly a shocking and extraordinary event.
- Barry Rozner
I've been able to cover some incredible events over the past 10 years, but my most memorable has to be Game 6 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final at the United Center. This was the first time the Blackhawks claimed the Stanley Cup on home ice for the first time since 1938. Afterward, the fans didn't want to leave. Neither did the players, coaches, executives or trainers. As a writer, these are the nights you really want to shine. There's pressure, but it's the good kind. The kind that gets the juices flowing and makes the words flow seamlessly from brain to keyboard. Stepping onto the ice to capture the raw emotions of Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook certainly helped me tell the story of a truly memorable night in Chicago.
- John Dietz
The 2006 AFC Championship game. While the rest of Chicago was celebrating the Bears beating New Orleans that day to go to the Super Bowl, I was in Indianapolis at the old RCA Dome covering Peyton Manning lead the Colts back from a 21-3 deficit to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. You wouldn't believe how loud it got as the Colts rallied for a 38-34 win with a last-minute touchdown. While I was racing to the Colts locker room to get the local angle with Glenbard North and NIU grad Ryan Diem, I accidentally bumped into someone in the tunnel. I turned around to apologize and it was Archie Manning - smiling from ear to ear.
- John Lemon
The Class 7A football state championship game in DeKalb on Nov. 26, 2017. Batavia knocked off Lake Zurich 21-14 in overtime. It was classic, hard-nosed defensive football played by two excellent teams. On second down of Batavia's overtime possession, quarterback Riley Cooper hit Tommy Stuttle over the middle for a 10-yard touchdown. Playing defense, Stuttle on first down broke up a possible touchdown throw from Evan Lewandowski and the defense held. Batavia had won its second state title in four seasons.
- Jerry Fitzpatrick