Clubhouse Chatter: What's your first major sports event you attended as a fan or reporter?

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

The 1983 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Rain halted play on Sunday, and Larry Nelson and Tom Watson were tied for the lead on Monday. Not only did Nelson drain a 62-foot putt to seal the win, I got some solid TV time when cameras panned the crowd for reaction.

- Scot Gregor

In 1993, the German national men's soccer team visited Chicago to play the United States in a game that was essentially a dry run for Soldier Field, which would host games in the 1994 World Cup. I was freelancing for a downtown daily newspaper when the Bulls wound up in the NBA Finals in Phoenix. Sending their main columnist to Arizona, that newspaper's editors let me have his credential to the soccer game. That was the first of many international soccer games I've covered.

- Orrin Schwarz

Being a fan at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah and standing about 10 feet from Sergio Garcia on the 16th hole when he somehow hit around a tree and then sprinted up the fairway to see where his shot landed.

- John Lemon

Every summer, two to three times a year, my mom would put me on a train from Libertyville to Chicago for an overnighter at my Aunt Babe's house. My cousin Johnny Saviano and I would take two buses to Wrigley Field, get autographs on our scorecard and watch the Cubs (usually lose). Best times ever.

- Joe Aguilar

It was a preseason game between the Lions and Kansas City Chiefs at Tiger Stadium. I discovered many years later that this game was the nontelevised dress rehearsal for "Monday Night Football," which debuted that season.

- Mike McGraw

The 1975 U.S. Open at Medinah. It was my first year in the professional sports writing business and I got to cover every round, including a Monday playoff. Lou Graham beat John Mahaffey. It was Graham's only major win of his career.

- John Radtke