tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post4444151365266698402..comments2023-09-16T07:45:45.305-04:00Comments on Gronktastic: My Favorite Boston Sports Moment of the DecadeAaron_Strouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09964204478772858370noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post-42576148354067548412010-01-03T11:11:03.091-05:002010-01-03T11:11:03.091-05:00Great idea, Kyle and enjoyed your post. My memori...Great idea, Kyle and enjoyed your post. My memories of that night are quite similar except that I am not really a true Pats fan. I like seeing them succeed as a New England team, but didn't grow up rooting for them.<br /><br />My personal favorite moment of the last decade has to be Johnny Damon's grand slam off of Javier Vazquez in Game 7 of the ALCS in 2004. I'd say it was the Dave Roberts steal followed by the Bill Mueller single up the middle to tie Game 4, but at the time, I don't think any of us realized the significance of that moment.<br /><br />Here's how Damon's grand slam unfolded for me:<br /><br />I'd been in San Francisco for the Games 3-6 of the series. My wife and I had made it a point to find a place to watch each game where there'd be a crowd. For Game 6 we'd stumbled upon a Red Sox bar called the Bus Stop. The place was packed to the rafters with Red Sox fans (and a generous helping of Yankee faithful).<br /><br />I wasn't scheduled to fly back to Boston for a few more days, but as soon as they won Game 6, I changed my flight to return in time for Game 7; I wanted to be in Boston no matter what happened in that game. <br /><br />My flight was delayed, so we arrived later than planned the night of Game 7. We received an update on the game from the pilot once we landed in Boston. I dashed from the plane to a cab, and got the cabbie to turn on EEI. <br /><br />I had planned to meet friends at a bar in the Back Bay, and as we emerged from the tunnel on Storrow Drive, they went to commercial with the bases loaded. We were stuck in traffic pulling off onto Beacon Street when the broadcast resumed, and within moments of the commercials ending, Vazquez served up the tater to Damon. Both the cabbie and I went absolutely bananas. It was a bit strange because there was really no time from the resumption of the broadcast to the first pitch which Damon duly hit out to get yourself ready for the game situation and what was on the line. <br /><br />Five minutes later when I arrived at the bar, with my suitcase, the place was still going berserk. In retrospect though, I'm actually glad things unfolded as they did. I got to hear the final nail in the coffin of The Curse on the radio from the pipes of Joe Castiglione, a fellow alum of my alma mater in the medium in which I enjoyed so many games as a kid with my dad: on the radio.<br /><br />Obviously the World Series still had to be won, but for that night, I experienced the most incredible sports euphoria I have ever known and probably ever will know. 30+ years, much of it growing up in the battleground city of Hartford, with no answer to the taunts of the Yankee faithful there.<br /><br />I'd always said that all the years of almost getting there and then blowing it or just plain being awful would be paid back ten fold when we finally won it. I never could have imagined that the road to the championship would unfold as it did in such gratifying fashion: to climb over the bones of the Yankees completing the greatest comeback in the history of sport.<br /><br />The exquisite denoument to all of this of course was the crowd shots at Yankee stadium for the rest of the game following the grand slam. That was simply the best.Derek Peplauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04831951871865929431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29213404.post-40093652145038681832010-01-01T17:46:58.620-05:002010-01-01T17:46:58.620-05:00Kyle - I love this meme and will certainly come ba...Kyle - I love this meme and will certainly come back to comment in greater depth. The funny thing about that "snow bowl" game as I was up in Maine at the time (my parents don't have cable at their cabin). My brother and I both decided to travel 30 minutes south to my aunt and uncle's to watch the game. Given how things were going combined with the fact that it was snowing 2"/hour and we had to traverse small country roads to get home, we left at the half opting to listen to the rest of the game on the radio. I remember pulling into the driveway (an hour plus later) and sitting there listening to an AM station that was cutting in and out as Adam Vinatieri kicked the winning FG and bouncing up and down in my car as I hugged my brother. We couldn't believe the fact that we won.<br /><br />Fast forward to the "unwinnable" game against the "Best Show on Turf," I can still remembember that pit in my stomach as the Pats went up 17-3. I looked at my father (I chose not to watch the Pats Superbowl with a crowd but rather with my dad -- lifelong Pats fan -- mom, and wife) and said, "why do I not feel secure about this score standing up." I also remember Madden exclaiming just after the Rams had scored to tie the game at 17 that the Pats should just run out the clock and play for overtime. Of course Bellichick and Brady felt differently and the result of not following Madden's advice was the birth of a franchise.<br /><br />Damn, that was an exciting season.Aaron_Strouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09964204478772858370noreply@blogger.com