Attended Sports Events of the Decade, Part 1

Okay, I know I'm a couple days late on the end-of-the-decade thing, but today I was thinking about what my favorite sports events I attended this decade were, and I feel like writing them down. So, because it's January and there isn't too much to talk about Pirates-wise, I've decided to start another mini-series and tell you all the 10 greatest sporting events I attended this decade. They aren't spectacular, I am a college kid with very little money, so there wasn't too much I could do, but I think I've compiled a decent list for my circumstances. I've even hunted down for the box scores of all the games for you to enjoy, let me know what you think! Here we go, starting with 10!


10. Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, October 14th, 2009:
The list gets off to a pretty lame start with a pre-season NBA game. However, I have always been a fan of the NBA, I've played basketball almost all of my life, and this was the first NBA game I ever attended. Also, it was 2 days after my 18th birthday, so it was sort of a celebration of that too, which made it even better. I was with 4 of my best friends and it was an altogether great night. Lebron James put on a show in warmups, but then turned the ball over like 5 times in the first half and played very poorly, which was kind of disappointing. The most memorable moment I took from it was seeing Zydrunas Ilgauskas having to get a booster seat to sit in his chair on the sideline, because his legs were too long. Also, seeing Kevin Garnett is always an adventure.


9. Detroit Tigers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, July 1st, 2006:
Seeing this, I'm sure that none of you really get why it's on the list. The Pirates were 28-54 at this point and this game was pretty much meaningless. The thing that made it so great was that this game, somehow, seemed like a playoff game to me. We were sitting in a section full of Tigers fans, drunk and rowdy Tigers fans. We began throwing insults back and forth and cheering extra loud when the Pirates had big hits and big outs. The game was close until the 7th inning, when they put 7 runs on the board. That was one of the most fun innings of baseball I've ever watched. I was so into it I ended up throwing a half-full cup of Pepsi at a Tigers fan who was leaving the ballpark. Being only 16, that probably wasn't the best idea, but the Tigers fan didn't do anything more than give me a dirty look. The Pirates went on to win 9-2, and for that one day I felt like the Pirates were a good baseball team. I'll always remember that game.


8. New Orleans Saints vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, November 12, 2006:
This list just would not be complete without a Steelers game on it. Sadly this is the only game I am going to mention on here, because I don't make it to many. I have been to about 5 games in my life, and this was by far the best one. Willie Parker ran for 213 yards and the Steelers won 38-31, a key win in their Super Bowl season. If they hadn't won that game, they would been 7-9 to finish the year and they would not have made the playoffs, so it was a big win.


7. Washington Nationals vs. Baltimore Orioles, June 26, 2009:
Well here begins a series of 5 sporting events on the list that occurred in the year 2009, which was by far the greatest sports year of my life. The only reason this game is on the list is because it was part of a summer road trip that I went on with 3 of my friends, a trip in which we went to Nationals Park and Camden Yards for 2 games (the other game will be mentioned later). We had great seats for this game, we were in the home plate club about 20 rows back. The Orioles destroyed the Nationals, so the atmosphere was great. There were fireworks after the game (which paled in comparison to fireworks at PNC) and it was a great ending to a trip I won't soon forget. Camden Yards is a great place to watch a baseball game, and I hope I get a chance to go back there some day (maybe for a Pirates vs. Orioles World Series Game... or maybe not).


6. Charlotte Bobcats vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, November 31, 2009:
Yes, this really was just two short months ago. It was the first and only regular season NBA game I have ever been to, and the greatest part of it was it was pretty much spontaneous. My friend and I were excited for the new NBA season and he is a big Bobcats fan, so we decided to buy some tickets literally 4 days before the game happened, and we got in the car and drove up there the day of. After the game we made the nearly 3 hour trip back home and made a day out of it. The Cavaliers won the game, we had great seats, and I got to see Shaquille O'Neal in person, which was awesome. The Q was electric, I have never felt that much excitement in a sports arena (which shouldn't surprise anyone considering I'm a Pirates fan). The pre-game was probably the best part, when flames shout out of the scoreboard when announcing the beloved home team's players.


5. Boston Red Sox vs. Washington Nationals, June 25, 2009:
This game was a part of the aforementioned road trip I went on with my friends. This game was the better of the two by far. The first reason was because it was John Smoltz first start of 2009, so it was hyped up a lot and covered on ESPN quite a bit. Secondly, because it was my first visit to Nationals Park, which is a great ball park. There is a ridiculous amount of seating there and everything looks brand new. I was very impressed with the stadium. However, the fans weren't the greatest, which you could expect from the Nationals, who were one of the worst teams in baseball history this year. The crowd was probably 70% Red Sox fan, but not me, you know I was donning the Nationals gear. I bought a Ryan Zimmerman shirt the day of the game and wore it to the game, acting like the biggest Nationals fan in the stadium. My friend Nick joined me, and became the 2nd biggest Nationals fan in the stadium. However, my friend Clint is a Red Sox fan, so he had a Dustin Pedroia jersey on; there was much smack talk during the day. The Nationals came out on top, hitting Red Sox pitching early and often, which was reason to be excited for Nick and I. Clint ended up paying us both 5 dollars at the end of the day, and we high-5'd just about every Nationals fan we could find after the game. It was a great time. Our hotel was just 2 blocks away so we didn't even have to worry about parking or traffic.


So that's numbers 10 through 5, I'll be back tomorrow with my top 5.