Sports Provide Experiences You'll Remember Forever
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
On my way home from Oregon-Davis last week I was thinking about my last few columns and how they were all about really heavy, serious topics.
Today I want to do something different.
If you look at the teams I generally cheer for, they tend to be older franchises and that have deep histories and traditions.
Cubs, Bears, Blackhawks, Notre Dame … you get it, right?
Part of what makes me cheer for those teams IS the traditions that go with those teams. The ivy on the walls at Wrigley Field, the band high-stepping in double time into Notre Dame Stadium – you don’t have to like the teams to at least appreciate the coolness of those things.
And I have been fortunate enough to have participated in some of those great traditions. Here are my top 3:
3. In my annual pilgrimage to Wrigley Field in the summer of 1994, I was part of a crowd of more than 40,000 Cub fans enjoying a sun-splashed day on the northern lakeshore of Chicago. The Cubs were bad, and that season was doomed to end early with the lockout that would claim the last two months of the regular season, the playoffs and the World Series. But no one who was inside Wrigley Field that day was worried about any of that. We were all just waiting for the final out of the top of the seventh inning, so we could sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game with broadcasting legend Harry Caray. The Cubs were losing, which they did a lot that season, but he started out by saying “BEFORE WE GET SOME RUNS, LET ME HEAR YA! A ONE, A TWO, A THREE” – and off we went. There were a lot drunks slurring their way through it that day just like Harry was, but collectively it sounded beautiful.
2. When I was in college, my friends and I met at the old Chicago Stadium to see the Blackhawks play the New York Rangers on New Year’s Eve. We had seats in the top row of the lower level and every sound funneled up underneath the old painted concrete that held the second level in place.
As the teams came back onto the ice before the opening face-off, a piercing voice split the buzz of the crowd. It was Harvey Whittenberg, who asked us to remove our hats and join Frank Pellico on the giant pipe organ that was woven into the rafters of the old “Madhouse on Madison” for the National Anthem. The singer was Wayne Messmer, although once the organist started to play it was really hard to hear him singing. The cheering through the first two lines was loud and strong, but then when it came time for “…and the rockets’ red glare” the crowd cheered louder, and even louder as we sang “…o’er the land of the free.” My goosebumps had goosebumps, the tears were flowing down my cheeks and I will never hear the Anthem the same way again.
1. My first Notre Dame football game was a memorable one. It was a Notre Dame-Purdue game at Notre Dame Stadium.
When I went inside it was just like Rudy’s dad in the movie … it WAS the most beautiful site these eyes had ever seen. Our seats were one section over from the tunnel at the north end of the stadium, and I knew that meant I would have a prime seat for THE coolest moment in sports. The band made its way out of the tunnel on a cloudy day that threatened rain and storms around halftime according to public address announcer Mike Collins. But in that moment that I had seen dozens of times on TV and listened to on the radio dozens more, the clouds parted as the Irish poured out of the tunnel and ran out onto the field to the thunderous ovation of 57,057 and to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March. Those gold helmets glowed so brightly – the TV picture had never make it look like that!
It took my breath away. The lump in my throat was as big as the Golden Dome itself. The person I was with said the people around me had been trying to talk to me during that time and I was so engrossed in watching my beloved Irish take the field for the first time with my own eyes that I didn’t even notice. They all thought it was funny and cute. My love for Notre Dame and Notre Dame football ratcheted up a dozen notches that day.
Next week, the three things I have always wanted to do but still haven’t yet.[[In-content Ad]]
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On my way home from Oregon-Davis last week I was thinking about my last few columns and how they were all about really heavy, serious topics.
Today I want to do something different.
If you look at the teams I generally cheer for, they tend to be older franchises and that have deep histories and traditions.
Cubs, Bears, Blackhawks, Notre Dame … you get it, right?
Part of what makes me cheer for those teams IS the traditions that go with those teams. The ivy on the walls at Wrigley Field, the band high-stepping in double time into Notre Dame Stadium – you don’t have to like the teams to at least appreciate the coolness of those things.
And I have been fortunate enough to have participated in some of those great traditions. Here are my top 3:
3. In my annual pilgrimage to Wrigley Field in the summer of 1994, I was part of a crowd of more than 40,000 Cub fans enjoying a sun-splashed day on the northern lakeshore of Chicago. The Cubs were bad, and that season was doomed to end early with the lockout that would claim the last two months of the regular season, the playoffs and the World Series. But no one who was inside Wrigley Field that day was worried about any of that. We were all just waiting for the final out of the top of the seventh inning, so we could sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game with broadcasting legend Harry Caray. The Cubs were losing, which they did a lot that season, but he started out by saying “BEFORE WE GET SOME RUNS, LET ME HEAR YA! A ONE, A TWO, A THREE” – and off we went. There were a lot drunks slurring their way through it that day just like Harry was, but collectively it sounded beautiful.
2. When I was in college, my friends and I met at the old Chicago Stadium to see the Blackhawks play the New York Rangers on New Year’s Eve. We had seats in the top row of the lower level and every sound funneled up underneath the old painted concrete that held the second level in place.
As the teams came back onto the ice before the opening face-off, a piercing voice split the buzz of the crowd. It was Harvey Whittenberg, who asked us to remove our hats and join Frank Pellico on the giant pipe organ that was woven into the rafters of the old “Madhouse on Madison” for the National Anthem. The singer was Wayne Messmer, although once the organist started to play it was really hard to hear him singing. The cheering through the first two lines was loud and strong, but then when it came time for “…and the rockets’ red glare” the crowd cheered louder, and even louder as we sang “…o’er the land of the free.” My goosebumps had goosebumps, the tears were flowing down my cheeks and I will never hear the Anthem the same way again.
1. My first Notre Dame football game was a memorable one. It was a Notre Dame-Purdue game at Notre Dame Stadium.
When I went inside it was just like Rudy’s dad in the movie … it WAS the most beautiful site these eyes had ever seen. Our seats were one section over from the tunnel at the north end of the stadium, and I knew that meant I would have a prime seat for THE coolest moment in sports. The band made its way out of the tunnel on a cloudy day that threatened rain and storms around halftime according to public address announcer Mike Collins. But in that moment that I had seen dozens of times on TV and listened to on the radio dozens more, the clouds parted as the Irish poured out of the tunnel and ran out onto the field to the thunderous ovation of 57,057 and to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March. Those gold helmets glowed so brightly – the TV picture had never make it look like that!
It took my breath away. The lump in my throat was as big as the Golden Dome itself. The person I was with said the people around me had been trying to talk to me during that time and I was so engrossed in watching my beloved Irish take the field for the first time with my own eyes that I didn’t even notice. They all thought it was funny and cute. My love for Notre Dame and Notre Dame football ratcheted up a dozen notches that day.
Next week, the three things I have always wanted to do but still haven’t yet.[[In-content Ad]]
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