rhickok1109 wrote:The first game I ever saw was an exhibition between the Packers and Giants at old City Stadium in August of 1946. I was 7 years old. (My birthday's in November, so I turned 8 in the course of the season.)
There was a lot of interest in the game, because the Packers were using the T-formation for the first time. They pretty much dominated the Giants but won by only 17-14.
It was also the first game at which my father was the official scorer for the Packers. He had recently replaced George Whitney Calhoun as news editor of the Green Bay Press-Gazette and he also took over Calhoun's role as official scorer (I'm not sure if that was an actual title at the time, but he performed all the tasks of an official scorer).
From that point on, I saw every Packer home game, including those played in Milwaukee, as well as all the games in Chicago, sitting next to Dad in the press box and helping him with the play-by-play and stats, until September of 1955, when I entered college.
This whole entire thread is remarkable,
especially remembering watching a football game in the
'40s yet alone seeing
Curly Lambeau coach!
A lot of the Seahawks/Seattle comments stick out with me. Thanksgiving 1980, like most Thanksgivings growing up, was first spent at my maternal grandparents (first game/Detroit) and then later (second game/Dallas) at my paternal grandparents. Though the first game was sure-enough on TV, I really don't remember anything of it. Do remember the Seahawks/Dallas game though, and all the 'hype' leading up to it at school amongst my 4th grade classmates. This was when I found out that my paternal grandfather, always sitting in his rocker smoking his pipe, was a Dallas fan. Years later, I asked my father why grandpa was a Dallas fan being that Dallas was a relatively newer team and he being in his late-60s by the time of that very '80 Turkey Day event? He must have been a fan of a different team for quite some time before Dallas came on the scene, I thought. And by then, Dallas was the 'flashy' 'cosmopolitan' team; nothing real...'old school' about them. My father answered that he never quite rooted for the
team, but the
coach. Which explains things because he himself always wore a suit and a fedora when he went out.
Steelers (Bradshaw)/Jets (Namath) playing each other pre-season at Husky Stadium pre-'76 an interesting factoid I never knew! A friend of mine I grew up with who has Huskies season tickets had me fly out there a couple times to 'sail'-gate at the half! John L Williams...a name I haven't come across in awhile! As a Steeler-fan, I got to experience he ending his career during the peak of those '90s Cowher teams. He was a favorite at the time. Who was a better fullback for Seattle, he or Michael Robinson, would make for a good thread topic!
I have many memories of seeing bits-and-pieces of games throughout my first season following (1980) for often I would be out playing sandlot football or basketball with the kids in my neighborhood or, later in the season, sledding down the hills by my elementary school. One or two kids at a time would come outside at halftime or after having watched a game inside to tell us the score(s). Bengals beating the Steelers in Week #3 and it being big news Monday morning (4th grade schoolmates in the cafeteria making a big deal out of it), the beginning of the Steelers/Vikings game being on TV at a friend's house before we all went out to play, seeing the very end of Cincy beating Steelers
again one week later, and then wanting so bad to see Raiders/Steelers Monday Nighter only for me to not be able to are basically the first memories immediately leading up to me officially being a true follower. After asking my Dad numerous times who's playing who this week or if a certain team was 'good' or not, he pointed me to the sports section of the paper. 'Buffalo' is the first word that comes to mind upon remembering glancing at the standings for the first time for obvious reasons.
First game I saw in its entirety would have to be the Dolphins/Steelers Week #13 affair. To this day, whenever I hear or think of Stevie Wonder's "Master Jammin'", I think of seeing both teams' helmets beginning of the game going into commercials with their respective '6-6' and '7-5' records on display. The 'Burgh won convincing-enough, now 8-5 and maybe a playoff team after all! After that, I saw yet another game in its entirety - Eagles at Chargers! Friends of the family came over for that one; hotdogs at halftime! The SB-bound Birds get handed just their second loss of the season! First
playoff game I saw in its entirety was Raiders/Browns. I sat on the couch in the spot that my Dad normally sat in. He and my uncles were out watching it, but would all be back for the 'Duel in Dixie'. "Winner plays the Eagles!", they all informed me.
First game I attended...(as I mentioned previously here)…Steelers at Philly in '91. Brister vs McMahon, Noll in his final year vs, and losing to, Kotite. Saw Saints at Eagles opener the following year - very unfortunately missed the Jerome Brown ceremony before kickoff - and also attended my first Steelers
home-game in Jaunary '98, which not only was my first
playoff game attended, but the
last playoff game the Steelers would win at Three Rivers! Yes, Cowher over Carroll/Bledsoe's Pats in quite a defensive slugfest, 7-6! Would like to attend Heinz one of these years. Considered Steelers/Eagles at the Linc in '16, but balked considering $280 for nosebleeds. Save more money simply watching it at home. Only ever went to the Linc for a Penn St/Temple affair years ago.
7DnBrnc53 wrote:My first regular season game that I watched was Week 1 of the 1981 season (Chiefs@Steelers) I remember Thomas Howard recovering the fumble and returning it for the game-winning TD (don't remember watching the second game that day, which was probably Oilers@Rams. May have been out playing).
I was outside during that entire game only to come home and my Dad giving me the bad news that KC won! I did see the previous year's KC/Pit game in its entirety, ate an entire bag of mini-marshmellows. I was like, "They beat them the end of last year, why did they lose to them now?" We went to my aunt and uncle's for the second game which was...Oilers/Rams! Was playing with my cousins most of the game but caught that kick-off return at the very end. Was upset being Oilers were in the Steelers' division. The previous year, I actually had all 28 teams 'ranked' from 'favorite' to 'worst'. I actually remember Oilers being my '5th'-favorite team all through 1980, mainly because a friend of mine was a fan and did like the unis and was a Bum Phillips and Earl Campbell fan; and Burrough fan (because of #00), and Rob Carpenter (had his card), etc. All through that year - Bears/Oilers game being an example - my Dad would say, "If you're a Steeler-fan, you should want to Oilers to
lose." For whatever reason, that suggestion didn't 'sink-in' until right before the '81 season when I threw those 'rankings' out the window thus now 'hating' Hou/Clev/Cin along with Dal/NYG/Wash/StL being that I also like the Eagles.