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Published: April 2nd 2021
Chicago Bulls at LA Clippers 1990
LA Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles The word "Legend" is often banded about, when describing sports stars. It is perhaps too easy a description. However, I can definitely say on November 23 1990, I saw a legend. The name. Michael Jordan. Air Jordan. His Airness. The Number 23. We will come back to MJ later in the blog. If the Chicago Bulls had made a trade decision at the time of the 1988 draft, the day would have been very different!
The lockdown goes on in the UK in a slightly more relaxed way, but the focus has now shifted to the possible renewed threats from across the Channel. We are all itching to go somewhere, anywhere! However, the signs are that the somewhere might not include anywhere beyond our own borders from a while yet. The press is now highlighting the risks from mingling with continental Europe. After the UK rollout of a successful vaccine programme, it is being noted that the programmes in France, Italy and Germany etc are lagging behind. The Other Half is often keen to point out, that someone will have a very big bonfire with the contents of my store of programme boxes. After the successful mission into
the section that is marked American Football, I dug out the "Other American Sports" boxes to relive some more of the memories from wanderings on the other side of the Atlantic. The vinyl of Everything But The Girl's 1989 "Imagining America "seemed an appropriate musical accompaniment, as I delved deeper.
Whilst the early US sports trips were mainly motivated by gridiron, I soon latched on to anything else we could watch along the way. If nothing, they would be a different night out and a chance to possibly head off the beaten tourist path. The basketball story started in 1989. It was an alien game. We never really played it at school and even if we had, I was too short to be effective. A friend of ours knew more about it. His uncle lived in California. He even had a pair of those vintage Converse, that are all the rage today. We left the grassy knoll in downtown Dallas behind, had a brief flirtation with Austin and drive south to meet up with David in San Antonio. Davy Crockett and the Alamo was a bit underwhelming, but David 'The Admiral" Robinson and the San Antonio Spurs were playing
that evening. He was to become an integral part of the USA 1992 Olympic "Dream Team" and led the Spurs to a series of championship victories in the following seasons. However, this was before the Spurs really took off and getting a ticket was surprisingly easy at the downtown Hemisfair Arena. The Alamodome was just a future project. I was concentrating on Mr Robinson. Meanwhile the Other Half was concentrating on her star of the show that night in San Antonio - their mascot, The Coyote. He remains her Number 1. I note from the current Spurs website, the Coyote is available to brighten up your function or community event. It took the NBA a while to see the potential the Other Half had spotted and it took him until 2014 to be named NBA Mascot of the Year. The delay was perhaps due to his disciplinary record - the first mascot to be formally ejected from a game in 2005. The Spurs held off the visiting Phoenix Suns with the help of "The Admiral". The Other Half was on the lookout for basketball mascots after this game and I am reliably informed only a Stuff The Magic Dragon sighting
in 1992 comes close to the Coyote. She missed the point that we were there to see another member of the "Dream Team" Charles Barklay and Phillie 76ers take on Orlando Magic, but she always remembers that game. Barkley and company probably don't remember it as their finest hour. The Magic didn't quite live up to their name, but were still too good for Philadelphia on the night.
We were in LA for an action packed few days in November 1990. I had hot footed it across the desert from the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe in time for an appointment with The Great One. The Magic Johnson inspired LA Lakers had seen a new kid arrive in town and there was a possible shift in the balance of power regarding the hottest ticket in town mantle. Ice hockey had played second fiddle to basketball, but now the LA Kings had acquired a star. Enter one Wayne Gretzky. He arrived from the successful, but small town, Edmonton Oliers in 1988. "The Trade" was credited with establishing the popularity of ice hockey in California and propelled the Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final. They lost out to Les Habs,
but the Gretzky period lives on in a statue outside the Staples Center. It was all a lot different to Billingham Bombers. The next time we would see "The Great One" would be back in the desert in 2001. He had long since retired, but he had ecame part of the management and ownership of the former Winnipeg Jets .... now the Phoenix Coyotes. After her San Antonio basketball, the Other Half was keen to see whether the desert ice hockey gang actually had a Coyote as a mascot. Alas, she would be disappointed - Howler the Coyote didn't arrive until 2005. Phoenix didn't set the ice hockey world alight and struggled with finding a suitable home in Arizona. We saw the game against the Detroit Red Wings in March 2001 at their home in the America West Arena in downtown Phoenix. Purpose built as a base for the Suns basketball, the compact size meant it was a struggle to even fit in the regulation size rink. As we found out with the Lions in Tampa, Detroit sports fans like a trip out to sunnier climes. Red Wings were here in force and well represented in the eateries in our
Scottsdale base. The only tickets available were in the cheap seats behind one goal, where it was a lean to see the whole rink. The offset was a price of a mere $11 (and a free tee shirt) and as we had found over the years, other seats are always available. The basketball, baseball and ice hockey calendars are so jam packed with fixtures, it is not uncommon for season tickets to be shared between friends or just retained by individuals for the "big" games. The "no shows" are often listed as a separate figure on the attendance record. Is a seat occupied? How do you tell? Free progrmes are often given away to the better seats, so if a line of 4 seats is still vacant with the programme on them by the end of the first period, you can pretty much take it as read the occupiers have had a better offer for the evening. We once made a "relocation", picked the wrong block by one and ended up sitting with a goup of basketball WAGs and players friends. It was fair to say, we didnt blend in. They just laughed.
Meanwhile, back to the basketball in
Atlanta Braves at Florida Marlins 1994
Deion Sanders on strike ....Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami LA in 1990. The Lakers still had Magic Johnson, but were not quite the same power as in recent years. The headline in a local newspaper said it all... "mediocrity not a word often spoken at the laker, but they are happy to be in that mid-table position ranking after 10 games. They were too good for the Denver Nuggets, but the stars of Hollywood had not been enticed from their Beverley Hills' mansions for this one. I scoured the floor seats for anybody remotely famous to no avail. Magic was to be found in a nearby shopping centre the next day signing merchandise. We were just passing. The big basketball event in town this week was the arrival of the Bulls. Jordan, Pippen and co were at the LA Clippers. As I eluded to earlier in the blog, the rise of the Bulls to champions could have been a different story. At the time of the 1988 draft, Chicago were gave been rumoured to be in the market to trade His Airness to the worst team in the league - the LA Clippers. They were said to be unconvinced Jordan would lead them to championships and thought he might
Nolan Ryan (Texas Rangers)
Spring Training, Forida 1992 be too focused on his own game, rather than the team ethic. The proposed trade fell through and the rest is history. The Bulls kept Clippers at arms length without ever looking stretched. Jordan was stated by the newspaper as being on simmer. He scored a mere 26 points. There was still an aura about everything he did. Possibly the most famous sportsman on the planet at the time? What I hadn't realised before seeing him, was his size. In basketball terms - small. He is a mere 2 inches taller than me. As the Nike advert said, "It must be the shoes." We would see Jordan and gang at the Atlanta Hawks in 1992, by which time Chicago and the world had been left in no doubt that Jordan would lead the team to greatness. He scored 33 points that night. The Atlanta public seemed more taken with the International Hockey League Kinghts, who had brought home the Turner Cup. It was lower standard International Hockey League, but still on a different level to what we were accustomed to back home.
Of the four major sports, baseball was our least favourite. OK so it is so much more
than big guys playing rounders, but there is still a big mental block for us Brits. It still looks like rounders on a big stage. The Other Half would also probably put that least favourite tag down to her brush with the Minnesota Twins in a TGI Fridays in Fort Myers. Florida. What goes on tour stays on tour, but it appears that there is a certain amount of arrogance involved with being so called World Champions. These were the Twins, who had defeated the Atlanta Braves the previous autumn. It was around the time of Spring Training in 1992. The Twins were having a team building exercise night out and I am sure TGIs were delighted that some multi million dollar contract famous people chose their eatery. The Other Half perhaps forgot to curtsey in the presence of baseball royalty or perhaps they had consumed too much booze?
I had a much more agreeable conversation with Nolan "The Express" Ryan of the Texas Rangers a few days later, who despite his mega star status was a true gent. Of course, I frankly had no idea who he was at the start of our conversation. It was only when
Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago White Sox 1992
Bo Jackson on strike....... Spring Training 1992 jaws of the people nesrby kept hitting the floor, that I actually asked someone what all the fuss was about.
It was sad to see Bo Jackson up close and personal struggling with his damaged hip. I believe he would go on to miss the whole Chicago White Sox baseball season. As the Nike advert said, "Bo Knows". He knew alright. There was no way he could justify his $900,000 season salary. He could hardly run. At the time ... in advertising terms at least, he was up there as one of the most famous faces on the planet.
The owners of American sports teams are always on the lookout for bigger and better facilities and I tell the Other Half how lucky she is to have visited the oldest baseball stadium - Fenway Park (built in 1912) in Boston in 1992 - to see our "local" team the Cleveland Indians triumph over the Red Sox. Red Sox star pitcher, Roger Clemens, failed to live up to his billing and the Boston public were unimpressed. For good measure she has also made the 2nd oldest too (1914), as we checked into chewing gum central at Wrigley Field for
Chicago Bulls at LA Clippers 1990
LA Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles the Chicago Cubs against the Colorado Rockies in 1994. The grandstands on the properties opposite really do exist. My Sammy Sosa commemorative pin badge - in association with Connie's Pizza - remains in its packaging as a memory. "This is the Year. This is the Pizza", said the advert". It didn't turn out that way. However on balance, I reckon my favourite baseball Stadium would have to be Camden Yards in Baltimore. A piece of genius using the old warehouse next door in the design. I believe it became the blueprint for many of the relocations of the franchises back downtown. "Prime Time" Sanders was good to watch for the Atlanta Braves at the Florida Marlins in 1994. I believe he remains the only guy to have played in a World Series and a Super Bowl.
There would other great nights over the years - Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Seattle Supersonics - and not forgetting the NY Rangers at the Garden. OK it was pre-season, but still pretty special. I avoided the "soccer", after sitting through a tepid evening in Tampa watching Carlos Valderrama and his Mutiny bore the living daylights out of everybody. Mo Johnston - who was
causing a lot less bother in Kansas, than he managed in Glasgow - must have thought what am l doing here (until he looked at his pay packet). The games over the years were certainly a journey, even if the programme collection does end up as predicted as a bonfire.
We come back to the words and music of Ben and Tracy. "We kept right on Imagining America" and kept right on coming back. It was everything I thought it would be ... and more. When the Other Half says to me next, "just think where we'd be if you hadn't wasted all our money on beer and football (and American Football and baseball and basketball and ice hockey)".... I will remind her it was the Coyote's fault!
Appendix 1 NBA Phonix Suns at San Antonio Spurs Date : 21 November 1989
Score : 98 - 107
Att : 13,726 Hemisfair Arena, San Antonio. TX
Appendix 2 NHL New Jersey Devils at LA Kings Date : 20 November 1990
Score : 4 - 5
Att : 16,005 Great Western Forum, Inglewood,
Los Angeles. CA
Appendix 3 NBA Dnever Nuggets at LA Lakers Date : 21 November 1990
Score : 121 - 141
Att 15,941 Great Western Forum, Inglewood, Los Angeles. CA
Appendix 4 NBA Chicago Bulls at LA Clippers Date : 23 November 1990
Score : 105 - 97
Att : 15,357 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles. CA.
Appendix 5 NBA Chicago Bulls at Atlanta Hawks Date : 21 February 1992
Score : 103 - 88
Att : 16,531 Omni Arena, Atlanta. GA
Appendix 6 NBA Phillidelphia 76ers at Orlando Magic Date : 26 February 1992
Score : 89 - 95
Att : 15,151 Orlando Arena, Orlando. FA
Appendix 7 Spring Training Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago White Sox Date : February 1992
Score: 1 - 6
Att : Not Known Ed Davis Stadium, Sarasota. FA
Appendix 8 MLB Cleveland Indians at Boston Red Sox Date : 22 September 1992
Score :
4 - 2
Att : 24,412 Fenway Park, Boston. MA
Appendix 9 MLB Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles Date : 28 September 1992
Score : 3 - 7
Att : 45,663 Oriole Park @ Camden Yards, Baltimore. MD
Appendix 10 NHL (Pres-Season) Toronto Mapleleafs at New York Rangers Date : 4 October 1992
Score : 0 - 4
Att : Circa 7000 Madison Square Garden, New York. NY
Appendix 11 MLB Atlanta Braves at Florida Marilns Date : 25 April 1994
Score : 3 - 4
Att : 35,621 Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami. FL
Appendix 12 MLB Colorado Rockies at Chicago Cubs Date : 1 May 1994
Score : 6 - 2
Att : 26,558 Wrigley Field, Chicago. IL
Appendix 13 IHL Houston Aeros at Atlanta Knights Date : 8 October 1994
Score: 6 - 5
Att : 14,546 Omni Arena, Atlanta. GA.
Appendix 14 MLS Kansas City Wizz at Tampa Bay Mutiny Date : 7 May 1996
Score: 0 - 2
Att : 7,025 Houlihan's Stadium i.e. Tampa Stadium, Tampa. FL
Appendix 15 NBA Toronto Rapters at Boston Celtics Date : 20 April 1997
Score : 125 - 94
Att : 17,820 TD Garden, Boston. MA
Appendix 16 NBA Golden State Warriors at Seattle Supersonics Date : 17 November 1999
Score : 108 - 111
Att : 15,366 Key Arena @ Seattle Center, Seattle. WA
Appendix 17 NHL Detroit Red Wings at Phoenix Coyotes Date : 2 March 2001
Score : 2 - 2 (After OT)
Att : 16,210 America West Arena, Phoenix. AZ
Appendix 18 NHL Chicago Blackhawks at Anaheim Mighty Ducks Date : 9 March 2001
Score : 1 - 3
Att : 13,492 Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim. CA
Appendix 20 NHL New York Islanders at Phoenix Coyotes Date : 13 February 2004
Score : 5 - 2
Att : 15,627 Glendale Arena, Glendale, Phoenix. AZ
Appendix 21 NBA Toronto Raptors at Phoenix Suns Date : 10 February 2004
Score : 101 - 94
Att : 14,138 America West Arena, Phoenix. AZ.
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starship VT
starship - VT
Great Post!
I really enjoyed reading this post about your attendance an astonishing number and variety of US sports venues! You've certainly seen some of the real greats. My other half and I generally don't like pro-sports, except that I really like major league baseball. (We like college sports better.) We have seen baseball in a half dozen cities, but missed games in Miami, Dallas, Seattle, and Boston due to circumstances beyond our control, LOL). We've seen some Hall of Fame pitchers and saw David Wells pitch a perfect game at the old NY Yankee stadium once. My favorite sighting was seeing Franco Harris of Pittsburgh Steelers fame give a speech at his alma mater, Penn State. My husband actually saw Michael Jordan at a restaurant in Chicago who when leaving would not even sign something for our young son who was sick at the time, so of course we don't like him!!