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Who has attended a major sports championship?

Who has been to a major sports championship, signature event, or marquee entertainment ceremony (i.e., super bowl, world series, world cup, major golf or tennis, wrestlemania, golden globes, olympics, etc)? Price of tickets? Any good stories? Worth the time and dollars spent?

Probably a good story about Mardi Gras that none of us want to hear again. And my mom is not a major event even though some of you would like to think she is.
Heavyweight championship of the world in vegas 1979. Larry Holmes vs Ken Norton at Caesars Palace . Shook hands with Joe DiMaggio and Joe Lewis. Saw Sylvestor Stalone and RED FOX there. Watched Holmes jump into the swimming pool after he won the fight.
 
Couple of National Championship games. One not so good, one great.
Same here. 1998 Fiesta Bowl. It was a blast hanging out on Mill Ave for a couple days and the Tennessee fans were all pretty cool but the game sucked. At halftime of the 2013 NC game in the Rose Bowl I was asking my wife why we spent all that money to come watch the game. After a few more $14 Tecates and a Jameis Winston comeback, I would have paid triple to be there in person.
 
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2019 Stanley Cup - Game 4 - Let’s. Go. Blues, right @CJBauer



Ryder Cup
Open Championship
Two PGA Championships
Several Masters
Holding out for the US Open at Pebble in 27

No Rose Bowls, no national semi-finals, and no Final Fours ‘cause I’m an Iowa fan and we can’t have nice things.

Best event that’s not a final - Wednesday practice round and Par 3 at the Masters
I know several folks who always drive up to Augusta just for The Wednesday practice rounds and they all say it’s the best part of Masters Week.
 
Not a championship game, but historic. I was at Bobby Bowden's last game; the Gator Bowl vs West Virginia. One of the best times at a sporting event I can recall.

I was there as well. Great win in freezing miserable weather!
 
I was there as well. Great win in freezing miserable weather!
You mean, 1st half miserable weather. When the sun broke through in the 2nd half, it was like God was sending off Bobby. What a great day--watching him throw his hat to the band one last time.

With just under two minutes left to play, Bowden threw his hat to the band -- an old tradition he used to have -- and the gesture was as well-received by the crowd as the touchdown that won the game. -ESPN
 
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I saw the Cubs win their first game in a World Series since 1945 when they beat Cleveland in game 2. It was about $1k, which was a bargain compared to tickets at Wrigley.

I saw Steve Alford’s first game coaching Iowa when they beat #1 UConn at Madison Square Garden. Seemed like a big deal at the time.

I was at this game as well. Cheering for Cleveland though.
 
Father's firm used to race leopard seals and anyway each summer we'd go up to Dakota -- before the directional bullshit forced on us today -- to watch the nationals. I volunteered each year and was actually a "greaser" until I was 27...

(just kidding, I was only a greaser until 10 or so, of course)
 
PGA Championship
FedEx Cup BMW Championship
US Women's Open golf
US Senior Open golf
Solheim Cup
NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship
Rose Bowl
Indy 500 (worst sporting event I've been to including youth soccer games)
 
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You mean, 1st half miserable weather. When the sun broke through in the 2nd half, it was like God was sending off Bobby. What a great day--watching him throw his hat to the band one last time.

With just under two minutes left to play, Bowden threw his hat to the band -- an old tradition he used to have -- and the gesture was as well-received by the crowd as the touchdown that won the game. -ESPN
Wind picked up and temps started dropping like a rock. Overnight low went down to 20, which in Jax is frigid. Miserable. 🥶
 
I have attended about 8 NCAA wrestling championships but I am no longer willing to pay what it takes to attend another unless it's in the great state of Iowa or possibly Omaha, Nebraska.
 
Went to Indy for Iowa vs Michigan. The event was cool, the game was not. It's all hindsight but I could have saved a grand by just going to indy and partying all weekend and not gone into the game. That being said if Iowa would have won, I would have saved those tickets until the day I die.
 
Same here. 1998 Fiesta Bowl. It was a blast hanging out on Mill Ave for a couple days and the Tennessee fans were all pretty cool but the game sucked. At halftime of the 2013 NC game in the Rose Bowl I was asking my wife why we spent all that money to come watch the game. After a few more $14 Tecates and a Jameis Winston comeback, I would have paid triple to be there in person.
Same two I was at. Not only did the game suck as we didn't have a real QB playing, but my brother and my wife both got sick and no one would go out drinking with me on that trip. But agree about the Tenn fans.
For the 2013 game we were seated on the AU side and took crap most the game. The end was fun.
 
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Same here. 1998 Fiesta Bowl. It was a blast hanging out on Mill Ave for a couple days and the Tennessee fans were all pretty cool but the game sucked.
Only game I firmly believe we dominate had it not been for one key injury--Weinke.
 
I forgot I also had 45 yd line seats for the 1987 Fiesta Bowl game which determined the National Champion. My mayor was on the Fiesta Bowl Board and couldn’t go so he gave me his two tickets.
 
2010 Orange Bowl - Iowa vs Georgia Tech
1998 US Open Cup Final - Chicago Fire vs Columbus Crew

They were both orgasmic. The latter ended with an OT winner and numerous hot blonde Polish women waving flags out of convertibles on a drizzly October night jamming Lakeshore Drive:

 
During the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta which was in between my junior year at college I went to work for my college wife’s father who was a VP of Eric Chandler Merchandising which ran what was essentially a temporary mall of stores in Centennial Park inside a large temporary building made from US Air Force temporary hangars. It was right next to the AT&T stadium where the bomb went off. Well after working there as general staff assisting the local stores getting setup, I was offered a substantial pay raise and job upgrade to working directly for Eastman Kodak. I was assigned to be a technology demonstrator for both high end one on one appointments with celebrity clients in the CNN Center as well as general tech demonstrator at their exhibit in the indoor mall. So I got to meet a ton of sports, tv, movie, and political celebrities one on one including people like Bill Clinton, King Faud, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Jordan, and a literal ton of celebrities.

The other benefit was I got a number of free tickets to various events direct from Kodak. If I wasn’t working, I got corporate seats to most events including the Opening Ceremonies, Tennis finals, baseball medal games, most track and field events and I got to see the team finals of the women’s gymnastics team. The only corporate seats I couldn’t score was the basketball finals, soccer finals and closing ceremonies but my college wife not knowing I had zero interest in soccer, had already purchased two tickets for me and her to the soccer finals anyways.

In addition to that, as a kid my parents owned a sporting goods store in the Tampa Bay Area and were longtime Bucs fans so we got tickets to Super Bowl 25 to watch the Bills lose the first of their four Super Bowl losses. As an FSU fan I went to the 1996 Sugar Bowl which was 1 vs 2 only to see Warrick Dunn’s grandmother food poison several of our players and we suffered a miserable loss. I also went to a College World Series game in Omaha. And I’ve been to playoff games for 1-AA supporting my law school Bill & Mary and for Div 2 to support the near local Valdosta State (which are highly enjoyable games to attend).
How have I never heard the Warrick Dunn GM food poisoning story before?
 
Game 6 1991 World Series

Kirby MF Puckett bringing that massive Dick Heatz
 
I was at Wrigley in May 2000 when Cubs fans and Dodgers players got in a brawl. Does that count?

I also witnessed the absolute worst display of late-game basketball ever attempted in a Lickliter-era loss in overtime to Michigan. It was memorable and important only because it should’ve been made into a “what not to do” video seen by basketball players across the globe. It was a perfect summation of that sad sack’s career as a basketball coach once Brad Stephens was no longer on his staff. He’s the worst.
 
How have I never heard the Warrick Dunn GM food poisoning story before?

I don’t think it was reported by major news services or the talking heads at the game. But all of the football team, Chiefs, cheerleaders etc were aware of the story.
 
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The last two U.S. Opens (at Pebble Beach) and the Western Conference Finals (NBA).

Oh yeah, WNBA Championship game in 2005. But only because I had to.
 
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