SUPER BOWL XX, NEW ORLEANS
January 26, 1986
After watching the Super Bowl as a kid at home, I finally got the chance to actually cover one in person and boy what an experience. It was  New Orleans 1986,  I was part of the media contingent covering the New England Patriots. I tried to maintain my exuberance the best I could. Remember, this was very early in my career, so I was still very wet behind the ears. On the inside however, I couldn’t contain my excitement because I got a chance to come face to face with one of my favorite players, Walter “Sweetness” Payton. 

From a coverage stand point the game was a disaster. After jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first quarter, the Patriots were outscored 46-7as the bears eventually won the game 46-10.  I have covered several Super Bowls since then but from a wow factor, Super Bowl XX was indeed one of the top ten career assignments. 
 

Michael Jordan, 63 Points
April 20, 1986
A basketball game at the OLD  Boston Garden was always a treat, especially during the playoffs. After-all, in the 80’s it was all about Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, and “The Chief”, Robert Parish.

Well, on the night of April 20^th, 1986 it was all about a 23 year old kid named Michael Jordan, who dropped a playoff record 63 points on the Celtics. Boston would eventually win the game 135-131 in double overtime. The Jordan kid, well he actually went on to have a pretty decent NBA career. 
  

CELTICS WIN 14TH TITLE
June 8, 1986
About six weeks after allowing Jordan to drop 63  at the Garden, the Celtics went on to beat the Houston Rockets 114-97 in game six of the NBA finals. It was the Celtics 14th League title and my first NBA Finals. In a word, magical, but even more amazing was the championship parade and eventual rally at Boston City Hall plaza. Thousands of people packed in like sardines to show their appreciation of the their beloved C’s. That Celtics celebration however would eventually be overshadowed by a very tragic piece of news just 11 days later.
 

June 18th, 1986  I was assigned to cover the NBA draft at Madison Square Garden in New York City, another first for me.  Obviously I was there to report on whom the Celtics would select with the second over-all pick. Well, that pick turned out to be 6’8” forward Len Bias out of the University of Maryland.  Bias was considered one of the most dynamic players in the nation, a scorer’s touch and great ball handling ability. 

8:30am the next morning, I received a phone call from my news director  telling me he needed to send me to Boston because Bias had died of a heart attack. What, wait a minute, I just watched this kid get drafted by the Celtics, how could this be?.  Unbelievable but true. My most vivid memory was sitting in the late Red Auerbach’s office and watching him tear up while talking about Bias, a young man he had watched play since high school. Autopsy  results later revealed,  Bias had died from cardio arrhythmia, as a result of a cocaine over dose. Truly one of the most tragic stories I have ever covered.
 

RED SOX WIN GAME 5 OF THE ALCS
October 12, 1986
After the Red Sox and Angles split the first two games of 1986 American League Championship Series at  Fenway  Park, the  ALCS (American League Championship Series) moved to Anaheim for games three, four and five. Due to budget constraints our station decided not to travel with the Sox, instead hoping that the series would return to Boston; however, after losing games three and four, the Sox fell behind 3 games to 1 in the series.  With Boston on the verge of elimination the station had no choice but to go to California to cover game five.  Good decision. 

Granted, things didn’t look good for the Sox in game five as they trailed 5-2 going into the top of the 9^th, but then something unbelievable happened. First, Don Baylor belted a two run homer to cut California's lead to 5-4. Boston then took the lead on a two run homer by Dave Henderson. The Angels tied the game at 6 in their half of the 9^th to force extra innings.  With the bases loaded in the top of the 11^th  a  Dave Henderson sack fly scored  the game-winning run.  The Sox would return to Fenway  where  they won games six, seven and eventually the series. Unfortunately Boston Would lose a heartbreaking world series to the New York Mets. (An Assignment I would love to forget).
 

TRUMBULL CONNECTICUT WINS LL WORLD SERIES
August 26, 1989
I remember watching the little league world series on television when I was younger, but let me be the first to tell you, being there and watching in person, awesome. After all, nothing screams Americana more than little league baseball, toss in an opponent from the other side of the planet and instant classic. As was the case in the 43^rd Little League World Series Title game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. A team from Trumbull, Connecticut Vs Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
 

Taiwan had outscored its two previous opponents 22-4, so needless to say, they were the favorite to win it all.  Trumbull, Connecticut however had other ideas and thanks to an out-standing performance by pitcher Chris Drury, Trumbull beat the mighty Taiwanese 5-2. Watching those kids jump around and dog pile on top of one another was priceless. After the game, both teams ran around the field together and waived at the thousands of fans who had turned out to watch.  By the way, that pitcher from Trumbull, Chris Drury, went on to play hockey at Boston University where he won the Hobie Baker award as the best player in college hockey. Then won the Calder Memorial Trophy with the Colorado Avalanche as the NHL rookie of the year before finally helping the Avs win the Stanley Cup in 2001. 
 

WILT CHAMBERLAIN HONORED
March 18, 1991
Some athletes are just larger than life as was the case with Wilton Norman Chamberlain, the Big Dipper.   So Dominant during his NBA career, that the league had to make several rule changes, including widening the lane, instituting offensive goal tending and revising rules governing in bounding  and shooting free throws (Chamberlain would leap with the ball from behind the foul line to deposit the ball in the basket).

Wilt also rewrote the NBA records books, with his most legendary achievement coming on  March 2nd, 1962 when he scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania.   I was a year old the night Chamberlain pulled off that amazing feat but I am proud to say that 29 years later, I got the chance to interview Wilt live one on one the night  the Philadelphia 76ers retired his number 13 jersey.    

81st ROSE BOWL
January 2, 1995
I have had the chance to cover several college bowl games,  but the 81st Rose Bowl will always be my favorite. 102,000 fans jammed into that stadium to watch Penn State cap off its first trip to Pasadena since 1923 by beating Oregon 38-20 to finish the season 12-0. Unfortunately the first time Big Ten Champs were nudged out of the National title picture that year by the also unbeaten Nebraska Cornhuskers.   It was perhaps one of Joe Paterno's best teams. His top three offensive players went in the top ten of the NFL Draft that year. RB Kijana Carter number one to Cincinnati, QB Kerry Collins went to Carolina as the 5th overall pick while TE Kyle Brady went to the Jets at number 9.

 

OVERTIME AND THEN SOME
May 5, 2000
Playoff  hockey is without a doubt one of  my favorite events to cover, especially over- time playoff  hockey, after all, everything hinges on that next and final goal, the goal that could decide the series and sometimes a teams post season fate.
 

On May 5th, 2000 in Pittsburgh, I got my overtime hockey and then some as the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins skated to a 1-1 regulation tie. Had the Pens won this game they would have taken a commanding  3 games to 1 lead in the series. So it was a game the flyers desperately needed to win and they eventually did, but not before Keith Primeau's  goal in the FIFTH OVERTIME!.  The game started at 7:40pm and finished at  2:35am, making it the third longest game in NHL playoff  history.