TOP 10 GAMES I ATTENDED

..1. 1986 NLCS GAME 3: Lenny Dykstra’s 9th-inning homer (see page 265).

My friend David ordered tickets while in Albany and I ordered mine while in Massachusetts yet he ended up directly in front of me…. and we were seated out in right, where Dykstra’s homer landed.

..2. 1986 NLCS GAME 5: Gary Carter’s 12th-inning single (page 266)

My friend Alec, with whom I was sitting, had taken on a massive grudge against Charlie Kerfeld so this was particularly satisfying.

..3. 1991 US OPEN WOMEN’s SEMIS: I got to witness two titanic battles--Seles-Capriati, Navratilova-Graf (page 310)—plus I watched Jimmy Connors—in the midst of his historic run (page 83)--practicing on a side court

.4. 1973 WORLD SERIES GAME 5: I was just 7 years old and had been to only two Met games but somehow my dad finagled seats up in the (heated) press box level. I watched Don Hahn’s triple and Jerry Koosman’s and Tug McGraw’s shutout pitching and thought the Mets would go to Oakland and win the crown… one that, alas, would elude the Mets until I was 20. 5. 2001 US OPEN MEN’s QUARTERS: Andre Agassi-Pete Sampras, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 (page 322). Agassi at his peak and Sampras near enough, both playing flawless tennis. 6. 2000 NLDS GAME 4: Bobby Jones’ series-clinching 1-hitter (page 266). With Jones on the mound we never had high expectations but on this day he surpassed anything we could have imagined .7. 1999 NLDS GAME 4: Todd Pratt’s series-clinching 10th-inning homer (see page 267). I really thought Finley was going to catch that ball so when he came down empty-handed the surprise enhanced the exhilaration. .8. 1994 NBA Finals GAME 5: While the entire nation watched OJ Simpson ride down the freeway in a Ford Bronco I was reveling in the front-row seats my uncle had scored (next to Madonna) and the Knicks out-rebound, out-hustle and outscore the Houston Rockets.

..9. 1983 US OPEN MEN’s FINAL:  In 1982 at my first Open I got to see my favorite player, Jimmy Connors beat Ilie Nastase in a match in which men gleefully defied the umpire when he tried to stop play for a slight drizzle (page 499) and to see Connors whomp Ivan Lendl in the finals. But the next year’s final was even more satisfying: Connors had fallen from the #1 perch that year and was thought to be aging; when the up-and-coming Lendl evened the match in the second-set tiebreaker he appeared to have the momentum. But Connors gutted it out and worked the crowd into a frenzy and when he pulled out the third set 7-5, my grandfather turned to me and said of Lendl, “He’s done, Connors has him psyched out.” The fourth set score? 6-0 Connors.

..10. 2005 US OPEN MEN’s QUARTERS: It was hard to know who to root for when Andre Agassi played James Blake in 2005 (page 246) but both players thrilled the crowd as Blake pounded his way to the first two sets and then Agassi stunned him with a five-set win.

HONORABLE MENTION: 3 METS OPENING DAYS (My annual father-son tradition)

There have been plenty of thrilling Opening Days, including Ron Darling’s 1988 five-hit shutout of Montreal, the 1998 14-inning 1-0 win over Philadelphia (which I actually left early for a more exciting event—the trip to the doctor’s office to confirm that my bride-to-be was pregnant) and the 2001 10-inning win over the Braves that featured a Mike Piazza 2-run blast off Tom Glavine and two long balls by Robin Ventura, one off archenemy John Rocker. But these three stand out:

1. 1985: Gary Carter’s 10th-inning homer—in my first Opening Day with my dad and Carter’s first game as a Met--sent a charge through the freezing fans. A new era was at hand.
2. 2006: This year’s 3-2 win over Washington had all the ingredients of a pennant-winning season, strong starting pitching (Tom Glavine), a new, reliable closer (Billy Wagner), offensive and defensive fireworks by the youngsters who would spark this team (David Wright homered and Jose Reyes gunned down Alfonso Soriano at the plate on a relay from Cliff Floyd) and good luck (Soriano was really out but the ump blew the call).
3. 1996: Rey Ordonez’s relay throw home from his knees prompted the opposing shortstop, one Ozzie Smith, to proclaim Ordonez “the second coming of me.” The rest of us were all left speechless. The Mets were not quite ready to compete but at least the excitement was back.

Honorable Mention: OFF THE FIELD

1. 1974 Welcome Home Mets Dinner: As an 8-year-old I got to meet the Mets and greet the Mets; posing for pictures with Tom Seaver (page XI) and having Felix Millan sign my program each time I walked by was so overstimulating that afterwards I threw up my entire dinner in my grandfather’s car. (Chicken and peas, in case you were wondering.)
2. 1973 Knicks’ Championship Celebration thrown By Mayor John Lindsay: Because my uncle worked for the mayor I was the only 7-year-old invited to mingle with these giants of the city game. I’ll never forget how huge Willis Reed and Phil Jackson looked as they autographed my Knick program.

1986 Mets’ ticker tape parade: I was in college near Boston. After Game 7, I piled into a car with some friends at 1:30 a.m., arrived in New York at 5:30 a.m., slept on someone’s floor for 2½ hours then went down to the parade. We managed to sneak in front of the barriers and high five the players. Then we drove back to school…where I wrote an English paper for a professor who was an avowed Red Sox fan.