That was spring break of my sophomore year at OU. My sister called me and said Muhammad Ali is working out at the Richfield Coliseum and it costs THREE DOLLARS to watch practice! There were only about 70 people so you could rest your elbows on the ring and watch him spar. One of his sparing partners was skipping rope and alone. I went over and asked if I could snap his picture and he smiled and said, "Sure" I asked his name and he said, "I am the future heavy weight champ, my name is Larry Holmes." Confidence Much? One of my favorite pictures.

As Muhammad Ali was leaving, I chased after the entourage to try and get a close up with my little Olympus 35mm SLR non-tele camera. He turned right to get on the elevator and I raced to the door to snap the picture. I had the camera to my eye and didn't notice the trash can between us and kicked it over knocking trash all around the Champ's feet. I didn't get the picture but got an everlasting memory. The Champ looked down at his feet and then looking at me and snarled his teeth the way he would when clowning around and rotated his right glove like he was ready to knock me out!

Pretty lame memories? I think not.

Seeing the previous memory of Ali made me recall when I was a freshman in Bush Hall in the fall of 1967. I think he wasn't boxing because of refusing the draft. Somehow our dorm sponsored him to come to Athens and I can still remember talking to him and watching him shadow box standing on one of the large coffee tables in the first floor lounge. I think it was in 1967 or 68. Talk about somebody that was quick with his hands. I think that's as close as I every got to a real celebrity.

* May, 1978, Riverfront Stadium: Pete Rose lines a hit to left field v. Montreal Expos' ace Steve Rogers for hit #3,000. The one time I didn't mind having beer poured on me (from the deck above me).
I still remember the anticipation leading up to #3,000. Not unlike what we're all feeling now with OCF 4 posts away from 10,000, that magical message board threshold.

* Unfortunately, I missed by one at bat Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb's hit record in Sept., 1985. Drove down from Columbus to Cincy for a game v. Padres, hoping to witness history that didn't happen. Contemplated on ride back after the game of coming back down the next night but decided not to. Rose, in his first at bat, singles off Padres' Eric Show.

* Several h.s. football teammates and I would make the short walk from Grandview Heights to the horseshoe ticketless most Saturdays in the late 1970s. A ticket taker, a Grandview Heights' resident, would ask us about our game the night before and then let us in his gate right around kick-off. One game, while sitting on the front row of the bleachers in the south end zone toward the end of the first half, Bob Hope, who was scheduled to dot the "I" at halftime, came down and sat right next to me. He took off his hat as well as my Notre Dame hat, initiated a trade, and put my hat on his head. He asked me about ND's game that day and I did my best to sound half-way intelligent. Looking back, I only wish he had inadvertently kept my ND hat on while dotting the "I".

I was at that game as well. Sitting in center field. Very cool moment.

Not lame at all!

That one stung... I wasn't there, I watched on TV. But I had World Series tickets for Pittsburgh. and I was one out away.

I wasn't sure if I should put this in my previous post since it was by far the strangest sports story I have ever experienced, so I will just post it separately. I was in Cleveland for an educational conference during the Indians series with Boston in 1999. Game 5 was about to start but I was finishing dinner with two two female colleagues, one who was like me in her 30s and the other one in her 60s. We finished dinner and were having drinks in the hotel bar watching the pre-game show when a drunken woman decided she wanted to show off her plastic surgery enhancements. Before she could, the 60 something woman confronted her and with that most of the males in the bar let out a collective groan. I really didn't want to stick around and hear these women call each other names, so I went up to my room to watch the game with some of the other conference attendees. One woman laughed and said, I think it is safe to say that nothing will top that the rest of the conference.

As soon as she uttered those words a man came out of the elevator rattling off a string of profanity in English and Spanish, saying he wasn't going to sign any &%@! autographs. That's Pedro Martinez I said, another guy said, but the game just started, maybe he had a woman in his room, my colleague blurted out. At that Pedro Martinez turned around and said, listen I am not pitching tonight, I didn't have a woman in my room, but I can have them anytime I want. With that he headed out the door and into a cab.

Later as we were all watching the game, the Red Sox got into a bind and lo and behold Pedro Martinez was summoned to give a rare and and unprecedented relief performance leading the Red Sox to victory. This is by far the strangest sports story I have ever witnessed.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

This past Spring I had a chance to go to the Columbus Blue Jackets first 2nd round home game (Game 3) against the Bruins. The crowd was awesome, and it was a great game. Now, about the rest of the series... I won't talk about that.

If I had to pick an Ohio moment, it would be the first Bowl win in Boise in 2011. I was a junior in the 110 at the time, and we were able to join the team on the field to celebrate. High fives and hugs were abundant that night!