Best and worst sports moments

In college, the Bills were winning left and right, and we were a mere 60 miles from what was then Rich Stadium. With the Bills on tv every single Sunday and surrounded by Bills fans, it wasn't hard to start rooting for them. I've lost track of the Bills, and in many ways most of pro football in the last 15 years, but I did watch MNF last night. I was unfortunately reminded of one my worst sports memories when the would-be winning 47-yard field goal attempt sailed wide to the right. It brought back a crushing moment in 1991 when I was in DC with a bunch of rabid Giants fans watching Super Bowl XXV. It also caused me to think for a few moments about where Wide Right fits on my list of worst sports moments. Here goes:

5. 19-8, when I sat in the grandstand at Fenway Park for game 3 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. It was downright depressing, but I was still at Fenway in October, so it couldn't be all bad. The Sox didn't lose another game the rest of the post-season.

4. Former Pirate Barry Bonds leading the San Fransisco Giants beating up on the Pirates in the first ever major league baseball game I went to with my father, in the pouring rain.

3. Wide Right 1991.

2. Aaron Boone hitting an 11th inning homer off Tim Wakefield to end the 2003 ALCS.

1. Former Pirate Sid Bream sliding under the tag in the 1992 NLCS game 7. I STILL can't stand the tomahawk chop. I still hate the Braves with a white hot passion and root for the Yankees when they play each other.

But not to be too negative, here are my top 6 best sports moments:

6. Going to Camden Yards with my dad and brother. Still not sure why we had to wait 30+ years before the three of us went to a game together (something about beer, I think), but it was special.

5. 51-3 1991 AFC Championship. I spent $50 on a single seat, carpooled with a bunch of others and ignored signs offering $500 for a single ticket. Never regretted being at such a landmark game for my first NFL experience. Will always remember the crowd's cheer when OJ Simpson walked onto the field for a pre-game report. Still wonder what the reaction would be if he came to Buffalo now???

4. My first baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium vs. Houston Astros. Field looked like a pinball game from way up in the rafters.

3. The look of amazement on Peter's face when he first saw the field and left-field wall at Fenway, and his insistent search for Wally the Green Monster, all through the ballpark.

2. Foulke to Mientkiewicz to win the 2004 World Series.

1. After my dad spent two weeks in the hospital for treatment of a gall bladder problem in October 1979, he surprised me the morning after he came home with the news that the Pirates had won the World Series.

Never trust a bearded man

I never thought I'd be a facial hair guy. My father wore a beard for probably the last 15 years of his life (and I think it took five of those years for it to grow in fully), and the primary reason was to keep his face warm on cold winter mornings during deer season. Since I was not afflicted with a hunting hobby, that was not a good reason for me. And as a morning runner, facial hair can be more of a problem than a help since it tends to freeze up and develop rather uncomfortable icicles. Finally, Christy was pretty adamant that she didn't care much for facial hair.

But then, I realized that the two Red Sox players Christy found most attractive (Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield) both had goatees. I wasn't sure if I could grow one, but during the summer of 2006, I was studying wall to wall for qualifying exams and didn't really care to shave anyway. Why not give it a try? I think it took a full two months to grow in well, but Christy actually liked it and that's all I needed to keep it and learn to groom it well.

Although she's hinted at it in the past, she finally admitted tonight why she thinks it works for me... "It covers a multitude of chins." Ouch. :)