These great moments in sports have made me a convert
Roar Guru By Savvas Tzionis, 3 Feb 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- American Football, Bathurst, Formula One, Greg Norman, Gregan, Holden, Maradona, motor sports, Rugby League, State Of Origin, Wally Lewis
Related coverage
Most of us have grown up having a limited list of sports to which we hold an allegiance. In my case, it was predominantly Australian Rules Football.
However, over a number of years, I have learned to admire or even love some of the other sports around the globe.
Often, this involved a pivotal moment (or set of moments) where I became fond of a particular code of sport.
In the case of Australian Touring Car Racing, it was the 1985 Bathurst race where the dominance of Holden was finally ended by, of all cars, a Jaguar!
Not just that, but there were a plethora of different vehicles that competed. A BMW came second and an Alfa Romeo eighth! Being a good old socialist, it was good to see the wealth spread around.
The following is a summary list of my pivotal moments in other sports:
* Formula One. The Albert Park race in late 90s where Schumacher tried to run Villeuneve off the track in order to win the title.
* Rugby Union. Circa 1994, the match of the Gregan tackle
* Rugby League. Probably the State of Origin victory by Queensland, under Wally Lewis’ coaching, with the try after the bell.
* Football. The 1986 World Cup where Brazil and Maradona made me realise what a great sport the World Game is.
* Golf. Probably Greg Norman’s loss to Fuzzy Zoeller in the 1984 US Major
* American Football. A slow burn really. Channel 2′s 90 minute telecast in the early 90s was a perfect way for someone to learn about the sport.
Cricket is the odd sport out for me.
I have always played it and have always watched it. But there has never been a pivotal match and, in fact, in the early days I only played it because it was the only option in Australia.
But I learned to love it to the point where I now consider it to be my favourite sport at the moment.
It would be interesting to know from other Roar readers when they were ‘converted’ to a particular sport.
Recommend this story.
February 4th 2009 @ 12:13am
Keith said | February 4th 2009 @ 12:13am | Report comment
I’ve been watching bits and pieces of ice hockey for years, but didn’t get really interested till last year’s Stanley Cup finals series, Detroit v Pittsburgh. Specifically game 5 where Pittsburgh scores with less than a minute on the clock to send it into overtime. These sides then blugeon each other through three overtime periods before Pittsburgh finally put it away to bring up the sixth game in the series. Good times.
February 5th 2009 @ 8:42pm
Sam said | February 5th 2009 @ 8:42pm | Report comment
Watching Tour de France regularly got me right into cycling. An event which supercedes just sport.
Other than that I was was always a football, rugby league and athletics fan since childhood.
February 5th 2009 @ 8:53pm
dasilva said | February 5th 2009 @ 8:53pm | Report comment
Football – Iran 1997 – showed me how much emotions the game can elicit. If a person who doesn’t even like football watch the game and get devastated and angry after the game – it must have something alluring about it.
Cricket – Michael Bevan hitting a four of the last ball – one of my earliest introduction to cricket. Awesome match
Tennis – Pat Rafter vs Andre Agassi at wimbledon – two really epics match. This led to Pat Rafter vs Goron at the final. Tennis at its best and in my top 5 sporting moment of all time.
February 6th 2009 @ 9:04am
Robbos said | February 6th 2009 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Tour De France – Cadel Evans’s rise to the top, the scenery, the tactics, the awesome ability causes me many a poor nights sleep during June.
Tennis – Rafter v Agassi at wimbledon, I think they actually played in 3 straight semis, the first one Agassi won well, the other as dasilva says were epics, I rode every minute of those matches, though I’ve always liked tennis I never felt so engrossed in a match & started to appreciate the game much more.
Golf – When Larry Mize sunked that the chip to beat Norman in the masters, started a long love of Golf, though more playing than watching.
I too was brought up on the local diet of Rugby league & cricket, though I always loved football from afar, was never a big fan of the local scene until the A-League.
The Indian series last year with it’s off field antics has turned me off cricket abit.