Sometimes a sporting event can be thrilling without necessarily being on the "big stage" like a Super Bowl or World Series game.

My event: The 1996 and 1997 NY State High School Wrestling championships at the Onondaga War Memorial in Syracuse NY. Two classmates of my daughters won their weight classes both years. I followed one of the kids careers from eight grade. The place was rockin'.

That's an easy one for me, 'cause I attended one of THE all-time memorable events in sports history.

The first Ali-Frazier fight at Madison Square Garden.

I stood on line all night about three months before the fight to buy tickets. Actually, I was third on line, and there was a picture of me in the sports section of THE TIMES the next morning. Except this was in January, and it was so friggin' cold, that I had one of those wool face masks with cutouts for your eyes and mouth, so you couldn't tell it was me.

I bought 2 ringside seats for $100 each (Imagine what they would cost today!). The day of the fight, my friend and I started hanging around the Garden in the early afternoon, buying and selling tickets, and we made a nice little profit besides. So actually, we saw the fight from ringside for free.

Second choice would be a road trip to Boston two years ago with my then 13 year old son to see game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, Nets vs. Celtics, won by the Nets who clinched the series with the win, and went on to the NBA finals. We had our Nets shirts (my son with a Jason Kidd jersey) and hats on, and the friendly abuse we got from the Boston fans was great.

Third choice would be the Nets vs. Spurs, NBA Finals last year at the Continental Arena, when I met Frank Vincent

This year my high school football team went to the section nine championships. If they won, they would have went to states. I have never seen the school so crazy. Me and my buddies went to the game with no shirts on and the letters, "GO WALLKILL" on our chests. It was a great game. Going into the 4th quarter, we were down by like 24, but we came back to with in 7 thanks to a punt block for a touchdown and a interception in the endzone. They couldnt quite pull it off, but that was with out a doubt my most thrilling sports moment.

Well I was definately in attendance 2 nights ago when i dropped 19 in the 4th quarter. Def. thrilling to shut some ppl up

seriously I guess it was last year. Steelers. Brownies. Playoffs. Down 20 in the 2nd half & 12 late in the 4th (courtousy of hank Poteat) miracle man TommyGun led us on a miracle run capped off by a Fu TD run. it was unreal. That much excitement shouldnt be allowed in such a condensed area.
AAAAwwwww....those were the days....
It almost made up for when I went to the AfC championship on my birthday & neil odonnel threw the game winning TD pass attempt off fosters foot

I went to Game 6 of the 1979 World Series games, Orioles against Pittsburgh. Of course I don't have too many fond memories as we got slaughtered. The one bright spot is I was sitting next to a Pirate fan. This man was very obnoxious. I'm sure he was just being a fan, but to a 15 year old kid, I just wanted to spit on him. Instead, I ordered an xtra large coke and "accidently" spilled it all over him. :p

Hmmm...

I know you asked for "the most exciting", but here's just about everything...

I haven't been to a lot of live sporting events, believe it or not.

I find it exciting watching the new single-A Phillies affiliate team, the Lakewood Blueclaws, in the next town over. Last year I went to the Single-A All-Star game. Minor league ball is a lot of fun, and now that we have a team nearby, I don't have to go to Trenton anymore. But, I will have to anyway since Trenton is now a Yankees affiliate Speaking of Trenton Thunder, one year this one kid really impressed me, and I said to my friend how we were gonna see him in the big leagues very soon: the following season Shea Hillenbrand played for the BoSox and had a great year

The only boxing event I ever attended was last September, where a local venue (down the street!) featured an ESPN2 bout featuring former IBF super middleweight champ Charles Brewer vs Freeman Barr. There were also two bouts with Toms River natives. Boxing is nice on TV and all, but I never thought I'd enjoy a live fight. I can't imagine being ringside for a real fight!

MLB, every Yankees game is fun to watch live! I never go to playoff games, though - can't jinx it!Besides, I do like watching it on TV for the better view and analysis (and cheaper beer - lol). In retrospect, it was great seeing Pete Rose play in Philly when I was a kid. And who could forget Reg-gie!

NBA, I've only been to 2 games in my life - one with Plaw recently, and the other w/ a bunch a teens from work. The latter, needless to say, I couldn't pay much attention to the game as I was their counselor. Both were Nets games.

I'm so lazy when it comes to sports I guess. I've been to like 1 NFL game - Giants. I went with my dad, who was invited to attend w/ our (then) state senate president. Great seats, of course, and even a clubhouse lunch

I've never been to a hockey game, but would like to once just to see what it's like. Devils, of course


The most exciting event I never attended, but watched on television, was in 1998 when our hometown heroes won the Little League World Series ! This town was buzzing for weeks/months after that - and the following year when they won the Eastern Division.

And besides all those great Yankee teams - watching the 1986 World Series was very exciting. The only time I ever rooted for the Mets (sorry, SC)

I'll pick ya up on the way down to the Pine Barrens, Geoff. Bring your own ketchup packets.

I have 3 events:
My first one was last year. I was at a Raptors/Sixers game at the First Union Center. Sixers were down 31-15 after the 1st quarter. Iverson and the Sixers came back dropping 3's everywhere, not to mention the 3 from half court at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The other one was a few years back at the fall Richmond NASCAR race. My favorite driver, Rusty Wallace, took out Jeff Gordon with a few laps to go and the last few laps were as close as a race can get.

Also a few years back, Earnhardt Sr. was racing for the win but couldn't get by his own team mate, Steve Park, to catch up to Gordon. When he eventually got around Park and caught up to Gordon, there was only 1 lap left and it was too late to pass him. -Pat

Giants vs. Vikings, 2000 NFC Championship Game, at Giants Stadium. The Giants HUMILIATED the Vikings, 41-0. It was so gratifying to watch.

Well I have attended a few Astros games some years ago at the old Astrosome.

I have also been to a few WWE as well as a couple of independent wrestling shows.

I am thinking about trying to go to a Rockets game. Now that would fun!

None of them I guess could be "thrilling" other than just the chance to be there.

That was the best game I ever saw on Tv, but the best pro game I been to, was last year, Giants vs. Eagles week 17. Win and in, the Giants pulled it off in over time. I was right up close, when Shockey caught the ball over Dawkins in the endzone. Great day, and a great game.

I really enjoyed the Bengals vs. Chiefs game this year that I was at :p

I have 2 Games:

MLB- Padres vs. Yankees- Game 3 of the 1998 World Series. The Padres blew a 4-2 lead in the 8th inning when Scott Brosius hit home run off closer Trevor Hoffman and went on to lose 5-4. A great game nontheless; that was the first and only World Series game I've attended. Seeing the Padres get swept just broke my heart at the time.

NFL- This year I went to Qualcomm Stadium to watch the Chargers play the Packers. I finally got to watch Brett Favre play in person. Favre did not disappoint, throwing for 278 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Pack beat the Chargers 38-21. Just a wonderful game.

Probably when I was 12, we watched our high school basketball team on television play in the Final Four IHSAA. I think our school was playing Broad Ripple High School (indianapolis) and we lost in the last few seconds by one basket. I don't remember all the details, but my sister and I just bawled. It was a very exciting game, but we lost the championship by that last point. Only 4 years later, we one 3 state titles in a row. Go Giants!

I wouldn't say it was the most "thrilling" but out of all the games/sports events I have been to in my life, the most UNFORGETTABLE was in 1999 in Arizona - Niners at Cardinals - Steve Young's last game.

As you know I am a huuuge Niner fan and became quite a fan of Steve Young over the years though it took me a while to warm to him after losing Montana. But when he went down that day and didn't get up for what seemed like an eternity - my friends and are in Row 9 mid-field and can see everything - it's just still etched in my mind. Niners went on to win, but it was a bit of a bittersweet win since noone really knew how bad his injury would be until later.

My favorite games are my brothers Varsity basketball games. He averages 16 points a game. Our team is good too.

I have NY Giants Season Tickets, and the 2 best events were the 1986 and 2000 NFC Championship games.

The Cup Finals between the Hurricanes and Red Wings. It was the night Detroit won it all, game 5.

Game 7 of the Western Confrence Finals between The Red Wings and Avalanche. Wings won 7-0, it was awesome!!

I was this close to going to the 2000 game. Instead i had to settle for the boob tube.

Hockey. No particular game, just hockey. I love to see those guys beat the shit out of each other. Plus the music they play kicks ass too.

An Anchorage Aces hockey game back when I lived in Alaska when I was about 8 or 9. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen and it inspireed me to play hockey.(yeah I know, it sounds corney)

Chiefs vs. Pats at Arrowhead about 5 years ago. Chiefs win 16-14 when ol reliable Adam Vinateri missed a 24 yard field goal.

Well, one of my life-long dreams was accomplished almost 2 summers ago. My goal was to see a New York Mets vs New York Yankees game in Yankee Stadium & I did in 2002 with my family. That game was AWESOME & was a very exciting game with lots of home runs being hit. And of course the Yankees won!

I saw a Royals vs A's game a few years ago. The A's hit back to back to back homers and won 22-3. It was exciting - for A's fans.

The only MLB game I ever saw was a Giants 16-4 win over the Rockies. I had some of the worst seats and all the Colorado fans got pissed. I also got on the wrong bus and had to call my uncle to get back to where my family was staying. Rockies suck.

Oh man, you wanna talk about exciting. My family & I went to another Yankees game this past summer at the Stadium against Seattle. Now, a lot of Japanese fans were there to see Ichiro vs Matsui. As soon as Matsui came up to bat in the bottom of the 2nd, I leaned over to my ma & said "This place will go nuts if he hits a homer." BOOM, Matsui connected with a rocket over the right field fence. Then in like the 4th or 5th inning, the bases were loaded and Nick Johnson came up to bat. My ma leaned over to me & say, "what's that called when a guy gets a home run with everyone on base?" And I said it's called a Grand Slam. BOOM, Nick Johnson connects for his FIRST EVER grand slam! It was so awesome & my ma and I just looked at each other!

Another great moment was in December of 2002 when my ma & I went down to San Antonio to watch the Spurs play the Wizards. I think it was the 3rd time I had seen Jordan play live, and this was just so amazing. It was easily one of the most memorable moments of my life. Our seats were way up in the stands, but I was just so happy to be there. It was a great game!

couple a baseball moments:

a game at wrigley in ole harry careys last seoson
& Brian Giles flipped me a ball in a game that i snuck into last summer

you dont know fun at a sporting event, until you root for the are rooting for the visiting team. People get so pissed at you, but it is so much fun. Me and my school took a field trip to D.C. and we caught a Yankees-Orioles game while there. Our whole class was rooting for the Yankees, and we almost got into a huge brawl with these drunk Orioles fans. It was great.

The most exciting sports event for me was this year's Bengals vs. Chiefs game! Hell yeah, Bengals all the way.