Can you guess the first professional sport I went to see? Football and baseball seem the likely choices. But neither is correct.
In fact, I didn't attend my first professional football game until a preseason game between the Patriots and the Browns. That was sometime during the late 80s or early 90s so far as I remember. Then the first real game I attended was Houston (Oilers) at New England during the mid-90s. So that wasn't it.
Baseball? Closer. I remember a Yankees game in the mid-80s. There was a Beach Boys concert after the game. And I might have attended one other game earlier than that; I most likely have the ticket somewhere. But still not the first professional sport.
The first professional sporting event I remember seeing was at the New Haven Coliseum. Semi-professional to be exact. The New Haven Nighthawks. Not only was it the first professional sport that I saw, but to this day, it's the only sport I've ever been to see with my maternal grandfather. A football and hockey guy, grandpa had me memorizing the numbers and stats of the New Haven Nighthawks hockey players at age 5.
Well, last evening, I relived a little bit of my childhood in Seattle. Joseph and I attended a Western Hockey League matchup between the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Portland Winter Hawks with out friends Sam and Mark.
We watched from two rows behind the benches at center ice as the T-birds attacked with fiery abandon. Before Portland knew what hit them, they were down by three and pulled their 16-year old goalie. Unfortunately for the Winter Hawks, they never quite recovered; instead they allowed their frustration to surface. And surface it did. I remember seeing a fight like that in person only once or twice before when I was a kid. Portland stuck first and Seattle battled back. Overall, three players were ousted with game misconducts. All of them bloodied.
An exciting first game on the whole. Especially for Joseph who hadn't seen a hockey game before.
There was only one thing missing about the night. I wish my grandfather could have been there hollering at the young kids. That would have made it perfect.
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