We Love Lists

Coach Mom & Sis went to all three of the women's gold medal games in Atlanta (soccer, basketball softball).

Jim Caple, ESPN Page 2: 101 things all sports fans must experience before they die

I can check off the following from his list:

1 (1984 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles, women's basketball gold medal game, men's volleyball, boxing, four days of track and field including Carl Lewis's four gold medals, Joan Benoit Samuelson winning the first women's marathon and the Zola Budd/Mary Decker Slaney pratfall),

2 (1999 and 2003 women's World Cup games in Boston and Washington DC, four games at 2006 men's World Cup),

5 (women's basketball NCAA subregional, this year, plus women's Final Fours in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2006),

11 (four English Premier League games in 2005 and six last year),

15 (many Red Sox-Yankee hatefests starting when I moved to Boston in the fall of 1975),

16 (Stan Musial's 1969 Baseball Hall of Fame induction (Coach Mom's favorite player of all time) along with Roy Campanella),

23 (at Notre Dame 1984, win over Penn State, 44-7, Allen Pinkett romped, I was miserable in the student section with my brother -- those morons stood for the entire game, I couldn't believe it),

35 (Opening Day, several at Fenway Park in the 1980s, the one I recall best was sitting the bleachers freezing. When Lee Smith made his debut as the Red Sox reliever, we all stood up and bowed in awe. And to get warm.)

36 (Marathon Monday is a tradition, I've attended most every year since 1976 when I've been in town. Most memorable was 1983 when Joan Benoit Samuelson smashed the women's world record by minutes, not seconds),

42 (NBA game courtside, well almost courtside. I sat in the third row for a Lakers-Celtics game at Boston Garden, right behind the Lakers bench, in 1983. Wow.),

73 (The Beanpot! 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, and a few other years. Most memorable has to be the night of the Blizzard of '78 when we stayed to the end of the 12-5 pasting by BU and had to stay overnight in the scuzzy Garden as the subways shut down because of the storm. Walked home through two feet of snow from Kenmore Station the next day. Where have you gone, Joe Mullen?),

84 (Bay to Breakers race: 1981, the year I live San Francisco),

91 (Little League games: started watching my brother, then my sister who was the first girl allowed to play Little League in my town (other parents heckled her); and many of my friend's kids.).

The list omits the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four. The final is sometimes a letdown, but you go to both the semis and the final and there's always at least one barn-burner in there. I'll never forget UConn-Tennessee (1995, the first of UConn's undefeated seasons) and Maryland-Duke (2006).

Actually, this list is pretty devoid of women's events. I'd certainly include the women's World Cup on my list.

Would you add any must-see events?