Summer Sunday Open Thread: The NFL Game That Changed Your Life

As much as I poke fun at the current 49ers on this site, the fact remains that, having grown up in Northern California in the 1980's, I loved 'em. And still do, to be honest -- if they made the playoffs and the Seahawks didn't, I'd root for the Niners. When I see them play the Hawks this season there'll be a lump in my throat, since I never saw them play live.

So, of course, the first game I'm going to cite is the NFC Championship game against the Cowboys in 1982, where Dwight Clark made "The Catch." Locally the Niners had already ended years of domination by the Raiders that season. The '81 Raiders season saw the Silver and Black getting shut out three weeks in a row by Detroit, Denver and KC. The last of those losses came in Week 6, the same week the 49ers beat the seemingly invincible Cowboys 45-14. The next Monday the headline of the Sacramento Bee read "The Banner Moves Across the Bay."

Everyone knows what happened in that NFC Championship game; you can search for "The Catch" on Wikipedia, and you'd find an entry for it. That game knocked everyone in NoCal for a loop. It became more legendary after the fact when we learned Joe Montana did not actually see Clark make the catch; he'd been leveled by a Cowboy after releasing the ball. Everyone was shocked. We had no idea that we were seeing the beginning of a dynasty; we were just focusing on the monkey getting off the Niners' backs.

The second game was last year's contest between Seattle and the New York Giants, otherwise known as Feely's Folly. It was the third NFL game I'd attended. It made my list for several reasons, but the biggest was the emotional hell it put me through in the fourth quarter and overtime period.

Our entire row was vacated by that time, except for me, my partner, our daughter, and one other couple far to our left. Everytime the game seemed out of hand, Feely would miss. And after every miss I had a mini-breakdown, pacing the whole of our abandoned aisle like an expectant father in the delivery room. It was awe-inspiring madness.

Then when Josh Brown finally made the winning kick in overtime, everyone went nuts. That was the first week we realized that these Hawks were really different. Beating Dallas a few weeks before -- when we really shouldn't have -- signaled that these Seahawks might not fold down the stretch as they were famous for doing. The game against the Giants was the first time any of us used the phrase "a team of destiny" about the Seahawks. It was mainly incredible luck.

Now, granted, the Hawks made sure Feely didn't have a chance to win the game with a chip shot field goal -- they did manage to keep all his attempts over 40 yards in the final moments. But anyone who was there will tell you the Hawks were extremely charmed in that game.

After Brown made the field goal, three couples in my immediate space kissed each other. This doesn't really happen that often. I think Kate and I did too but I don't recall. We might have been too busy exhaling.

I also won a Anheuser-Busch "Good Sport" jacket at that game, and got my picture and name on the DiamondVision in the 4th quarter, but I had to remind myself of that.

That game will always stand in my mind because I just remember how boring it was until the 4th quarter. Then the 4th quarter happen and it was just big play after big play. I almost had a heart attack and I was 19 at the time.