an outside view

(Terry is taking his annual hiatus in July to relax and get rejuvenated. In his absence, we’re running one of his favorite columns from the past.)

Isn’t it funny how we remember things? I mean, it’s really strange how our minds link totally unrelated things together to help us remember. It may not come as any real shock but for me, some of the biggest events in my life are linked to some sort of sporting event.

For example, I will always remember that Notre Dame knocked Don DeVoe and the Tennessee Vols’ basketball team out of the NCAA Tournament in March of 1979. That was the day my bride-to-be met her future in-laws. The regional tournament was being held at MTSU’s Murphy Center in Murfreesboro and my parents were in town to take in the game. We ate at a restaurant across from campus where my future wife just happened to be working. She introduced herself to them as my girlfriend. Mentioning to them that I was in a serous relationship had slipped my mind so you can imagine their surprise.

One year later, on March 8, 1980, we were wed. The Vols were again in the NCAA Tournament, this time playing Michigan State. The wedding was delayed about five minutes while the groom, his best man, and the groom’s father were outside listening to the final minutes of the game on the car radio. The Vols lost again. I was just thankful it wasn’t a night game. Watching a basketball game on our wedding night would have been more than even my understanding wife could bear. Actually, she doesn’t know how close I came to calling the whole wedding off. Think about it. My parents meet her and the Vols lose. I marry her and the Vols lose. The thought entered my mind. Is this chick bad luck?

1982 and 1985 also have special significance in my life. Those were the years my two sons were born. Incidentally, my beloved St. Louis Cardinals went to the World Series both of those years. The Redbirds hadn’t won a world championship in 15 years and I have a kid and bingo – they take it all. Then my younger son was born in 1985, and what do you know, they’re in the Series again. It was October 5, 1985, and I had the VCR set to record the Cardinals clinching the pennant. After being up all night at the hospital, I was too tired to watch the entire game so I fast forwarded to the ninth inning. I can still remember Cardinals’ ace, John Tudor, almost too excited to stand on the mound in the final inning. My wife wanted more kids and even promised another World Series. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, I didn’t give in to the temptation.

A little over two months later, an ambulance rushed my new son to Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital. It was New Year’s Eve, 1985, and my boy was fighting for his life. He was in the intensive care unit with a life threatening respiratory ailment. Only one parent was allowed to be in the room with him at a time. My wife and I timed the rotations so that I could be back in the hotel when Tennessee took on Miami in the Sugar Bowl the next night. That game still ranks as one the biggest wins in UT football history. Tennessee 35 and Miami 7.

Tragedy struck our family in 1991. Our house burned and we lost everything. It was the first Sunday in November. For the next six days, we called the Holiday Inn home but on that next Saturday, we moved into a rental house. Ironically, Tennessee was in South Bend playing Notre Dame that afternoon. We were busy with all that was going on but I had the radio close by listening to John Ward’s play-by-play. The Vols were getting killed. They trailed by three touchdowns in the second half and all seemed lost for the Vols. Then the miracle began to unfold. Quarterback Andy Kelly rallied the Men in Orange to their most dramatic comeback win in the program’s illustrious history. Final score: Vols 35, Fighting Irish 34.

These events are forever linked in my mind to each other. Ask me when Tennessee played Notre Dame or Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament and I can tell you. Ask me when the Cardinals won the World Series in the 80’s and I can tell you. Ask me when the Vols put it to Miami in the Sugar Bowl or made their miracle comeback against Notre Dame and I can tell you. Ask me what I had for dinner last night and I haven’t a clue.