The French poet Charles Baudelaire once said “I have more memories than if I were a thousand years old.” That couldn’t be truer for me! For those who know me well, there are 2 things they are keenly aware of today: I have a crazy good memory and today marks the beginning of my 3^rd decade of life. My husband once called me an elephant in a match game because I never forget things. It’s a blessing and a curse at times, but great for me today as I reflect on the amazing life I’ve lived to date. Since this is a sports blog, I thought it would be fun to reflect on my life as a sports fan today. So, in a format similar to one of my favorite sports writers, Pat Forde, here’s dashing through my 30 favorite memories to date in my journey as a sports fan…

I was born and raised a Spartan before going to school there as well. While I don’t remember it well, the 1988 Rose Bowl (1) was the first significant MSU win in my lifetime. Other highlights for Spartan football include traveling to see them play in the 2007 Champs Sports Bowl (2) when they ended the bowl game drought and the program began to go in the right direction, attending the 2012 Outback Bowl (3) when they finally won a bowl game for the first time since 2001, and attending the 2014 100^th Rose Bowl Game (4) where they were victorious and I was able to cross an item off my bucket list. Because we have season tickets, I’ve also been at a some of the most memorable regular season games: the 2001 victory over UM (5) thanks to TJ Duckett, the 2010 Little Giants (6) win over Notre Dame, and the 2011 Immaculate Deflection (7) win over Wisconsin.

Spartan basketball quickly became a passion of mine and I was a loud and proud member of the Izzone while in school and still enjoy going back for the reunion games. I loved Jud Heathcote and my first trip to Breslin was in 1995 to attend Jud Heathcote’s All-Star Tribute Game (8). It still brings a tear to my eye when I think about the 2000 NCAA Championship Game (9) as Mateen Cleaves came out after an injury and cut down the nets. I have so many fond memories from games I attended, including being part of the largest crowd for a college basketball game in 2003 at the Basketbowl (10) and again in 2010 at Ford Field for Basketbowl II (11). I’ve also been extremely fortunate to attend several March Madness games. A few of the most memorable were the 2005 Final Four (12), the 2009 Final Four & Championship Game (13) and the 2010 Final Four (14). We will also be making the journey to Dallas in April with hopes that the Spartans will be there too. We started kicked that journey off right when we attended the 2013 Champions Classic (15) and saw MSU knock off #1 Kentucky.

My family also had season MSU hockey tickets growing up, I’ve watched many games at Munn Arena and the Joe. I was part of the crowd that walked out on the ice in February of 2001 to celebrate head coach Ron Mason’s 600^th Spartan Victory (16) and was in the stands that fall at the Cold War (17) – which set an attendance record for outdoor hockey at that time. I celebrated when they won the 2007 NCAA Championship (18) and hung out with the players at the victory parade. Although neither of our schools got there, we still enjoyed seeing some great college hockey games when we attended the 2013 Frozen Four (19).

When it comes to professional teams, I’m a big supporter of the mitten state. The first baseball cap I ever owned donned an Old English D on it, which seems appropriate since the Detroit Tigers won the 1984 World Series (20). As a baseball lover, despite the result, I also loved seeing them play in the 2006 World Series (21) and attending the 2012 World Series (22). They have a great team and I’m hopeful that they will be back again soon too!

As the trip down memory lane continues, I was also loud and proud about the “Bad Boys” when I was first learning about basketball. It was fun to watch that group be the 1990 NBA World Champions (23). The blue-collared Pistons were again a great group to watch on the court when they went on to be the 2004 NBA World Champions (23). Over time, my love of the NBA has faded, mostly due to many bad decisions by the team I grew up following. I still enjoy watching the playoffs, just usually cheer for the players I liked most in college instead of a specific team anymore.

Growing up following hockey and being so close to Hockeytown, I couldn’t help but cheer on the Red Wings. They’ve also been very successful for the past couple decades including winning the 1997 Stanley Cup (24), the 1998 Stanley Cup (25) – which may have been my favorite since it’s so hard to win Lord Stanley back to back, and again winning the 2002 Stanley Cup (26). I took my dad to a finals game en route to them winning the 2008 Stanley Cup (27) and even got a picture with it then thanks to a former Spartan being on the team.

Then, there is the NFL. I’ve always known the Lions to be horrible (plus poor management), so I take a similar approach to the NBA and follow players. I own several NFL jerseys, but the players I follow the most are the Manning brothers. Much to my husband’s dismay, I enthusiastically watched Peyton Manning lead the Colts to the 2006 Super Bowl Championship (28). Unfortunately, I’ve also seen him lose a couple – including a good ole fashion whooping a couple weeks ago. Then, there’s Eli and the G-Men who were named the 2007 Super Bowl Champions (29) by taking down the undefeated Pats and again to be the 2011 Super Bowl Champions (30).

Extra Point
As I look at this list, I have been extremely fortunate to have the teams I follow enjoy success and to be able to attend many of those events. I look forward to what the next 30+ years has in store for my personally and all the new sports memories I’ll make!