couple of stories

[Geode]

Not going to lie, I listen to more games now via radio/internet than I did in the 80s due to kid activities and travel. Little bit of a different experience from when I was a preteen/teen but still a good brain exercise.

 

[orangefog]

With regard to radio, whenever Matt Park would say “the orange going from left to right”, it would throw me. Because, I imagine I’m sitting across from him.

 

[two3zone]

With regard to radio, whenever Matt Park would say “the orange going from left to right”, it would throw me. Because, I imagine I’m sitting across from him.

Doing any imagining of Matt Park would scar me like nothing else.

 

[AlaskaSU]

My most frustrating time was the 1992 NCAA tournament game against UMass. I was on the train from Syracuse back to NYC somewhere around Utica trying to listen on a portable radio held near the window. I only heard about a few seconds at a time, and then it would cut out, and then a few more seconds. Just enough to have a sense how close the game was, but not enough of a consistent signal that you could really follow it too closely. Of course we wound up losing in overtime.

I listened to that game on a car radio while I was sick as a dog laying in the backseat as I was being driven from upstate to Newark to catch a plane back to AK. The loss still rankles.

 

[cto]

Basketball game at Michigan State near end of the 2003 regular season was a very important game for SU. I was in Havana with a group of SU people, and we were all interested in the game. US cellphones did not work in Cuba at the time (and still may not), but I had rented a monstrous Cuban cellphone from the hotel (it was the size of a large Kleenex box). A bunch of us gathered in the lobby of the historic Hotel Nacional de Cuba, and I called Fishy (UConn fan and close friend) on the phone. Fishy was watching the game on tv in Poughkeepsie, and he gave me the play-by-play which I relayed to the SU folks there. Our crazy cheering at the end puzzled everyone else in the lobby. Upon checking out of the hotel, I got a $362 bill for the call. But it was worth it.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Ha, Dick in Mi, I remember that Spanish station as well! I used to fiddle with that radio dial like a neurosurgeon to bring in WHAM as clear as a bell

I seem to recall that the Spanish station was out of San Juan, PR. Fortunately, it was far enough away that it wasn’t a continual problem. However, if I turned on the game and instead heard cheerful Spanish voices, it was time to say “hasta la vista,amigos!” and wait to learn the score via a different method.

I always theorized that if I had a larger radio dial I could turn it in smaller increments and more easily zero in on WHAM more accurately. Who knows, it may have even worked.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Basketball game at Michigan State near end of the 2003 regular season was a very important game for SU. I was in Havana with a group of SU people, and we were all interested in the game. US cellphones did not work in Cuba at the time (and still may not), but I had rented a monstrous Cuban cellphone from the hotel (it was the size of a large Kleenex box). A bunch of us gathered in the lobby of the historic Hotel Nacional de Cuba, and I called Fishy (UConn fan and close friend) on the phone. Fishy was watching the game on tv in Poughkeepsie, and he gave me the play-by-play which I relayed to the SU folks there. Our crazy cheering at the end puzzled everyone else in the lobby. Upon checking out of the hotel, I got a $362 bill for the call. But it was worth it.

One of my most memorable SU games. The game was sold out and so my sons and I planned a ski trip in Northern MI. We left best wishes for the team before we departed.

The night before the game, I had just finished skiing and I got a call from my very excited wife. She said that she had just gotten a call from the team manager, who told her “I’m standing right next to Coach Boeheim and he told me “take care of this family” .”

We hit the road at dawn, picked up my wife, made it to the Breslin Center, got our JB tix from will-call, and settled into our seats behind the McNamara family. Great game. The Spartans had a kid named Hill who made about a thousand shots from behind the arc, but Melo was Melo and the Good Guys pulled out a close one.

 

[sutomcat]

One of my most memorable SU games. The game was sold out and so my sons and I planned a ski trip in Northern MI. We left best wishes for the team before we departed.

The night before the game, I had just finished skiing and I got a call from my very excited wife. She said that she had just gotten a call from the team manager, who told her “I’m standing right next to Coach Boeheim and he told me “take care of this family” .”

We hit the road at dawn, picked up my wife, made it to the Breslin Center, got our JB tix from will-call, and settled into our seats behind the McNamara family. Great game. The Spartans had a kid named Hill who made about a thousand shots from behind the arc, but Melo was Melo and the Good Guys pulled out a close one.

I too listened to SU games on the radio before I was big enough to buy my own tickets but I always lived in CNY so it was not a problem to get them.

As a long time Met fan, I had similar issues trying to get the Mets on the radio growing up in CNY. Their flagship station was too close to a local station so I couldn't get it. Sometimes local radio would pickup broadcasts but many times I was reduced to finding the opponent's broadcast and listening in that way.

There is something really cool and magical about working so hard to get a broadcast. Chasing it down between signals, finding just the right way to orient the radio, etc.

I think it built character. Kids today are missing out on some good stuff.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

As a long time Met fan, I had similar issues trying to get the Mets on the radio growing up in CNY. Their flagship station was too close to a local station so I couldn't get it. Sometimes local radio would pickup broadcasts but many times I was reduced to finding the opponent's broadcast and listening in that way.

My Brother always listened to Yankee games. My glove was an autograph model by a Boston player, so I became a Red Sox fan. Made for some rivalries with my Brother but I could rarely see or hear a Boston game.

Living in Michigan I am now a Tigers fan. As such, I'm no threat to fans who root for real baseball teams.

 

[BigNastyJon]

Every post in this thread:

 

[CuseFan]

will never forget pulling off to the side of the NJ Turnpike while moving from an internship to start grad school in Phily to listen to the last 15-20 min of a tight game. it was 1988 and all I had was NYC radio station. not exactly a smart thing to do, but it was worth it. SU won!

 

[UpstateSM]

One time I was trying to watch UMass on ESPN+ on my Xbox but the audio wasn’t great so I had to watch with my Roku on my second TV until my Xbox restarted

 

[OrangeFoo]

One time I was trying to watch UMass on ESPN+ on my Xbox but the audio wasn’t great so I had to watch with my Roku on my second TV until my Xbox restarted

And when your internet gets taken out by a storm you will wish you had radio.

Since we are sharing, I became a Mets and Cuse fan listening to games on the radio growing up in vestal, ny.