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When did you become a hoops fan?

sockdolager

sockdolager

Club Member
Club Member
Who can pinpoint the exact point in time when they became a hoops fan?

My critical moment was back in the late 60’s. I was 8 or 9 and had just started playing organized basketball on a church team (I sucked and never did get better). My dad took me to an LSU Tiger basketball game that season. Like today, LSU was a football school and the basketball team sucked. They had a new coach named Marivich who had just signed his son Pete to play for LSU. I can’t remember who they played that day but I was mesmerized watching Pistol Pete play. He could shoot, pass, and dribble better than anyone else on the floor. He would regularly go for 40+ points (no 3 pt. shot in those days). I remember telling my Dad that he was good enough to play for the Harlem Globe Trotters. I was convinced the Globe Trotters were the best basketball team in the world.

That was my moment, what’s yours?
 
4th grade is when I got really into playing.

First memories that really stick as a fan was from my first Big East tourney at MSG in 1984. Ewing was amazing. I ended up being a Georgetown fan after that. Not so much a Hoya fan any more.
 
As long as I can remember. Grew up in memphis and played basketball damn near year round with school teams and AAU. Was really young when baskerville holmes, keith lee and william bedford played so dont remember seeing them. Old enough to remember watching elliot perry at the mid south coliseum. Then anfernee hardaway, david vaughn and lorenzen wright at the Pyramid. Moved to Boulder in 01 and went to buff games. Bought front row season tickets for a few years after graduating. Even though i graduated from cu and love the buffs my heart belongs to the memphis tigers. Hard to break those childhood memories.
 
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Following the Buffs with my dad on an old black and white portable GE radio last time they were in the back-to-back NCAAs in the early 60's.
Sox Walseth's teams were loaded with local talent: Eric Lee, Ken Charlton and Milt Mueller, among others. He added some good players from outside, such as Jim Davis and George Parsons. My dad always liked Parsons and Lee because they were pharmacy majors, as he was. These teams lost both times in the NCAA's to Cincinatti teams, in what would have beeen the Sweet 16. I'll never forget the first time I saw the "elevated court" in Balch, it was so old and re-finished so many times, that the varnish turned the wood an orange color, with a green out-of-bounds area. No net around the court for games, if you left the floor/court with any speed, you took a dive off onto the dirt floor! Huge home court advantage for the Buffs.
 
Still not a hoops fan, I find it the most frustrating sport to watch :huh:. Still appreciate watching CU however :thumbsup:
 
:gobuffs:

My parents took me to high school hoops games when I was just a little kid. I didn't attend all the football games when I was in high school, but I did attend all the hoops games. Same where I got my undergrad degree. When I moved to Boulder to get my MBA, I followed both the men's and the brand new women's games.

I gave up on the men's teams during the Patton era after Chauncey left, but now enjoy watching them under Tad.

I will always be a fans of the women's team, although it was very difficult during the KMM years.

I'm nuts. I'm driving from Iowa to Boulder for the NCAA tourney next weekend to cheer on my Buffs!
 
Sixers over Celtics in 1980. I was 7 at the time.

highlight was 1983 Sixers Championship. NBA now stinks. Love college hoops since Michael Jordan left the Bulls.
 
1962 ... when I was 12 years old growing up in New Jersey less than 5 miles from the campus of Princeton University. My dad had attended Princeton for a couple of years in the 1930's and had season tix to both football and basketball. I got to go to most of the games that he and my mom didn't ... non-Ivy games in football and Saturday afternoon games for basketball. Bill Bradley was a sophomore that year, and had been ballyhooed as potentially the best player in CBB after his freshman year (frosh didn't play varsity ball back then but had their own team, and so his soph year was his first exposure on the national stage).

I got to see Bradley play for three years in a venue that was as intimate as I imagine Balch was in its day. Princeton went to the NCAA's all three years, and in his senior year went to the Final Four after beating a favored Providence team by 40 points in the regional finals, and then losing to Michigan and Cazzie Russell (who would later be his teammate on the Knicks) in the national semifinals (UCLA won what was IIRC it's second straight NCAA championship that year ... the beginning of its dynasty under John Wooden). I've been a rabid college hoops fan ever since.
 
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I flirted with the sport through Jordan's Bulls throughout my childhood. I permanently fell in love, however, when Bryce Drew hit his shot in'97.
 
Probably when Joe Smith was on the Terps. Being from Maryland and my mom and a lot of her side of the family being Terp alums, it was pretty natural. I loved going to games at Cole, Comcast just isn't the same. When I came to CU, it was quite different. At the same time, it's been a lot of fun -- seeing a team built from the bottom up.
 
I've always been a fan, but early on it was the NBA and the old Doug Moe Nuggets teams. I started watching college ball primarily to see the kids who were considered NBA prospects (Byron Houston, Penny Hardaway and Shaq were a few that I really enjoyed watching), but then fell in love with March Madness and college hoops. Through HS, we'd always wait for the tourney to start, then skip a couple of classes and spend most of the day at Jackson's Hole watching as many games as we could. I miss those days...
 
NBA: Watching MJ and getting my Sky Jordan shoes for basketball.

College: Watching the Flying Illini in '89.
 
cubuffs85 said:
Probably when Joe Smith was on the Terps. Being from Maryland and my mom and a lot of her side of the family being Terp alums, it was pretty natural. I loved going to games at Cole, Comcast just isn't the same. When I came to CU, it was quite different. At the same time, it's been a lot of fun -- seeing a team built from the bottom up.
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Joe Smith... he was another player I really enjoyed watching during his college career.
 
Still in the process of becoming a hoops fan. The progress so far has been due to three factors:
1) CU football leaving me looking for something to cheer for
2) CU basketball becoming a competitive program
3) the people on this board becoming more generally active for hoops. This was/is important because very few of my circle of friends are interested in basketball so this community served as a source of info (I know next to nothing about the rules of this game but I'm learning) and infectious passion while I get on board.

i feel like this is a pretty common setup here in CO, so thanks everyone.
 
I became a hoops fan at Boulder High. We had great basketball teams at BHS in the 80's, and I went to a lot of games, both boys and girls. I was still a fan at CU, although the teams sucked. I slowly lost interest over the years until Tad came along. I still have some big frustrations with the game, particularly the influence of the officials in deciding the outcome of the game.
 
As a grade schooler, our high school won five basketball state championships in a row in a tight-knit little town. I followed some of the guys' college careers, but didn't get into CU ball until Chauncey - been paying attention ever since. Some years it's salve for CU football, and I guess that's a good thing.
 
Been a basketball guy since the start. My grandfather was and I caught the bug. Played a lot, grew up going to a million great ACC basketball games.
 
Played all the way up until high school and also grew up in south Jeffco at a time when Chatfield-Columbine was arguably the best rivalry in the state. Also watched a lot of Buffs and Nuggets games over the years. Donnie Boyce was the first Buff player to make an impression on me.
 
Growing up, I saw basketball as nothing more than an optional diversion on the playground during recess. Then Denver hosted the ABA All Star game and I got to see highlights of the (original) Slam Dunk contest.

I sat mezmerized watching the vids of Doctor J and David Thompson -- they were literally flying. And that 10 foot basket? This short, round young boy couldn't even imagine touching that rim without a crane, a step ladder, and elevator shoes. Every fiber of my body was chilled watching those to greats.

I liked bball from that point, but was mostly a casual fan. I kinda liked whoever was playing the (evil) Lakers or the (dastardly) Celtics. I have always liked CU sports, but lets face it, CU bball has (had) sucked for a very long time with a few moments of success sprinkled in.

These are great times for CU on the hardcourt. Mens and womens teams are both becoming national items, and it appears that it will be this way for some time. It wasn't always like this, so don't take it for granted. Enjoy the ride.
 
I really can't pinpoint an exact time I "became" a basketball fan. Being from Tucson I was raised watching U of A games and that let to me being a huge basketball fan in general.
 
air-zona said:
I really can't pinpoint an exact time I "became" a basketball fan. Being from Tucson I was raised watching U of A games and that let to me being a huge basketball fan in general.
Click to expand...

Translation: hopped on bandwagon at some point in late 80s or 90s
 
CVilleBuff said:
Translation: hopped on bandwagon at some point in late 80s or 90s
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I think there's lot of bandwagon here when I see things like catching on with Jordan's Bulls or Boyle reviving the Buffs. Sadly, that's the truth in sports for the most part, that there are a lot of *fair weather fans.* Being in the DC area, the Nats had a huge surge in popularity this year, I'm a lifelong O's fan for the record.
 
You really are obsessed with me. You may not respect me but you're obsessed. It's actually called birth though.
 
I remember watching my first basketball game at the Keg. It was a Big 8 game against ranked Oklahoma State in 92 and the Buffs won in an upset. The Keg was nuts that night. My earliest Final Four that I recall was the Duke-UNLV one where the Rebels blew out the Dukies.
 
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