Where were you tonight, 16 years ago [Archive]

mr. synellinden

03-28-2008, 09:15 PM

In the Spectrum. 15 rows off the court, even with the foul line from which IT was shot.

The memory is vivid but it still seems like a dream. What a moment ... obviously different for some.

"Where Were You?"

Read this. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1004691/index.htm.

To this day it's still the single best piece of sportswriting I've read. Of course, there is a personal bias ...

buddy

03-28-2008, 09:19 PM

I was sitting in the end zone at the end where Grant Hill was when he made the pass. That night I went from the depths of despair to the ecstasy of victory in a very short period of time. Stayed to watch both nets cut down. Went home and watched it all over on tape.

EarlJam

03-28-2008, 09:22 PM

Ramada Inn, Burlington, North Carolina.

Didn't expect much of a game. I was wrong.

Laettner hits the shot, EarlJam jumps into the arms of an old man and kisses him in the face.

I love Duke.

-Mr. EarlJam

billybreen

03-28-2008, 09:25 PM

I was a young non-Duke fan (actually, non-basketball fan) spending the night at my friend's (rabid Duke fan) place. I forced him to watch Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey instead of the game. That's right, the sequel. We turned the game on 30 seconds after the shot.

We both eventually went to Duke, but he never forgave me.

UncleBill

03-28-2008, 09:33 PM

I was in Mike Mangum's house in New Bern, NC, we were both 1stLts in the Marines, and both had been dumped recently, me by my slimy girlfriend, he by his slimy wife. I had made a cassette tape of "Women Haters Club" songs for the two of us and we were commiserating and watching the game. He is a Notre Dame grad. As Grant threw the pass I jump out of the couch, and as the shot went up I fell to my knees, skinning one on the carpet. I don't recall what I was doing as the shot went in as it was a blur by then, but much whooping and hollering was pretty much guaranteed.

freedevil

03-28-2008, 09:36 PM

Screaming, while kneeling on the floor two feet in front of the TV. Like two feet away.

Indoor66

03-28-2008, 09:37 PM

Read this. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1004691/index.htm.

To this day it's still the single best piece of sportswriting I've read. Of course, there is a personal bias ...

Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen that in many years.

captmojo

03-28-2008, 09:45 PM

A friend was having a party that was set up many weeks before. I was alone watching the game on TV. After Woods' shot went through, I was on the phone with my son, so we could console each other if needed. The consoling words were never needed or used. All we did was speak positive about what were the possibilities that would be available.

jipops

03-28-2008, 09:48 PM

In a room filled with anti-Duke sentiment - I was the only one backing my Devils. Ofcourse the place fell silent once one of the greatest moments in college basketball history occurred - with me standing there smiling. Either I walked on air the rest of the night, or I drank just the right amount of beer.

DukeDevilDeb

03-28-2008, 09:49 PM

I was watching my best friend walk around her livingroom, hanging her head and, with tears in her voice, saying "This is the end of Christian's college career." She repeated and repeated it. We were all devastated.

Then... the pass... the dribble..... the turn.... the shot! Antonio Lang lying on the floor! Thomas Hill unable to reign in his emotions (one of the most beautiful scenes by a Duke player EVER!). Coach K jumping on the sideline, then immediately going over to the Kentucky bench. Christian with his two arms in the air, pumping and running... and Grant chasing after him, wanting to jump onto him to celebrate...

And while we are screaming and high fiving and hugging and jumping higher than I think I have ever jumped in my life, my friend's stepson saying, "Now what happened?"

The only Duke basketball moment that rivals the shot in my mind and my heart was the 12 seconds of defense we played against UNLV in 1991. Both are treasures, and we as Duke fans should be so proud of a program that has done this multiple times (UConn Laettner's sophomore year, Capel's half court miracle... Hurley's threes against Indiana in 1992 that sent us to play the Fab Five...)

Those of you who have been down on Duke ought to go into the archives and look all of these up... and realize that over the last two years when the outcomes haven't been quite what we wanted, we had (in total) 1 junior/senior starter (Markie), 1 sophomore/junior point guard (Greg), an unhappy big man (Josh), and a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. Give this team time to grow up, and I believe they will do it again.

Next play. Duke: National Champions 2009!

weezie

03-28-2008, 09:50 PM

Disneyworld with the kids. Force-marching them across Mickey's Lagoon or what ever the he-l-l it was called to Goofy's Pontoon Ride to get back in time for the game in the room. Then, after it was over, crying, literally sobbing with my oldest and heading for the nearest drinking establishment to teach the young'uns how it's done.
And to this day, they haven't let me down.

miramar

03-28-2008, 09:52 PM

I was at home, but I don't remember ever being that worked up over a game.

I don't matter much, but I am glad that JJ was also watching, because that is when he decided he would to to Duke.

KenTankerous

03-28-2008, 09:55 PM

Coach K jumping on the sideline, then immediately going over to the Kentucky bench.

Classiest move never to be recognized in the history of college sports.

BobbyFan

03-28-2008, 10:23 PM

Watched the game in the living room of my parents' house. When the shot went in, I raced all over the house a few times, yelling at the top of my lungs. My mom then yelled at me for going crazy and as punishment didn't let me call up my friends.

I was too young to truly appreciate it at the time, but having watched the game multiple times since, it was, as everyone here knows, the perfect game. The passing was unbelievable, the 2nd half was the greatest segment of basketball I have ever seen, and the endings of both regulation and OT were unreal.

Thanks for the thread. It will never get old.

houstondukie

03-28-2008, 10:29 PM

RockyMtDevil

03-28-2008, 10:41 PM

I was sitting in the lobby of my dorm with roughly 30 redneck kentucky fans when Woods threw the shot in out of his arse...Everyone had been giving me grief the entire game, they were even making fun of Christian's mom, remember, she had a brace on her neck.

I had just ordered a large pizza but was too sick to eat it. My buddy, the only solace in the crowd, leaned over and said "hey, they still have 2.1 seconds, anything can happen". I looked over at him and said something that I can't print here...

Hill passes the ball, I begin raising up on the coach, Laettner catches it and has the audacity to freakin dribble the ball, at which I am now shouting inside "shoot the @#$ ball". He turns, let's it fly, arm outstretched and BANG!

I turned around and as the lobby went deafly silent, proceeded to drop kick my big large supreme pizza all over a crew of Kentucky fans and then proceeded to drop bomb after bomb on each kentucky fan...

If I don't make it into heaven, I'll know why, but man that's the closest moment to pure ecstasy i've ever experienced in my life, even more than my Baptism.

Wow, I am smiling just thinking about it.

Bostondevil

03-28-2008, 10:42 PM

I was at a party in Marblehead, all Dukies, all consoling ourselves for that last time-out. As soon as it left his hands, I shouted, "That's going in!" We made a pile in front of the TV just like the Devils did.

I'm one of those that gets nervous and paces and finds it hard to watch close games. I missed quite a bit of the second half going to the kitchen and getting beers for everybody else, but I told myself, you have to watch that overtime, every bit, no leaving, because if you miss it, you will always regret it, and win or lose, you stick it out.

RelativeWays

03-28-2008, 10:44 PM

I'm a junior in high school, in my room a little glum and resigned. "Well, we won it last year.....ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

DBFAN

03-28-2008, 10:45 PM

at home with my parents I was only 12 I was walking circles around my fathers chair before the play. when the shot went in it was the first time I was able to jump high enough to touch my parents ceiling. I can not believe that was 16 years ago, my how time flies when you are having fun.

Ben63

03-28-2008, 10:54 PM

I dont actually know... I was 10 months old.

MarkD83

03-28-2008, 10:56 PM

I was at dinner at Mulates in Baton Rouge with my in-laws. I had to "got to the bathroom" quite a bit during dinner. I spent most of the time standing near the bar watching the game. I had taped the game and stayed up most of the night watching the OT over and over and over again. In have converted the tape to DVD and may watch it again tomorrow.

Bob Green

03-29-2008, 12:20 AM

I was at sea aboard the USS Blue Ridge listening to the game on the radio. Believe me, that shot was every bit as exciting over the radio as it was on TV.

WiJoe

03-29-2008, 12:49 AM

Was far from home (Milwaukee) in Kansas City, at the apartment of a guy who used to work in ky's sports information office. Couldn't get remotely excited, such was his distaste for Duke and love of ky. It was pathetic. Did get to the Final Four, though.
:o

JBDuke

03-29-2008, 01:03 AM

I was alone in my parents' basement. I had just left grad school to go to my first real job, which required a move to California. They wanted me there fast, so my parents volunteered to drive my car across the country, leaving me home to pack and prepare and meet the movers, after which I'd fly out to CA to meet them. That night, my parents were in Oklahoma City.

I sat in their basement and watched the game, but as it came down to those last crucial moments, I stood up and paced around. When Christian did him magic, I jumped up and scraped my knuckles on the ceiling while yelling at the top of my lungs. For me, this is major hops. :-)

My brother's story is even better. He was on a Potomac dinner cruise in DC with his future wife. Some club they belonged to was having a big formal dinner/dance thing on the river. One of the other guys in their group had brought a miniature little 2" screen black and white TV, and was monitoring the game action. For the entire overtime, about six guys crowded around this itty bitty little screen, completely ignoring their dates, and watched as best they could as the action went back and forth. When THE SHOT went in, the whole bunch of them yelled out, causing the band to stop playing and everyone on the dance floor to stop dancing, staring at these guys making fools of themselves.

Somehow, he still convinced her to marry him.

brevity

03-29-2008, 01:19 AM

I was a Duke freshman in the Bryan Center, in one of the two tiny lounges with the 20-inch TVs. I got there really early so I could sit on the couch. Shared in the collective anguish as the game went on and the surroundings became Standing Room Only. Listened to a lot of "why can't we put them away" grumbling. After Woods' shot (in itself one of the most clutch shots of tournament history), we prepared ourselves for a lot of misery, and then thankfully didn't have to cash in on that.

Laettner's shot goes in, we go nuts, and run to the quad. I have no idea what else happened that night, and I wasn't even drinking.

Black Mambo

03-29-2008, 02:50 AM

Thingking about it, this is one of the most vivid memories I have of my lifetime. Hopefully I will remember my furture wedding day the way I remember this. If not...

Anyways, I was 12 years old sitting on the arm of our burgundy couch in my parents apartment in Raleigh. I havent seen that couch in at least 10 years, and I still remember it b/c of this night. UK hits the shot before The Shot, and I am depressed. My entire family is depressed, except for my Dad. he wanted Duke to lose. Coah call a timeout. "We are going to win this game", he says. Grant to inbound. NObody's guarding the inbounder! The pass, the shot, the T-Hill face! I run around our living room screaming at the top of my lungs. I open the door and run outside into the dead of night, screaming something completely incomprehensible. Just raw joy. Why should I be so happy about a game. For some reason it was more than a game. It was a defining moment of my childhood. It was love. It was life. It was Duke.

TwoDukeTattoos

03-29-2008, 06:19 AM

When I was watching the game, we suddenly lost reception on our TV just as Hill was about to throw the ball inbounds. We had audio, but no video. Once the commentator announced that Laettner had launched a jumper there was only a "yes" announced and then absolutely not commentating for quite some time. The pause in vocals seemed to be an eternity. All I knew is that the crowd was going crazy for some reason, but I certainly didn't want to assume that Duke had just pulled off the impossible.

Thanks to YouTube, I have since determined that once Laettner hit the shot, the commentators were silent for 1:17! Wow, that is a really long time for there to be NO commentating under any circumstances. Generally speaking, that would be considered bad TV. However, on that date, it spoke better than anything else to the sheer drama and shock of that beautiful shot and the intensity leading up to it.

Still, I wonder, even in the state of shock and being overwhelmed, why did the commentators wait an entire 1:17 before uttering another word? For the simple sake of their jobs did they not think that they should at least say something? I've always found it to be very interesting. Regardless, I wouldn't have changed a thing. The long silence was nearly as awesome as the shot itself.

DukeDevilDeb

03-29-2008, 06:26 AM

Great post.

I've written a lot about knowing the vast majority of the players over the last 20 years... and the guys on this team are special. If we can just take one more step, I think we have a real chance next year. Never thought we would do it this year, but it is fun to dream, isn't it?

roywhite

03-29-2008, 08:05 AM

I was in the Spectrum, and it was my birthday. Could hardly believe the pace and quality of the game, and how Christian didn't miss a shot.

davekay1971

03-29-2008, 08:25 AM

I was in my girlfriend's apartment on Central Campus with her and some other friends, all of us wondering how Kentucky was keeping it close.

NashvilleDevil

03-29-2008, 10:04 AM

I was a freshman in high school and it was our spring break. I had my tonsils taking out and had not done anything for the entire week except watch basketball. The day of the game I did something incredibly stupid and my punishment was not being allowed to watch the Duke/Kentucky game. However, my parents did allow me to listen to it on the radio. Marty Brennaman did the play by play. I remember when Woods hit the shot that I wrote in the score on my SI bracket 103-102. When Laettner hit the shot I think the whole neighborhood heard us.

It took me a couple of years to finally watch the game. I was able to get someone I worked with to make me a copy.

ohioguy2

03-29-2008, 10:26 AM

My family:wife,daughter,son(who would be a Duke student the next year) and I, were watching on T V in our family room. What a sound must have come from our corner of Ohio. Probably registered on every sort of meter in the area--I am certain that every bird and other animals within miles must have flown or run for cover. BTW, our daughter kept telling us--"they can do this"!:D

MIKESJ73

03-29-2008, 10:56 AM

I was a senior in high school on one of my official recruiting visits. The Univ. of Alabama had flown me into Tuscalousa and put me up in an on campus Sheraton. After showing me some of the Campus, I was taken back to my room to get ready for a team party. The game started and all plans were off. I remember the coach's banging on my door yelling for me, but I wouldn't answer. They eventually left, and I was all alone. When the shot went in, I had to look like a mad man from anyone who could see me through the hotel window. Crying, jumping up and down, high-fiving light shades and doors. Needless to say, I didn't commit to the Tide.

DukieInKansas

03-29-2008, 12:17 PM

Screaming, while kneeling on the floor two feet in front of the TV. Like two feet away.

Me, too! :)

colchar

03-29-2008, 12:30 PM

tecumseh

03-29-2008, 12:32 PM

I was moonlighting at a small hospital as the house physician. I was sitting in my on call room where I slept and they had an old TV with pretty lousy reception. Anyway Woods hits that shot and I don't know about clutch he didn't call the bank. And I am saying I can't believe they lose on a bull$!tt shot like that, I can't believe it. Anyway after Laetner hits his shot I just start screaming and next thing I know a nurse is rushing into the room with a crash cart ready to run a code thinking I was having a heart attack or something. He sees me there on the bed watching replays of the shot and is surprised I am not dying like I sounded. I apologize and say I guess I got a little carried away.

YmoBeThere

03-29-2008, 01:03 PM

In the woods, during a Spring Field Training Exercise with ROTC. I also missed Laettner's shot against UCONN the year before for the same reason.

ArkieDukie

03-29-2008, 01:30 PM

Hill passes the ball, I begin raising up on the coach, Laettner catches it and has the audacity to freakin dribble the ball, at which I am now shouting inside "shoot the @#$ ball". He turns, let's it fly, arm outstretched and BANG!

I was watching the game with some friends in an apartment just off-campus (Chapel Tower). When Laettner caught the ball, we were all screaming "Shoot the d*** ball; just shoot it!" After The Shot went in, we all jumped and screamed. We then hopped in the car and went to campus to walk around the Quad.

snewman92

03-29-2008, 03:45 PM

A senior in '92, I watched that epic game where I watched nearly all of the others that season (when I wasn't in Cameron)--in the Purple Parlor in Epworth, with all of my friends. It was a particularly important game for me, since I studied abroad in 90-91 and thus missed out on the UNLV festivities, etc. I remember waking up my best friend at 3:00 a.m.; having just bought a International Herald Tribune on a Paris street, I immediately called him up to make sure that that 79-77 wasn't a misprint. In any case, over the course of the season, I had introduced a fetish into our game watching (insert Epworth joke here, if you're a Duke alum). Anytime a game was close, particularly toward the end, I would take a swig from a Pepto-Bismol bottle. Others were invited to partake, and some did. When someone made a shot--I forget who now--to send it to overtime, the tension was too much. We began throwing chairs and other objects off of the second story porch just to let off steam. But I committed the sin of throwing the Pepto-Bismol bottle. When we recognized this about half way through overtime, I was forced by the crowd to go out and retrieve it. I dashed downstairs and after some frantic searching, found it and ran back up, crossing the threshold just as Woods made that ridiculous shot. I took a swig and so did some others and we restored back to its sacred place on top of the TV. And then IT happened. I really can't remember the next couple of minutes except yelling and screaming and being part of a scrum of bodies in the middle of the floor. After the birth of my daughter and my wedding day, it was probably the single happiest moment of my life. It wasn't just the miracle of THE SHOT, it was being with those people at that time and in that place as I was moving toward the end of 4 glorious years at Duke. Every time I see THE SHOT replayed on TV, I raise my hands in triumph; and I still keep a Pepto-Bismol bottle on top of the TV for close games.

OZZIE4DUKE

03-29-2008, 04:38 PM

At a friend's house watching in his living room. The wives were banished to the kitchen as it was determined that we did better when they were in there and worse when they were in the living room. Fortunately, they stayed in the kitchen for "the shot"!

Indoor66

03-29-2008, 05:17 PM

I was in my home in Chapel Hell (you know, the dump on the hump!) and watched the game there. The celebration was endless. I went to Durham to meet my son and celebrate. Good times.

DukePA

03-29-2008, 05:32 PM

I was in my home in Chapel Hell (you know, the dump on the hump!) and watched the game there. The celebration was endless. I went to Durham to meet my son and celebrate. Good times.

The dump on hump!! I love it! I've never heard that before.

I was in Illinois and incredibly homesick (grew up in Hillsborough). The only downer was having absolutely no carolina fans around. I grew up surrounded by them and have yet to enjoy winning a NC while residing in North Carolina.

GO DUKE!!

dukemsu

03-29-2008, 05:56 PM

I was on my mom and dad's couch with a 102 degree fever, and was completely freaking out as UK came back.

The ball seemed to hang in the air forever (on the pass). Once Christian fired, I never had any doubt it was net.

I ran around my parents' house five times, screaming like a lunatic until my dad screamed at me to sit down.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Funny, I find myself home tonight, and will be cheering against UNC from the same house, with Pitino coaching the opponent.

Weird.

weezie

03-29-2008, 06:16 PM

I was on my mom and dad's couch.....Funny, I find myself home tonight, and will be cheering against UNC from the same house, with Pitino coaching the opponent.

Weird.

I hope that couch has been replaced, or at least recovered! :D

oso diablo

03-29-2008, 06:20 PM

i was a year out of Fuqua, living in Atlanta, in the midst of the most serious romantic relationship of my life (to that point), so much so that i decided to go to a concert (Charlie Peacock (http://www.charliepeacock.com/)) and tape the game to watch later.

when we got back to my apt, i found - to my horror - that the cable had gone out and i had nothing. to this point, i had avoided the news so i'm totally in the dark. i called my best friend (and biggest Duke fan i know) in town to see if he had taped it and would let me have the tape. he's not home.

i can't stand not knowing, and the cable is still out, so i try the radio. i find a fuzzy AM station and hear a roundtable discussion that starts with "the greatest end to a college basketball i've ever seen". The next guy tops that by calling it "the best NCAA tournament game - ever". Now, i'm going nuts and i still don't know who won. The last guy completes the chorus by saying it was the "greatest sporting event, not just basketball game, i've ever seen".

I catch on that Duke had won on a Laettner miracle shot.

My buddy finally calls back after midnight - they had all gone out to celebrate. He won't let his videotape out of the house, but says i can come over and watch the OT.

I'll always feel like i've missed something significant, not having seen it live, never able to fully appreciate what it felt like to see Woods, then Laettner, hit their shots.

p.s. the concert was very good, i broke up with the girl a few weeks later, and, most importantly, i learned my karmic lesson.

toddfowler

03-29-2008, 08:36 PM

I was working in Cubbies Restaurant (Greenville, NC) surrounded by Carolina fans. The only other Duke fans were two of my work mates. Needless to say we were not working hard and drank a lot of free beer. After Kentucky made their shot, several Tool fans started singing "Sha Na Na Na!! Hey! Hey! Good Bye!" Our grill cook, Reggie, came over and said, " Don't worry. The pass will go to Laettner and he'll hit the shot." Grant Hill made the pass. Laettner hit the shot and we, 'The Three Dukies' picked up our beloved grill cook and carried him around the restaurant. Needless to say the Tool fans cleared out...quick!

Go Duke!!! Go to Hell Carolina!!!!

Buckeye Devil

03-29-2008, 08:53 PM

white male, I never knew I had that much spring in my legs. I jumped so high when Christian made the shot that I hit my head on the ceiling.

Of course, I jumped off of a foot rest that was about 12" off the ground, I am 6' tall, and the ceilings were 8' high. Go figure.

devildownunder

03-29-2008, 08:59 PM

I was a poor college student huddled up in my dorm room, watching the game all by myself on my tiny, pathetic little black & white TV. I didn't dare watch the game on the big screens in the lobby or the student center because everyone else on campus hated duke, or so it seemed.

When Woods hit his shot, I heard the cheers from other areas of the dorm.

When Laettner hit his, I ran screaming through the halls in celebration. As ridiculous as it sounds, I felt vindicated as a fan.

It was The Perfect Game.

Eckster

03-30-2008, 09:33 AM

At Satisfaction (the original location in Lakewood shopping center) in Durham, having spent the whole day there making sure we had a great seat. The feeling in that bar with a hundred people all going nuts was incredible- strangers hugging strangers, people screaming and jumping around...I'll never forget it. Of course everyone headed immediately to campus to watch some stuff burn and people run around in naked jubilation. Quite an experience.

davekay1971

03-30-2008, 12:33 PM

I still have a hard-copy of that edition.

Wow...I hadn't read that in awhile. What a great article. It makes you realize that, for the coaches and players, it is really a different game than it is for us. You can see the respect and affection they have for each other...while we fans bash each other and each others schools and (as we're seeing with those recent Chronicle articles) even our own players. K's reaction to seeing Farmer was touching...probably the best part of that article. He could empathise with Farmer as easily as if he'd been the Kentucky coach. That's the beauty of the game.

That being said, I still hope Carolina loses by 20 next week and the tarhole fans suffer brutally for it.