The greatest sports figure I saw play in person?

Being in my mid 40's I have attended a lot sporting events. I saw Michael Jordan play, arguably the best of all time. They played the Heat in the Rony Seikaly years. The Heat were terrible and they beat the Bulls. Its great to be able to say I saw Jordan play but he really didn't make much of an impression on me that outing. I have seen Tiger Woods play at Doral. I was at the Dolphin-Bears game that Dan Marino and Dolphin ruined the Bears (my team) perfect season.

I would have to say the most memorable for me was a Phillies-Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I was about 12 years old. The game itself was amazing. The Cubs crushed them, believe it or not. There was a bench clearing brawl, Mike Krukow, pitcher for Cubs hit a homerun, an old man snuck into the Phillies dugout and stole a glove during the melee. He was ejected from the stadium among other things.

With all that going on, the thing I will never forget was Pete Rose. I have no idea what he ended up doing in that game. He was probably a non-factor, as I said the Cubs won easily. What made an impression on me until this day was the reception he received. I have never heard a person so roundly, unmercifully, and completely boo'd by an entire stadium of people in all my life to that point or since. He was truly hated, and this was before all the trouble he got in for gambling. Every time he was announced at the plate, everytime he slammed the ball down and rolled it onto the mound when recording the 3rd out at 1st base on defense, etc. I have to believe that he got that type of reception everywhere he played on the road. I would love to know from a Reds, Phillies, Expos fan if he was loved when he played there. He had to have fed off all the negativity to overcome it. There was no way to ignore it and I think he egged them on. It was truly amazing. I don't think you can appreciate the level of the vitriol he had to absorb and then perform and excel the way he did for his entire career. It has left an impression on me until this day. If you ask me if Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame, there is no question.

Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, the Houston Rockets team back in the early 90's when they were beasts. I was just a kid, like in the 1st/2nd grade.

Couple years ago I got to see Lebron James destroy the Rockets. Impressive.

Also got to see Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell play together countless times. Got to see Randy Johnson pitch against the Astros as well.

I saw Walter Payton play the Dolphins down here in the early 80's. He ran for 60 or 70 yards, no big shakes but he was a hero of mine being a Bears fan when that was pretty much all they had.

In the smae vain I watched Emmitt Smith down at Florida. His freshman year we were like 6-5 and he was running for 200 yards a game it seemed. The crowd would bow and yell, "Emmitt!, Emmitt!, Emmitt!" every time he touched the ball.

Met Thomas Hearns in a club in Ft. Lauderdale in mid 80's. Shook his hand. He was taller than I thought, jerry curls, scary dude. Might have been on coke (him, not me), well in those days, maybe me, too....

Skipbone? How old are you, dude?....