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I always laugh when I hear about people forgetting their wedding anniversary. Hasn't happened with me. Can't happen, and will not happen with me -- ever.
Why? I have a terrific memory, and I just associate so many things in life with sports that it helps me remember things most people would soon forget.
Today marks 23 years of bliss between Ann Marie and me, and I can tell you this: She's a good egg because she hasn't tossed me out of the house yet, and I am counting the two years of dating before we got hitched.
Let's break it down like this: There are moments in our life together that I associate a specific sporting event happening at that time. It helps me remember. It makes her roll her eyes.
For instance:
– I met my wife on
July 11, 1992, at Uriah's Pub, and we began dating a week later. By October of that year, I asked her to go steady with me on a Saturday night at the Belmar Hotel. In fact, here is the conversation:
Me: "Will you go with me? "
Her: "Go where?"
Me: "Go steady."
She thought we already were going steady, and I said that it was not official because I never asked -- and that technically I was still on the market even though we were sitting across from each other at the time -- but it would be official if she would say yes.
And she did, but here is the tie-in to sports with me: The Miami Dolphins -- excuse me, my Miami Dolphins -- were 5-0 at the time.
They were off to a great start. However, they finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs that year. They've been ho-hum ever since, and have not won a Super Bowl -- let alone gone to a Super Bowl -- since she started going steady with me.
But I am told by friends of mine that I cannot pin that on her without concrete proof.
– Back on Sept. 11, 1993, Penn State was hosting USC in a big early season football matchup. Her roommate from college was getting married that day in Shamokin. Ann Marie wanted me to go with her. Even though we were engaged, giving up a Saturday of college football was hard for me to do, let alone missing a game of that magnitude at the time.
Not to worry, because she promised me that the groom was a big Penn State fan and that the game would be on TV at the reception. The woman did not lie. Not only was it on one TV, but it was on at least a half-dozen TVs at the wedding hall. Everywhere you turned, the game was on, and not just little TVs, big TVs, too. I knew I had a winner.
– The day we got married was June 18, 1994. Our videographer taped the entire day (on VHS no less). He asked me how I was feeling before the ceremony started. My reply? I hope my Texas Rangers beat the Oakland A's on my wedding day. I have proof if you don't believe me because we still watch the video at least once a year. By the way, we lost, 11-10.
– The day my first daughter, Maggie, was born, was July 20, 1995. We went into the hospital the night before because Ann Marie went into labor. The doctor told me we would be there a long time, so I should bring a snack. I did -- fig newtons and strawberry milk. I watched SportsCenter on ESPN while my wife drifted in and out of her labor pains. By the way, the Rangers lost to Cleveland that night, 14-5. Not as painful as childbirth, mind you, but we were in the middle of a 10-game losing streak during that time.
– And last but not least, on June 14, 2002, I planned to take my wife to Niagara Falls to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but a baseball team from Lewistown Area High School -- where I worked at the time -- decided it wanted to play in the PIAA championship, so they kept winning.
And winning and winning, and the game was played on the weekend that we were to go away, and we never did. I covered the game for The Sentinel. My wife never got mad because, like I said, I knew I had a winner. By the way, Lewistown won, 8-2, over Mifflinburg. Don't question me on that. Remember, I never forget.
Scott Franco works in the Mirror sports department. His column runs monthly.