Monday marked the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Many of you probably remember where you were when Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969.

The sports world also lends itself to "I-remember-where-I-was" moments. Two of my earliest sports moments came when I was a young lad, watching on a box set in the basement of 2963 Lincoln Park Drive in Galesburg. While laying on a thin plaid carpet, spoiled in one area with the remnants of the Silly Putty incident of 1976, I watched Reggie Jackson belt three home runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series. Three years later from that same spot, it was the "Miracle on Ice" that came to me, this time on tape delay, which was much more common back then.

Two years later, I had to sneak in the St. Louis Cardinals' 1982 World Series triumph over the Milwaukee Brewers. Sent to bed at my normal time, I had to watch Bruce Sutter strikeout Gorman Thomas with the sound off on the small black and white TV in my room. Luckily, I slipped my clock-radio right under my pillow to hear the play-by-play.

As an eighth-grader at Costa Catholic School, my gym teacher was a huge Cubs fan. Instead of sending us out to the fields one October day, we all watched on a small TV as Rick Sutcliffe hit a home run in Game 1 of the 1984 National League Championships Series.

Many more brain cells ago, I used to know where I was for each of the Chicago Bulls' NBA championship-clinching wins. Right now, the only one that comes back to me is the first when I was at the press box at H.T. Custer Park in Galesburg, keeping score of a Junior League baseball game and listening to the game on the radio. Guess, it's true -- you always remember your first.

When Joe Carter hit his walk-off home run off of Philadelphia's Mitch Williams during the 1993 World Series, giving Toronto back-to-back titles, I was stuck in a bathroom at Stix bar in Charleston, Ill., wiping off a beer that my then-fiance (now wife) spilled on me. The World Series hasn't had another title-clinching homer since.

Then there was O.J. I sat huddled around a small TV set in the Champaign News-Gazette newsroom when the white Bronco chase happened. When the verdict came down, I was in my living room in Urbana during the noon hour. If only I could have Twittered or blogged what I thought about that decision.

In 2003, many Cubs fans came as close to getting to the World Series as any of them had in their lives. Just five outs away from the promised land, a fan got in the way of history, knocking a possible foul out away from left fielder Moises Alou. Steve Bartman became legend that night. Covering the game for the Herald-Whig, I got to watch in person as beer rained down from the upper deck down to Bartman's seat. Later you could see Bartman getting a police escort from his seats as things deteriorated.

While those aren't the most memorable moments in sports history, they're memorable for me because of where I was at the time. Any sports fan can probably click off their own list.

-- dobrien@whig.com/221-3365