Misconduct | The best sporting atmosphere: your answers

We have been buried with responses to our Misbehavior last Sunday. We’ve read everything, and thank you for telling us about moments from your lives. Here are some comments taken from your suggestions.

The Laver Cup with Nadal and Federer

I had the pleasure of attending the first three editions of the Laver Cup in tennis and even shaking hands with the great Rod Laver. But it is the very first edition, held in Prague, which will remain forever engraved in my memory. The atmosphere was magical, electric. Nadal and Federer, side by side, wanting to win the Cup as if their lives depended on it, encouraging, advising the players of Team Europe at every opportunity. The spectacle of these two champions winning the doubles in three sets against Jack Sock and Sam Querry was breathtaking. What complicity! What talent ! What a thrilling spectacle! And what can we say about Nick Kyrgios who played cheerleader for the World Team non-stop during the three days! He played the last match, the decisive one, against none other than Roger Federer. The atmosphere was excited, indescribable. The Master came from behind to win 4-6, 7-6, 11-9, thus offering the Cup to Team Europe. Kyrgios, inconsolable, won our hearts. We probably should have supported the World Team more, but Federer is Federer! A scenario worthy of Hollywood. I still shudder!

Lucie St-Arneault

The triumph of Gilles Villeneuve at home

On October 8, 1978, Gilles Villeneuve won the Canadian Grand Prix on the Île Notre-Dame circuit. Every lap, for 70 laps, the crowd stood up and shouted to encourage him. Once the victory was achieved, the crowd invaded the track to celebrate with the winner. All sporting activities I’ve attended combined, this one is at the top of the list in terms of supercharged atmosphere. I talk about it and I still get goosebumps.

Real Lortie

The Expos and their stadium

I have followed the Expos since 1969, I saw the first game at Jarry and the first at the Olympic Stadium. For me, nothing matches the atmosphere that reigned at the Stadium (yes, our unloved Stadium) in 1994 when the Expos led major league baseball with a 74-40 record when the strike began. I particularly remember a series that the Expos swept in June against the Atlanta Braves, who were chasing them for first place: the 35,000 spectators chanted We are number one heading towards the exits and the atmosphere was still partying at the Rotonde, where hundreds of fans stopped to celebrate the victory, listen to the music (and the priceless Baron, Alain Chantelois!) and have a last beer ! It’s sad what we lost with the departure of the Expos.

Christian Viau

Cameron Porter’s goal

Despite the electrifying atmosphere at the Bell Center and the exhilarating NFL crowds, for me, nothing beats the 2015 CONCACAF Champions League game between the Impact and Pachuca. There was an atmosphere that I had never experienced at the Olympic Stadium, simply intoxicating. The stadium practically exploded when Cameron Porter scored his legendary goal that propelled Montreal to the semi-final. All this energy continued for several minutes after the final whistle, even in the metro. An incredible feeling!

Matthew Lefebvre

Shapovalov topples Nadal

August 10, 2017, 11:05 p.m., Rogers Cup in Montreal, explosion of joy in the crowd during Denis Shapovalov’s final point against Spanish super star Rafael Nadal. A hushed atmosphere of hiiiii, haaaa and timid but restrained applause, because this is the decorum of tennis. The whole atmosphere takes place inside the heads of the 10,000 people on site who do not believe in the victory of the young Canadian white-beak against the sacred monster. All this to say that the atmosphere does not always come with fanfare and trumpet, but with the guts and the desire of the spectators in the stadium.

Bernard Janelle

A Parent’s Heart

The best atmosphere I have experienced at a sporting event is the one where my heart almost burst with pride when my son (hockey beginner) scored the goal in overtime to propel his team to the final of the Charlesbourg bantam tournament in 2022 ( tournament they won!). Nothing better than a gang of parents completely crazy about their hockey-playing children!

Julie Naud

The 2014 series

For my part, it took place in April 2014, when I went to the Bell Center to see the Canadian play in the series while leading the series 3-0 against Tampa Bay! Of course, we’re all hoping for a sweep! At the end of the match, the score is 3-3 and Max Pacioretty scores with only 43 seconds left in the match! The Bell Center exploded! It was incredible, it undeniably remains my best sporting atmosphere experience!

César Nicolaï

Other countries, other customs

I attended an archery competition in Thimphu, Bhutan. It is the country’s national sport, the only one that allowed it to be represented at the Olympic Games. Bhutan is said to have a “happiness index”. Believe me, my girlfriend and I witnessed a colorful display from the crowd present. All the inhabitants were dressed according to the traditions of the country. Colorful clothing, in addition to the accents of ancestral music and the rituals that archers practice before their sporting performance. It’s very different from a playoff game at the Bell Center, of course, and that’s what made this moment unique. A special sport that evokes the traditions of hunting and survival in a country that borders the Himalayas and whose Buddhist culture creates an atmosphere that compares to almost nothing else in the world. Robin Hood would have been proud!

Yves Lahaie

The 2002 series

Molson Center, first round of the 2002 playoffs, Canadiens-Bruins. I am 16 years old. As luck would have it, my father had a professional meeting in a dressing room. He brings my brother and I with him to game number 4, the one that ends in the tumult and anguish of seeing Richard Zednik unconscious on the ice after an ultra vicious hit from Kyle McLaren. The Canadian loses 5-2, the series is tied 2-2. Montreal will go on to win the next game in Boston and is back at the Molson Center for game number 6. Lucky as I am, a friend’s father organized a trip for us with friends. We paid for our tickets, he made our taxi (and came to watch the game with us). This time, no dressing room, we are at the top, where the atmosphere is the best. I will never forget the crazy atmosphere of this match which allowed the Canadian to eliminate Boston and avenge Zednik. Lots of emotions for the teenager that I was, who saw Zednik almost dead on the ice, and a few days later saw my team win honors in a home game. It was beautiful (and extremely loud).

Gabriel Alexandre Gosselin