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Where were you when Morten Andersen nailed his historic field goal for the Falcons?

The Falcons went to their first Super Bowl in early 1999. Where were ya?

Morten Andersen #5

It’s another themed week here at SB Nation, and this week we’re drawing on a treasured memory for a change. I thought you might enjoy that.

Now, I could ask where you were when the Falcons went to their most recent Super Bowl, but chances are the mention of that game still makes you winch, and the history is far too recent. So I went with the Morten Andersen kick to win the NFC Conference Championship Game against the Vikings, which in many ways is still (but hopefully will not always be) the high water mark of my Falcons fandom.

For those of you were alive and not depressingly young on January 17, 1999, I’d like to know where you were.

Me? I was 14 years old, sitting on my parents’ couch watching the game on a tiny Hitachi television with a foot of snow on the ground outside, wearing an already faded Falcons t-shirt that I still wear to this day. I remember believing, in the face of that impossibly great Vikings team and all, that Atlanta would win and go to the Super Bowl. I was young enough not to be a cynic just yet, with two decades of fear and hope and ultimate disappointment still ahead of me, and I remember just sinking to my knees on beige carpet when Morten Andersen hit that kick. No matter what I expected, the win still felt impossible and magical to me in the way that things only can when you’re still young enough not to be jaded. The crushing disappointment, of course, would follow soon after.

Share your memory, if you’ve got one, with the rest of us. I know we’ve talked about this game a million times—we do that with fond memories—but I’m sure I haven’t heard all of your stories just yet.