Awaiting Usain Bolt's semifinal 200m appearance tonight (pssst, he won) I'm reminded of my favorite live sporting event moment of my life.

Basketball and football are the sports I love the most, without question. I've attended a fair share of memorable Michigan State sporting events, but nothing in my life compares to my Atlanta Olympic Games experience in 1996.

My dad and I attended many random events, but of our time was spent at the Olympic Stadium (Turner Field) watching track & field. On our final day we decided to go big, before we went home. Michael Johnson was running for gold in the 200m dash and Carl Lewis would be going for gold in the long jump during the same evening session.

Johnson was the last Olympic athlete that galvanized our country in the same manner that Michael Phelps has during these games. You just weren't going to miss "The Man In The Golden Shoes" run, because you were going to miss a world record. And on that night, we didn't.

Sitting 15 rows up on the home stretch, one of the images that will never leave my mind is Johnson and his unique running style, curving around the corner at nearly a 45 degree angle in his golden shoes.

There's just something invigorating about rooting on your country live in a competition of this magnitude.

I was much younger at the time, but I don't think Johnson had the same affect that Phelps has had on our viewing schedule. But even so, his work in the Atlanta Olympic Games is worth watching a few more times, especially now that Jamaica has a superstar capable of crushing all of his records in the 200 and 400 as Usain Bolt grows more experienced.