I remember exactly what I was doing and where I was when I found out Lennon was shot. I was watching Monday Night Football, Patriots at the Dolphins, in a friend's dormroom (he had the portable black and white TV, so we watched SNL, MNF, and the new show, Hill Street Blues, there). At that point, the Patriots had lost every game in Miami since the Dolphins's first season. The Patriots had an English place kicker, John Smith, who was very good. He was lining up to kick the game winning field goal near the end of regulation, and Howard Cosell breaks in and says something like, "sometimes real life events must break into the sports. Tonight, returning to his home in New York, John Lennon, ..." was shot and killed. Smith missed the field goal. I always thought Cosell jinxed him. The Pats didn't break the losing streak until the playoff run to their first Super Bowl appearance (wild card that one 3 games on the road before losing to the Bears).
I was 12 when he died, but I still remember hearing it on the news, and sitting with my parents the next evening listening to Beatles songs on the radio as that was all most of the stations were playing in tribute. I just started getting into the Beatles at that point and I spent the next few years using whatever money I was earning to buy Beatles records. I still have an Apple Records labeled red 'greatest hits' album.
