The Age Before the Internet

I moved to an apartment over the weekend, and for the last week, I had no internet. Granted, I had the internet at work so I was able to dabble in the blog, but I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the blog and I felt as if I couldn’t comment as much as I normally would.

This dark week, without my beloved BSD, was a strange experience. And considering that apparently nothing really happened in the sporting world this week other than the All-star game (PG Mike James signed with Minnesota, but we can discuss this later), I think it is only appropriate to reminisce about enjoying sports in "THE AGE BEFORE THE INTERNET.” [pronounce it like the way they said “In the Year 2000” on the Conan O’Brien show]

I only hope that the rest of the readers can relate to these memories.

Reliance on Television
-I used to call into the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s phone line to see who won the Monday Night Football game the previous night. Other times, I would watch the “Headline News Sports Update” if I wanted to find out how many yards the star QB or RB had. One of my best memories of “Headline News Sports Update” (at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour) was following the 1994 Denver Nuggets – Seattle Supersonics playoff series. The Headline News Update only would talk about each game for a few moments. So, the game 3 recap was, “and Seattle let Denver win one game.” The Game 4 recap was, “surprisingly, Seattle will be playing Denver in a game 5.” I did watch the historic game 5 because it was actually on in the middle of the afternoon on the weekend. [Editor’s Note: of course, I could have watched ESPN which did exist at the time, but I usually didn’t have enough time in the morning before I went to school]

Reliance on Print Media
-One of my favorite days of the year was when I would go and pick up a Fantasy Football Preview Magazine. Without the Internet, there was no other way to know who to pick, and to have an exhaustive listing of the players available.
-Another favorite day of mine was when Sports Illustrated’s NFL football preview magazine would arrive. It was the main source for me to rely on, and I would supplement their information with the local newspaper’s information. I still enjoy the SI football preview today, but I don’t have to rely on it as much because today, I can look up any stat, depth chart, or fact on any team at any point throughout the year.
-NCAA newspaper preview – the Cleveland Plain Dealer provides capsules on every team in the tournament. Granted, they would have ambiguous predictions like “likely Sweet 16 team.” The problem was, this was published on the Monday after the bracket was announced, and they wrote the capsules BEFORE the bracket was announced, so they often had “Sweet 16” contenders playing each other in the 2nd round. I still love when the bracket is released, but I’m no longer relying on an inaccurate preview section, because the Internet is my friend.

Reliance on Pencil and Paper
-Of course, the ultimate way that the Internet has affected my enjoyment of sports is fantasy sports. Throughout junior high and even high school, the fantasy football league I was a part of was scored by hand. Today, it would be laughable for someone to sit around with the paper and mark up each team’s score. It was an inefficient waste of time to score by hand, but what choice did we have? I’m glad that many websites have emerged to handle society’s desire for fast, efficient, and fun fantasy sports leagues. Though I must admit, the old way of scoring was very interesting, and promoted actual phone call communications. If you wanted to know the official standings, you had to call the commissioner. If you wanted to pick up the latest Running Back, you had to call the commissioner. In "THE AGE BEFORE THE INTERNET,” the commissioner of my fantasy football league had to be very resourceful to ensure that he indeed acquired the Sunday night and Monday night box scores.