I think we can all agree, the new age of sports media is pretty awesome. Just last night, the entire sports world basically imploded on itself when the Suns traded for Kevin Durant. Thats definitely a Shams tweet I will never forget.
However, we are also living in a world where watching the draft is basically irrelevant because every single pick gets leaked before it's ever announced on TV, and in a world where one of the most heated discussions of the trade deadline was who is better at leaking trades: Woj or Shams? (Woj gang till I die).
But can we all take a moment and reminisce on the old era of sports media? And I'm not talking about 30 years ago. Even just 10 years ago, it seemed like everything was so perfect, and that we had the entire world at our fingertips.
If only we knew what was to come in the following years.
For me, this was a time before twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and basically every single social media platform you could even imagine. At this time 10 years ago, I was in 7th grade, and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life except for the fact that I fucking love sports. Oh wait, maybe that has not changed in the last 10 years.
I remember waking up every morning and watching ESPN on the tv before heading off to school. That's how I learned about trades, free agents, you name it. And man was it glorious. Look at this beautiful layout they used to have:
I, like so many people my age, will forever have a soft spot for these days. Just the other day, my friends and I were thinking back on watching ESPN in the morning in anticipation of seeing if the Heat were going to continue their 2013 win streak that ended at 27 games.
I'll never forget watching the top 10 plays, then going on my iPod touch after school and basically watching every single top 10 and not top 10 video that was available on youtube for hours and hours.
There is no doubt of the beauty of todays instant-news style world. I mean shit, today I learned about a Mike Muscala trade basically the second it happened thanks to Twitter. But there was a certain beauty of waking up in the morning, learning everything that happened the night before, then going to school and having a Skip Bayless vs. Stephen A. Smith level debate with your friend over the topics you learned.
I remember every single night sitting in front of the tv watching MLB Network for hours and hours, learning about potential trades, watching Billy Ripkin and Harold Reynolds do their Diamond Demos in Studio 42, and praying that one day I could play whiffle ball in that beautiful room.
I mean, look at how sick this place is.
Maybe I do still want to play whiffle ball there.
This era helped mold me in to the sports junkie that I am today. Anytime I was not playing sports, I was watching sports. And any time I was not watching sports, I was reading about sports. And that still reigns true today.
And a hell of a lot of it has to do with shows like Intentional Talk, First Take, Pardon the Interruption, and so many more. In fact, without my infatuation with those programs in my formative years, I doubt I would even be writing these articles today.
It makes me sad to know that I'll never be able to go back in time and experience this beautiful era of sports television ever again, or that kids will never again know the feeling of waking up anticipating the 15 minutes they would get to watch SportsCenter before the bus came, then jumping off the bus after school and watching it again.
And then maybe watching it a few more times throughout the night.
But man did it create some amazing memories that I will never forget, and I'm glad I got to experience it. Trust me, I love Twitter just as much as the next guys. I'm actually frighteningly addicted to it. But just to go back in time for a day so I could truly appreciate what we had at that time.
Cover Image via Getty Images