Rich Eisen hosted Sportscenter for one night and the old intro package really hit all of the nostalgia notes.

Live look at me hearing that old Sportscenter intro song hit for Rich Eisen’s “one night only” hosting duty last night:

MAN did that hit like a wave of nostalgia! I really really really miss when Sportscenter had that vibe. When I was a kid in the 90’s, and even when I was in college in the early-to-mid 2000’s, all Sportscenter consisted of was highlights, one-liners, and hosts chopping it up and having a good time. Every anchor had a distinct style and sense of humor, and you knew them all by name. I could watch 2-3 straight hours of Sportscenter, the same highlights over and over again, and never get sick of it.

Now? I can’t even tell you the last time I watched a non-SVP Sportscenter. And the SVP hosted shows are on way too late for me to check out. If the Packers are playing on Monday Night Football and they throw it to SVP right away after the game, I’ll catch 20 minutes, but that’s about it. It feels like the current crop of hosts were made in a antiseptic lab somewhere, designed to be robots who won’t say anything interesting for fear of being controversial. There’s no personality, there’s no character. A show that used to be a 12-course meal is now dry toast. The whole network is bogged down by ‘take’ shows which feature 3 hours of contrived arguments designed to become clips on Twitter.

Now as I’m getting a little bit older, I’m fighting hard to not become, ‘everything was better back then’ guy. I think it’s a trope we all sort of fall into as we age, and we spend more time lamenting about a bygone era and not living in the moment and enjoying what’s around you, even if it’s different. But if you’re in your late 30’s, early 40’s, or older, and you loved the ESPN and Sportscenter of 25-30 years ago, last night’s intro package will work as a time machine, if only for 90 seconds.

PS: PTI is still appointment viewing for me 95% of the time. Other than actual games, that’s the only show I watch on ESPN. Bring back The Sports Reporters, Outside the Lines, Baseball Tonight, or even 2 Minute Drill.

Double PS: I’m sure one of the reasons Sportscenter has strayed from its origins and become more of a ‘take’ and interview show, is the development of phones. Everybody can just pull up highlights from any game on their phone almost instantly. Back in the day you literally had to wait for Sportscenter to see highlights from a game you watched, or any other game around the league.