Old Times

With features of contemporary life such as fifth generation mobile networks, Amazon Same-Day Delivery and Verizon Fios becoming increasingly ubiquitous in this present year of 2017 anno Domini, it's difficult to deny that we live in a culture that aspires towards instant gratification.

But there are dinosaurs among us that remember slower times. I started watching figure skating seriously over ten years ago, practically a lifetime for any self-respecting millennial. Admittedly, this was still considerably after the truly ancient days when figure skating fans presumably shared footage of figure skating competitions and shows by swapping videocasettes wrapped in brown paper tied with twine behind abandoned warehouses, but I distinctly remember staying up at odd hours patiently refreshing online figure skating forums so I could find out--from an intrepid poster's written report posted on the forum after returning to their hotel/home, of course--how, say, Stephane Lambiel skated at Swiss Nationals last night. These days, footage of Mr. Lambiel's Nationals skates would be dutifully streamed from Periscope live, or at the very least, uploaded onto the likes of Instagram, Twitter, or Youtube within mere minutes of the performance for immediate worldwide consumption. The idea of waiting hours, much less an entire day, to watch how skaters performed at a skating competition seems like a herculean feat of patience now.

How has watching figure skating changed since you started observing the sport? As someone who grew up with the Internet already exerting its influence over the public consciousness, I'd love to hear how figure skating connoisseurs watched and learned about the sport prior to the days of mass Internet consumption.