September 1st 1984 – That is our birthday confirmed to me by the guy who manned the anchor desk that first day, Jim Van Horne.

Fifteen years ago today – Canada’s sports network was born. The Sports Network – TSN. 1st Promo

And thinking back to that day – (nice hair there Jim) – it’s like telling kids that once upon a time there wasn’t any colour television and even worse, no remote control.

There was a life before TSN.

And I have no clue to what that was like. Nationally, sports fans could catch one hockey game a week. One football game a week. Maybe a baseball game or two. Two days of curling a year. Four days of tennis a year. Eight days of golf. No World Juniors, no World Championships. One Formula 1 race, one Indy Car race, a handful of NASCAR. Zero CIAU, zero NBA, zero NCAA…

Weird huh?

JVH Before there was TSN, it was really hard to be a real fan of your old hometown team if you moved to another city. A Ti-Cat fan in Vancouver? Not bloody likely.

Before there was TSN, the halftime highlights on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” were an absolute, must-see, 15 minutes every week. Imagine – highlight packs from the other games! As quickly as the next night! How did they do it? And did you hear what Cosell said?

Before there was TSN, aerobics was something you did, not something you watched.

Before there was TSN, ABC’s “Wild World of Sports” was the land of sporting exotica. You had your ski jumping and your cliff diving and your annual trip to the wrist-wrestling championships. It was funky and fun. Now, off-beat is on-all-the-time. See the X-Games. See wrestling.

Before there was TSN, and there was only one sporting event on television at a time, and Canadians were all either Leafs or Habs fans.

But that was then – this is now.

All because 15 years ago today – there was born a little Sports Network that grew. So what exactly did all us sports fans do for kicks before September 1st, 1984?

I sure can’t remember.

Maybe I should ask my wife, wherever she is.