I have a problem. I'm the first to admit it. Not only do I still have a VCR, I still use it. Not a lot, but I still do. Don't judge me. (Yes, I acknowledge that you can find pretty much any video you want online or on demand, and I have so many shows set on my DVR that I can't even count them. That's not the point.)
Anyway, I was very saddened by the news from the other day that the last VCR ever will be produced this month. I know most people are indifferent to this news, and frankly, I'm just as surprised as you that there still was a company making VCRs. Now, the VCR isn't going to become completely extinct. There are still holdouts like me, and you can get one on Amazon or eBay for like $50. (You still need some way of watching all those movies you only have on VHS.) But it's definitely the end of an era.
This isn't something I didn't see coming. Like I said, I was surprised to find out that there were still VCRs in production. Because of this, I had the foresight to get a DVD recorder a few years ago, connected it to an old TV and started transferring some of my old VHS tapes to DVD. You may be wondering where I'm going with all of this. Well, most of those VHS tapes that I've since converted are sporting events. Some of these are classic games that I've since been able to watch on ESPN Classic or NFL Network or, yes, on YouTube, while others are much more obscure.
My dad got a VCR for Christmas in 1985. I'm way too young to actually remember that, so how do I know the exact date? Because one of the oldest VHS games I have is Super Bowl XX, which was played in January 1986. From then on, taping the Super Bowl became an annual ritual, one I took over in 1994, when he was in the hospital for Super Bowl XXIX. Thirty years later, I've kept that tradition going. Super Bowl 50 in February was the 31st straight in the collection, which has also had a couple ones going further back that aired on NFL Network added.
For a while, I recorded those Super Bowl highlights on ESPN, too. I did the marathon one year, then would add the next one every Super Bowl Sunday. But, I've actually already started to weed myself off those (see, progress). I haven't felt the need since those Super Bowl DVD collections, which include those exact same NFL Films highlights, (Any word on when the XLI-50 DVD will be released, by the way?) Now I just stick to the DVDs and the marathons, which now air on NFL Network.
It's not just football, though. As I sit here watching "Survive and Advance," the 30 for 30 about Jim Valvano's NCAA championship team at NC State, I've got that game, too. And the North Carolina-Georgetown classic from 1982. I pulled those off ESPN Classic to go along with every NCAA championship game since 1996.
There's some baseball, too, although less than you might think. I do have both Yankees perfect games, though. This was long before the YES Network had the replay later that night and again the next morning, too. For the David Wells game, the replay (which was on their first off day afterwards) was the first time I had ever seen it. It was a Sunday afternoon, but I missed the game because I had my high school track championships at the same time. When my mom came to pick me up and take me to church, she nonchalantly said, "David Wells pitched a perfect game." I'll never forget it. I missed the end of David Cone's the next year because there was a half-hour rain delay, which meant I had to listen to the ninth inning in the car on the way to 5:00 Mass.
All-Star Games. Those started in 2003, when I had to work during the game. That epic 15-inning game at Yankee Stadium in 2008 required some maneuvering. Thanks to also DVRing the game and cutting out the commercials starting in like the sixth inning, Justin Morneau scores on Michael Young's sac fly just before the tape runs out. Later that year, I obviously had to get the final game at the Old Yankee Stadium for sentimental reasons.
Then there are all the Olympics. Opening and Closing Ceremonies going back to Atlanta in 1996, plus a good amount of NBC's coverage of every Games since 2000 (even some of the Canadian coverage from when I lived in Buffalo). Assuming he actually does hang it up after Rio, I'll have every Olympic final Michael Phelps ever swam in, which is kind of impressive if you think about it. Plenty of those Bud Greespan Olympic documentaries were taped, as well.
Perhaps the coolest thing I have in my collection is the Miracle On Ice game. This game took place two years before I was even born (my sister who's two years older than me was still a month away from being born, in fact). It aired on ESPN Classic for I want to say the 20th anniversary. I didn't get ESPN Classic at the time. But my aunt & uncle did. And they taped the game for me.
As you can see, my attachment to my VCR is somewhat emotional. I grew up with it, and just thinking about it brings back so many happy memories. I feel like I'm losing a part of my childhood. That's why I'm holding out as long as I possibly can.
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