Deadspin points out that tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of ESPN.com’s Page 2, which has me reminiscing about my time spent online over the past decade.  Page 2 was, at least for sports, the first source of online, well-written, free-wheeling opinion pieces that I read, I think, and I would suspect it contributed quite a bit to blogging culture as we now know it.  I was familiar with David Halberstam, but I’m pretty sure I hadn’t ever heard of Hunter S. Thompson before he started writing for ESPN, which is a really bizarre way to be introduced to him.

And, of course, Page 2 introduced us all to Bill Simmons, who would eventually become a sports media behemoth and perhaps the premier star over at ESPN.  I can’t believe I’ve been reading him for ten years.  That sort of explains why he seems so old and vaguely out of touch lately.

Anyway, I like to make fun of ESPN, and I’ve certainly had a few laughs at Page 2 over the years, but here is just one more example of the network being ahead of its time.  As if introducing the idea of 24-hour sports and fueling adoption of HDTV (and maybe 3D TV) weren’t enough.  Kudos, Worldwide Leader.

[Via Deadspin]