# If someone told you a decade ago that... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505 "2001-08-22T06:46:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/1 "2001-08-22T06:46:59Z")
…the silly 80’s fad known as professional wrestling would not only not die out, but one of the leagues would eventually grow so powerful that it’d swallow up the others. …the Rams and Ravens would both win a Super Bowl, and the Broncos would win _two_. …an incredibly cheap-looking cartoon on some obscure cable channel about four irascible boys and the crazy town they live in would become a big hit with a fanatical following. …some random Cuban boy who washed up on the shores of Florida would become the target of massive nationwide media coverage. …Dale Earnhardt would win the Daytona 500 in a walk, then die in that very same race a few years later. …a dark-skinned golfer with an incredibly colorful racial background would take the world of golf by storm and become a household name all around the world, but later be upstaged by a bunch of guys you’ve never heard of. …Ralph Nader would be blamed for costing someone a presidential election. …some rinky-dink little outfit called Shin Nippon Kaisetsu would revolutionize the video game industry, while Atari would eventually vanish from the face of the earth. …the long-awaited prequel to the Star Wars movies would finally be released, and a considerable number of fans would hate it. …cable TV would have a sports history channel, a food channel, and a weather channel. …there’d be a successful women’s basketball league. …there’d be a successful soccer league. In America. …an entire nation would be utterly transfixed with the story of whether or not the President did or didn’t have sex with some woman. …one of the most gigantic movie blockbusters of all time would center around a boring love triangle with largely sketched-in characters, which just happened to occur on a famous ship that sank. …CBS, a network with a long reputation quality sports broadcasting, would in '94 produce absolutely the worst Olympics coverage _ever_…only to be topped by NBC in '00. …mainstream America’s first big anime experience would be a show about a bunch of goofy kids who train cute monsters. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/2 "2001-08-22T07:00:26Z")
…the 70s revival would _still_ be going on. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/3 "2001-08-22T07:10:22Z")
…Halle Berry would show her breasts in a movie. …We haven’t colonized Mars yet. …The biggest news story of the year would focus on a semen stain. ---
**Author:** ![Mercutio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mercutio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercutio)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/4 "2001-08-22T09:19:35Z")
…an unknown would take over _Late Night_ and would outdo all three other late night hosts ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/5 "2001-08-22T09:41:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DKW \* > **…there’d be a successful soccer league. In America.** Well, at least _commercially_ succesful. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/6 "2001-08-22T09:58:51Z")
…that I was about to be hit by an 18-wheeler, and that the same thing would happen to my sister. …that parents everywhere would master this thing called the Internet …that 8 year olds would own cellular phones …that the Soviet Union was about to break up (oh wait 🙂 ) …that waistbands barely above the pubic bone would appear on young women across North America ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/7 "2001-08-22T10:01:33Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by DKW \* > [B…the Rams and Ravens would both win a Super Bowl, and the Broncos would win two._\* There wasn’t a Ravens then. They were still the original Cleveland Browns. ---
**Author:** ![Insert\_Name\_Here](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f08c70/32.png) [@Insert\_Name\_Here](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Insert_Name_Here)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/8 "2001-08-22T11:30:55Z")
…that I’d spend vast amounts of time talking to people I’ve never met, in various parts of the world, and that I’d consider some of them close friends… …well, I’d have been amazed. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/9 "2001-08-22T14:08:33Z")
If we could go back 20 years… I can remember sitting in my 8th grade BASIC computer class and hearing my teacher go on enthusiastically about how one day everyone would have a personal computer! I thought that was stupid, what would anyone need a computer for? To keep their checkbook? To play some silly role-playing game all in ASCII? Who cares? I could never, ever have imagined that my parents, who didn’t own an answering machine and still had pulse dialing & rotary telephones, would get a computer and be online most of the day. A visionary I am not. ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/10 "2001-08-22T14:17:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DKW \* > **…the silly 80’s fad known as professional wrestling would not only not die out, but one of the leagues would eventually grow so powerful that it’d swallow up the others.** What I would never have believed was that it would become a successful card game. > [@](#): > > **…Ralph Nader would be blamed for costing someone a presidential election.** That, I admit, I would never, ever have believed. > [@](#): > > **…some rinky-dink little outfit called Shin Nippon Kaisetsu would revolutionize the video game industry, while Atari would eventually vanish from the face of the earth.** Well, I wouldn’t have seen Shin Nippon Kaisetsu coming, but in 1991 I already figured that Atari was on its way out. > [@](#): > > **…the long-awaited prequel to the Star Wars movies would finally be released, and a considerable number of fans would hate it.** Another good one; I never would have believed that. > [@](#): > > **…an entire nation would be utterly transfixed with the story of whether or not the President did or didn’t have sex with some woman.** I would have believed that easily; I remember Gary Hart. What would have surprised me was to hear that it would lead to an impeachment for perjury. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/11 "2001-08-22T14:21:09Z")
> [@](#): > > …there’d be a successful women’s basketball league. You’re talking in relative terms, I guess? …that we’d bomb the piss out of Iraq but leave Mogadishu and Sarajevo largely alone (in relatie terms) while tens or hundreds of thousands are slaughtered…I mean “cleansed.” …that “alternative” would become so mainsteam as to become acceptable in professional advertisment. …that the SUV would not only continue to grow in size and popularity, but that it would overtake the mini-van as a soccer-mom vehicle. …that you would need almost a GIGAbyte of space to install your OS and basic programs (not BASIC, but basic=essential) as opposed to running everything off of a 5 1/4" floppy. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/12 "2001-08-22T14:38:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by thinksnow \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > …there’d be a successful women’s basketball league. > > You’re talking in relative terms, I guess? I’m glad you said that. My first thought about a successful women’s basketball league was “in theory.” ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/13 "2001-08-22T14:46:34Z")
… that the fight against ignorance was still going on. ---
**Author:** ![Sophie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@Sophie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophie)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/14 "2001-08-22T15:06:04Z")
…that I would get married. Ever. …that AIDS would still be around. …that the “Beatles” would record again. …that Pearl Jam’s music would go steadily down the tubes or that Kurt Cobain would kill himself. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2001, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/15 "2001-08-22T15:17:59Z")
…that I would be able to look at the Bible as something less than God’s literal word. …that my sister would have kids and I wouldn’t (not a bad thing, mind you). …like someone else said, that I’d have friends all over the US (and world) that I’ve never met IRL before. …that I STILL wouldn’t have a degree. In something. Anything. …that I’d actually like running. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Max\_Harvey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Harvey)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/16 "2001-08-23T04:33:56Z")
…Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” would be used in a car commercial, **and** a cruise-ship commercial …hardly anyone would go around saying, “Wow, it’s the year 2000!” …in 1999 “1999” wouldn’t be played to death on the radio …in 2001 “2001” wouldn’t be played to death on TV …you would be able to download almost every song ever made …the word “download” would be part of everyday conversation …“The Simpsons” would be widely considered the greatest TV show of all time …OJ Simpson would bring the nation to a halt for over a year and be one of the most hated people in America years later …teenagers would wear polo shirts and khakis and _not_ be called nerds …the 2000 presidential winner would lose the popular vote by over 500,000 votes …the #1 show on television would be a game show hosted by Regis Philbin ---
**Author:** ![Protesilaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/17 "2001-08-23T06:42:10Z")
…not only would Roger Maris’s record would be broken, it would be crushed, and by two players. And that they’d do it again the next season. And that the new record, of _seventy_, still wouldn’t be safe. …Magic Johnson would still be healthy. …Tom Hanks would be a serious actor with two Oscars. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/18 "2001-08-23T09:04:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Protesilaus \* > \*\*…not only would Roger Maris’s record would be broken, it would be crushed, and by two players. And that they’d do it again the next season. And that the new record, of _seventy_, still wouldn’t be safe. > \*\* … and that the men doing it would be admired by fans for their raw talent, despite openly acknowleding they use steroids banned in every other sport around the world. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/19 "2001-08-23T12:43:15Z")
…the whole Y2K scare _laughs_ …that I would have not only a computer with a color monitor, but one that probably does the work of most of the first computer lab I inhabited as a second-grader in 1983 …that with said computer, I would be able to voice chat with people in AUSTRALIA for God’s sake …that I could buy ANYTHING online in my underwear …that I, a poor college student, would have my own cell phone …that I’d still be in college at 25 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505/20 "2001-08-23T13:25:41Z")
I’m still waiting for my flying car. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-told-you-a-decade-ago-that/77505.md?page=2)