May 25, 2018 4 min read

On Tuesday, the 10th season of Roseanne concluded, following one of the most successful nine-episode runs for any show in recent television history.

Just how successful has it been? Shortly after the first episode of the reboot hit the airwaves in late March, ABC was so blown away by the 18.2 million viewers who tuned in to see what the Conners were up to over the past 21 years that it ordered 13 episodes for season 12.

I’m not going to lie, I’m a guy who admittedly loves almost anything nostalgic, so the return of Roseanne, one of the shows that took me from my childhood into adolescence, was something I was not going to miss. It also got me thinking, what else from the year 1997 would I like to see make a triumphant return?

My freshman year of high school spanned from 1996 to 1997 and nothing compared to Friday night football at that age. It was also the second year of the first Russ Moore regime at Waynesburg Central and the Raiders were just starting to round into their championship form.

I, like so many others, can still remember the scene on those Friday nights. The playing surface was still grass and the WCHS run game, led by future MMA star Josh Koscheck, was the focal point of the offense. The air was heavy with the usual perfume of classic concession stand foods like popcorn, hot dogs and pizza mixed with the deafening sounds of capacity crowds and the condensation that formed as warm autumn day air dipped into the cooler temperatures of the night.

Meanwhile, freshmen like Greg Carson, Jeremy Gayman and Bryce Cree were beginning to be groomed on the ninth grade team for the legendary 1999 WPIAL title season. There was also talk of a pair of eighth graders named Lee Fritz and Lanfer Simpson who were supposed to be pretty good themselves.

I was just getting into golf pretty seriously around this same time and was a member of the high school team, despite nearly always playing in the final group at practice and not competing in a match until several years down the road. Meanwhile the PGA Tour was the playground of Tiger Woods, who could seemingly win whenever he felt like hoisting another trophy or putting on another Green Jacket.

Prior to his body and personal life falling apart for a large portion of the 21st century, Woods was unquestionably the most dominant athlete of his time and it was a golden age for the Tour. Here was not only a young, fit competitor becoming the face of pro golf, but an individual of Asian and African-American heritage amongst a sea of predominantly white, middle-aged competition.

Looking back now, it surprises me to realize just how much of Woods’ rise was due to his athletic superiority, because the man himself was seemingly not likeable at all. Speaking of all-time greats that wound up being total jerks …

Barry Bonds, went for 40 home runs, 101 RBIs and 37 stolen bases while his days as the poster child for Major League Baseball’s steroid era were still years away. Mark McGwire was traded from Oakland to St. Louis for right-handed pitchers T.J. Mathews, Eric Ludwick and Blake Stein and Sammy Sosa was putting together his fifth-straight season of at least 25 home runs for the Cubs.

Yes, the stage was being set for one of the greatest eras in baseball that eventually turned into one of its darkest. However, before seemingly all of superstars of the time were outed as steroid and HGH users, there was nothing more fun than tuning into Sports Center or checking out the newspaper to see just who was winning the race for the National and American League home run titles.

Unfortunately, unlike television series, the memories of our youth cannot simply be rebooted. However, that is also what makes them so much more powerful and valuable than even the greatest shows produced by Hollywood.