“Why are you still taking pictures of them with the same old film?”, a commercial asks at halftime of the broadcast, while short clips of children play in the background.



“Film? What is this, 1996?”, I scoff.



I am forgetting that yes, it was 1996 and color film from a company called Fujifilm might have actually been worth excitedly advertising on a major sports event then.



A lot of these types of throwback moments are placed throughout the broadcast of Major League Soccer’s inaugural match. Held on April 6th, 1996 in front of 31,683 fans at San Jose State University’s Spartan Stadium (now called CEFCU Stadium) the clash between the San Jose Clash (they weren’t the Earthquakes yet) and D.C. United was televised on ESPN, and it’s a good thing it was. Now, with MLS on pause just under 25 seasons later, we can relive Eric Wynalda’s late, lovely game-winner that gave San Jose a 1-0 win, and also...