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But the true baptism came at 7:30 PM that night. It was the “NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Martinsville.” The race was delayed by rain, but when the green flag dropped under the lights, the world changed. The deep burgundy of the track’s clay, the metallic flake in the paint schemes, the orange glow of the brake rotors—all of it exploded into homes. A fan in a bar in Charlotte shouted, “Holy [expletive], look at the dust .” Dust. You could see individual particles floating in the stadium lights.

The story of ESPN2HD is the story of legitimacy. For years, ESPN2 was the channel you settled for when your game was bumped. But with HD, it became the channel you sought out . The difference between SD and HD was the difference between watching a game and being there. And by 2012, when ESPN finally shut down the old standard-definition simulcast of ESPN2, no one mourned. The blurry square was dead. Long live the widescreen. espn2hd

The year is 2003. You are a sports fan in suburban Ohio. You have just convinced your parents to buy a “big screen” — a 42-inch rear-projection Sony Trinitron. It weighs 300 pounds and hums like a refrigerator. You also have a new digital cable box from Time Warner. Why? Because the local broadcast networks are promising “High Definition” for the Super Bowl. You’ve heard the words: 1080i. Widescreen. Crystal clear. But the true baptism came at 7:30 PM that night

You flip to the main ESPN on a Saturday afternoon. College GameDay is on. The grass on the field is so green it hurts your eyes. You can see the stitches on the quarterback’s ball. You are a convert. High definition is not a gimmick; it’s a religion. A fan in a bar in Charlotte shouted,