Chuck Klosterman X: A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century

by Chuck Klosterman

When you watch an event in real time, anything is possible. Someone could die. Something that has never before happened could spontaneously happen twice. When there’s :03 on the clock, not one person in the world can predict how those seconds will unspool. But if something happens within those three seconds that is authentically astonishing and truly transcendent . . . well, I’m sure I’ll find out three minutes after it happens. I’m certain someone would tell me, possibly by accident. You can avoid the news, but you can’t avoid The News. Living in a cave isn’t enough. We’ve beaten the caves. The caves have Wi-Fi. And that, ultimately, is why a prerecorded game can never feel the same as a game that is happening in real time: If I don’t know anything about the event I’m about to watch, I can be certain that nothing except a good game is going to transpire. I know I’m merely going to see a slightly different version of something I’ve seen a thousand times before. And even though I think that’s all I want, it doesn’t come close to what I unconsciously crave.