Once upon a time, 20 years ago, Bright Side of the Sun was born. It wasn’t a newspaper. It wasn’t traditional media. It was something new. Sports blogging was still stumbling through its awkward teenage years, even though the internet itself had already been around for about a decade.
Before blogs, there were message boards. Endless threads, bad takes, great takes, and passionate fans arguing into the void. That’s the world Bright Side of the Sun came from when it launched as part of SB Nation. And
yes, SB literally stands for “Sports Blog.” That’s right. You’ve been hanging out on a Sports Blog Nation site this whole time.
Since it’s the offseason, and Wednesdays aren’t exactly overflowing with breaking news, I figured we’d take a little trip through the time machine. Every Wednesday, we’ll stop at a different moment in Bright Side of the Sun history and look at what the site looked like back then.
Some of you will remember these versions instantly. Some of you have never laid eyes on them. That’s the fun of it. It’s a reminder that while the conversations have always been about the Suns, everything surrounding them has constantly evolved.
How are we going to pull this off? Thankfully, there’s the Internet Archive. Web.archive.org has been quietly preserving snapshots of the web for decades, freezing little moments in digital history that most of us forgot existed. We’re going to dust them off, step inside, and see what Bright Side of the Sun looked like once upon a time.
First up?
December 14, 2006
Well, would you look at that. That is a very mid 2000s user interface.
You might recognize the first article. It was written by Dan Hilton, who served in an editorial leadership role during Bright Side of the Sun’s early years before making the jump to the Phoenix Suns organization. That’s right. One of the site’s early managing editors eventually found himself working in the Suns’ digital analytics department. Not a bad career path for a guy who started on a sports blog.
Take a look around the page. It doesn’t have nearly the structure we have today. There were probably fewer ads, and it absolutely feels more like a blog than a polished media outlet. Honestly, I kind of miss some of that accessibility. There weren’t a dozen menus or endless sections to click through. Everything was sitting right in front of you. A poll over here. User diaries over there. The news feed off to the side. You landed on the page and immediately knew where everything lived.
Then there’s the logo. Our current logo clearly traces its roots back to this original design, but that font? The 1970s called. They’re asking for it back, along with their bell-bottoms and shag carpet.
This is the earliest snapshot the Wayback Machine has for Bright Side of the Sun, the first preserved footprint of what would become twenty years of Suns coverage and community. I remember visiting the site back in those early blogging days, although I spent more of my time leaving comments on places like CBS Sports. Back then, the internet felt smaller. Every fan site had its own personality. Every comment section felt like its own neighborhood. It’s wild to look back and see where we started compared to where we are now.
Were you around back then? Let us know in the comments below.
