Putting a high schooler on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Lopez was about to begin his freshman season when he was on the cover...

I read the Parker piece and it's very well-done. I still don't think it's necessary to put a high school junior on the cover. It he was an Olympian or something like that, it's different.

Good issue this week. I liked the Duncan story and the Hosmer story.

 

I got mine yesterday and Tim Duncan is on the cover.

 

Wow, I never considered that could have been a regional cover.

 

This might no qualify as a "cover" -- but I do believe Demetrius Walker was the last "next LeBron," and at least made a cameo on an SI cover back in 2005.

 

More interesting to me was that the guy who wrote the Parker story seemed to be totally unaware that breathless stories about prodigies who are guided by "their faith" are a really tired genre...he mentions the fact that Black Mormons are rare, but doesn't really ask the Parker family any probing questions about that, such as whether they are bothered by the fact that their faith wouldn't have allowed them in the temple until the 1940s.
It's a complete "gee whiz this kid is great and he is a shining example to others" piece straight out of 1966. Well enough written, for what it is, but I just can't imagine really wanting to write it that superfically.

 

I agree about some of those stories are definitely a tired genre, but I don't think this one fell into that category. There was a lot about whether he would do his mission, and that itself was interesting enough to merit a story.

I'll assume Parker's parents are 40ish. Asking them about something their church did 30+ years before they were born would seem like a colossal reach for a story about their kid.

 

I see your point. I just would have tried to make it a little less formulaic, somehow. The sidebar box on missions was interesting.

 

Former University of Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm was on the cover when he was in high school, though it was a story about the disappearance of kids who play three sports in high school, so the circumstances were a little different:

 

I had no idea that was Brohm. SI jinx once again!!!

 

The jinx was especially bad with this one, since Michael Bush was also featured in the article but not on the cover. Bush, who was Brohm's big rival in high school and a teammate at Louisville, is now thriving in the NFL. Brohm, last I checked, was in the UFL.

 

I can't remember, but I think Brohm was cut after just two seasons in the NFL which is ridiculously quick for a second-round pick.

 

Spent one season as a third-stringer in Green Bay, then two years in Buffalo, where he actually started a couple games, I think.