Franz Lidz's profile on Travis Hafner was outstanding. Especially loved his mother saying she'd rather refer to him as "Pronkinator." The story on Jermareo Davidson was really tastefully written. I was choking up at the end. The scene at the church was so much more powerful than just quoting Jermareo saying "I give all my glory to God." NFL stuff was fantastic, too. Really enjoyed the wrap of the Boise State-Oklahoma game. Issue was small, but the stories were excellent.
I liked it, too. But for some anal-retentive reason, I've been drawn back to the Lineup with the picture of Ian Johnson proposing at the Fiesta Bowl. The tease reads "An inside look at the three trick plays that the Broncos ran to earn a Fiesta Bowl victory so spectacular that even the losers knew they'd been part of something special." The two thats in there bug me. :-\ That said, I sure wish that I could Austin Murphy's job if he ever decided that it was time that he left the magazine.
I'm going to assume that Murphy probably didn't write the tease. Good story though. Completely off topic but I don't feel like starting another SI thread. I just stumbled upon a few issues from a little while back. Much like the great "Ohio State" front page headline the issue with Vince Young on the cover went with the creative and illuminating "Vince Young" with a pull-quote. And I also found the NFL preview issue, and just for fun tried to see how they did. Obviously everyone knows their Panthers-Dolphins SB pick was a bit off, but I think they actually only got 3 out of the 32 teams standing right. I could be wrong because I was going on memory and I couldn't remember the exact order of every division, but if my memory was right it was only 3 (granted they had every NFC East team at 9-7). Just something to keep in mind next year in case anyone puts much stock into their predictions.
Imply, Idaho, imply. Sorry, the infer/imply confusion is one of MY pet peeves. Although you are right THAT there are too many thats in copy these days.
I never take much stock into what "experts" choose as predictions for the upcoming NFL season... it seems every year these morons usually pick the same two teams that were in the Super Bowl last year. I remember, especially after the Patriots-Panthers SB, every "expert" the following September seemed to pick those same two teams. Ugh.
I concur on it being an excellent issue. But then I usually devour it cover to cover the day it arrives. Does anyone know who lost jobs at SI? Since they sit atop the sports journalism foodchain, I'm sure those getting pink slips will be snatched up quickly.
Loved it. Explanatory piece on shot blockers was great as was Boise/OU recap. Feature on 'Bama kid was well done and proved what a top-notch ending can do for a story. Those three, to me, make up for several issues worth of consistently bad proofing and crappy "ohio state"-type, front page headlines.
I agree. The Boise State breakdown was great, loved the insight. Reilly's column on Bo Ryan was entertaining, too.
The headline of the Boise piece IMPLIED more reaction from the Sooners other than a couple paragraphs tacked on at the end. It was a good story that would have been made all the better with what the Oklahoma defenders thought as those plays developed.
