How does Sports Illustrated find its people?

It still looks like one of those gigs that if you have to apply, don't bother. I'd guess there is no other sports publishing job in the country where networking plays a larger role than it does in getting in at SI.

 

Very true. I know of a writer who sent a resume and clips to SI and was pretty much blown off. About a year later, he got a call from the managing editor, who had heard about him through a mutual acquaintance. SI brought the guy in for an interview and offered him a job on the spot.

 

As far as interns go, I know Jon Wertheim and Yi-Wyn Yen both spent time as SI interns, then just stuck as reporters (though Wertheim's rise was much quicker).

 

Rushin was noticed for his wide selection of columns about the hotbeds of Minnesota and Connecticut and his experiences in both places, plus an extraordinary ability to think up a bunch of puns and write a column around it.

 

Wertheim went to Yale Law and used to be the editor of a Trail Blazers fan mag.

 

Sirvaliant Brown was the biggest chucker I ever saw play basketball back in college.

 

Don't knock Rushin's mind for puns...it really is extraordinary.

 

Jeffri Chadiha (UM Hoops) got his start in Ann Arbor, went to Oakland to cover the Raiders, then went on to SI. Not sure what he's been writing lately (since my subscription lapsed a year or so ago), but I do remember some NFL playoff pieces.

 

A chucker with a spectacular name.

 

SI.com has so many columnists, it's tough to find a really worthwhile take from some of the names on that pulldown list that aren't regular magazine writers. I'm not sure it's necessary to have that many kids in the pull-down menu, gets repetitive and mundane. Oh, some are good, but many . . . read like college kids who really think they're the first to notice that Albert Pujols is a good baseball player.

As in, many of the "NBA columnists" they have write stuff about how LeBron James is good, and Tim Duncan is a guy to build around. Standard stuff, with zero quotes and the type of research that consists of looking up stats and watching games on TV.

That many columnists just seems like overkill, especially with the fact that few show original insight or connections.

 

But they do make sure that SI.com has three or four brand new columns each and every day. I suppose the idea is to increase traffic by making the reader think they have go each day to find out what they say, even if they can't name a single one of them.

 

He's not "at SI." In fact, he's not even on staff at SI.com. He just freelances and gives them a column or so per week.