The demise of SI

Didn't Carl Eskine win it one year because the guy they planned to give it to died about a week before the announcement?

And the Mary Lou Todd story is one of the best of all time. They recently had a picture of her in the back of the magazine. Brought back memories.

 

I'll correct myself...Johnny Podres

 

Good catch. I'm a jackass.

 

SI has been hit or miss for a few years now. Like the OP said, sometimes their feature articles (and overall content) in a given issue is simply terrific. But I know we've all gotten plenty of duds over the years. Part of it is the fact that timely articles are the most important in sports, and SI-Mag can't offer that.

At this point, I feel like I only buy the season preview issues anyway.

 

The only thing bigger and better(?) than it used to be is the swimsuit issue.

 

"No, it's worse. Used to get me excited seeing cleavage for the first time when I was 13. Now it's just a bore. So it's worse. Just like the rest of SI."

[/SportsJournalists.com]

 

These are very good suggestions. I was not expecting much here other than the usual lamentations, but I have to say, your second and third points, especially, are excellent.

 

no. 4, for me, is the best. investigations is right in SI's wheelhouse, doesn't make a magazine try to beat the internet or TV at their own games, and creates plenty of true serious buzz.

 

I realize they compete and it might look bad, but given the scope of ESPN's impact on sports, SI's coverage of it has been meager at best.
The article SI did on Beer and Sports a decade or so a go was great - the cup takes a bigger chunk of the money than the beer, but SI could do a year long series on how sports leagues and teams are changing the landscape of how they are covered, launching their own networks, hiring their own writers and announcers, selling their advertising rights to groups like Learfield, and entering into business deals with networks and local news outlets. Sure it's been done in the past, but hearing that the Big 10 conference is looking to expand to help their cable channel makes me think things are getting really screwed up.

 

The golden rule of mass media is don't talk about mass media to the suckers, I mean, audience. Dan, your story ideas are outstanding, but they wouldn't necessarily sell magazines, just be good journalism. One thing I have learned in my new occupation is that if you want to know what the hell is going on, read the trades.

 

I can remember one swimsuit issue in particular about 25 years ago that had plenty of nice shots of the likes of Kathy Ireland, etc., but the hottest photo in the whole magazine was actually an advertisement with bodybuilder Rachel McLish in a red leotard doing some sort of strength move or stretch on an apparatus. Maybe just a matter of taste, but everyone else in that issue paled by comparison---it was an awesome photo of beauty, strength and athleticism.

 

Have a similar memory of a swimsuit edition photo that had Kathy Ireland and Elle McPherson flanking Dara Torres on the pool deck. Couldn't tell the swimmer from the models ... and vice versa.