OT: Sports Illustrated on Deathwatch
Entered the world on August 16, 1954, and looks to be ending with a whimper nearly 70 years later. For decades a Sports Illustrated cover was the sine qua non of sports stardom. You weren’t somebody until you landed that cover.
This morning brings news (LINK):
Much of the staff of Sports Illustrated, and possibly all remaining writers and editors, received layoff notices Friday, which essentially could spell the end of a publication that for decades was the gold standard of sports journalism.
I grew up reading the last few years of Paul Zimmerman football columns and always loved the Rick Reilly and Frank Deford commentaries at the end. I thought they veered off the Yellow Brick Road of sports journalism in the mid-1990s when they became more of a personality magazine than one which always put the games front and center, but they remained iconic until the internet age rendered them into dinosaur status, slowly but surely.
Glad we got that Michigan National Championship cover in while we could. Memo to self: buy the big reproduction TODAY.
What’s your favorite non-sexybits cover ever? USA hockey 1980? Muhammad Ali? Glen Rice 1989 King of the Court Natty? Or recency bias and Blake Corum last week? (again, note to self, buy today)
January 19th, 2024 at 1:03 PM ^
Their own fault.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:09 PM ^
Agree. The Rolling Stones magazine should be next
January 19th, 2024 at 1:45 PM ^
Rollling stone may be the worst of them all
January 19th, 2024 at 2:15 PM ^
'The Rolling Stones magazine', eh? Clearly you are very familiar with that publication.
January 19th, 2024 at 2:21 PM ^
They have a magazine specifically about the Rolling Stones?
January 19th, 2024 at 2:37 PM ^
"Keith Richards' Almanack."
January 19th, 2024 at 4:08 PM ^
Tremendous staying power.
January 19th, 2024 at 3:07 PM ^
Yes, it's called AARP
January 19th, 2024 at 4:27 PM ^
Incidentally, AARP is one of the sponsors of the Stones' latest tour...ya think it may be time to hang it up?
January 19th, 2024 at 1:39 PM ^
i don't know, man. hard to blame sports ill when other print (and digital) journalism outlets are dying all over the place. they were mismanaged, particularly at the end, but the death knell has been sounding for a while now.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:56 PM ^
... go on...
January 19th, 2024 at 2:08 PM ^
No, please don't encourage it.
January 19th, 2024 at 2:16 PM ^
Yes, it is their own fault.
They used to be the last word-of-record on a sporing event. When they covered it, it was official.
But then they stopped covering sports as they happened. They resorted to bi-weekly long-winded usually whinny articles, only tangently about sports.
January 19th, 2024 at 2:39 PM ^
Maybe because no one wanted to read articles about a game that happened a week ago once the Internet came around
January 19th, 2024 at 6:53 PM ^
I did. It was the last thing I read about a big event. The final word after several days to let it settle and analyze it. I didn't need them for highlights immediately after an event. I could get that somewhere else.
January 19th, 2024 at 3:21 PM ^
Whenever I want to read about sporing events, I've gone to authoritative sources like Mycology Illustrated or Zygospores Annual.
January 19th, 2024 at 3:36 PM ^
No More S.I Swimsuit issues. Their fault.
January 19th, 2024 at 2:54 PM ^
The articles are mostly written with AI now anyway. They may still be around online.
January 19th, 2024 at 4:27 PM ^
Does this mean Michael Rosenberg is out of a job?
January 19th, 2024 at 4:39 PM ^
Considering most people don’t read anymore (let’s be honest, they watch), let alone purchase printed or even online articles, it doesn’t surprise me.
I’m betting in 20 years, our framed SI covers of the ‘97 championship will hold the same sentimental value as a Norman Rockwell painting does to our grandparents.
January 19th, 2024 at 7:08 PM ^
Does "Live Nude Latin Lovers Reading the DSM-5" count?
January 19th, 2024 at 11:01 PM ^
cosigned
January 19th, 2024 at 1:06 PM ^
I liked the 1997 Brian Griese cover. I bought that.
January 19th, 2024 at 3:10 PM ^
Also Marcus Ray “Take that!” Loved that one.
January 19th, 2024 at 3:14 PM ^
"Take That!" is the one cover etched in my mind.
January 19th, 2024 at 11:01 PM ^
great taste
January 19th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^
I’ll always fondly remember 12 year old me stealing the swimsuit edition from my dad’s stack of magazines to …. read the articles
January 19th, 2024 at 1:14 PM ^
Never touched a cigarette because of Vendela's "turn-offs"
January 19th, 2024 at 1:15 PM ^
SI's content was often very good. And, the issue you cite - was one of the best to annually review in detail. Ahhh, the good old days.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:22 PM ^
It is still a great place to get news on topics that ESPN will not cover including ESPNs own staff related issues.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^
Not technically sexy bits:
January 19th, 2024 at 1:44 PM ^
Top one framed and hanging in my basement, along with Chris Sabo "Red October" from 1990 World Series.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^
Vampire capital strikes again.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^
I'm partial to this one of #21 for a few reasons.
- I was at the game as a student.
- Desmond was in my graduating class.
- There is an add for Reebok in that issue with a picture of the crowd from that game that includes me and several of my fraternity brothers.
January 19th, 2024 at 4:37 PM ^
TIL Richard Dean Anderson went to U of M.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:08 PM ^
Wonder what that means for the SI hotel in Ann Arbor that was being discussed
January 19th, 2024 at 1:41 PM ^
They're narrowing their focus. Not so much publishing, lots more hospitality industry. /s, in case that was needed.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:09 PM ^
Yeah, Miracle on Ice. Bigger upset that App State aka The Horror, but in a good way.
How does this affect their plan to build the abomination on Main Street??
January 19th, 2024 at 1:09 PM ^
I remember when my son asked me if he could get a subscription to SI. He might have been six or seven years old - and, his love for sports began. He's been a Michigan fan his entire life.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:10 PM ^
My cool story bro.
I had a letter to the editor published in SI back in middle school.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:19 PM ^
Cool Story, Bro!
January 19th, 2024 at 4:20 PM ^
That is a cool story, but I was hoping you were going to say you were featured in the amateur/high school highlights near the front of mag. I always knew being on the cover would be a stretch for me, but gosh, I really thought one day I could somehow get a mention there.
January 19th, 2024 at 4:38 PM ^
Pic or it didn't happen
January 19th, 2024 at 6:01 PM ^
I have the issue somewhere but not going to dig it out of all my junk.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:10 PM ^
That latest cover was trash, like the whole magazine. Enjoy unemployment, Rosenberg.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:10 PM ^
First Mad Magazine and now this. Sad news.
I liked the Desmond Heisman cover. IIRC it said “Runaway” and came out even before he won it.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:27 PM ^
This was the first issue I received and I've been a subscriber ever since. It's definitely not what it used to be but I still enjoy it because of their in-depth pieces.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:46 PM ^
I can't be the only one who thought (and thinks) that looks nothing like Desmond Howard. Especially compared to the cover a few months earlier.