Magazine Blog Post: Sports Illustrated

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

The magazine I currently subscribe to is Sports Illustrated and as an avid sports fan I think it’s worth every penny to read it every week.

Sports Illustrated’s target audience and focus is pretty straightforward; it’s about sports, for sports fans and men in general. What I think sets it apart from your typical sports magazine though is that it’s much more comprehensive and most of all intelligent compared to the others in it’s coverage of sports. It’s writing style is good in that it’s much more than just recycled garbage from ESPN (ex: “Well if the QB just threw the ball better…!”). The writers here like to be more creative in their analysis of the game and it’s players, giving more information on why certain players, coaches, GM’s, franchises, operate the way they do and then give a decent opinion on how they feel about it without it being overly bloated or opinionated.

Another great thing about Sports Illustrated is the photography, which to me is among the best in the magazine industry. Their photographers really do well in capturing the detail, beauty, and epic-ness of a sports event, whether it’s a Kobe Bryant slam-dunk in an NBA game, or a Larry Fitzgerald mid-air catch in the NFL. It’s really impressive and it’s one of the cooler things about this magazine. Plus they do an “exceptionally” good job in the annual “Swimsuit Issue.” Hehehe…

One other cool thing I like about the magazine is that it always has at least one solid serious investigative sports journalism piece on a slightly off-topic subject that has more appeal to it than just sports in each issue. One of my favorite ones was an article they did on young high school athletes who live in the east bay, and have to deal with crime and poverty growing up and see sports scholarships as an escape from all that. They discussed the triumph of the few that make it out but also talked about the tragedy that affects most of them, who often don’t make it and more often than not have their lives cut short by gang violence. So I like Sports Illustrated in that way because they will touch on more emotional subjects as well.

All in all I think Sports Illustrated is one of the best in the magazine business, which judging by its popularity is probably true. It’s a solid sports magazine that analyzes sports from an intellectual standpoint and details the nitty-gritty parts of it while not sounding like rehashed BS from ESPN. Definitely recommended to sports fans!