Sports Illustrated RIP
I remember reading SI occasionally when I was a kid. I liked the writing and the photos. As a long-distance runner, I was mostly interested in articles on track, cross-country and marathons. I wasn’t interested in ball sports. And don’t get me started on calling auto racing a “sport.”
I see where Sports Illustrated is on the ropes. It’s another symptom of the collapse of the dead tree journalism industry. I’ve certainly contributed to that collapse by moving mostly to online news and blogs. Hell, I read most books on my Samsung ereader these days. But I still get the dead tree issues of The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books.
Is the world poorer without SI? Probably not. Sports is entertainment. The scientific world still needs journals. History and philosophy will still be published. But the death of SI is emblematic of the decline of journalism. And that’s not a good thing.
Sports Illustrated dies
I see where Sports Illustrated is on the ropes. It’s another symptom of the collapse of the dead tree journalism industry. I’ve certainly contributed to that collapse by moving mostly to online news and blogs. Hell, I read most books on my Samsung ereader these days. But I still get the dead tree issues of The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books.
Is the world poorer without SI? Probably not. Sports is entertainment. The scientific world still needs journals. History and philosophy will still be published. But the death of SI is emblematic of the decline of journalism. And that’s not a good thing.
Sports Illustrated dies
Joel:
Never really picked up on SI. I did pick up the SI Ernie Banks issue and framed it with a 1954 baseball card of his (picture and at bat). We were Cubs fans. Go to the games. Took my young, pretty wife to a couple. She would jump up and start cheering the hitter to run till I told it was a foul ball.
I played a lot of basketball, averaged 12 points a game with a high of 19. It is a different game today. If I could have carried the ball like they do today while dribbling, my scoring would have easily doubled. One player on our team pumped in forty points. All I did was carry and pass, scored 3 points that game.
That was the sixties until USMC at 19. Life changed then.
I always carry books with me on long flights. Still like turning pages, taking a nap, and picking up on the page where I left off. Easier than flipping out your small laptop.
Good post. Without you telling me, I would never have noticed its demise.
I have so many cool old sports illustrated magazines at home from my dad. Truly was not able to handle the digitalization of our society, like many other sports and news sites.