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What's Wrong With Sports Illustrated?

hip as a 55-year-old with his hat turned backward

Josh Levin (thanks, Jamal): In August 1994, on the occasion of the magazine's 40th anniversary, Sports Illustrated ran a 22,000-word story called "How We Got Here." Steve Rushin's sprawling, multipart essay on integration, the rise of television, and the encroachment of corporate interests was the kind of story that the magazine had built its name on—playfully written long-form journalism that pinned down where sports had been and where they were going. Thirteen years later, you would never find such a piece in Sports Illustrated. What was once the sports world's agenda setter has become passive and uncritical. Since the magazine's editors no longer seem to care about such things, it's time for a loyal reader to ask: How'd we get here?

Comments

Re: What's Wrong With Sports Illustrated?

Good stuff. Guess I need to begin by saying I agree with you. I think SI is sort of like much of the media today in that it is trying to mirror a culture that (seemingly) doesn't respond to those types of stories the same way it did many years ago. Having said that, SI remains THE mag for depth, although ESPN Mag hits a double every now and then. If you don't have "Sports Illustrated: Fifty Years of Great Writing" on your desk, you need to get it. Shows how good it used to be.

Re: What's Wrong With Sports Illustrated?

I think what we've seen in the last few years is that Sports Illustrated has tried to become "trendy." The pop culture grid, fantasy sports section, hollywood gossip column always on the right-hand side...these are all new things. They are all attempts to be trendy.

I still think it's worth reading SI. Read it for Verducci and for the wit of Reilly, who is one of the best at being informative and entertaining at once.

If anyone wants a good look at SI's change, read a guy named Bill Nack. He used to be their turf writer decades ago (horse racing for those who aren't into sports too much). He's one of the best long-form writers you'll ever read, and his use of language is awe inspiring.

Re: What's Wrong With Sports Illustrated?

Verducci, Gary Smith, a few others are why to keep reading SI. Reilly, however, jumped to ESPN a couple of weeks ago. Sign of the times, I guess.

Re: What's Wrong With Sports Illustrated?

The Secretariat piece is a great one.

I had the pleasure of meeting Nack earlier this year, and he still has a piece of clover that Secretariat dropped on his shoulder. He keeps it in his wallet, I think. Anyway, he's Nack is an interesting guy with endless writing talent. He has a great compilation book called "My Turf." Don't be fooled by the title, it's more than horse racing stories. He has some great boxing pieces and stuff from other sports, too.
AB

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