Bye Bye S.I.???

[Snaggletiger]

Sports Illustrated just laid off their entire staff.  I don't know all the particulars, but it has something to do with a company, "Authentic" that purchased SI a few years back, defaulting on a payment, which triggered a huge penalty, or some such.  Doesn't matter. This may be the beginning of the end.

Growing up, SI was THE go to magazine for sports.  Great writers, articles and a photo section that was what I looked forward to as much as anything.  Not the Swimsuit Issue.  I looked forward to that, but that's another story.  I had a subscription right up to the Auburn Natty in 2010.  I still have that issue, but I'll never go back and read their write up on Auburn.  They basically said, "Yeah, Auburn won, but everybody knows they cheated.  They'll probably get stripped"

Cancel!!!

Then, they alienated a lot of their readers with the Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner features, and putting jackasses like Megan Rapinoe on a pedestal.  Surprising that it's lasted this long in magazine form, as everyone has their face buried in a phone.  Anyway, it may be curtains for the once great, Sports Illustrated.

[Kaos]

Go woke? You know the rest. 

When you use the swimsuit issue to promote your commitment to diversity — look at us! Plus sized AND Asian? 

It’s over. 

[CCTAU]

Chicks with dicks on the cover….Go woke. Go broke!

[Kaos]

It’s easy to say go woke go broke.  And that was a significant factor in driving away the remaining potential subscriber base. 

Over the years their reporting drifted from covering the stories to shaping a narrative. That was the case with Auburn in 2010.  And it only got worse.  Every article inserted the writer’s own opinion and biases.

It’s more than that, though. 

People don’t buy magazines any more.  The crash of SI (and Playboy, and Mad, and Entertainment Weekly, and….) is part of a changing media landscape. 


In addition its credibility was shattered when its reliance on faux writers - AI bots — was exposed. 

Yes, putting an obese Asian woman on the cover was a symptom of its desperation and determination to bend the knee to people who would never have bought the magazine anyway, but it wasn’t the sole cause. 

[Snaggletiger]

Dolls with balls

[Snaggletiger]

Haven't picked one up, other than the Swimsuit Issue, since the Auburn write up.  But, the first thing I always used to turn to was that section of about 7-8 pages of nothing but spectacular photographs.  There was one that I'll never forget.  It was a full two pages, and was a shot of the offensive and defensive lines of South Carolina and Bama right in the middle of the play.  I believe I counted 4 felonies and at least 2 misdemeanors occurring right when the shot was taken.  I mean, this was some skrate up violence going on. 

I thought, damn, that's happening about 150 times a game. 

[wesfau2]

This was a another casualty of private equity, not politics.

[Kaos]

This was a another casualty of private equity, not politics.

How many boats can you miss in one week? 

SI forgot who bought its magazines.  It pandered to the 0.14% of the population that was screaming and would never buy its magazines anyway.  In doing so it alienated the demographic that would buy its product. 

“Oh this was a private equity problem….” 

Really? So if advertisers were still buying ads and subscriptions were steady or rising they still shut down?  Tell me you don’t understand economies or capitalism without telling me you don’t understand.