What's Going On at Sports Illustrated??

does anyone subscribe to the SI produced podcasts? Has there been any new episodes this week?
Yes, I subscribe (but rarely listen) to the MMQB NFL Podcast, and those episodes have been cranking out on schedule.

Actually, it dawned upon me this morning - in the aftermath of that Braves-Cardinals debacle last night - that I sat next to SI's Jonathan Jones in the press box at the Falcons-Eagles game a few weeks ago. Maybe I got my juju all over him, and everything now happening at SI is my fault.
 

Max Power

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Jul 20, 2005
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I got a sub for 250 frequent flier miles that were expiring and my son loves getting those magazines. It’s a real throwback and he enjoys reading about the Super Bowl or whatever Boston sports topic is in there. This is sad. I found a box at my mom’s house last year that has swimsuit editions from Tyra Banks to Beyoncé and more. Such a staple of my youth, and so sad to see it go by the wayside.
This is a big problem with digital media in general. Kids just aren't exposed to news and sports writing by having newspapers and magazines sitting around the house. And most parents don't watch the local news and sports highlights on TV anymore. Unless they're actively seeking it out, they just won't see it, except when YouTube leads them down a path of conspiracy theory videos.
 

BJBossman

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Dec 6, 2016
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One of the things that SI was known for was the brilliant photography; stuff you couldn’t get anywhere else.

The internet has made images cheap. I don’t know how SI recovers from that basic fact.
I thought their season preview work was excellent.
At least keep that as a magazine piece. Like Lindys and such
 

DJnVa

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I know that the dude just lost his job and everything but this doesn't seem right.

Or is this the way that journalism is trending?
Yeah, not on board with that. He says if the Padres fly him out then it's a conflict of interest. Is there a conflict if, maybe for another event, some benefactor pays his way? That could also be a potential conflict.

And, getting past all that, he wants readers to pay for his meals? His cab to airport?
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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First of all, his math is wrong (bank error in your favor?), second of all does he really need to take a cab.

I wonder if he declares this income?
Yeah. I was thinking the same thing, he could take the subway.

And I'm not going to trash the guy because he did lose his job recently, but this seems kind of shitty to me. The unveiling is what, an hour? maybe two, followed by a little more time to write the blog and you're asking people to send you for an all-expense paid trip to San Diego for the weekend? You don't have someone that you could deputize as the Uni-Watch California dude to cover this for you? Another thing, if you are going to go out there, shouldn't you at least have a meet-and-greet with the people who are fans of your work? The whole, "Uh, yeah maybe, if I'm not way too busy with the other 45 hours in the weekend."

IDK, I read the guy's blog every day, but Lukas doesn't really seem like a guy I'd enjoy hanging out with.

Yeah, not on board with that. He says if the Padres fly him out then it's a conflict of interest. Is there a conflict if, maybe for another event, some benefactor pays his way? That could also be a potential conflict.
I know that it's the guy's job and I guess he has some sort of ethics, but at the end of the day, this is a story about about a bunch of men who hit a ball wearing new clothes. Either he'll like the new togs or he won't (more likely the latter), so I'm not sure how this is some weird betrayal of journalistic ethics. I mean, most movie reviewers don't pay their own way into the movie theater. There aren't many sportswriters who write the game stories from a seat that they bought themselves. Same thing with art critics, book critics, etc.

I feel that if Lukas established at the beginning of his piece, "The Padres flew me out to San Diego for the weekend and put me up in a hotel AND paid my cab fare", then that is okay. Transparency is what's needed here.

EDIT: apparently Lukas made his money in under two hours of his post. Good for him?
 
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John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Lukas said he thought it was “stupid” that Patreon got 3% of the cash. So, you know, he’s thinking of his readers.
 

ngruz25

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I've been reading Uni Watch daily for maybe 15 years, and if there's one thing that I'm certain about, it's that Paul Lukas is an odd dude. He seems so very... affected? He's the kind of old hipster that'll write you a dissertation to explain how he's not a hipster.

But I do love the uniform coverage.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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As we all know, the Padres released their new uniforms last night at 10:00 pm EST and our intrepid reporter was there covering the celebration (on his readers' dimes). In that time there have been two twitter posts: one of a napkin and the other of a key ring. I know that there is supposed to be blog entry later today, but seriously, that's it?

The Padres tweeted out what their uniforms look like. Chris Creamer (who I don't think was there) tweeted out what the uniforms look like.

I hope Lukas enjoyed his vacation that his suckers--I mean readers--paid for.
 

Awesome Fossum

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ngruz25

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As we all know, the Padres released their new uniforms last night at 10:00 pm EST and our intrepid reporter was there covering the celebration (on his readers' dimes). In that time there have been two twitter posts: one of a napkin and the other of a key ring. I know that there is supposed to be blog entry later today, but seriously, that's it?

The Padres tweeted out what their uniforms look like. Chris Creamer (who I don't think was there) tweeted out what the uniforms look like.

I hope Lukas enjoyed his vacation that his suckers--I mean readers--paid for.
I believe Creamer was actually WITH Lukas.

Yeah, even with the blog post considered, that's a vanishingly small amount of content on the readers' dime. He's got some more merch to hawk, though. Uni Watch has become some sort of weird apparel club and I've got no interest in it.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I believe Creamer was actually WITH Lukas.

Yeah, even with the blog post considered, that's a vanishingly small amount of content on the readers' dime. He's got some more merch to hawk, though. Uni Watch has become some sort of weird apparel club and I've got no interest in it.
He's such a weird, arrogant dude. Yet at the same time, I read him every day.

The merch thing is weird because on one hand, all of the stuff seems to be really well made and the designs are pretty great. But on the other hand, it's like 50% of the site's content. Which would be completely fine, a person has to eat and I have zero problems cashing in on your brand, but he has such disdain for other companies that do the same thing, it's hard to see how he's not a hypocrite. And I know that he puts a question in every FAQ about this, but the explanation is very hand-wavey and kind boils down to, "I'm not rich, so I should be allowed to make money. But Nike (or whomever) is already rich and they shouldn't be greedy." Which isn't how things should work. I'm not the world's biggest capitalist, but even I don't think that there should be some sort of arbitrary limits on who can and can't put their names on stuff.

Again, I like the passion (though I do not like the constant, "The score bug was wrong, it showed the Raptos logo from 2018 NOT 2019! I hope someone got fired for that blunder!), but sometimes the execution is really shitty.
 

B H Kim

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And yet, in the middle of all this, they just recently hired one of the best college sports reporters in the business (Pat Forde). I can’t imagine what possessed Forde to climb onto what is pretty clearly a sinking ship.
 

jon abbey

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I have basically been reading SI since I was 7 in 1974 (Archie Griffin college football preview) but after reading the latest issue, I cancelled the remainder of my subscription. There’s no longer any there there, sad.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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I didn't even know they still printed it, to be honest, but I also can't remember the last time I bought a paper magazine. They were obviously a victim of the move to online media, but even as a kid before Twitter and online permeating the arena,s they kind of lost their niche, imo, once even thing like Sportscenter came around. I remember being a teenager and realizing everything I was reading was already a week old and it was before I cared about any kind of reading that wasn't directly related to what was happening now - it took until my adult years to appreciate someone like Pos who wrote about more than yesterdays scores. (Honestly, even during it's heyday, I think I was more religious to Sporting News than SI, but that's really neither here nor there). Nothing groundbreaking to say they blew too much talent and fell victim to the shift - and couldn't keep up. Their website is still a shit show and the CNN merger was a disaster. They still can claim some of the most iconic photos taken in sports, but it's a dinosaur. I don't even know if they still do a swimsuit issue and that as basically a national holiday.