The Swamp

Maybe not yet, but...



I have a lot of warm feelings about SI, but also, it’s been over a decade since I gave them any revenue whatsoever, so how can I act angry?

My childhood room, the walls were plastered with covers. I read that thing cover to cover... loved it for years.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 4:10 pm My childhood room, the walls were plastered with covers. I read that thing cover to cover... loved it for years.

My son's room is plastered with the poster inserts from SI Kids (and my daughter is pissed b/c Pulisic is on the back of one of the posted players. ")He is the best American soccer player AND he is cute!") Just upgraded his subscription to the adult SI a couple months ago, so don't blame me.

It’s good to know that kids are still into it, I guess. In a way that’s always been their best audience. It’s amazing how many specific articles from about 1987-2000 I still remember. After that I kept getting them for years and would read sometimes, but mostly they ended up as something to fill my Ikea shelf boxes.

Rex wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 4:31 pm It’s amazing how many specific articles from about 1987-2000 I still remember. After that I kept getting them for years and would read sometimes, but mostly they ended up as something to fill my Ikea shelf boxes.

That is me to a T.

My favorite article was when they listed all the players salary for MLB. I am thinking 88 or 89 but it could have been a few years later.

Long live Hayden SIddharta Finch.

And the Swimsuit issue was my sexual awakening.

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 6:58 pm Long live Hayden SIddharta Finch.

Kids today have no idea of how much cultural impact certain magazines had. The Sidd Finch issue caused a huge stir (among sports fans anyway).

Man, I used to love getting mail - when I was a kid, both my parents were news junkies, so it'd be Time and Newsweek. Add in Sports Illustrated and the monthly magazines and there was always something new to read.

Looks like the person who helped me find the swamp in the first place still has a job.

Count me among those who read it pretty much cover to cover from say, 1985-1995 when I went to college. Even then my mom got me a subscription of my own for my birthday for a few years, I just didn't read it as much.

10 years in college, AB? Is your last name Blutarsky?

I'm pretty disappointed. I've had a subscription pretty consistently for the last 30 years, and I read it cover to cover. I kept every cover with Philly athletes starting with Dr. J's retirement issue. I was considering getting my littel guys SI For Kids. If it goes away, I'm going to be bummed.

I didn't go to college for 10 years. I went for 11. Obviously that was poorly written.


(Didn't get my Undergrad until 2006. Had a two year break in there, finished degree part-time while working full time.)

There's a way to make an Overgrad joke work there.

Shit. I'm sorry, AB. I didn't realize you were going part-time. I was just breaking your balls, I wasn't trying to slag you. That was an asshole thing for me to say.

This is distracting us from learning more about Syb’s sexual awakening

L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:26 am Shit. I'm sorry, AB. I didn't realize you were going part-time. I was just breaking your balls, I wasn't trying to slag you. That was an asshole thing for me to say.

So, in 1985 I was 8. I came to college in 1995. Went full time til spring 2000. Wife had a kid, I went full time at my job and took two years off. Then took advantage of the company's tuition reimbursement, switched majors and finished in 2006. No worries at all it did look like I said i was in college from 85-95, but that aged me a bit!

Rex wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:28 am This is distracting us from learning more about Syb’s sexual awakening

Spoiler: He's talking about the 2014 issue.

Pivot to video is to blame.

Was talking with someone 2 days ago...They were talking about cool vacation places in Michigan. I mentioned Mackinac Island. They said "You ever been there". My answer was no but the swimming pool from the Grand Hotel is burned into my adolescent brain from 1993.

duff wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 6:55 pm

Rex wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 4:31 pm It’s amazing how many specific articles from about 1987-2000 I still remember. After that I kept getting them for years and would read sometimes, but mostly they ended up as something to fill my Ikea shelf boxes.

That is me to a T.

My favorite article was when they listed all the players salary for MLB. I am thinking 88 or 89 but it could have been a few years later.

1987 is the one I remember


but 85 had one too.


Also we don't get a great kicker in this one if it was not for SI

We had SI delivered to the house when we were kids. I remember being bummed when it’d be a cover dedicated to college football (growing up in CT, college football simply did not exist as a sport until Doug Flutie put it on the map with that Thanksgiving weekend game vs Miami circa ‘84). The first subscription that came to the house exclusively for me, however was Baseball Digest. Then maybe for my 9th or 10th birthday I got a subscription to The Sporting News. Getting your own mail was BOSS.

The SI article that stands out to me the most was when Peter Gammons sat down with Ted Williams, who talked shop with two of the most prolific hitters of the 80s era, Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. Article led off with Williams wondering if Boggs ever smelled the wood of the bat burn from a fouled off pitch. Something like that.

I obviously know the demographics in baseball have changed greatly from when I was a kid, but it seems very notable that 3 of the top 4 and 6 of the top 11 earners on that list were (and still are) black.

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:39 am The SI article that stands out to me the most was when Peter Gammons sat down with Ted Williams, who talked shop with two of the most prolific hitters of the 80s era, Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. Article led off with Williams wondering if Boggs ever smelled the wood of the bat burn from a fouled off pitch. Something like that.

This was the same thing he supposedly asked Nomar and McGwire and everyone else at the '99 ASG. Get a new angle, old man.

Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:54 am

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:39 am The SI article that stands out to me the most was when Peter Gammons sat down with Ted Williams, who talked shop with two of the most prolific hitters of the 80s era, Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. Article led off with Williams wondering if Boggs ever smelled the wood of the bat burn from a fouled off pitch. Something like that.

This was the same thing he supposedly asked Nomar and McGwire and everyone else at the '99 ASG. Get a new angle, old man.

Let's not lose our heads over this.

Listen, I'm not proud of this one but I also can't keep it in ...

Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:54 am

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:39 am The SI article that stands out to me the most was when Peter Gammons sat down with Ted Williams, who talked shop with two of the most prolific hitters of the 80s era, Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. Article led off with Williams wondering if Boggs ever smelled the wood of the bat burn from a fouled off pitch. Something like that.

This was the same thing he supposedly asked Nomar and McGwire and everyone else at the '99 ASG. Get a new angle, old man.

He changed it up a bit when interviewing Youkilis in the mid-2000s and asking if he smelled toast.

Wait, is smell an essential sense for hitting a baseball?

No, but when you just miss one and foul it straight back with a wood bat, it creates a burning smell that a certain type of writer loses their shit over. Its also something I'm sure Chet Lemon did as often as Wade Boggs so only asking a top hitter would be odd.

Ted Williams, to Joey Votto: "Did'ja ever smell the bat burn when you foul one off just right?"
Todd Frazier, within earshot: "Hey, yeah that happ..."
Ted Williams: "SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP."

Gammons didn't ask the question? Fuck. Now I blew the joke and karma.

I think that was just a (very good) joke about Ted Williams being an asshole.

I just remember one article from my first issue and it was about a star volleyball player from the 84 Olympics who died while on the court in Japan.

Just to add my two cents. My father is/was a sports fan and he subscribed his entire life to every single SI ever published. I have the very first issue and most of the first two years, which he had saved. My dad, my brothers and I read every issue cover to cover (especially the swimsuit issue. Cheryl Tiegs' nips!)

Rex wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:28 am This is distracting us from learning more about Syb’s sexual awakening

Picture it, Upstate New York, 1987. 11 yo Syb at my friend's house for his brother's Bar Mitzvah after party, looking through the swimsuit issue. For the next couple days, even thinking about the pics in the mag was enough to sport wood for hours.


Holy shit, they have the entire issue scanned and archived! https://www.si.com/vault/issue/702375/151

And I even remembered the cover correctly.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 1:21 pm

Ah, yes. I cut out every Elle pic from the swimsuit issue and pinned them to my closet door. And the 88 cover is the best. That black suit I believe.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 1:21 pm

Rex wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:28 am This is distracting us from learning more about Syb’s sexual awakening

Picture it, Upstate New York, 1987. 11 yo Syb at my friend's house for his brother's Bar Mitzvah after party, looking through the swimsuit issue. For the next couple days, even thinking about the pics in the mag was enough to sport wood for hours.


Holy shit, they have the entire issue scanned and archived! https://www.si.com/vault/issue/702375/151

And I even remembered the cover correctly.

My favorite was the Kathy Ireland one from a couple years later. My girlfriend, who was in advertising, got me a copy signed by Ireland.

Stacey Williams and Kathy Ireland were my favorites.

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:58 pm Stacey Williams and Kathy Ireland were my favorites.

Winner.

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2019 9:11 am

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:58 pm Stacey Williams and Kathy Ireland were my favorites.

Winner.

OMG, yes