Sports Illustrated died today
It’s not the death of a person
but it is the end of an era
for just about every American
over the age of perhaps thirty-five.
Gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated
was once a symbol of something big
and some even considered it as a jinx
but how could that be, really?
How could being in the rarified company
of Ali, Rose, Nicklaus, Payton, Jordan
and every other sports legend
from the last half of the 20th Century
ever be a bad thing?
My mailbox and millions of others
once awaited the arrival of each new issue
to tell us who was doing what
in the “Wonderful world of Sport.”
Those who wanted to know read SI
and those who didn’t
weren’t worth knowing in the first place.
And then came the Internet...
Circulation started falling
because who needs to buy a copy of a magazine
when everything is available (for free) online?
Ad sales dried up, too
and the magazine as it once was
began to fade away.
This century’s digital world
has not been kind
to holdovers from the last one.
Selling a product
people no longer want to buy
is a tough line of work,
but only for as long as
someone is willing
to keep offering it up.
And today the decision was made to stop trying.
Nothing lasts forever,
and a print magazine
covering the world of sports
cannot be any different.
But it still hurts, just the same.
Sports Illustrated 1954-2024
