{"id":3861,"date":"2009-04-30T10:18:12","date_gmt":"2009-04-30T14:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=3861"},"modified":"2009-04-30T10:18:12","modified_gmt":"2009-04-30T14:18:12","slug":"surfs-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/surfs-down","title":{"rendered":"Surf’s down"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new issue of Sports Illustrated<\/a> arrived yesterday in the mail. This morning, I flipped through it, looking for coverage of the fantastically competitive first-round NBA playoff series between the Bulls and the Celtics. There it was! Five full pages! Three of which were photos! (Well, after subtracting long pull-quotes and inset\u00c2\u00a0 photography, at least there were 1.75 pages or so of writing about the series.)<\/p>\n

Sure, much of it was about the absence of Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, but at least the Bulls’ loss of Luol Deng got mentioned, too (in the second-to-last paragraph). And the writer even managed to shoehorn in his required reference to Twitter! Awesome! Even if it was a complete non sequitur!<\/p>\n

Still, I was a bit disappointed there was no other playoff coverage, in what’s been a weirdly compelling first round. Sure, the loss of Garnett is big for the Celtics, but the Spurs just got knocked out in the first round because they were missing Manu Ginobili. The Orlando Magic, seeded third in the east, can’t separate from a poorly assembled Sixers team with an interim coach. LeBron James & the Cavs just put the last nail in the Detroit Pistons’ coffin. Chauncey Billups has managed to get the year’s biggest collection of (playoff-level) knuckleheads to keep its collective head together long enough to reach the second round.<\/p>\n

The only other NBA item in the ish was a two-page spread of Dikembe Mutombo lying in a crumpled heap on court \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it would’ve been fantastic if he waved off assistance by wagging his index finger \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and a one-third-page item on . . . Dikembe Mutombo’s career-ending injury.<\/p>\n

So what was<\/em> in this 78-page issue, that kept the editors from covering \u00e2\u20ac\u201d or even making mention of \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the rest of the NBA playoffs? Well, as far as features go, there was the NFL draft, which warranted 4 pages of coverage (including pix & sidebar), the 4-page cover story on rejuvenated pitcher Zack Greinke (including 2-page photo-spread), and a 3-page feature on twin brothers who play for some tea called the Canucks in a sport that seems to involve ice.<\/p>\n

Oh, and there’s a TEN-PAGE PROFILE ON PROFESSIONAL SURFER KELLY SLATER<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I’m not making that up. It’s a TEN-PAGE FEATURE<\/em> on a 37-year-old guy who surfs. (Okay, it’s slightly smaller than 10 pages, because of the one-third page ad on the final page. And if you subtract the pictures and pull-quotes, it only adds up to about SEVEN PAGES OF COPY<\/em>, compared to the 1.75 pages given to the Bulls-Celtics story.) So 13% of the issue is devoted to A SINGLE ARTICLE ON SURFING<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I guess you have to chase the ad dollars. Oh, wait! There’s no advertising in the article, except for a one-pager for the InterContinental Hotels Group and the aforementioned one-third-page, which refers to a facing page ad for Rockport Shoes. (Not surfwear. Just dress shoes.)<\/p>\n

So the editors ran a TEN-PAGE PROFILE ABOUT A SURFER WITH A GIRL’S NAME<\/em> (okay, that’s a cheap shot) with no related advertising.<\/p>\n

I’m not going to make some wild claim about how “this illustrates everything that’s wrong with print and why all newspapers and magazines are going out of business.” Frankly, this editorial decision is so staggeringly bizarre that I don’t know what<\/em> it means.<\/p>\n

I do know that, if you go to SI’s website<\/a> this morning, you can look over the entire front page and find no reference to surfing anywhere.<\/p>\n

I also know that, in my world, we have a term for articles that are too long for an issue that doesn’t have enough ads. We call them “Part 1 of 2.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new issue of Sports Illustrated arrived yesterday in the mail. This morning, I flipped through it, looking for coverage of the fantastically competitive first-round NBA playoff series between the Bulls and the Celtics. There it was! Five full pages! Three of which were photos! (Well, after subtracting long pull-quotes and inset\u00c2\u00a0 photography, at least … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Surf’s down”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,32],"tags":[670,671],"class_list":["post-3861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball","category-sports","tag-kelly-slater","tag-sports-illustrated"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-10h","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":710,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/biomarkers-bulls","url_meta":{"origin":3861,"position":0},"title":"Biomarkers & Bulls","author":"Gil","date":"October 4, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"[Here's my From the Editor page for the October issue of Contract Pharma]I was all set to write about disaster response and the ways we should prepare for cataclysms both natural and manmade, but another subject came up, so I have to cut that sermon-ette down to a single piece\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5679,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2010-2011-nba-preview","url_meta":{"origin":3861,"position":1},"title":"2010-2011 NBA Preview","author":"Gil","date":"October 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"For the second straight year, no team-by-team breakdown or NBA preview for you! I just don't give enough of a crap about pro hoops anymore. Last year's explanation holds up pretty well, especially when you add the silliness of the \"Super Best Friends\" gang assembling in Miami.\u00c2\u00a0I'm sure I'll catch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3893,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-5409","url_meta":{"origin":3861,"position":2},"title":"What It Is: 5\/4\/09","author":"Gil","date":"May 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: I didn't read much this week, but I did manage to read Plutarch's lives of Themistocles and Camillus. What I'm listening to: The Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. Anyone know if M.I.A. is any good? What I'm watching: The Bulls-Celtics series. Game 7 didn't live up to the previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001NB3H3M","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":290,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/independence-day","url_meta":{"origin":3861,"position":3},"title":"Independence Day","author":"Gil","date":"July 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been an NBA mark for years. I'd watched the league as a kid, but I became a fan when the Knicks took Patrick Ewing with the #1 pick in the 1985 draft. For 11 seasons, I was a devoted Knicks fan. I cheered when Ewing made his first all-star\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1291,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-2-the-post-mortem","url_meta":{"origin":3861,"position":4},"title":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 2: the post-mortem","author":"Gil","date":"January 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Several years ago, I attended a wedding in Las Vegas. It was my first trip visit longer than 24 hours, and I thought it would be fun to gamble on sports. See, I've never been a cards or dice guy, but I do allege to know something about pro sports.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1283,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-1-the-post-mortem","url_meta":{"origin":3861,"position":5},"title":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 1: the post-mortem","author":"Gil","date":"January 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's never a good feeling to get up in the morning and find that one of your favorite writers just called you out like a bitch. But I deserve it, not having gone online yesterday to explain my horrific weekend of NFL picks. On Saturday night, my brother said, \"A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0375503390","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3861"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3866,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3861\/revisions\/3866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}