SI up next for layoffs

The Colombian cartels can't rely on their product to generate repeat customers anymore?

 

I keep getting renewals notices for $29.95. But there's no way in hell I'm biting on those now that I know they'll re-up people like Cosmo for 33% less.

I'm a longtime subscriber, too, you SI bastards. Come with your best price or don't come at all. And screw the jacket, I want a gym bag.

Wonder how many SI writers and editors would take a salary haircut rather than a layoff, if given a chance. They historically made "stupid" money compared to most ink-stained wretches. But big salaries are easily targeted in tough times, and pay cuts seem like less of an option in the marketplace than job cuts.

 

Kelli is the only female senior writer.
I don't know how much of a check they send Patrick. You would think the cross-promotion (or Perloff) would be enough compensation.
I don't understand why they need two senior editors for Swimsuit.

 

I've let my sub lapse. Waiting for the suck-up offer.

They need me more than I need them.

 

Damon Hack has joined the Golf Channel

 

Got my last subscription about 10 years ago through one of those clearinghouses (no, not that clearinghouse ... and I didn't win anyway). Lapsed right after the Super Bowl. Haven't missed it, except for when they'll let Gary Smith or Thomas Lake write the heck out of something.

The first half of the magazine may as well be ESPN The Magazine with all the pop culture references, Dan Patrick and player polls. Yes, Reilly was mailing it in at the end (as he still is with the WWL), but try as they might, his successors on the back page essay never struck a chord with me. And how about leading the mainbar of the Super Bowl or similar event with something beside the winning QB/coach/game MVP having dinner with his family/buds from back home/old high school coach?

 

Fair criticisms. I do think SI's NBA stuff this spring and summer was really, really good. The NBA's pretty damn good right now, so that helps. Thomas Lake's stuff has been good but, more importantly, thought-provoking. He'll go back and look at something, piece it back together in a different way; more than being a talented writer, he's a good storyteller who understands structure, pacing, etc. I'd like to see more George Dohrmann. Maybe a little less soccer poetry. (Reading the opening two paragraphs from Grant Wahl's final dispatch from Euro 2012. A bit much).

Now let's be frank: Some of the big ticket newspaper hires (Roberts, Posnanski) were not home runs. Maybe even not doubles. And these are terrific talents. But they made minor impacts, and book deals complicated both of their tenures.

 

Yeah, it was pretty surprising that both of those hires proved to be unsuccessful.

Agree completely on Dohrmann.

 

The problem with George Dohrmann is they've boxed him into this role as an investigative journalist. He's got so much more to offer, and he hasn't kept pace consistently with the best in that investigative role.

Versatile's Sports Illustrated author power rankings, based on current output:

1. Thomas Lake
2. Lee Jenkins
3. Gary Smith
4. S.L. Price
5. Michael Farber
6. Chris Ballard
7. L. Jon Wertheim
8. Lars Anderson
9. Pablo S. Torre
10. Michael Bamberger

That's not a slam against anyone not on the list. I don't read a lot of the NFL or MLB coverage in SI because I read enough at work and neither is my favorite subject. Oh, and Richard Hoffer is the most underused sports writer in the USA. I'd give him the back page.

 

Not saying he's the best writer on the staff, but the most valuable person on that staff is King.

A friend works for SI.com and he said that in a typical week, if they ranked the top 10, MMQB is almost always No. 1 and usually is read more than No. 2-10 combined...

 

I have no doubt about that. Reilly was probably his closest competitor until he left. But I don't read anything either writes. My list had no pretense of objectivity.

 

Ah, I'd forgotten about Dohrman. And Mizzou and Versatile are right about his role.