I was flipping around the internets on this, the slowest news day of the year, and I came across an interesting post at Desipio about ESPN the Mag. Everyone knows that “The Mag” is a cumbersome and awkward piece of literature, but it has never been taken to task like this. The post is an actual email to the editors and I’ve pulled out a few parts for you….
No, I still want the Insider subscription. I just don’t want your strangely sized, poorly written, overly designed magazine. I mean, really, have you ever taken a good look at it? It sucks.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
1. First off, your magazine is a weird size. It’s not magazine size. I know you think it’s an edgy size, because everything you do is edgy, but really, it’s just annoying.
3. What’s with all of the shirtless athletes? It’s like you can’t decide if you want to be a sports magazine, or a men’s magazine, or a gay men’s magazine.
Honestly, that Carl Edwards cover didn’t even make it to the house. I just tore the address label off of it and set it on fire right at the mailbox then threw it into traffic. Holy crap. What were you thinking? Your audience is not women. What man is going to see that at a bookstore or grocery store and actually carry it up to the checkout? You might as well have given out a free “I LIKE DUDES” t-shirt with this one.
7. Your features are always late, lame or both. For instance in this last issue little Busty spends five days with Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks…starting May 15. For the July 14 issue. Holy crap, how is he filing his articles…by carrier pigeon?
The 0:01 where you fake a photo and it’s supposed to be funny…never is.
And we finish with Rick Reilly. Just about the time he started to phone it in at SI, you brought him over to work for you. That’s just so perfect.
It’s still beyond me how ESPN makes even a cent of this magazine. The thing comes out every week and is about 400 pages long. I also am not sure how I get two copies while not having paid for the Insider in over 4 years (I still don’t want the thing). I know it’s easy to rag on the thing, but if it annoys you as much as it does me, you should check out the rest of that post. Good stuff.
An open letter to ESPN The Magazine (Desipio)
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