Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Sports Illustrated Pictures of The Year: Zilch


The advertising challenged Sports Illustrated December 12, 2008 issue titled "Pictures of the Year" with subtitle "The Best Sports Photos of 2008" has no horse racing photos of any kind.

We already knew that Sports Illustrated did not cover this years Breeders Cup, but now SI apparently has abandoned horse racing coverage entirely. Photos of Big Brown, Curlin, Zenyatta, the Triple Crown Series, and all International Horse Racing photos were deemed not worthy of making the the Pictures of the Year issue.

The magazine (back when people actually got ink on their hands and read magazines) was once known for its horse racing photos, including Cover Shots over the years featuring Seattle Slew (twice), Secretariat and Kelso. It now ignores the sport.

In this "Pictures of The Year" issue you can find photos of the NFL, NBA, MLB, College Football and Basketball, Synchronized Swimming, Golf, Amateur Wrestling, NASCAR, INDY Racing, Formula One Racing, Soccer, The Summer Olympics, Rodeo, Ping Pong (yes, Ping Pong), and Greyhound Racing from Coral Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium in Great Britain. But you will find not one Horse Racing photograph of any kind.

SI's last Horse Racing Cover Photo was of Smarty Jones, pictured above, in an issue dated May 10, 2004

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I cancelled my subscription several years ago when they became the NFL magazine. There are many other sports SI ignores, and they think sending me football helmet stickers will get me back. That football-centric attitude is what made me leave. The one cover racing did get this millennium says "Why I Hate Smarty Jones" right next to the photo of his proudest moment.

Anonymous said...

SI used to put the Derby winner on its cover every year through the early 1980s.