The Franchise: A History of Sports Illustrated Magazine

Rating:
Summary: Unessential Reading
Review: For a "historian", the author has exceedingly narrow, parochial tastes. He has no edge, which is something this book desperately needs. If he were half as good a writer as some of those he disses, this might be an interesting read. As it is, it's a real trial.

Rating:
Summary: Very Skimpy on the Swimsuit Issue, And Already Outdated
Review: I bought this hoping to get some dish on the SI swimsuit issue and the ongoing war with ESPN Magazine. But all I got was a few swimsuit facts I could have picked up from the publishers notes page, and just about zip on ESPN. The rest is all inter-office politics. Like, who cares? At this price, I could get 10 issues of the magazine.

Rating:
Summary: A Plodding, Ponderous Saga
Review: If only the author had spent as much time thinking up an interesting narrative structure as interviewing witnesses! This is perhaps the dullest "history" that I have ever read. And it's pretty much shorn of insight - the book just takes the opinions of a few of Mr. MacCambridge's "heroes" and runs with them. I've been better entertained. Much better.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read For The Die Hard Subscriber!!!
Review: It is interesting to see some of the things that MacCambridge writes about are evident in the magazine today. From the glossy covers to the lighter paper used today in SI, MacCambridge brings to light the subtle and not so subtle changes to the magazine in its history.

Rating:
Summary: A big loser of an SI history that's as dull as ballpark dirt
Review: McCambridge waxes nostalgic about a Sports Illustrated that never was. Did he really go back and look at old issues? His hero, Dan Jenkins, was only semi-readable. The writers today are superior on every count. The current crop - Gary Smith, Steve Rushin, Franz Lidz, Alexander Wolff - would have made first team any year. Get out of the past, Mike.

Rating:
Summary: A winning account of the history of Sports Illustrated
Review: Michael McCambridge has provided me the inspiration to check my local library, find all the back issues of SI, and read them cover to cover. The author proves what every die-hard sports fan and SI reader has known for years; that SI is the best magazine on the stand. He provides an exhaustive recount of the terrific writers that SI has employed over its lifetime, such as Jenkins, Deford, Blount Jr., Plimpton, and even Kurt Vonnegut. McCambridge fully details SI's transition from the 1950's to the 1990's and presents the magazine's alleged departure from literary quality during this decade. Not only is this book an evenhanded and accurate review, it is an easy read. Any lover of sports and good writing will want more of SI. A great job!

Rating:
Summary: Quacky!
Review: Sadly, Mr. MacCambridge is not much of a writer. Sadder still, he curdles the milk of human kindness even as he dispenses it.

Rating:
Summary: Why did he leave out all the good stuff?
Review: Sports Illustrated has been around for over 40 years, and this is as interesting as it gets? Surely there must be SOME compelling reason to buy this book. Why does the author have to drag us through pages and pages of uninteresting minutiae? And, sorry, Dan Jenkins is not up there on anybody's list of great writers. If S.I. was as boring as this book, it wouldn't have made its 4th anniversary, much less its 44th.

Rating:
Summary: Why Would Anyone buy this book?
Review: The history of Highlights would be more interesting than this collection of boring anecdotes. Just about everyone this guy admires is about 120 years old. Their jokes seem like they come from the Civil War. B-O-R-I-N-G!

Rating:
Summary: Whoa! Easy there, dear readers!
Review: The negative reviews of this book seem unwarranted to me (and, would it be fair to assume, largely from one particularly bitter reader?). MacCambridge can write, he's done his homework, and he has in fact made a number of interesting observations. Even though I disagree with many of them (e.g., his inordinate fuss over Dan Jenkins), I find it hard to discount anyone who recognizes SI for the "wildly profitable, mass-market magazine best known for its swimsuit issue" it's become. If your reaction is "yeah, so what's wrong with that?" don't bother with the book. If, on the other hand, you'd be interested to learn how a magazine which used to commission such engaging prose on everything from elk hunting to college wrestling matches to major league baseball became the narrowly-focused, crass exercise in corporate branding it's today, and how it's coped with ominous developments like the Warner merger, ESPN and the baffling rise of Rick Reilly - don't let the pithy criticism put you off.

Granted, the book does drag in spots, and would almost have benefited from some more energetic editing (and a few more photos of the cast of characters), but it's a welcome change from the obsequious, mass-market stuff which typifies sports-related journalism today.

I would have increased my rating by another star had the publisher bothered to produce a more imaginative (and sympathetic) cover.