Disappointing News for the Sports Fan in All of Us

March is one of the unquestioned best time of year, arguably the best, for sports fans. Spring Training. March Madness. NBA and NHL playoff races taking shape. PGA and Nascar seasons just underway.

For me, it's always been special due to the influx of Baseball Preview Magazines. Some remain constant, some come and go. Baseball Digest. Bill Mazeroski's Baseball Preview, The Sporting News, Athlon, to name a few. Highest on my list of favorites is Street & Smiths Baseball Yearbook. Always published in mid-March, one of the reasons why it was a favorite was its credibility. Right up to date info, great format, predictions, Minor League reports, the mag had it all.

In recent years, probably as a result of the pretend games (fantasy), Street & Smiths began publishing early, in mid-February, as a way of keeping up with the Joneses. With Yahoo and other Fantasy gaming sites beginning season registrations as early as two months before the season, by the time S&S issues hit the stands, everyone had gone out and bought other pieces of crap.

Knowing that release date was just around the corner, I've been scouring my local Barnes & Noble location anxiously expecting to find this year's edition, albeit with no luck.

So, today, on a whim I went to S&S website, and was greeted with this.

First, a former great outstanding publication like The Sporting News announces it is moving from the city of its founding 122 years ago, (St. Louis), and moving to the home of it's new "owners" in North Carolina. Disappointing for sure, but in my opinion no publication has slid as far in popularity and content than the Sporting News has, so maybe a change of scenery would be good.

Then to find out their new "owner" is the publications group which owns the S&S catalog AND will cease publishing under the "Street&Smiths" title I find to be an unpopular one. Morphing itself into a fantasy dishrag certainly tarnished the S&S name, but when I first read the article I thought, cool, there would still be some seperation, let the Sporting News remain in the toilet paper business, while Street&Smiths would still publish real baseball news for real baseball fans. I guess not.

Times do change, I suppose. But not always for the better. And I am a sad baseball fan right now, I guess the best part of it all is is I just saved myself $7.95.

Cornfed78Draft Pick

636 days ago

Score 1

Wow..I'm shocked and disappointed.

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Davis21wylieMVP

636 days ago

Score 2

TSN's annual had been better than S&S the past few years anyway; they had scouting reports on every player -- which you could refer to all season long -- instead of a few paragraphs that were already outdated by the time it hit shelves. Now that they're merged, they've basically taken the S&S preview and slapped "Sporting News" on the cover. With this merger and the discontinuation of the STATS Inc. Scouting Notebook afew years ago, Lindy's is the only scouting preview out there. So I'm highly disappointed, too, but for the complete opposite reason.

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KelsdadAll-Star

636 days ago

Score 1

The Sporting News published two seperate annuals, the preview, and the fantasy. I've always purchased their fantasy yearbook for the reasons you've stated. While its true the S&S annual has deteriorated recently, its because of a rush to the presses to stay competetive in the market.

And notice it was Street & Smiths which purchased the Sporting News, not the other way around.

Either way, we lose.

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Behbigben15All-Star

636 days ago

Score 1

Thank goodness this wasn't a "So long Brett" post. That's what I thought it was when I read the title. But, I am disappointed, too.

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

636 days ago

Score 1

Wait, Favre retired?

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

636 days ago

Score 1

That is a shame, I subscribe to TSN and even though Im not a big baseball fan I read their annuals and their baseball coverage religiously for years. Hopefully a change of scenery will re-energize the company.

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

636 days ago

Score 1

I remember, just before the fantasy baseball explosion in the late 90's, when I'd go to the convenience store next to my school and buy EVERY baseball preview I could find. Then they all (or most at least) gradually turned into fantasy baseball porn with more insight into Jeff Kent's value as a late round pick than what the Giants bullpen would look like. Really a shame. You know, we've had some great previews, and we have a lot of talent here at AGM. Maybe for next year, we can come up with an online magazine previewing teams and baseball as a hole. Maybe throw in a little debate about what's going to happen to spice it up a bit?

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

636 days ago

Score 0

as a whole^^^

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Bobbyjim45Draft Pick

636 days ago

Score 4

AGM: The Mag! I've been pushing for it for years... free fleece pullovers with every subscription!

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

636 days ago

Score 2

I say we go with this:

Only we add a camera and MP3 function.

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Bobbyjim45Draft Pick

636 days ago

Score 4

Add the camera and Belichick will be our first customer... (Yeah, I'm pretty sure every time the word "camera" or "video tape" is mentioned, a BB joke will follow, so I'm just doing the civic duty.)

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Bobbyjim45Draft Pick

636 days ago

Score 3

But in all seriousness, I like the idea of a group effort to make a big project out of a season preview. Maybe we could do it for the NFL?

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

636 days ago

Score 3

I think the football phone could make a comeback as a cell phone. People could carry it around like a football, even play catch with it, then use it to make calls, send texts, "you know, normal cell phone fiddle faddle" (Will Ferrel, Robert Goulet skit)

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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer

636 days ago

Score 2

bobbyjim, I think we're onto something here. We have the talent here to do something like that.

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Bobbyjim45Draft Pick

636 days ago

Score 1

Yeah dude, I seriously think we are. The knowledge, writing skill, and motivation here. All we need is a system or somebody to bring it all together. I'd be willing to step up for a project like this.

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KelsdadAll-Star

636 days ago

Score 2

I agree with you both. Seriously, how many of us will end up writing our own previews between now and opening day? Not to mention the one's already done. All it would take is a number of users (who wouldn't actually write) selected as an editorial committee to take the best, most informative information from each article then post it as one. Certainly doable if you ask me.

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Bobbyjim45Draft Pick

636 days ago

Score 1

Are you talking baseball? It would be hard to do in such little time, and I'm not sure if it would be worth it with the season so close. I feel like if people wanted a comprehensive preview of the upcoming season in as much depth as we're thinking, they've already gotten it somewhere else. I'm thinking something like this for football, or if you guys didn't want to do that, we'd just keep it on the back burner for next year.

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KelsdadAll-Star

636 days ago

Score 1

I agree with the time aspect, but not the informational part. I have three mags now and they all have Santana a Twin and Bedard an Oriole. So ours would be more accurate. Start pulling stuff from articles already written, and edit the new one's. The article is for Armchair anyway, but if somebody picks it up after the season already started, where's the harm? Either way though, its a good idea.

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Niteowl049AAA-er

635 days ago

Score 1

I can remember buying The Sporting News when it was 25 cents and reading the stories about the players working their winter jobs. That may be part of the reason players today may be more athletic because instead of working in sporting goods stores like a lot of players back then did they go to the gym to exercise or have their own gym set up in their homes.

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Niteowl049AAA-er

635 days ago

Score 0

I also made it an annual thing to buy the new Street and Smith's Baseball Yearbook. It was the one baseball magazine I made sure to buy every year. I am sorry to hear we have lost it from our newstands. I was also disappointed a couple of years ago when Baseball Weekly ceased being an all baseball paper. Baseball America may be the only weekly baseball paper around today. I also remember the annual Baseball Digest prospects edition every spring and loved to read them again years later to see how accurate they were in predicting who the stars of the future would be.

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