When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
This news, which most had not noticed but will now, along with revelations can be seen in promo video set to rejected-reality show music for the Morning Drive star's Golf Digest photo shoot.
Sonders appears on the cover of the May fitness-themed issue which I've already seen on the newstand in my neighborhood.
Clay Travis analyzes the news of Time Warner spinning off magazines like Sports Illustrated and concludes that it's only a matter of time before print is gone and SI becomes another online Grantland.
I wouldn't agree, and certainly hope he's dead wrong. But then again this is shocking...
SI's descent has been a slow slide, preciptated by difficulty leaving behind print dollars to chase Internet dimes.
As recently as last year do you know what the posted rate was for a full-page ad in Sports Illustrated?
$392,800.
$392,800!
When you were making that kind of money, it was hard to get very excited about the opportunity of the Internet. You want to know who the companies were that got very excited about the opportunity of the Internet? The ones that didn't have the ability to sell full page magazine ads for $392,800.
In the halcyon days of print, the magazine business was amazing. Hell, all of print was. You might read the articles, but the magazine or newspaper existed for one reason -- as a mobile ad device to deliver advertisements to your doorstep. Yep, the first mobile ads were in print media.
Though the bar has been set pretty low, a shocking number of quality entries appear to have been honored in the 2012 GWAA Writing Contest where the judges largely shunned maudlin misery for actual writing about the sport its ownself!
If time allows I'll try to link the winners:
2013 GWAA WRITING CONTEST RESULTS
The following is a full list of the winners, including honorable mentions. There were a record 546 entries in the contest.
DAILY COLUMNS – 1, Dave Seanor, Yahoo! Sports, The false promise of Tiger Woods; 2, Jeff Rude, Golfweek.com, Vivid memories of Hogan and Nelson; 3, John Hopkins, GlobalGolfPost.com, In praise of the Amateur
Honorable mention: Ron Borges, Boston Herald, PoulterHeist; Steve Eubanks, GlobalGolfPost.com, A Selah for Furman; Jim McCabe, Golfweek.com, Remembering Furman Bisher; Josh Sens, Golf.com, Invited to The Country Club, finally.
DAILY NEWS – 1, Ron Green, Jr., Charlotte Observer, McIlroy slays field in PGA Championship; 2, Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.com, Bubba is part artist, part magician; 3, Ian O’Connor, ESPN.com, Olympic’s 16th Hole doomed Furyk.
Honorable mention: Tony Dear, Cybergolf.com, Win by Els is bittersweet; Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times, A new name in Masters lore; Jay Flemma, Cybergolf.com, Triple Double at Winged Foot.
DAILY FEATURES – 1, Jason Sobel, GolfChannel.com, More to The Jungle Bird; 2, Lisa Mickey, New York Times, A path to opportunity; 3, Jeff Babineau, Golfweek.com, Good attitude a must at Open.
Honorable mention: Gary D’Amato, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; Chuasiriporn left game behind; Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle, Rory’s future is limited only by his drive; Jim McCabe, Golfweek.com, Euro teammates trust Poulter; Alan Tays, GolfChannel.com, Back on course after accident.
NON-DAILY COLUMNS – 1, Beth Ann Baldry, Golfweek, Creamer’s tearful farewell to Pops; 2, Jim McCabe, Golfweek, Jack: Heart of a champion spans generations; 3, Ron Sirak, Golf World, Pepper’s pardon.
Honorable mention – Jeff Babineau, Golfweek, A band of believers; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Dufner is golf’s coolest man; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Rory is not Tiger.
NON-DAILY NEWS – 1, Tim Rosaforte, Golf World, No rest for Rory; 2, Damon Hack, Sports Illustrated, Red Storm Rising; 3, Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated, Phil wins, Tiger loses at Pebble.
Honorable mention – Jim Moriarty, Golf World, Beach Party, Rory wins PGA; Jeff Rude, Golfweek, Duval returns to Lytham; Curt Sampson, Golf World, Collectibles, bidding for history; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Rory, globe-trotting star.
NON-DAILY FEATURES – 1, Jaime Diaz, Golf Digest, Billy Casper, Out of the darkness; 2, Gary VanSickle, Sports Illustrated, Education of Tom Watson; 3 (tie) Steve Rushin, Golf Digest, Bad to the Bone and Jeff Silverman, Golf World, Book worms.
Honorable mention – Jim Moriarty, Golf World, Upside-down world of Randy Simmons; Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, How Jhonny V made good; Stina Sternberg, Golf Digest, Christina Kim: Tears of a clown.
SPECIAL PROJECTS – 1, Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Best Sunday ever; 2, Guy Yocom and John Huggan, Golf Digest, Rowdy Ryder Cup at Kiawah; 3, Gregg Dewalt, Times Daily, Revisiting Robert Trent Jones Trail.
Honorable mention: Mercer Baggs, Rex Hoggard, Randall Mell and Jason Sobel, GolfChannel.com, The year 1912 and how it changed the game; Peter Finch and Stina Sternberg, Golf Digest, How golf really treats women; Scott Michaux, Augusta Chronicle, Charl Schwartzel, rise of a natural.
It pains me to see comrades at Sports Illustrated/golf.com losing their jobs as part of Time Inc's 6% global work force reduction. Some very talented people were let go today, and while this Keith Kelly story doesn't name names, it won't get them their jobs back to point out who is suffering today.
This IBTimes.com story cites the layoff numbers, advertising issues and quotes the new CEO, Laura Lang, in a memo to staff:
In a memo obtained by Bloomberg News Wednesday, Laura Lang, the company’s CEO, spoke of a new normal in which magazine companies have to learn how to do more with less. “With the significant and ongoing changes in our industry, we must continue to transform our company into one that is leaner, more nimble and more innately multi-platform,” Lang wrote.
Innately multi-platform. As opposed to multi-platform.
“To make this change, we need to operate as smartly and efficiently as possible to create room for critical investments and new initiatives. These reductions are part of this important transformation process.”
Some poor lad named Nate Schweber got the call from a golf savvy NY Times editor: justify our superfluous A1 story on Charlie Beljan's "panic attack" by finding more golfers suffering from an untold epidemic that has been quietly dooming the game.
So Schweber headed to Van Cortlandt Park where, of course, no one had read the story in spite of its A1 placement.
Mateo’s tale of an anxiety attack on the golf course was one of several that were heard during a random stop at the course in Van Cortlandt Park. None of the golfers interviewed had read about the PGA Tour player Charlie Beljan, who had had a panic attack last week, only to forge ahead to his first career victory.
But the golfers in the Bronx did not need much prompting. Told the details of Beljan’s harrowing experience, they shook their heads in recognition.
What the NY Times actually uncovered were stories of folks needing my drug of choice, Prilosec.
William Larkin, 44, the general manager of the golf course in Van Cortlandt Park, said he had an anxiety attack trying to qualify for a golf tournament in Westchester County about 15 years ago and had to be taken to a hospital.
“I was getting winded going up small hills, my mouth was dry, my left arm got stiff,” he said. “I started thinking I was having a heart attack, which made everything worse.”
He said he spent two days in the hospital having tests. His symptoms had been found to be psychosomatic except for one. His worry had caused his stomach to produce higher-than-normal quantities of acids, which rose up and caused his left arm to stiffen.
“I’ll never forget that day,” he said.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
