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Football preview magazines

Discussion in 'Other NFL' started by Unlucky 13, May 27, 2014.

  1. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    I'm so miserable about how the newsstand preview magazine industry has fallen on hard times. I know that its because so many people choose to get their info online now, but its been part of my life for such a long time, and I really love reading them every year. Plus, a physical magazine is so much easier to read than a PC is, and I'm infinately more likely to flip through and back and forth and eventually read most of the teams in a mag than I am on a website. Plus, I can read while in the passanger seat of the car, or at a relatives house while my wife talks and the kids play.

    It seems like they come out later and later every year. In the early 90s when I started getting them, you could rely on the college previews to be out in early May, and the NFL in early June. When the fantasy mags started popping up in the mid 90s, they were usually a little later than the NFL ones. Now, everything is about a month later than what it used to be, and with the draft being 2 weeks later this year than normal, I wonder if that will push the schedule back too.

    Just got Lindy's National College magazine yesterday. Its been a gold standard for me since the beginning. There are fewer and fewer every year though. At one time, Id have rated Athlon maybe my 5th or 6th favorite publisher. Now, they're one of the last ones left. Sporting News merged with Street & Smith, so I lost a favorite in that. SI used to make one of my favorites for all sports, now they only make a fantasy football guide. I hope that they at least make that one this year. ESPN's been making fewer guides in recent years. They didn't have a draft guide this year for the first time since they started them about a decade ago. And of course, Pro Football Weekly went out of business entirely last year. *SIGH*

    I used to buy 5-7 college guides and 7-10 NFL every year. Now, I'm lucky to get half that. And whats left isn't always as good as they used to be.
     
    Aqua4Ever04 likes this.
  2. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

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    People are too lazy to read books now. Sadly a magazine is a book for most people.

    I too prefer physical copies of things, which is why I buy everything paperback or hardcover in general. Screw all these nook and kindle devices, and websites taking over the industry.
     
  3. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    In early high school, I'd learned almost every player in the league via collecting football cards and playing Techmo Super Bowl. My friends thought I was nuts. This was 1991, before the internet and constant NFL TV, so access was limited, and not as many people cared on that nerd-like level that I did, lol. I started buying the preview magazines the next summer, and have been ever since. I remember that my first ever was a Street & Smith I bought at the Kroger near my house on a sunny afternoon before my little brother's little league practice, so that I would have something to read. The Dolphins acticle inside featured a picture of Mark Higgs being tackled by a group of Bills from the game at Buffalo the year before.

    Picked up the Athlon and USA Today college previews yesterday. I'll be on the lookout for the Sporting News college book, but thats likely it for those this year. Hopefully, fantasy previews are out soon.
     
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  4. Unlucky 13

    Unlucky 13 Team Raheem Club Member

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    Well, if one thing is clear so far, the national media has ZERO respect for the Fins this season. Lindy's and Athlon NFL previews pick the Fins to finish dead last in the division, and rank them among the bottom five teams in the league. ESPN and Sporting News fantasy preview mags both pick every single Fins player to either stay flat or, more often, play worse this coming season, and both peg the defense to give up 3 more points per game. I just don't get how you can look at a very young team who underachieved to go 8-8 last season, who should have swept the Patriots, and say that they're gonna be about 5-11. Oh well.
     

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