shaqwadecombo's Full Review: ESPN Magazine Subscription
I'll start by saying ESPN the Magazine is one of the best sports magazines to those who appreciate a wide variety of sports. Meaning, if you only watch the NBA and not the MLB, NFL, etc., you should subscribe to an NBA specific magazine (such as Slam for example). If you enjoy a multitude of sports, then ESPN the Magazine is easily one of the more exciting magazines to read for sports.
When you subscribe to the magazine, you will receive about 1-2 magazines a month. These magazines are based on large images, accompanied with nice articles. Each magazine is 10 inches in length and 12 inches in height, giving you the perspective that this is a very large magazine! Each magazine has an average of around 135 pages (based on the averages of the last 4 magazines I've had). Previous reviews have stated that ESPN the Magazine is saturated with ads, and this is truly a fact. The issue I'm using for reference in this article was 124 pages long, with exactly 50 pages of ads in total. Of course, you must realize that most magazines you subscribe to will have ads; it's just that ESPN the Magazine has more ads than some others.
The first thing to notice about ESPN the Magazine are the large and vibrant photos of the cover athlete. What makes the magazine unique is the fact that depending on where you are located geographically, the cover will be different (but essentially contain the same articles). For example, the July 2nd issue features Greg Oden (College Basketball- Ohio State Center) for the Eastern ESPN the Magazine readers, and Kevin Durant (College Basketball- Texas Forward) for the Western ESPN the Magazine readers. Therefore there are usually two covers that are distributed; the Eastern half of the U.S. gets one version, the Western half of the U.S. gets the other.
The magazine starts with a table of contents, followed by a quarter page article on what's new at ESPN.com (which is explained at the end of the article). Next are two page articles about new news in sports by each Dan Le Batard and Bill Simmons (commonly known as the Sports Guy). These articles are interesting and are able to relate different sports to each other. One article features a writer (Peter Keating) debating who the MVP of the decade should be (eventually he chooses LeBron James). Following these articles is Stuart Scott's short intervention known as "Two Way", which is simple questions thrown at Stu about various sports. Some don't even have to do that much with sporting issues and are more opinion based. One reader asks, "Which championship trophy do you think is coolest?" (to which Stu replies the Stanley Cup). While some readers such as myself find this humorous, many die-hard sports fans may be aggravated by these somewhat silly questions. Therefore it is appropriate to ask the reader to be "light-hearted" as they read the magazine. "The Post" is the next article which just has a small piece reacting to the previous magazine and incorporates responses some readers had about the previous issue. Next is the section known as "Zoom", one of my personal favorites. It shows images from various sporting events, each image being two pages long. Therefore these images are 20 inches (length) by 12 inches (height), giving an aesthetically pleasing image. Zoom usually features 2-5 images per issue. Next is a section titled "Page 2", a 5-8 page article that goes into new things that recently happened in sports and also features various quotes and happenings. One of the better parts of "Page 2" is a section in which an athlete is interviewed and asked, "What are 10 things someone should know in your profession?" People interviewed are often athletes, but also people around athletes (these are often more interesting). Previous interviews have included 10 things you should know about the Laker girls, hot dog vendors, and even ticket sellers, but more often than not is the article is about an athlete. The rest of the magazine features small pieces, usually 2-3 pages of mostly written articles with accompanied pictures. These articles are what makes ESPN the Magazine not just a highlight show (like parts of ESPN's SportsCenter perhaps). Instead these articles are more personal and have inside looks on athletes lives or what they have been doing. They can be compared to the small pieces done on ESPN Classic and occasionally ESPN SportsCenter as well. These pieces are always very well written and insightful. Therefore, ESPN the Magazine often provides a view not found in perhaps a magazine like Sports Illustrated. It is also important to note that ESPN the Magazine does not feature the bikini clad women that Sports Illustrated often features, and therefore is appropriate to read even in the presence of a child or for a young teenager who can understand the articles. The magazine closes out with "insider information"; one page articles on each sport (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, motorsports, most college sports, and one page of fantasy sports information). The last article featured is known as "Outtakes" and is my personal favorite article each issue. It features conversations with athletes from various sports and Dan Patrick (well known ESPN correspondent) asks them wild questions. All these questions are accompanied with many images as well, making the conversations always a good read.
All in all, this magazine is one of the best crafted sports magazines out there. The most important thing to consider when subscribing to ESPN the Magazine is if you watch multiple sports, not just one. If you only like watching one or two specific sports (say just NBA and NHL), then you will only be able to appreciate half the magazine. But even if you appreciate three or four sports and no more, you will be able to enjoy most of the articles, and will probably have a great time reading ESPN the Magazine.
The most important thing to mention will be the benefit of having access to ESPN Insider articles on ESPN.com. Therefore the ESPN website, and each sport, has new articles each day, and updates by the hour, so you always have an alternative to the magazine. Therefore if you are focused on one sport more than the others, you can always log onto ESPN.com, and have the added benefit of reading well written articles by ESPN's expert writers themselves. Without Insider, you can read some articles, but most articles are labeled as "Insider" by ESPN, and without typing in a password and ID, you can't read these articles. If you were to buy ESPN the Magazine, this would be the most valuable part of your subscription, and it comes absolutely free when you subscribe to ESPN the Magazine.
The bottom line is that this magazine is an aesthetically pleasing, often comic interpretation of sports, which can be comic at times, yet still holds interesting information about the sports world today. All of the pieces in the article are always well written and interesting, if you can enjoy reading about a multitude of sports. If you can, then make sure you purchase ESPN the Magazine!
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