Barefooter's Full Review: Sports Illustrated for Kids Magazine
Q. Why do quarterbacks always drive in the left lane?
A. It’s the passing lane!
You’ll find sports funnies like this in every issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids. Granted, my 6 year-old can’t appreciate the subtleties of the jokes, but he can enjoy the attractive photography displayed in this magazine. Mom, however, doesn’t appreciate the tasteless Play Station advertisement featuring a grown male clad in a practically see-through piece of underwear. Wait a second, I do appreciate the muscular male form in the ad, but I certainly don’t appreciate its placement in a magazine geared toward children. This is one ad we could do without.
On to the magazine… The first thing that catches your eye is the pull out section of sports cards featuring famous sports figures from various sports. Some are well known, such as Scottie Pippen and Andre Agassi. Others are featured from lesser-known sports, such as waterskiing and marathon running. The neat part that pleases a parent is the facts on the back and trivia questions, such as: “How many World Series have the Yankees won?” You can use these cards for a learning session on a long car trip.
The letters to the editor section is laid out in neat Post-it/notebook/file card arrangements that make the pages look like a messy but fascinating desktop. Kids can contribute their own drawings of sports figures and have it displayed next to their letter to the editor. This is a nice interactive feature that encourages kids to be creative and write to the magazine.
Sprinkled throughout the magazine are more opportunities for kids to write in and share their opinion or answer questions. A recent issue featured the comments that John Rocker made about certain classes of people. Kids were encouraged to write in their opinion on whether “Mr. Big Mouth” should be punished, and if so, how? In another section, kids can write about sports problems and have it answered by a star.
By far, the most creative and funniest aspect of the magazine are the kid’s contributions. My son recently laughed his way through some clever “Comic Cards.” These are funny sayings written in cartoon style on sports trading cards. One of my favorites is a picture of an Orlando Magic player holding his thumb and forefinger pinched together and saying “Can’t you jump higher than this?” Ok, ok, so you have to actually be looking at this magazine to appreciate the humor.
Surprise of all surprises, there are actually kids featured in this magazine. And even more surprisingly, among the three athletes showcased, one of them is a girl. Which leads me to my major beef about this magazine—it’s all about boys and men and boys and men! The cover may say “Kids” but I can’t picture my daughter enjoying much of this magazine when she’s older, unless she happens to be into male-dominated sports. You won’t see the WNBA featured as often as the NBA—I’d like to know why not?
You’ll find historical perspectives on sports, which is one of the reason’s I value this magazine. For instance, it’s fascinating to know that basketball was the creation of one man, who was looking for a way to occupy a bunch of kids.
With the exception of the nearly naked man, this is a clean magazine written to appeal mostly to 8-12 year olds. I personally would like to see more female athletes featured in this magazine, but as it is now, I’ll let it be a male-bonding experience between father and son. After all, when they’re both engrossed in the magazine—it’s more Epinion time for me!
Sports Illustrated Kids magazine covers baseball, football, soccer, hockey, tennis and much more. Find athlete interviews, sports news and awesome act...More at Magazines.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.