Sports Illustrated is starting to go down hill. All they want to cover is the Yankees, Red Sox and Lakers ... There are plenty of other sports stories and plenty of other fans other than Yankee, Red Sox and Laker fans. Even the state-by-state stories have gone downhill as the year has progressed.

Sports Illustrated remains the best sports magazine on the market today. I have been a subscriber off and on since I was a kid, and have been a current subscriber for three years.

Sports Illustrated has excellent feature stories and profiles of teams and athletes. They do a superb job of covering the major sporting events and major sports. It also keeps the reader abreast of developments in a large numbers of sports. And it frequently has longer features that focus on everything from sports history, important current sports issues (such as steroid use), and profiles of more obscure sports.

If you are going to subscribe to a sports magazine, this is the one to go with.

SI has been around for fifty years and has only gotten better with age. The writing is still top notch and the pictures are breathtaking. Quite simply SI is journalism at its finest.

When I was growing up, my older brother, used to keep back issues of Sports Illustrated under his bed. Since he and I shared a bedroom, it was very easy for me to take a look at all of those issues he decided to hold on to. I tended to especially enjoy reading the magazine during football season. Ah, the days of Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, and John Elway, there was nothing like it. I remember being impressed with the vivid on field photography, straigjht talk about the world of sports, and its look at all of the stats with each sport.

With those memories in mind, after years of buyng it at times on the news stand, I just signed up for a subscription. Over the years SI has constantly set the standard for covering sports on and off any field. With Football season right around the corner, and sports stars always making news, I can't wait to get the first issue. Thankfully, the swimsuit issue follows, soon after the gridiron game ends its season. Recommended

I have been a subscriber to SI for 18 years (since my junior year in high school). Some may be disappointed with the magazine because it is essentially the BusinessWeek of the sports world. But just as we have CNBC for real-time business info, we have ESPN (or CNNSI) for real-time sports info. That's not what SI is supposed to be - never was. SI fills the role of recapping the major developments in the sports world, while adding a great mix of some feature articles (often athlete profiles or controversial issues), "hit-and-run" facts and figures, as well as the obligatory editorials. When I consider what I look forward to each week, it's actually not the wrap-ups of major sports events or some high profile story. It's the "little things":

-the provactive close-up pictures at the beginning
-Letters to the Editor (maybe the only ones I read of any mag)
-Go figure (intriguing numbers that tell a story)
-Rick Reilly's last page column (he has a warm, conversational style that's almost mesmerizing)

Yes, it's true. You'll read more about baseball, football and basketball than you will about swimming, golf, or extreme sports. But accept SI for what it is - a great way to stay current, go deeper than the daily sports page, and be entertained. The price offered here is cheaper than my own subscription - it's also cheaper than a cup of coffee and lasts longer. So if you are even half a sports fan, you should be treating yourself to a weekly SI.