Sports Illustrated - Print vs. Online

It started in 1954 and today Sports Illustrated is still the golden standard for sports magazines.  Sports Illustrated has different articles about all types of sports, depending on the season.  It also has many articles about people in sports and something that they do outside the world of sports.  Sports Illustrated has always had a good organization and really flows well together each and every week.  The first few pages are of different pictures from current sports.  Then there are a few short articles from different people. After you get through all that then you get to the longer articles with more pictures.  There is always one nice short article on the very last page too.  Sports Illustrated does a good job to mix long and short articles.

The great thing about Sports Illustrated is that it is not just words, but they had some of the best sports photography around.  They use some great pictures that go with each story and all the pictures are in color and it makes you feel like you were at the game.  Some of the different products advertised in Sports Illustrated are, for different cars or cologne also some from different candy places and Pepsi too.  Sports gear is another poplar one in Sports Illustrated.  In the first few pages there is a lot but once the long articles start there is not as many, which is good.   

I found out that there is two parts to SI.com.  The first part is the actual website which gives you a great list of many different stories and articles, some of which are more current which keeps you updated on the world of sports.  Each sport has a tab and it is easy to find a story for you.  The second part is if you click the magazine tab it will take you into a log in page, now if you get Sports Illustrated at your house you can log in and view the magazine online which I thought was really cool.  It is the same issue but in an online form for people on the go.  Overall online have the same stories but also more up to date ones which is a good thing.  Sports Illustrated only comes out once a week but online there are new current stories everyday so online you can get more information everyday but the magazine is still great to get for the once a week articles. 

The main competition to Sports Illustrated is ESPN the magazine.  I would say the main thing that puts Sports Illustrated over the top is the fact that it comes out every week and ESPN comes out every two weeks.  The second thing is that Sports Illustrated is the normal style for a magazine while ESPN is a big magazine and awkward to hold sometimes.  In my opinion while I like going to ESPN.com to get current stories, I prefer reading Sports Illustrated in print form because to me they have better articles about more things I want to read about.  The most important articles that the editors try to produce is current sports and helping us get to know someone in sports too.

Two great strengths about the print and online version of Sports Illustrated are first the layout of the online site.  If you like sports there is a good chance you will find something you want to read.  You can get up to date scores and one of the great thing I think is they have lists of SI photo galleries which is very cool.  The second strength is the fact that the print form is normal size and it put together well.  You have pictures and smell articles in the front which lead to longer articles, white many pictures to go along the way.  One last thing is that being on the Sports Illustrated cover is a great accomplishment because the SI cover has become iconic.

Two shortcomings of print and online version of Sports Illustrated are, first in the print version in the first few pages there are short articles about either random sports or not as popular sports.  While I like they appeal to everyone, there are a lot of people who just skip those small stories.  The second is sometimes the print versions stories are from last week and people want this week’s stories. 

The primary target for Sports Illustrated is mostly guys, but also any sports fan in general.  If you love sports then Sports Illustrated is for you.  The ads do fit because they are for things guys like, cars, candy, cologne and sports gear.  There are not really any stereotypes in the articles because they know who is reading it and really write how it is. 

I get Sports Illustrated in print form at my house, but if I want current information in sports most of the time I will go to ESPN.com but I have many places I go.  For me I prefer the print form because I don’t use SI.com for online information.  The Sports Illustrated magazine I get every week I know I will read from cover to cover because the stories interest me and are  easy to read.  I would say it depends on the audience.  If someone is big on reading things on the Internet then the print would better serve them.  If it is say maybe an older sports fan who likes reading the print form it would be better serve them.  For the instant access, the online form gets you information as it happens. 

I do follow Sports Illustrated on facebook and do have the app for my iPhone, along with my ESPN and yahoo sports apps.  They all give me all the information I need.  I learned that you should really look deep into a magazine to really get the feel for what purpose it serves.  Sports Illustrated has been around since 1954 so I figure they are doing something right.  I also learned that no matter what sport you might like, Sports Illustrated has it covered and will tell you a little something about it which is a great feature. 

Introducing the New Outdated World

You get the new hot phone, you're super excited about it, and everyone is going to be jealous. Then you show up to class on Monday and the person sitting next to you has the even newer version of the phone. This has happened to me before. Has it ever happened to you? With the world becoming so technologically advanced once you buy something it is almost immediately outdated. This keeps the consumer wanting more and the producers raking in millions and millions. Best Buy recently came out with a new commercial that embraces the advancing technology in the world and how quickly it evolves. Do you like how fast technology is advancing currently?

Television: Modern Family

On February 2, 2011 I watched the show Modern Family on ABC at 9 p.m. This was the first time that I watched the show. It is a comedy about three different families and follows their ups and downs. Modern Family is a sitcom and stars Edward O'Neil and Julie Bowen. The show is on ABC which is known for airing family friendly shows that appeal to people of all ages.


This show is all about one big family that is focused on three different households.  At the top you have Jay and Gloria and Gloria’s son Manny.  Jay has two kids, a daughter Claire and a son Mitchell.  The second household focuses on Mitchell and his life partner Cameron and they had an adopted daughter from Vietnam named Lily.  The last house focus on focuses on a typical American family named the Dunphy’s.  Claire is married to Phil and they had two daughters named Haley and Alex and one son named Luke.  

The ads during the commercials were in pretty much three groups.  The first group was cars, the second was food and the third was everyday products.   There were ads for Cadillac, Volvo and Mazda.  The food ads were all the normal places to eat, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, BK, Domino’s and Taco Time.  The everyday products ranged from Advil to laundry detergent to Ziploc bags.  There was also a few random ad’s like one for JC Penny’s and a iPad.

Video courtesy of WeeklyTop10

There are many different attitudes in this show. The episode that I watched showed that the main attitude of the show is the value of family and challenges that they face. As I was watching it I felt like it did a good job of showing how every family is different and handles things differently. The show is filmed on location in Los Angeles and it is edited to look like a documentary. This show is very different from other shows because it includes a gay couple in the show, Cam and Mitch. This actually caused some controversy when the show first aired. In the episode that I watched it appeared that the show does embrace several types including gay men being feminine, father-in-laws being hard on their son-in-laws, and the famous ball and chain that wives have on their husbands. 

The ads to me make a lot of sense to be running on this show.  The show is targeted toward the normal middle class family and these commercials work well in that.  All the food ads were showing a great deal like four items for only $5 or the Wendy’s dollar menu. The other ads were for normal products that the middle class family would need and can relate too.
 

Modern Family appears to appeal to all different types of audiences. This could be one reason why prior to the start of the show they referred to it as TV's #1 comedy. I can see it appealing to the young, the old, families, white, Hispanic, and even the gay community. The one demographic I don't see it trying to reach as much is the African-American community because there are no African-American characters on the show. This is also reflected in the commercials which were mainly car commercials (like Lexus), and other ABC shows, primarily the comedies on ABC. If I was from another country and watched this show I would get the idea that American families were very discombobulated, but also quite humorous at the same time, and that they always work out their differences.

I feel that the show did a very good job of trying to get different perspectives of families to play a part in the show. By this I mean they have a gay family, and family dominated by the wife, and a family who found each other through divorce, like many families in the U.S. these days. Modern Family does a great job of incorporating humor into the everyday life of a family and showing the lighter side of families struggles at times. Though we may want to believe that this is an accurate view of most families, this is not the case and therefore I feel that it is more of a parody of real life rather than an actual portrayal. Metacritic's critics rave about the show for many of the same reasons that I just mentioned. One critic actually said that it was "far and away the best prime-time sitcom". 

I have never watched this show before tonight but I was very impressed by it. I know several friends who watch this show regularly and have suggested it to me on numerous occasions but I usually brush it off and never watch it. To be completely honest I just might become an every-week watcher now. Overall I was able to take a lot away from watching this show, including things like the importance of family and also (this is not a bad thing) about how Hollywood knows that families are struggling right now in America and can use this show to basically say, "Not every family is perfect, but every family is funny."  I learned that no matter what life gives you to work with, you will always have family there to pick you up.


I have to say that I agree with the points that Brian and Mindy said about the show.  The way this show is made, helps it flow well.  The producers really understand who watches the show and makes it more real in some cases and people can relate to it.  Overall it is a very funny show that does a good job of knowing who watches it.