I was waiting in an exam room at the doctor today* and the only reading material at hand was a copy of ESPN The Magazine from last August.
I should preface the following by pointing out that my interest in sports is pretty casual overall. I love watching football, but even during the season I watch maybe 6 or 7 games in their entirety. The NBA is boring, though I do like college basketball now and then (I hear it's pretty popular around here.) Hockey is great in person, but I've never watched on TV. Baseball is unbearable unless the weather is perfect and I have a designated driver so I can get pleasantly buzzed during the entire game. I'd rather wax my scrotum than watch NASCAR.
What I'm saying is, I'm not exactly the target demographic for a sports magazine, despite the fact that I am 18-35 years old and male.
So, believe me when I say that ESPN the Magazine is awesome.
The photography is stunning. The layouts are really innovative, drawing your eyes over the page in a different pattern every time. To tell the truth, it looks exactly like Seed, which is also excellent. As in the same fonts, the same cool text-to-photo flowchart designs, everything. I haven't been able to put the layout credits side-by-side yet, but I'm sure it's the same people. And they are very good at what they do.
And the articles I read were great. One was a photo essay of college football players, that talked about the physics of the various collisions they undergo. Another was on the new Cardinals' stadium in Glendale (as well as some other crazy futuristic stadiums around the world. But the one that really got to me was about Vladimir Chubinsky, (the story doesn't appear to be archived online, otherwise I would post a link) a Ukrainian trainer in Atlanta who has this incredible system of weight training. Basically, he has his clients lift huge amounts of weight through a very limited range of motion. His clients include a guy with MS who not only has gone from being nearly in a wheelchair to walking unassisted, but can also lift over 1000 pounds (the author describes him doing so firsthand.)
Anyway, if you are even remotely interested in sports, you should check it out. I'll probably order a subscription before football season starts.
*I'm fine. I had a kidney stone last month that I have managed to refrain from blogging about (until now) and this was the follow-up.
3 comments:
ouch, that sounds painful...was it?
Yes, but not nearly as bad as it is for most people. My stone was actually so small that I didn't even realize that I'd passed it when I (apparently) did. My pain was managed quite effectively by (frequent high doses of) ibuprofen. Which means I now have Percocet for a rainy day.
The worst part for me was that it hung around for a week, during which time I had to piss at least once an hour due to the amount of water I was drinking and (I think) the fact that it was rattling around inside my bladder making me think I had to go when I often didn't. Not the worst thing in the world, but it made tasks requiring my sustained attention (i.e., lab work) not much fun.
On the plus side, I lost 4 lbs. in a week, b/c my stomach was full of water the whole time and I just didn't feel like eating much. Which was about what I'd put on since moving to NC, so that was good.
ouch.
i heard of them stones, and hope i never get one.
looks like i'll have give that mag a looksee.
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