The Preseason Mags

[Cincydawg]

Twenty years ago, roughly, I'd buy one of these and leaf through it.  I learned over time that nearly everything in it other than reams of statistics could be found here, or I already knew anyway, or was irrelevant.  I then resorted to glancing at them at Kroger and putting them back on the rack, just seeing what they said about UGA, which was stuff I already knew.  Of course, I got a lot more educated once I started reading this site, or its predecessor etc. etc. etc.

They still have a market apparently even in this day of the Internet, and I can imagine some fans save them for years and years and have piles of dog eared "Athlons" sitting in a box somewhere.  With all the information available today for free I'm a bit surprised they survive, and even prosper given the number available for each sport.  I idly wonder how many of them get read beyond the favorite team and a few rivals.

ELA does a better job condensing information into something usable anyway.  Duh.

I moved into the wife's house 5 years ago after living in my house for some 25 years and I of course ran across boxes, not of Athlon's or NatGeos, but "stuff" I guess at one time I thought was worth saving.  My current move is better for me as a result, but I still come across "stuff" and wonder why in the world I thought I'd ever want to reread that.  I cannot recall throwing something out and later wishing I had it back, or even being able to recall what I threw out, of this general ilk.

Are you a pack rat?  Do you save old "stuff" just because someday you think you might want it?  Do you ever sift through "stuff" in your basement on a rainy afternoon and end up with an extra large garbage pile?  Good idea if you don't.

I had two foot lockers of stuff on my son, newspaper articles, letters, "stuff" I couldn't through out but no longer have room for so I "dumped" all that and more on my poor daughter, who likely will store it in her basement until some time she has to move.  Now, that isn't the kind of thing I can easily discard in the trash of course, but I don't really have a need to look back through it, ever.  

We need 7 years of tax records and some other official documents, and some other "stuff", but really not that much when you think about it.  At least I don't have a 2001 Athlon in a box somewhere.  I do have some ancient baseball cards about to be pitched.  Humans are strange creatures really.  We are not well adapted to modernity in a lot of ways, and have created this modernity despite ourselves.

[Kris61]

I still a get a preseason magazine shortly before we go on vacation in the summer so I can lay by the pool or on the beach and leaf through it.  I never save them.  At some point they all get tossed.

I am not a pack rat but my wife sorta is which can lead to some, ahem, interesting conversations sometimes.  Lol.  I am strange in that I have basically zero sentimentality around “stuff.”  My dad died nearly 20 years ago and I have nothing he ever owned or cherished.  I have one small picture of he and I that is displayed in my living room.  It’s all I need.  Same with any family member I’ve ever lost.

However, I could see me taking a much different approach if it were one of my children.

[Cincydawg]

I just came across a smaller box full of old newspapers and Sports Illustrateds.  They now reside in recycling.

I had them in a box for decades, most of them, and never looked at them.

Yeah, the newspaper articles, and there were many, about my son don't get thrown out.   I just ran across a WSJ article written about the "Sole Survivor" and how he's doing, front page article for them back when.  The author sent me two copies.  Gave one to my kids, read the other one, this was 7 years old or so.

[ELA]

I always pick up Athlon as pool reading material.  It's generally far from the best, but I find it's readability highest.  As others have pointed out, at this point t, those mags aren't the place to go for the best in depth info anyway.  Phil Steele comes closest, but I can't think of anything less enjoyable to read by the pool.

I have all my old ones, probably back to 1993ish, somewhere.  For a middle school project, in a pre Google images era, I decimated a handful of them with scissors.

[Cincydawg]

I like the "vacation/poll reading material" notion.  I can see that, spend $8 or so and peruse at leisure in the sun.

I still get less out of them than I do reading stuff here.  I agree Athlon is more "reader friendly" and some pack in some many stats you get lost and don't care and they likely mean nothing anyway, but it makes the mag look "technical".

The Dawgs should be pretty solid again this year, hard not to be with their recruiting.  A pretty good coach should be able to have them winning at least 10 a year no matter what.

[FearlessF]

I read everything on-line these days

mostly on my home desk top - a bit on my phone

paperless is good

[Cincydawg]

Yup, but perhaps sitting by the pool without wifi makes the paper a decent alternative.

[FearlessF]

agreed

wish I was closer to the equator today by the pool with a paper

Hawaii, Cancun, Manzanillo, Grand Cayman, the Keys............ 

[ELA]

I read everything on-line these days

mostly on my home desk top - a bit on my phone

paperless is good

Me too, but outside like that, I'd rather have the hard copy.

[FearlessF]

yup, those folks sitting outside squinting at their Kindles bother me

[847badgerfan]

Outside like that, I'd rather be fishing.

[ELA]

Outside like that, I'd rather be fishing.

You don't catch anything worth keeping in a pool

[FearlessF]

[MarqHusker]

I do have a big arse box of old Street and Smith's (among others), some going back to the 70s.
During my teen years and into college, it was always a race to find the first ones before my brothers or friends.  An airport seemed to be the best spot for this.  Then the race was on to spot check these for mistakes, which wasn't/isn't hard.   A lot of these presumably have team capsule deadlines which come within mere days of spring practice, sometimes before.   

I always found it pretty funny how Lindy's would throw in a couple pages  of cheerleaders.