[BillOGoods]

I can't believe how far this venerable review of sports has fallen. It just hit me in the last two months that this is no longer the last word about about what has happened in the last week in sports (and its impact on society). Ha! What a joke, "the last word"? Hardly, it's not even relevant or even interesting anymore.

For almost fifty years, I have looked for SI to arrive in the mail on Thursday and be damed hacked off if it was late. Once in my hands, I quickly surveyed the magazine for interesting pictures or articles to come back to.

I don't remember when it happened, but at some point I would always go to the end and read Frank Deford or Rick Reilly and, then, when Steve Rushin started, he was a no miss. He might have been the greatest writer SI ever had. Then, on to the "meat and potataas," served up by some of the finest "beat" writers around.

Now, I find, for the last few years it has become painfully obvious how tedious, predictable, and boring every page has become. Holier than thou, politically correct, and stale. I mean, who the hell is Selena Roberts or Chris Ballard in the Point After spot and why, on earth, should anyone even care?

This "First Person" column that attempts to let us all get to know a professional athlete makes me want to puke, e.g., who gives a flying crap about Joba Chamberlain's beaded necklace? The sissy. That's all we need to know. He's a chump. And, oh boy, wasn't that interesting that Cliff Floyd last week and his bowling hobby.

Need I say more. The Stanley Cup coverage was, in a word, pathetic. They need to clean house, go back to the basics, get off the soap box, and start mattering again. It's a tall order.