Spreading the SI jinx

I got my copy of the SI college football preview yesterday and was immediately sickened. What’s up with this regional cover crap? Six different covers to “cover” six different regions of the U.S.? From a pure newsstand sales perspective we might be inclined to understand, but …

The ridiculous thing is that my cover had Ohio State on it, and I live in Connecticut! What the hell is that? I would actually have more respect for the distribution if I got the notre dame cover since there are so many domer "subway alumni" in the New York area … again, because there is an East Coast Bias and because there is no Division I football power in the Northeast. Sorry, B.C. Forget about it, UConn.

The other thing that doesn’t make sense is that at least half of the college football fans in any region don’t want to see the team chosen for the cover. You think ucla, Oregon or Cal want to see USC on the SI cover? I’m sure Texas A&M loves seeing Bevo on every newsstand in College Station.

It just doesn’t make sense. What happened to the old days when SI operated like a true national sports magazine. Remember Keyshawn on the cover in ’95? Of course USC wasn’t that good … mostly because John Robinson wanted to run the ball, and offensive "genius" Mike Riley didn’t figure out (until the second half of the Rose Bowl) that winning meant throwing the ball to Keyshawn. But, I digress ...

Obviously, SI is trying to hedge its bet. Or looking at it another way, maybe they simply want to spread the jinx.