By Ben Osborne
You may have gotten enough hints from Ryan to figure this out, but with the New Year comes some big changes at SLAM. Ryan has moved to the sticks of Pennsylvania, and while he’ll remain a faithful (if we can call his once-a-month-postings “faithful”) contributor to the site, it will no longer be delivered from his Sidekick (we’re not sure if they work out in the country). As such, Ryan and Sam are working on some new, farm-inspired name for his blog. Check for that soon.
As for his replacement, the new Ed., you’re reading him. Those of you who read the masthead closely should recognize my name, considering it’s been in the mag for more than nine years. When I started as an $5/hour-making intern in ’97, SLAM had no website. We came out eight times a year and that was it. There were no magazines that bit our style, so eight times a year seemed just fine. SLAM did its thing, hoop heads bought it, and shit was simple. Needless to say, lots has changed.
Thankfully, we’re still in a great position. Thanks to Sam and Lang’s groundwork and some writers that are more on-point with this style of writing than I will probably ever be, slamonline.com is a daily must-read for all basketball fans, not to mention fans of the Mets, Giants and The Wire.
Meanwhile, the magazine may have its imitators, but I think it’s as hot as ever. If you disagree now, reserve your comments til you see our next issue, which has got a whole new look. If you disagree after you see that issue, holla at me. For real. I’m gonna be checking in here once a week with some online-only content, but for the most part I’m leaving the web stuff to the professionals. My main gig is ensuring that SLAM Magazine remains as good, and important, as ever, and that means listening to its readers. So, besides asking that you all be sure to get every single issue of the magazine (especially the next one—on sale late January), please put your comments below; I’ll be checking on a daily basis. If you want to ask me something directly without all the slamonline heads reading your thoughts, hit me up via Sam.
See you next week.
