You had questions about SLAM…
…Ed. has answers
By Ben Osborne
As you can see, the site continues to change. The big changes are pretty much complete. We’ve got some smaller tweaks to make but they should be in place by training camp and we will be up and running at full strength for the NBA season. SLAM’s publisher sees no reason why the number-one basketball magazine in the world wouldn’t have the number-one basketball website. His occasionally spotty financing of such goals aside, everyone here is game for his challenge, and hopefully the revamped site—along with continued support from all of you, easily the coolest web audience there is—make it happen.
When I last posted, I asked if you the readers had any questions about SLAM for me. I wouldn’t say my email inbox exploded, but I got 30 or so emails and there were also questions posted in the comment section. The ones below represent an FAQ, if you will, of things people want to know.
Feel free to keep the questions coming, particularly about the magazine, as I will gladly do another one of these in the future. And if you’ve got more online-related queries, you can always hit up your friends Lang and Sam.
Q: Who picks the high school diary?
Ed.: Ultimately, I do. But between high school experts Ryan Jones and Aggrey Sam and the rest of a staff that all at least casually follow high school hoops, I certainly feel like I have good people to bounce names off of before picking someone. This was the first year for me to choose, but I think going with Tyreke Evans (who debuted in the Spurs issue that is on sale now) stuck with what Tony, Russ and Ryan had done before me: pick the most compelling high school player in his class. Tyreke may very well be the “best” player in the class of ‘08 (Aggrey thinks so), but it was just as important to me that the long time he’s spent in the Philly spotlight and a very involved family insured that he’d have some good stuff to write about on a monthly basis.
Q: Why aren’t I getting my subscription here in Canada/England/Ireland/South Africa/etc? How can I buy old issues?
Ed.: Because the postal service sucks? The most common question is the least exciting for me, and arguably the one I feel most powerless to answer. In the early days of SLAM, the subscriptions were sent from this office, which meant an individual complaint could be taken from someone in the editorial team right over to the subscription office, and answers were easy to find. As SLAM teamed with Primedia and grew, it made like pretty much every other major magazine and now our subscriptions are handled by a company that specializes in getting people their magazines. It may be less human than the old way, but ideally it would be more efficient. So, no matter where you live (most of the questions I got like this were from outside the US, but I’m guessing Americans have some complaints too), if you are having problems with your subscription please call the SLAM Subscription line at +800-333-6411. They really should be able to help you out. One plus to the modernization of our subscription service is that there is a reliable place to order back issues (which the kind folks in our in-house susbscription office weren’t always so great at). That place is right here. Get your collection right!
Q: When does SlamUps come out?
Ed.: Maybe never again. Unlike KICKS (issue 10 on sale Aug. 21) and Streetball (out since June and possibly still on newsstands), SlamUps has never been a consistent part of our annual production schedule. I’m veering a bit into a business side of things I don’t always grasp, but I think we need a sole sponsor to make SlamUps, as Nike has done in the past. So, if such a sponsor steps up and wants us to do a special issue like SlamUps, we do it, but if no one does, I’m guessing the powers that be don’t consider it worthwhile to put out.
Q: Why not give more love to my favorite player, Baron/Gilbert/Dwyane/Kobe?
Ed.: The other classic question: why isn’t my guy getting love? Obviously, we could never satisfy everyone, but I think we do our best to provide a steady stream of the game’s biggest names mixed with up and comers and old-school cats, with the goal being making as many people happy as possible. The only guy I’m going to concede “failure” on for now is the most popular guy for you guys to complain about: Kobe, and that’s only recent. He’s been on plenty of covers in the past, but none since May of ‘06. I will go on record as admitting that’s too long. Some things that happened last season (AI getting traded, the Lakers not playing well late) were a factor, and this has obviously been a crazy offseason for Kobe (like I said in an interview I did in June: he did radio interviews that were outdated on the same day he did them; imagine how weird it would be for us to cover his trade demands with a six-week lead time?), so the timing has not been ideal for either party. All I can tell you for now is that we all know Kobe needs a new cover, and we hope to have that for you soon.
Q: Is it possible for SLAM to put up extra material from stories you guys do that didn’t make it on to the magazine? I love watching and reading the extra stuff and seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff.
Ed.: It is definitely possible, and to some degree we already do it. Pretty much every cover story is accompanied by a lengthy post on the site about writing the story: how they did it, extra quotes, etc. Lang is particularly good at this. We also post video footage whenever we have it in our media section. On both counts (writers putting extra thoughts and quotes in an online post as well as getting more behind-the-scenes videos), we will try to do more of this in the future. SLAM contributors, if you’re reading this, the people have spoken: give us some online extras when you do a story! The video is little harder because it requires an extra person to film, but I do know we got some great stuff at our latest cover story which we’ll put up when the issue goes on sale next month.
Q: Why do you do the “jump” pages?
Ed.: This is a pretty easy one for me. While I respect that it can be a pain to get engrossed in a feature and have to turn to the back of the mag to finish, the thinking is that when we have “fractional” ads (the ones that cut into a page and make photos on their pages smaller), why not put them on a page with all type from one of our longer stories and leave our Punks pages (with high school players, often photographed beautifully) cleaner. I also understand that many SLAM readers may not read any other magazines (love the devotion!), but we’re hardly the first magazine to do something like this…monthlies like Esquire have been doing it for as long as I remember.
Q: Why not give Max Airington a blog on Slamonline?
Ed.: I’ll finish up my q+a with this one, which came from multiple readers. Thanks to Sam, let’s just say you might want to keep checking our site this week. It should be an exciting few days for Max’s admirers…
76 Responses to “You had questions about SLAM…”
Aug.6 at 1:29 pm
ForzaMilan says:
Thank You. I grew up with SLAM. ah. remember the old site? dull and grey, but certainly more focused than this one.
Aug.6 at 1:48 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
The old site was more focused because we had one article a day, Milan.
Aug.6 at 1:51 pm
jbn74sb says:
Cool. One of the things I would like to see this offseason is a brief bio on the various slam writers. Colleges, major, grad school, age, whatever…
Aug.6 at 1:52 pm
white hot eboy says:
jbn74sb, co-sign on that.
Aug.6 at 1:53 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Ben,
What can I do to ensure that Max Airington never has his own blog on slamonline? ‘Cause I hate that guy.
Sincerely,
Ryan Jones, High School Expert ™
Aug.6 at 1:59 pm
Gerard Himself says:
maybe it’s because I’m dutch, and my english isn’t good enough, but I still didn’t understand why SLAM “jumps” pages. Fractional ads? Hm? What?
Aug.6 at 1:59 pm
ForzaMilan says:
Hey I Liked it that way! One click and everything you wanted to read was on the page. And a lot more links, anyhoo. jbn74sb’s comment is an acknowledgement that SLAM’s writers have attained a secondary tier of celebrity that gives glamour and authority to what they write. By rapping with cool-as-hell writers, we ordinary citizens feel as close as we’ll ever be to an NBA player. I wanna see fewer but longer articles in the mag! These are the articles that give a mag it’s re-readability, not a three page primer on the current state of affairs of James Horatio Posey. Basically, depth more than breadth, please.
Aug.6 at 2:00 pm
nick says:
and also their times on the track. Is sam grand slam champion?
Aug.6 at 2:03 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Dear Readers,
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ryan Jones, Cool-As-Hell Writer ™
Aug.6 at 2:04 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Full disclosure: I’m just really proud that I figured out how to do the ™ thing.
Aug.6 at 2:12 pm
Mo Charlo says:
The new SLAM just got down to Mexcio. Almost two months late, and at a cost of 75 pesos (around seven dollars). Even with NAFTA this is the best we can do? Nice Boobie Gibson props, though. And I would like to point out that Shaun Livingston sure has a high opinion of himself. Maybe it’s the pain killers. When he got hurt, and you could send him a get-well message on nba.com, I sent him one telling him to call Willis McGahee.
Aug.6 at 2:18 pm
Jesus Shuttlesworth says:
why did baron davis and the warriors only get ONE FRIGGIN PAGE???? WTF?!!?
Aug.6 at 2:23 pm
Rubens says:
dang you Milan, you took Alexandre Pato away from us!! At least my Internacional had time to beat Barcelona at FIFA’s World Chip!
Aug.6 at 2:29 pm
Tariq says:
Hey Ryan, If you can figure out how to type the copyright symbol with the “c” in a circle, I promise I might be impressed. Better yet, how about Prince’s old name?
Aug.6 at 2:32 pm
Tariq says:
Rubens, I thought it was funny when Galliani said that they were signing one of the following five a few weeks ago: ETO’O! RONALDINHO! SHEVCHENKO! DROGBA!…and, um, pato. Don’t get me wrong, he might turn out to be a really good signing, but I was having Darko flashbacks.
Aug.6 at 2:39 pm
Ben Collins says:
Mo, I don’t see what NAMBLA has to do with any of this.
Aug.6 at 2:39 pm
Gerard Himself says:
And I was wondering why you call the Finals issue, which is released in July, is called ‘September’.
Aug.6 at 2:40 pm
Ryan Jones says:
(C)
Aug.6 at 2:42 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Dammit, I thought that would work.
Gerard, to answer your question: Pardon the poor sentence structure here, but the dates on magazines are generally determined by when the magazine should be taken OFF the newsstand. It says September because that’s when it’s display period will be over and the next issue will come out. Stupid, but that’s how the system works.
Aug.6 at 2:44 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Take © AND ®! Keyboards are awesome!
Aug.6 at 2:48 pm
ForzaMilan says:
I like Milan because they’re filthy rich and have awesome uniforms. Also, George Weah. Allegiance sworn. With all the old players being signed, it’s nice that they have a young one though (Pato IMO doesn’t seem to fit). It scares me, because I just know that all their defenders are going to break down at the same time one of these days. Is there anyone there lower than age thiry two? It’s an anti-youth movement. I once compared the San Antonio Spurs to A.C. Milan, and I think that comparison still holds.
Aug.6 at 2:55 pm
Richie says:
I like the slam writer bio idea too, make it happen!
Aug.6 at 3:00 pm
white hot eboy says:
Does anyone else think that Ryan already has his bio written and that it would include his stints in the NBA, NFL and NASA? And a list of his premarital affairs with hollywood starlets and the lot.
Aug.6 at 3:01 pm
Ben Collins says:
Ryan, the doesn’t fall far from the tree. (Please work.)
Aug.6 at 3:01 pm
Ben Collins says:
Yeah, totally didn’t.
Aug.6 at 3:02 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
I don’t answer questions about my personal life. Only my impersonal life.
Aug.6 at 3:02 pm
Max Airington says:
I love you too Ryan. And Ben, were any of those letters from Scarlett?
Aug.6 at 3:07 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Damn you Ben Collins! You kids and your fancy “emotioncons” and AppleFones and “video games.” Damn you!!
Aug.6 at 3:09 pm
Phila says:
Slam needs to give more love to TMac, Melo and Kobe. I think yall made a mistake with the diary. It shouldve gone to Brandon Jennings. Best point guard in all of high school ball and tearing it up at OHA. And when are the TMac 7’s due out???? Thats it
Aug.6 at 3:10 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Max, sadly, we are under the impression that Scarlett has ZERO awareness of our existence. Pick up KICKS for more on her lack of interest in speaking to the SLAM family…
Aug.6 at 3:17 pm
Pic says:
ughhh please no more kobe
Aug.6 at 3:20 pm
Max Airington says:
Damn.
Aug.6 at 3:27 pm
mutoni says:
i’d love to tell you more about myself, but i don’t want my friends and family to find out that i blog. (shudder). it’s a little embarrassing.
Aug.6 at 3:38 pm
white hot eboy says:
Leave it to a Canadian to try and denigrate his blogging skills and all the other SLAMonline brethren who come her daily. Bastard!!!
Aug.6 at 3:45 pm
Gerard Himself says:
Thanks Ryan.
Wait, are people talking about Scarlett? le sigh.
Aug.6 at 4:02 pm
chiqo says:
there may be logical reasoning behind the splitting up of the articles, and i know many other publications do it, but it’s still annoying as hell. especially when it finally went away way back when, only to rear its ugly head recently.
Aug.6 at 4:42 pm
c-note says:
I’ve always wondered what is with the bald spot on Sheed’s head?
Aug.6 at 4:48 pm
Tariq says:
Ryan: Your skills are improving. After mastering the copyright symbol, your next challenge is this: reproduce that thing on Gorbachev’s head. If you manage this, you will achieve nirvana. Or not.
Aug.6 at 5:04 pm
DP says:
get a college diary. play wit it.
Aug.6 at 5:10 pm
Rubens says:
Tariq, Pato has the tool (tules like Homer would say) to be a GREAT player, he’s only 17 so anything can happen…
Aug.6 at 5:16 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
We tried a college diary once, the NCAA shut it down. Further cementing their status as the worst sports organization ever.
Aug.6 at 5:34 pm
Gerard Himself says:
c-note: lack of pigment
Aug.6 at 5:46 pm
BETCATS says:
russ the NCCA isnt the worst. The WPGA is suppose to be pretty bad too.
Aug.6 at 7:04 pm
DWADE says:
WHEN DOES THE NEXT ISSSUE COME OUT?
Aug.6 at 7:40 pm
The Big Lead says:
Congrats max.
Aug.6 at 8:37 pm
Dave says:
How often do you guys do 50 greatest players of all time magazine I got the last one with jordan on the cover i was wondering if you do it every ten years or something?
Aug.6 at 9:34 pm
Mo Charlo says:
Ben, what is NAMBLA? NAFTA should make things easier to get down here, what with there being no tariffs and everything, but I’m all for acronyms that take NAFTA down a peg. What does it mean?
Aug.7 at 4:10 am
FLUXLAND says:
I’m with ForzaMilan. (rosso nero e il colore vero btw.) The OG SLAMonline a.k.a. The Links was the real deal. Like MJ.. you can’t replicate or better it any way you package it.
Aug.7 at 8:18 am
Ryan Jones says:
Mo: Do yourself a favor and do NOT google “NAMBLA.”
Aug.7 at 9:59 am
Gerard Himself says:
personally, I like the “new” SLAMonline better. Not that is was bad, but this is one is better. Yup, I’m oretty good in explaining why. “Because it is!”
Aug.7 at 9:59 am
Gerard Himself says:
‘oretty’ is actually ‘pretty’. I don’t know what ‘oretty’ means.
Aug.7 at 10:33 am
TaiOne says:
your thoughts and feelings about Dime mag?
Aug.7 at 11:02 am
Ben Osborne says:
Thanks for the comments so far…The next issue we’re putting out is KICKS, which, as I wrote above, will be on sale Aug. 21. It’s our 10th Anniversary and Russ did a tremendous job on the cover story. Don’t want to tell you much more now…Then the next SLAM (#112) will be on sale in mid-September. We got a ill cover for that one, too. As for the old vs. new site debate, I have to be honest and say that as far as we’re concerned, there’s not the slightest bit of confusion over which is better. We have so much more content and we’re getting more new readers every single month. Lang may have changed the style of the Links a bit, but he’s still contributing almost every day while the rest of the site has more links/opinions/rankings then ever before.
Aug.7 at 12:07 pm
Jesus Shuttlesworth says:
ben, are baron and the warriors getting more love in the next ish, cuz one page is just sad.
Aug.7 at 12:08 pm
Jesus Shuttlesworth says:
mo charlo, go ahead and google it
Aug.7 at 12:16 pm
Mo Charlo says:
I wasn’t going to, but then I did. Holy guacamole, are they for real? Shame on farmer jones.
Aug.7 at 12:55 pm
Reggie Evans says:
I would like to see more WNBA coverage
Aug.7 at 1:49 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Jesus, there’s a 6-page Warrior feature in the current issue. Yes, it’s partly about the past, but the quotes from Nellie and the whole reason the story resonates is because of the season he and the franchise just had. And there’s more on G State coming soon. Tai, we honestly try to ignore any other publications that cover basketball out there because we don’t want our decisions on who to cover—or how to cover them—be influenced by what anyone else is doing.
Aug.7 at 10:20 pm
FLUXLAND says:
I agree there is more content, Ben. However, sometimes more doesn’t mean better. I know I have seen this as a comment on here before, but I have been to the site a few times and found myself overwhelmed with contect. Like, where do I start. Also, more content dosn’t mean better quality. In fact, it usually means less quality. That, I found to be the case on more then a few occasion. My handle on the English language is limited and I do not have a journalism degree but I’ve seen stuff on here that was, well, not that great. Kind of put on here just so you could say: Oh well we have tons of content. And, yeah maybe you have added some more readers but I am sure you have lost a few as well. Just my 2 cents, not that anyone cares.
Aug.9 at 12:58 am
Glen says:
Well here’s a question about the site…what happened to Omar? I remember him from the old site, and I don’t know if he’s made an apperance in a year or more….
Aug.9 at 12:42 pm
Philip says:
wat an amaazing slam!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!! but seriosly when are u gonna a but il mago on a cover or any rap for that fact. THE RAPTORS ARE FLATOUT AMAZING!!!!! they have 2 good sophmores one of the best PG combinations. there GM was voted GM of the year. they have the coach of the year. the have the 3point champ and they HAVE CB4$$$$$$$$$$$$this year they will make it to the finals or at least conferance!!!!!!!!
Aug.11 at 4:32 pm
rain man says:
phil is gay
Aug.13 at 3:08 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Omar got hired away by SiTV. He should have his first column for them up this week and we will surely link to it. In the meantime, you can still find his old stuff under “Ganster Entertainment Corner” in the columnists lineup.
Aug.15 at 3:53 pm
Domo says:
DID YOU GUYS EVER THINK ABOUT GETTING AT THE BEST RAPPER ALIVE LIL WAYNE IN THE “HYPE” SECTION? THAT WILL B RAW. IF YALL DID GET AT HIM BEFORE I STARTED COLLECTING SLAM (ISH 77 TO 111) AS 8/14/07 PLEASE CORRECT ME. IM OUT LIKE THE NEW JORDANS.
Aug.20 at 2:40 pm
Alex says:
Slam, u should make an article about new Clemson recruit, Demontez Stiit. He was one of the top PGs in the nation at Butler High School in Matthews, NC. U can find info about him on Scout.com
Aug.23 at 6:04 pm
KBryant24LAL says:
Sup Slam, Is there any issue in August cause i have a year supply for ur magazines but they arrive so slowly.I dont know if its you guys or the mail people are just lagging. Tyvm. (p.s. dont leave me on the hook answer
my question!!!!)
Aug.23 at 6:08 pm
KBryant24LAL says:
SLAM!! Next issue put something about team USA cause I need to know my parents caught of Raptors NBA
TV please. Peace out
Aug.24 at 6:55 pm
ChrisBosh4Raptors says:
Dear Slam I asked if there was a Slam issue this month (August) and i still did not get my answer!!! Please answer my question!! Tyvm
Aug.24 at 11:30 pm
cbillups1det4life says:
hey slam why do u guys never talk about one of the greatest PG (Chauncey billups) hes my favorite player and to other people to and we want to here about him and Detroit (but mostly him) (P.S keep up the good work) cya
Aug.25 at 11:35 am
Makenzy says:
SLAM IS THE BEST I lOVE IT ( YAY ITS A SLAM MAGAZINE)
Aug.26 at 11:05 pm
Neil says:
Yo, i dont want to beg or anything but i would really like an article and maybe a slam poster of my main light skin brotha Deron Williams, my birthday past 5 days ago, and well make it happen
peace
Sep.3 at 4:54 pm
celtics07-08 says:
When’s the next issue comin out i havent gotten one in a while???
Sep.8 at 9:56 pm
rashaan says:
why does lebron have to be featured in every issue in some shape form or fashion? please stop it.
Sep.9 at 2:14 pm
dwill says:
when will dwill get a cover that’d be tite at least something about the jazz they did so good last year and everybody is ignoring them and yeah we need a new issue hav’nt got one in ever!!!!!!!!!! give dwill a cover
Sep.28 at 10:01 pm
jmac says:
one thing thats being bothering me for a long time why the hell do you guys respect Lebron so much the guy just got the beat down by the spurs and another thing why does the guy get compared with the greatst basketball player ever which is the one and only MJ hes got nothing on him lets be real STOP PUTING LB IN EVERY MAG
May.7 at 9:32 pm
Earl Dionson says:
i’m sure the info is somewhere on this site but i have very limited access to the net and was wondering how i can order back issues…im a big Kobe fan and need last months issue and whatever other issues i’ve missed with him on the cover…i dont subscribe only because i need the magazines “mint” condition and i do not trust the post office…thank you for you time