Everything Old Is New Again

Last Thursday Sports Illustrated unlocked The Vault; the magazine’s massive archives. And vault is exactly the right word, for treasure is the only way to describe the contents of this site.

SI has been in the business of printing the mot juste and capturing the perfect image for over 50 years. Here you’ll find the classic article in which George Plimpton described the 1974 Foreman, Ali fight in Zaire as a battle between a “big cartoon wolf, licking his chops, … tricked into some extravagantly ghastly trap laid by a sly mouse.” Here too, you’ll find the iconic image of the fiercely determined Roberto Clemente doubling off John Matlack to join the 3,000 hit club.

From the beginning, Sports Illustrated has covered not only professional sports, but college sports as well. In these archives you can discover the Holy Grail of Crimson Tide articles; “I’ll tell you about football” written by Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant. And equal treatment of college athletics inside the magazine also meant equal time on the cover with the classic SI cover photos.

I could go on and on. Trust me, this is a site destined for your favorites list.