SLAM,BAM,WHAM. THATS BASKETBALL (Slam)

Name: rude2626

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Product:	Slam
Date:	05/08/05 (244 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The whole magazine

Disadvantages: Nothing

I didn't capitalize bible, 'cause that is reserved for the Good Book, but this magazine is just that: a tremendous magazine that covers just about every aspect of basketball you can imagine. True basketball heads will appreciate this magazine, as well as people who really want the know-how on who's up and coming in the sport. Remember when LeBron James was just hyped beyond anything ever seen before, with appearances on just about every sports magazine cover? Well, Slam was way ahead of the game, already knowing about James in advance of anyone, placing him in a spot they call the basketball diary, an article in which usually a high-school player writes about what is going on in their life. So, they had the advance pub, not anyone else. Here is a typical sentence: "Y'all better get y'all s*@t together!"

Yes, this is one thing that you must be aware of. There is, not overly done, but some bad language printed fully in throughout the pages. Also, the "N" word is used, so if you are easily offended by stuff like this, you shouldn't read it at all. But look at the NBA. What is the race that is the majority? African-American. You can go through a whole game and not see one white player on the court. So, Slam is being smart in making the magazine a lot more accessible to this crowd and using language that is much more culturally accepted.

The cover right now is of Shaun Livingston, Sebastian Telfair, Dwight Howard, Marvin Williams, Al Jefferson, and Josh Smith. Maybe you haven't heard of them. That's because they are all in high school, with some of them, most notably Telfair and Howard, jumping straight to the pros. The cover is always of players in poses, never action.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and...oops, my bad. I mean, at the start, there is a section called the "6th Man" in which the editor gives a quick overview of why they picked the cover they did. Then, into "Trash Talk." This is where, we the reader, can write in and share our feelings. The funny part is, the editor always has some wise-crack response to a lot of letters and it is absolutely hilarious. Here's one response in reply to a letter concerning a guy who is moving to England. "Yep, we're available in England. Right next to all those magazines featuring whoever David Beckham's latest conquest is."

Next is "Hype," in which they have several little articles about what is going on in the basketball world, from college, women's, pros and two boxes called "Where Are They Now," showing a person who has just disappeared off the face of the basketball map and "Stat Box," in which they show either a really awesome stat line or really odd or horrible one in a recent game. Running underneath the pages is a bar called "Noyz," which gives amusing antecedents about anything going on in the world, especially about basketball, like "Jayson Williams may not do time, but he's gonna have some serious problems if he ever wants to hire a limo again." Williams is on trial for manslaughter in the death of a limo driver he hired.

The following pages have four or five one page articles of a certain player that doesn't usually get a lot of pub, such as a sixth man on a team. Then, an article called "Slamadamonth," in which they show an incredible dunk in print and a big photo, with a little screen-by-screen bar off to the side showing how it developed, usually from a TV camera. This is always something I look forward, 'cause the dunk is usually hard-core enough to get ya itching to go dunk on someone's head. In the middle of every issue, correlating to the slam picture, is a two-sided pull-out poster they call Slam-Ups, in which a player is usually dunking on someone. But sometimes it just can be a player doing a lay-up, ie Allen Iverson, or a player showing off a great pass, ie Jason Kidd.

Then of course, come the main articles, profiling superstars, usually. This issue has Lamar Odom, Quentin Richardson, Carlos Boozer (betrayer of the Cleveland Cavaliers and all, of course, this article was written before that happened; he reneged on a verbal agreement to the team and instead signed with the Utah Jazz), Dwight Howard, a profile of the top 10 juco stars, and Alana Beard (I hate Duke players; go Tar Heels!). As you can see, diverse articles, including the women's game, with great photographs. There is a particularly good one on page 71, showing Richardson going up hard for a layup against Gary Payton (it also helps there are both wearing sweet custom player colorways of the Air Jordan XII's).

One issue has a spread called "The Year In Photos" that is just so cool. Every photo could win a prize, they are just that good and eye-popping. As you can tell by the title, this is usually when the NBA season is over. Plus, the variety of articles is just unmatched by any basketball magazine. Slam consistently does articles on players no one knows about or pays attention to and puts them in a different light that no one sees. Grassroots, Nike, adidas, and one, and Reebok basketball camps, high school, both men's and women's, prep, juco, Division I colleges, DII and even DIII colleges, WNBA, and NBA, you name it, they have covered it and to a level of insight that no one can touch.

The articles are nicely written, usually quite opinionated, and controversial, which is quite cool to me. Granted, Plus along with the top high school guys list, comes the girls as well. Not that I care that much, not being a big fan of womens basketball, but the coverage is there (sorry, not trying to be sexist at all).

After that, they have an interview with an old player who is out of the league. They have interviewed such legends as Earl Monroe, George Willis, George "The Iceman" Gervin, etc. This issue has a Chet "The Jet" Walker interview. Next, comes probably the highlight and the section I turn to first when I get this in my mailbox. Surprise, its a section called, appropriately, "Kicks," in which they showcase the new joints releasing soon, or just out in the stores. There are two sections to it, one for oncourt basketball shoes and one for shoes off the court, such as runners or cross-trainers. A really cool thing is they sometimes show player exclusive shoes that have their initials and numbers, or special symbols engraved and in the player's specific colorway for his/her team. Man, if I could only get my hands on some of those, I would be in complete shoe heaven. After that comes two sections called "Pre-Game" and "Check This," the former being a review of the most recent sport video games, the latter being a showcase of apparel and equipment you can buy in stores.

Hope you all enjoyed reading my review. Thnx for reading

Summary: A great magazine for all you basketball fans