Now that the Major League Baseball All-Star Game has ended, the countdown to football season begins.
Colleges won’t kick off their schedules until late August, but magazines previewing the race for the 2003 national title have been crowding newsstands for several weeks.
Preview magazines have been around for decades, but they’ve grown more plentiful in recent years. The Street & Smith’s guide and Sporting News preview magazine no longer have a monopoly.
With so many magazines on the marketplace, each seeks to create its own niche.
Some of the publications cater primarily to gamblers, while others offer feature stories on the nation’s top players.
Some focus on the major conferences while others offer more small-school coverage.
Some predict the bowl matchups and all of them try to guess the next national champion.
Here’s a look at six of the magazines available at area bookstores.
Jim Feist’s College Football Annual ($6.95)
WHAT’S INSIDE: This magazine is a gambler’s paradise with columns that include such headlines as "Creating your own lines two games in advance," "Handicapping and the weather," and "No excuse for not doing your homework." Almost half of this 260-page publication is devoted to showing how all 117 Division I-A teams have fared against the spread over the last 10 years. But you won’t find any player profiles, and the preseason rankings only list the projected top 10 teams.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: People who care more about point spreads than the final score.
WHO WON’T: Anyone wanting to know about the players behind the scores. Florida State fans also won’t be happy to see their team ranked third in the Atlantic Coast Conference (behind North Carolina State and Maryland).
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Oklahoma. 2, Ohio State. 3, Virginia Tech. 4, Kansas State. 5, Auburn.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 6. Florida and Florida State: Not in the Top 10.
Lindy’s ($6.99)
WHAT’S INSIDE: This magazine also has plenty of advertising from gambling services, but it also includes feature profiles of players and coaches. Feature subjects include Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione, Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel, Virginia coach Al Groh, Southern California’s resurgence and Auburn’s tailback situation. This 224-page guide also includes All-America teams, all-conference squads and favorites for each of the postseason individual awards. It lists the top 25 players at each position with a feature story on the No. 1 player. And it rates each of the Division I-A teams from No. 1 to No. 117.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans in the Sunshine State will enjoy the story on how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers built a Super Bowl championship team with the help of players from Florida colleges.
WHO WON’T: Readers more interested in statistics than feature stories.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Oklahoma. 2, Miami. 3, Ohio State. 4, Michigan. 5, Kansas State.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 2. Florida State: No. 18. Florida: No. 26.
Phil Steele's College Football Preview ($7.95)
WHAT'S INSIDE: Talk about overkill. Even the most fervent college football fans might cry for mercy after taking a look at this 328-page edition, which easily could have been 50 pages longer if the type face weren't so small. The magazine includes bowl predictions plus rankings of the top 40 teams in the nation, the top 42 Heisman Trophy contenders and the top 60 players and top 15 teams at each position. There also is a story rating the toughest conferences in the country. Every Division I-A school gets a two-page preview that includes one page featuring a statistical breakdown over the past six seasons. Even the Western Michigans of the world get the two-page treatment.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: All these stats make it a die-hard's dream. No other magazine offers such detailed previews of every Division I-A team.
WHO WON'T: Anyone who has a life. And they've crammed so much information in this magazine that the microscopic type will hurt anyone with poor eyesight. Local fans won't like seeing bowl predictions that have Miami headed to the Gator and Florida to the Independence, though this magazine does forecast an Orange Bowl trip for Florida State.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1. Ohio State. 2. Oklahoma. 3, Texas. 4, Michigan. 5, Pittsburgh.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 7. Florida State: No. 13. Florida: No. 32.
ATS Consultants Ultimate College Football Annual ($6.99)
WHAT'S INSIDE: This 232-page guide boasts that it had the most accurate preseason predictions of any college football preview guide last season. It gives each team a power rating, ranks the top 33 teams in the nation and lists the best players and teams at each position. This magazine also predicts all the bowl matchups (Florida to the Outback, FSU to the Gator, Miami to the Orange and South Florida to Houston) and even forecasts the year's top upsets (including Virginia over Florida State and Pittsburgh over Miami).
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Those bowl predictions will allow any vacation planners to buy their plane tickets early. After all, this magazine's supposed to be the best at predicting the future.
WHO WON'T: Fans who like consistency in their predictions. Florida State is predicted to tie for first in the Atlantic Coast Conference, yet the magazine apparently forgot to put the Seminoles in its Big 33 national rankings. There are three other ACC schools listed in the Big 33. Florida State's power rating of 86 is higher than that of Notre Dame, which is ranked 12th in the Big 33.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Texas. 2, Michigan. 3, Miami. 4, Oklahoma. 5, Ohio State.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 3. Florida: No. 16. Florida State: Unranked.
Sporting News College Football ($6.99)
WHAT'S INSIDE: This 192-page magazine rates all the Division I-A teams from No. 1 to No. 117 and gives letter grades to all the new Division I-A coaches. It also rates the top players and teams at each position. Its previews for the BCS conferences includes all-conference teams, conference players of the year, who has the best features (such as strongest arm, surest hands) and each conference's most underrated and overrated players. The most interesting part of this guide is that the top few teams from each BCS conference get two-page previews that include scouting reports from rival coaches (the one for Florida State says the Seminoles would still be winning 11 games a year if only they had a quality quarterback). Everyone else gets a smaller preview that doesn't feature a scouting report. This guide also ranks each of the players in every BCS conference team's recruiting class.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Those scouting reports will appeal to fans who want the unvarnished truth about their team's chances.
WHO WON'T: Anyone who assumes a magazine put together by one of the nation's top sports weeklies will include insightful feature stories. This publication doesn't have nearly as many features as the Lindy's guide.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Auburn. 2, Ohio State. 3, Oklahoma. 4, Michigan. 5, Miami.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 5. Florida State: No. 14. Florida: No. 26.
Street & Smith's College Football ($6.99)
WHAT'S INSIDE: The granddaddy of them all also is the thinnest of them all at 176 pages, but the lean edition is packed with information. There's a story on the politics of the bowl selection process, a preseason Top 25 and a one-page profile of each team from a BCS conference. There are smaller previews of Division I-A teams from non-BCS conferences. This magazine also lists the favorites for individual awards, rates the recruiting classes conference by conference and gives individual conference honors (e.g. who has the best hands, who's the top NFL prospect, etc.). What sets this magazine apart, however, is its coverage of small schools. While most preview guides discuss only the 117 Division I-A teams, Street & Smith's offers a one-page preview of the top Division I-AA conferences. It even includes Division II and Division III preseason previews, rankings and All-America teams. You also get eight pages of high school coverage.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Small-college fans and Martin County lineman Justin Delancy, who is listed as a "prep senior to watch" in the high school pages.
WHO WON'T: People who want long player features or in-depth profiles of their favorite major-college teams.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Oklahoma. 2, Miami. 3, Texas. 4, Michigan. 5, Ohio State.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 2. Florida State: No. 16. Florida: Unranked.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/college_sports/article/0,1651,TCP_1055_2120900,00.html
Colleges won’t kick off their schedules until late August, but magazines previewing the race for the 2003 national title have been crowding newsstands for several weeks.
Preview magazines have been around for decades, but they’ve grown more plentiful in recent years. The Street & Smith’s guide and Sporting News preview magazine no longer have a monopoly.
With so many magazines on the marketplace, each seeks to create its own niche.
Some of the publications cater primarily to gamblers, while others offer feature stories on the nation’s top players.
Some focus on the major conferences while others offer more small-school coverage.
Some predict the bowl matchups and all of them try to guess the next national champion.
Here’s a look at six of the magazines available at area bookstores.
Jim Feist’s College Football Annual ($6.95)
WHAT’S INSIDE: This magazine is a gambler’s paradise with columns that include such headlines as "Creating your own lines two games in advance," "Handicapping and the weather," and "No excuse for not doing your homework." Almost half of this 260-page publication is devoted to showing how all 117 Division I-A teams have fared against the spread over the last 10 years. But you won’t find any player profiles, and the preseason rankings only list the projected top 10 teams.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: People who care more about point spreads than the final score.
WHO WON’T: Anyone wanting to know about the players behind the scores. Florida State fans also won’t be happy to see their team ranked third in the Atlantic Coast Conference (behind North Carolina State and Maryland).
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Oklahoma. 2, Ohio State. 3, Virginia Tech. 4, Kansas State. 5, Auburn.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 6. Florida and Florida State: Not in the Top 10.
Lindy’s ($6.99)
WHAT’S INSIDE: This magazine also has plenty of advertising from gambling services, but it also includes feature profiles of players and coaches. Feature subjects include Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione, Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel, Virginia coach Al Groh, Southern California’s resurgence and Auburn’s tailback situation. This 224-page guide also includes All-America teams, all-conference squads and favorites for each of the postseason individual awards. It lists the top 25 players at each position with a feature story on the No. 1 player. And it rates each of the Division I-A teams from No. 1 to No. 117.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans in the Sunshine State will enjoy the story on how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers built a Super Bowl championship team with the help of players from Florida colleges.
WHO WON’T: Readers more interested in statistics than feature stories.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Oklahoma. 2, Miami. 3, Ohio State. 4, Michigan. 5, Kansas State.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 2. Florida State: No. 18. Florida: No. 26.
Phil Steele's College Football Preview ($7.95)
WHAT'S INSIDE: Talk about overkill. Even the most fervent college football fans might cry for mercy after taking a look at this 328-page edition, which easily could have been 50 pages longer if the type face weren't so small. The magazine includes bowl predictions plus rankings of the top 40 teams in the nation, the top 42 Heisman Trophy contenders and the top 60 players and top 15 teams at each position. There also is a story rating the toughest conferences in the country. Every Division I-A school gets a two-page preview that includes one page featuring a statistical breakdown over the past six seasons. Even the Western Michigans of the world get the two-page treatment.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: All these stats make it a die-hard's dream. No other magazine offers such detailed previews of every Division I-A team.
WHO WON'T: Anyone who has a life. And they've crammed so much information in this magazine that the microscopic type will hurt anyone with poor eyesight. Local fans won't like seeing bowl predictions that have Miami headed to the Gator and Florida to the Independence, though this magazine does forecast an Orange Bowl trip for Florida State.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1. Ohio State. 2. Oklahoma. 3, Texas. 4, Michigan. 5, Pittsburgh.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 7. Florida State: No. 13. Florida: No. 32.
ATS Consultants Ultimate College Football Annual ($6.99)
WHAT'S INSIDE: This 232-page guide boasts that it had the most accurate preseason predictions of any college football preview guide last season. It gives each team a power rating, ranks the top 33 teams in the nation and lists the best players and teams at each position. This magazine also predicts all the bowl matchups (Florida to the Outback, FSU to the Gator, Miami to the Orange and South Florida to Houston) and even forecasts the year's top upsets (including Virginia over Florida State and Pittsburgh over Miami).
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Those bowl predictions will allow any vacation planners to buy their plane tickets early. After all, this magazine's supposed to be the best at predicting the future.
WHO WON'T: Fans who like consistency in their predictions. Florida State is predicted to tie for first in the Atlantic Coast Conference, yet the magazine apparently forgot to put the Seminoles in its Big 33 national rankings. There are three other ACC schools listed in the Big 33. Florida State's power rating of 86 is higher than that of Notre Dame, which is ranked 12th in the Big 33.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Texas. 2, Michigan. 3, Miami. 4, Oklahoma. 5, Ohio State.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 3. Florida: No. 16. Florida State: Unranked.
Sporting News College Football ($6.99)
WHAT'S INSIDE: This 192-page magazine rates all the Division I-A teams from No. 1 to No. 117 and gives letter grades to all the new Division I-A coaches. It also rates the top players and teams at each position. Its previews for the BCS conferences includes all-conference teams, conference players of the year, who has the best features (such as strongest arm, surest hands) and each conference's most underrated and overrated players. The most interesting part of this guide is that the top few teams from each BCS conference get two-page previews that include scouting reports from rival coaches (the one for Florida State says the Seminoles would still be winning 11 games a year if only they had a quality quarterback). Everyone else gets a smaller preview that doesn't feature a scouting report. This guide also ranks each of the players in every BCS conference team's recruiting class.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Those scouting reports will appeal to fans who want the unvarnished truth about their team's chances.
WHO WON'T: Anyone who assumes a magazine put together by one of the nation's top sports weeklies will include insightful feature stories. This publication doesn't have nearly as many features as the Lindy's guide.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Auburn. 2, Ohio State. 3, Oklahoma. 4, Michigan. 5, Miami.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 5. Florida State: No. 14. Florida: No. 26.
Street & Smith's College Football ($6.99)
WHAT'S INSIDE: The granddaddy of them all also is the thinnest of them all at 176 pages, but the lean edition is packed with information. There's a story on the politics of the bowl selection process, a preseason Top 25 and a one-page profile of each team from a BCS conference. There are smaller previews of Division I-A teams from non-BCS conferences. This magazine also lists the favorites for individual awards, rates the recruiting classes conference by conference and gives individual conference honors (e.g. who has the best hands, who's the top NFL prospect, etc.). What sets this magazine apart, however, is its coverage of small schools. While most preview guides discuss only the 117 Division I-A teams, Street & Smith's offers a one-page preview of the top Division I-AA conferences. It even includes Division II and Division III preseason previews, rankings and All-America teams. You also get eight pages of high school coverage.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Small-college fans and Martin County lineman Justin Delancy, who is listed as a "prep senior to watch" in the high school pages.
WHO WON'T: People who want long player features or in-depth profiles of their favorite major-college teams.
PROJECTED TOP FIVE: 1, Oklahoma. 2, Miami. 3, Texas. 4, Michigan. 5, Ohio State.
RATING THE BIG THREE: Miami: No. 2. Florida State: No. 16. Florida: Unranked.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/college_sports/article/0,1651,TCP_1055_2120900,00.html
