MISTAKING JAMES DEPT.
Washington Wizards reserve center Jason Collins made history this week when he announced that he was gay — becoming the first active, openly-gay NBA player. We completely support Collins’ brave choice to go public — but, c’mon, he’s a fifth-stringer for the Washington Wizards. It’s a cover story for Sports Illustrated, for crying out loud! If they really wanted to move some issues, they should have gone for some bigger star power.
A KATE WITH DESTINY DEPT.
They say that high school is the best years of your life. And while that’s normally a bunch of nonsense, it’s probably the case for Jake Davidson. The gutsy senior posted a video on YouTube asking Kate Upton to be his prom date…and it looks like she may actually go! Still, even though it seems like a dream come true, before Jakey puts down a deposit on the limo, he may want to first consider these…
Yesterday, Kate Upton was announced as the cover girl of Sport Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue! And tonight, President Obama delivers the State of the Union Address! Guess which of these things more Americans care about? C’mon Barry, it’s time to give the people what they want!
MAD has a long history of running a wide variety of material on our back covers: fake ads, magazine parodies, comics, and more. To wrap up 2012, each member of the MAD staff selected a favorite back cover and explained why this one stands out above hundreds of others. Come back tomorrow to see another pick, and to read them all, click here!
MAD #278, April 1988
Selected by Associate Editor Jacob Lambert
Jacob says: "This was one of the first issues I received as a nine-year-old subscriber, and it’s fair to say that 'Sports Titillated' blew my young mind. The image was upside-down, so that when you flipped it, it felt like you had a whole new magazine in your hands. I was also desperate for anything that approximated the real Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which my mother had confiscated in an act of protective monstrousness. These two factors, along with a vague undercurrent of strangeness — am I supposed to find her attractive or not? — made this issue one of my early favorites. 'Sports Titillated' seems fairly weak to me now, but, as is so often the case with MAD, it hit me at the right time."
Photo: Irving Schild
Not to be outdone by The Wall Street Journal, ESPN Playbook conducted an interview with MAD Editor (and fervent curling enthusiast) John Ficarra about MAD’s 60th Anniversary, our upcoming book Totally MAD: 60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity and Stupidity and, of course, our mockery of sports over the years! You can read the full story here and check out a slideshow of some of our best athletic-supporting covers from the past six decades!
