Michael Phelps gives SI a real swimsuit edition

Someone I know who works in advertising at the L.A. Times believes she could make a mint for Sports Illustrated if the magazine would allow her to sell a swimsuit edition for women.

I'll take her word for it.

But I was reminded of the conversation when I saw the cover of SI's Sportsman of the Year edition, with winner Michael Phelps on the cover. Now there's an opportunity for a legitimate swimsuit cover, the winner of 14 Olympic gold medals in his Speedo.

It would be a dream come true, according to our advertising colleague.

But how did SI have Phelps pose? In a dress shirt with a coat slung over his shoulder and an untied necktie.

It is a wet dress shirt, by the way, but still....

Didn't SI miss an equal opportunity here to sell magazines to an audience that maybe isn't so interested in Heidi Klum?

-- Randy Harvey

Photo: Sports Illustrated's Dec. 8 cover shows swimmer Michael Phelps. Credit: Sports Illustrated / Associated Press

Comments

[Tom]

Hear, hear! We Americans treat our men like conservative Islamic countries treat their women: covered from head to toe. From football to hockey and now basketball, with its ankle-length shorts, those of us who appreciate the male physique never get to see it. Why not? We should take a clue from ancient Greece or Rome. The male physique is not ugly or shameful.