COVER of latest issue of Sports Illustrated.

As I wrote in a column earlier his year, I have been a fan of Sports Illustrated for many years. Published weekly – in addition to its popular but somewhat controversial swimsuit issue – SI was the last word in sports journalism.

Sure, we all watched the big football game, but to find out the personalities, stratagems and weirdness behind the scenes we waited for the latest issue to arrive.

Earlier this year, amidst the turmoil of changes of ownership for the magazine, I dropped my subscription. Well, following many plaintive entreaties to “please come back” – along with a ridiculously low price – I signed up for the digital version.

Wow.

Whatever confusion in direction made SI highly expendable has lifted. The new issue is 82 pages of gorgeous color, with articles that grabbed my attention right away (my paper version arrived a day later)>

The first was an in-depth examination about what happened to the Pac-12. It’s complicated, but – according to SI – the culprits are the college presidents and athletic directors at UCLA and USC. They turned down offers of $30 million annually from ESPN, demanding $50 million.

When denied, they took their pigskin and left for the Big 10(ish), and that collapsed the conference as the Bruins (basketball) and Trojans (football) are/were the marquee programs of the conference.

Their departure started a rush for the exits and now you have California schools in an Atlantic-named conference.

The other article that grabbed my attention was one about the rise of the Angel City women’s soccer franchise.  Supported in large part by female investors, the ACFC is successful and profitable. Just recently, Bob Igor (Disney) and partner Willow Bay invested $250 million to become controlling partners of the team/franchise.

It’s now the most valuable women’s sports team in the world, worth more than many men’s pro teams.

This is the stuff I wasn’t getting anywhere else. So I’m back on SI’s team. If you  dropped off recently, you might want to give it a second chance. You might be delighted.