SI has announced that it is firing most of its staff. Whether it will continue as a weekly publication is in great doubt.

This is a sad – even tragic – story of how wokism and progressive ideology have ruined one of America’s most iconic magazines.

For many decades Sports Illustrated was a must-read for sports fans throughout the country. It was pure entertainment with spectacular photography, brilliant writing, wit, and humor. It was an adrenaline rush every week to see which spectacular athlete would don the cover. (Michael Jordan and Muhamad Ali have the most multiple covers.)

But in recent years, the editors decided that SI should be a political and social commentary rag  – not a sports magazine. It embraced a radical climate change agenda, celebrated the unpatriotic Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee as if he were the Jackie Robinson of our era, trashed Donald Trump regularly, embraced the LGBTQ and DEI agenda, and on and on. We weren’t getting sports stories, but scalding social statements and lectures.

Sports is supposed to be an escape from society’s problems, not a preachy New York Times editorial page.

For many of us, the end came a few years ago when SI started self-righteously using the swimsuit issue to make political points. Subscribers longed for the days of beauties like Kathy Ireland, Cheryl Tiegs, and Christie Brinkley.