The first edition of talkSPORT Magazine was released to the public yesterday. Jason Bourne checks out of the all-new digital publication, which is free of charge from the talkSPORT website at talksport.net.
Comparisons to the likes of Zoo and Nuts were always going to be made. Chasing a similar area of the market, it was fully understandable that talkSPORT Magazine would have more than a passing resemblance to those publications that we either love or loathe. Rather than the promise of seeing the latest female Big Brother evictee in nothing more than silk panties, the front page reminds the football fans amongst us that the new football season is just over a month away; thirty seven days, in-fact. We can almost touch it. Smell it. Feel it. No, wait. I’ve just spilled cider down myself. I hope that doesn't stain.
It has similarities with lads mags currently on the market when it comes to style, format and content and you can see that it’s been devised and written by the sports editors and writers from these sort of publications. However, as you'd expect from talkSPORT Magazine, it's very much heavily leant towards sport. And not just football. With the British Grand Prix and Wimbledon Finals taking place this weekend, it’s quite refreshing to see these covered in a manner which befits their status. Alan Brazil gets in on the act giving his opinion on how Lewis Hamilton will fare down at Silverstone on Sunday in video format, whilst Andy Murray is grilled ahead of his, now, free-weekend after losing to Rafael Nadal in the Quarter Final on Wednesday.
Ian Abrahams faces a challenge each week with the inaugural stunt being to eat a whole onion in just sixty-seconds. That’s almost one-minute in old money. I won’t spoil the ending for you as I know that you’re dying to see it. Mike Parry also tells us how he accidently killed a cat and we get the chance to see the Hawksbee & Jacobs Clips of the Week in video form. It’s basically the ability to see Paul and Andy giggling whilst Ronnie Irani puts his foot in it once again on The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast. That’ll be a regular feature, I’m sure.
Other features include a Sport on TV preview of the week ahead, but the lack of mentioning the Wimbledon Finals on the Beeb does seem to be taking the anti-BBC stance a little too far. The world won’t end if they get mentioned! Honestly! It just seems all a bit petty and childish. Apart from that, all the forthcoming sporting events get a comprehensive mention including Cycling, Darts, Twenty20 Cup Cricket and the F1 British Grand Prix. Use this to plan your week of non-footballing telly programming!
And finally, there are reviews of post-boozer entertainment in form of movies, games and music. Clear and concise text with the traditional scoring using stars, there’s trailers to view courtesy of You Tube and even the opportunity to buy a bottle of Dave’s Special Reserve Hot Sauce. It’s actually not that hot when you compare it to molten rock. I tasted some, once, and only had third-degree burns to my tongue and inside of my mouth. Molten rock that is, not the Dave's Special Reserve Hot Sauce which, I'm sure doesn't injure.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with what the talkSPORT Magazine had to offer. It is free afterall. I was expecting just page after page with nothing more than just text and still images. Little did I think that video and moving graphics would be involved. It’s like all my Christmas's and Birthdays all at once. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be that sarcastic. Seriously though, it’s decent stuff and I’m going to give it a 7/10. Now, just sort out the website and it’ll make me one happy boy.
talkSPORT Magazine: Edition One
The Review
July 2008
|
