SI cover watch

[sunshine]

Twice this year SI has placed auto racing on the cover. Yet tennis and hockey and perhaps soccer have been ignored by SI the past few years when it comes to covers. Quick recap. Last year Maria made the cover off her Wimbledon victory but they had no choice on that one it seems. The last tennis covers were Serena(5-26-03), Kounikova(6-5-00), Venus(9-20-99), Agassi(6-14-99), Venus(9-15-97), Sampras(7-14-97).I would argue Serena should have been on at least two covers. The Kournikova article was a puff piece so not sure that even counts. But most striking is the absence of male players. Federer is the obvious choice. Dig even deeper and SI has never even done a feature story on Lleyton Hewitt, a two time grand Slam champ. Hockey hasn't been much better. Last cover was a hockey preview issue (10-14-02) with Red Wings. I could be mistaken but over the last 5 years or so it seems SI, apart from the Lance Armstrong)--by the way why do whites dominate a speed sport like bike racing if they are inferior as many would have us believe when it comes to speed?- has avoided drawing too much attention on sports that whites have historically domintated over the years. It can give one the impression that SI is really saying if whites dominate then it isn't all that great. Remember this is the same magazine that praised Jon Entine's book. And they shape a sports conscience. If they keep pushing white athletic accomplishments in sports like tennis into the background they seem to be making a stand. Auto racing profiles little or no athletic ability as it relates to caste but SI is more comfortable promoting that white dominated sport. Andgolf which also profiles very little as it relates to caste--athletic ability also gets a lot of space at SI. They even have seperateSI golf magazine supplements 4 or so times a year available for free to subscribers..Is there a caste system going on at SI as well? A sharper focus on stand still sports like golf and auto racing and a move away from tennis and hockey. Any comments on this trend or am I just being paranoid?