...than the woman did who graced the first-ever Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover.

          That was January, 1964--the nation was reeling from the Kennedy assassination just two months before, and the Beatles were still a few weeks away from gracing Ed Sullivan's stage.

          The swimsuit issue caused a stir back then, and it raised hackles for years to follow--one of the best S-I's each year isn't the one with the nearly naked ladies: it's the one a couple of weeks later, full of angry letters to the editor from outraged parents and school librarians, acting as if the swimsuit edition is some sort of a surprise.      S-I no doubt loves the attention, even though swimsuits have nothing to do with the magazine's mission statement.      It is what it is: an excuse to pack skin in what otherwise is a pretty solid sports read.        S-I wisely turned the women into rock stars and their photo shoots into t-v mini-docs, pay-per-view cable shows and home videos.     

         The sports website "Deadspin" raises the question: is the swimsuit edition needed any more, now that we have the Internet?     Call it the de-evolution of technology, or just giving the people what they want, but the web is rife with naked people doing unspeakable acts (at least, that's what I've been told).      Do American men still have to wait breathlessly at their mailboxes every February waiting for the S-I swimsuit issue when they've got flesh on-demand, 24/7 via their keyboards?     Would anyone complain if Sports Illustrated did away with the tradition?       Would guys even notice?

         S-I remains the gold standard for sports journalism--and back in the day, it provided a mid-winter boost when green grass and bare skin were in short supply.      Times changed.     The Beatles came and went.     Feminism is alive and well.       I, for one, have no problem with swimsuits, the models in them, or S-I putting them in my mailbox.

       I'm more upset about Sports Illustrated putting the Packers and Brett Favre on the cover the week before they lost to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game.        That jinx thing?      I'm starting to think it has fresh legs.