College Football Magazines

[BetThemDogs]

According to BTB, Lindys is already out.

Phil Steele's will be out June 5--- I still get this one, but there seems to be more self-congradulatory BS in it every year. However, he does put out a Div 1-AA (FCS) mag with a full page on each team. It's useful and the only one for Div 1-AA that I know of. It will be mailed out about Aug. 13th.

$14.25 each (includes shipping)

http://www.philsteele.com/


Blue Ribbon-- 2012 Football annual will be mailed out week of July 16th. Comes out later so more up to date. I think it's better than Phil Steele these days.

PDF version-- $16.95
magazine-- $22.95 + shipping (mine was $30.95 to central Nevada)

http://www.blueribbonyearbookonline.com/


Anybody have info on any others, please post. Would also like to see info on college basketball mags when they start coming out.

[Beyond the Bets]

Athlon should be out this week. I've heard some folks say that Steele's has already hit shelves in Florida.

[Skating Tripods]

I'm pretty sure I can find a couple of places around town that have Steele's mag here in Cleveland.

[@TracktheBet]

Steele's out already at most places..

picked mine up at Barnes and Noble in Santa Monica this past weekend.. didn't see Lindy's or any others though

[Beyond the Bets]

I got both Lindy's and Athlon. Just wrote about their (to me) bizarre prediction for Oklahoma State.

Steele thinks the Pokes can win 10 games and has them projected to do so. I think seven or eight wins are far more likely with 10 wins completely out of the question.

[adutton6]

I sent an email to BlueRibbon expressing my interest in purchasing the magazine. I asked to see a sample team page, or previous version, or if it was in any retail outlet so I could preview before buying. I received this very prompt response.

"Good afternoon, thank you for your inquiry.

We do not currently have a sample of the book available. We do have this past seasons’ PDF available for $16.95, which you can purchase at our website.

Thank you,
Vanessa Hilton Tripp
Operations Manager
Blue Ribbons Sports Media Group, LLC."

UGH!

You dont have a sample of a magazine you sell as an electronic file? I'm not going to buy sight unseen Vanessa. Oh, and good to know previous editions of pdf are the same price as current pdf editions.

Great marketing from the folks at BlueRibbon.

[ChiefZilla]

How the hell do they not have a preview available if they're selling it online? Have they not even started it yet?

[adutton6]

My copied and pasted reply. I'll gladly stop reporting this if asked, lol.

Vanessa,

As the operations manager I would like to make you aware of how that response email came off.

First, thanks for answering so quickly. That is really appreciated.

You state that you do not have a sample of the book available. WHY! You sell it electronically! All you have to do is screen shoot three pages of the book and stick on your website. Hell, make it a previous edition if you don't want to give anything away.

Also, you state you have previous editions of the PDF yearbook available for 16.95. Umm, isn't this the current price for a new yearbook? Are the old versions on PDF taking up warehouse space that must be reflected in the price?

Anyway, sorry if I come off wrong but the email created more questions than it answered. Like I said, I am very interested in buying (and I purchase a minimum of three CFB magazines per season) but am not going to pay for a book sight unseen with hardly any reviews.

I appreciate any help and again, just wanted you to be aware of how things can be taken on the other end. If there is anything you can do to solve the concerns I am having I still am very interested in purchasing the book!

Best Regards,

[adutton6]

Last post on this subject, promise.

Did I cross any lines? Make any unnecessary request? Sound overly offensive? Looks like I'll be giving Blue Ribbon/Divcompanies a couple more years to regroup.

I don't have an MBA but this response from the Blue Ribbon preseason football magazine operations manager cracks me up:

"I believe you read my email differently than it was intended. There were no lines to read between, therefore cussing and yelling at me is really offensive and not necessary.

I have never had a request to see a sample of a book before, therefore it is a simple answer…we don’t do that. We are a one man operation as this is a twice a year book we publish. I wish I had time to take screen shots and fulfill the many other hundreds of requests I get. There are reviews on our website, which you are welcome to read.

We have only ONE PDF available, which was last year’s edition. If you want to view a PDF of a yearbook, the last edition is the one that you need to purchase. I don’t have any other versions electronically for you to purchase. I am not trying to make money off past editions or clear out warehouse room as you so humorously indicated.

[Wiseguy]

Somebody is having a bad day...wow.

[ChiefZilla]

"Hell, make it a previous edition if you don't want to give anything away."

Is that what she's counting as "cussing and yelling at me?"

Haha, no, you didn't sound offensive at all.

[adutton6]

Upon further investigation, Diverse Companies (where this lady works) is a small 5 man marketing firm in Tennessee meaning (I am guessing) there is little to no connection with Blue Ribbon and it's content beyond marketing/printing so this was a pointless endeavor. There is little to no incentive for Vanessa to turn me into a long term customer.

This being said, can anyone here speak to this publication, I am still interested...

[jimmysingh9]

The more I deal with this companies on a daily basis, the more I realize is that customer service actually means, hiring the cheapest possible person regardless of skills and as long as they know 100 english words and will work for minimum wage, they will be hired.

like you said, there is no incentive for Vanessa to care about you. she will be paid regardless and as long as Blue Ribbon doesnt see any decrease in sales, they won't give two shits about how their customer service is doing.

Unfortunately, when push comes to shove, we are always there for the product and not the service and you would rarely speak to someone that cares, especially at the first level.

I have dealt with so many people at the initial customer service level, that do not care and are rude at times and just have no clue that there is a reason you are calling and actually trying to solve a problem. Then once you get past the initial customer service team to someone that actually knows something or cares, you realize your problems get dealt with easily.

[RyanParrill]

(05-29-2012 02:12 PM)adutton6 Wrote:  Upon further investigation, Diverse Companies (where this lady works) is a small 5 man marketing firm in Tennessee meaning (I am guessing) there is little to no connection with Blue Ribbon and it's content beyond marketing/printing so this was a pointless endeavor. There is little to no incentive for Vanessa to turn me into a long term customer.

This being said, can anyone here speak to this publication, I am still interested...

It comes with ESPN Insider so I've used it the last few years. I'm not sure what you're specifically looking for, but it's informative, though, not really needed.

Of course way down the line blue ribbon is priced into my insider, so I am technically paying for it, but I wouldn't pay additional money. (Like $16.95 for last years info. Preview magazines are infamous for selling the previous years material up to the minute the new one is released. It's a slimeball move but seems common amongst them)

Also, Phil Steele's mag is available at Barnes N Noble (As many others have stated) but not sure any other distributors across the country have it, yet.

[adutton6]

Really Ryan! I knew blue ribbon partnered with ESPN Insider last year but didn't know it was same content and wasn't sure if they were doing same thing again this year. Since I already have insider, you just saved me $17.

Thanks for tip.

[RyanParrill]

There's only one #1

Game over

[Skating Tripods]

Picked up my Phil Steele mag at Barnes & Noble last night. Ready to start breaking down CFB.

[jimmysingh9]

I used Phil Steele's mag alot as well, but to only use one magazine or publication isn't the way to go. It is good to get the grades and rankings of units all around. While Phil Steele is very informative for the most part, he is not always correct in his analysis.

I love to use these mags to see the strengths in positions where it might be hard to see and that is the trenches.

you can remember from last year, what QB's, RB's, WR's will be pretty lethal as well as the new starters that are hyped up, but finding a true rating in the trenches is key to college football as well as NFL, you dominate the line of scrimmage, you should be able to win the game.

its especially hard to find out what lineman are good early in the year because alot of teams play cupcakes and then some of the marquee matchups, you don't know how good the loser actually was.

and while the magazines wont give you a definative answer to this, it does go a long way.

[Skating Tripods]

(05-31-2012 08:50 PM)jimmysingh9 Wrote:  While Phil Steele is very informative for the most part, he is not always correct in his analysis.

I've met, read, and listened to a lot of people in my life and I've never heard of anybody who was "always correct".

[jimmysingh9]

to rephrase, lets say he's correct about 60% of the time in my past history or close to it.

I just feel that does everyone in the industry use Phil Steele? including sportsbooks? If everyone is reading the same magazine and analyzing, how does anyone find value in something so generic?