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The Athletic

H

Highlander

Active member
Just wanted to make a comment on how much I am enjoying The Athletic and the quality of writing. Truly excellent, and has become a part of my morning coffee time.

More than this, the writing has challenged me to become a better writer and to try and clarify my thoughts on what I am saying much more than a few weeks ago. It's also helping me in business and my presentations, even better. 

Never did I think a tight bast__d like me would shell out to read a sports site, but this is some of the best money I spend on a monthly basis.

Its also a great foil for this site and provides a wider concept of hockey than what seems to be our myopic version of the Leaf's than the overall NHL.
 
Highlander said:
I will make a huge exception for Herman who actually should be writing for them.
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Haha, I'm just rambling, man. But I'm glad you like whatever it is I'm writing (usually dirty puns).
 
I enjoy it too Highlander, it's crazy to think how far coverage of the team has come.

No longer are we subjected to nothing but Simmons et al.

The great thing about the Athletic is they allow you to dive about as deep as you like, they have some cool little human interest pieces as well as deep dives on systems and advanced stats, something for everyone and everything for the Leafs junkie.
 
Interdasting... I'd subscribe if I had two coins to rub together for that kind of stuff. It's got the Highlander stamp of approval.
 
I, too, have found The Atheltic very insightful, highly detailed and informative, with it's vast array of writers covering a variety of topics related to not just hockey or the Leafs, but other sports & teams, etc.

For those readers who desire better local coverage of their teams & their sports respectively, The Athletic offers unbiased writing devoid of aby atachment to any conections to a media outlet nor advertising (which is why it is behind a paywall in the first place).

Some articles are eye-openers for their in-depth analysis of situations (Justin Bourne comes to mind).  Others write from a different persective with their sonewhat analytical yet practical & realistic viewpoints.

Some may wonder if that type of writing may sound like drudgery and boring, but be reassured that there is never a boring moment reading any or all of what The Athletic has to offer.

I am a happy subscriber and it is always on my go-to reading list.  For those of us who are indeed subscribers, I'm certain it has enhanced our views and our thinking of many things Maple Leaf.  :)

Well done, The Athletic!  Keep up the excellent presentation!
 
disco said:
Interdasting... I'd subscribe if I had two coins to rub together for that kind of stuff. It's got the Highlander stamp of approval.
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Disco, give up Tims Double Doubles for 3 days and you have your subscription, you are a Leaf fanatic, time to get your priorities in order. But I do you no what you mean?
 
Just noticed The Athletic has changed their look (already), don't know if I like the new aesthetic but thank god they have kept the text font and size the same. I hope they don't mess with that.
 
Highlander said:
Just noticed The Athletic has changed their look (already), don't know if I like the new aesthetic but thank god they have kept the text font and size the same. I hope they don't mess with that.
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Yes, they now offer a more personalized page for the reader.  As well as the generalized page, as before.  They state that subscribers asked for some of these changes for ease of topic-finding and for a quicker reading list.

Seems okay to me so far.  Obviously people preferred a more organized read that catered to their presences.
 
Incredible non-paywall piece here about a former NHLer that came forward about abuse suffered as a minor league player.  Well worth the read:

https://theathletic.com/319441/2018/04/19/wash-it-all-away-the-life-and-legacy-of-former-nhl-player-david-gove/
 
I miss the writing of Mirtle, Siegel, LeBrun, etc... and I definitely get the business model. I'm not paying for it though, until the Leafs are a team worth paying (even more) to follow.

It's close though, it's very close.
 
At first I really.liked the Athletic but now I very rarely read it. I find the articles to all be the same . The only one's I enjoy are the occasional behind the scenes articles that show the personalities. 
 
I very much enjoy it. Mirtle and Siegel were favourite writers before they defected so were almost enough to bring me over. A bit like the thread about analytics or not on this board, I like that they have analytics articles and I like that I can ignore them if I wish.

I actually think The Athletic comes into its own with as stated the slightly different insider behind the scenes articles - there was a decent one recently about the Marlies commentator almost having to fill in for Joe Bowen who was late coming back from Boston but made it at the last minute.

Also the other sports coverage, in particular MLB. But I think MLB lends itself to a really nice style of writing - you could read about MLB without actually knowing much about it and the prose would make it worth a read.
 
And now, officially, I will never stop making fun of people reading the Athletic:

https://twitter.com/ReillyRick/status/994248171806130178
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I've seen a couple of people bash Reilly now, but I've never heard of him before. What's his story?
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I'm sort of joking with my reaction(although it does confirm what is pretty obvious now and that the Athletic is just a content farm). I'm not sure how to sum up the Reilly issue some people have but in short:

1. One time very good writer
2. Became very well paid and started writing cloying, smarmy schlocky dad-joke heavy stuff
3. Late in his career had some very questionable takes.

This piece at Slate is softer than some would be but is a good summation: http://www.slate.com/articles/sport...nist_couldn_t_survive_in_the_era_of.html[/url
 
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