Media Thread
- Thread starter herman
- Start date
Well, here's my rationale for paying for the Athletic: Most of my favourite writers have either jumped ship or have been laid off from traditional papers. I still want quality content from quality writers (not slagging PPP or MLHS... But I like these writers more - enough more that I'm willing to pay a subscription). As well there's some non Leafs coverage that is also high quality that I can access if I so choose.Peter D. said:
Maybe they're all taking a pay cut and their salaries will scale with growth, maybe they're paid a portion in internal share ownership, no idea. But so far the model seems to have enough traction or these people wouldn't jump ship.
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herman
Well-known member
Nik the Trik said:
We've got a lot of overlap, but I'll be first to admit that the investigative journalism of the intersection between sports and the real world are normally low on my priority list (unless it drifts into salacious territory). I'm interested in expanding and learning though.
Would you happen to have a primer list of such writings to whet my (and probably others') appetite?
Arn
Active member
Nik the Trik said:
A lot of sports sites that I have used for many years have evolved. One i can think of that used to produce lots of really good written articles was Cricinfo, a global cricket website. Like baseball cricket is a sport that produces some really good prose.
Over the last few years I have noted that when you see an article headline and click on it there's a good chance you'll get some 4 minute video of a couple of random people talking about it. I barely use that site any more. I miss the great written content.
I've never been tempted to subscribe to a sport website before. The Athletic is certainly the first to really tempt me and especially now more so that they've expanded to several cities.
I hope it works out. There is a space for real proper in depth prose that I don't think you get now broadsheet newspaper have died off and online news is very much video sound bite focused
Kin
New member
herman said:
As it relates to hockey specifically? Not really. I think there's a real dearth of that out there because there isn't enough American interest to really drive coverage and effectively all of Canadian media is owned by people/companies with vested financial interest in the NHL. To say nothing of certain traditional-suit wearing folk who very much seem wedded to the notion of criticizing hockey being in and of itself to be unpatriotic.
Arn
Active member
Nik the Trik said:
Yeah as I said I hadn't read it as yet bar the odd free article which is definitely a step up from what you'd see in the Toronto Sun or whatever. The impression I got was that the long prose was what they were aiming for and I do think if they're not someone will or should
And today they've announced that they've added a couple of the best U.S. beat reporters around to cover St. Louis and Minnesota:
http://www.theathletic.com/94712/2017/09/06/rutherford-letter/
http://www.theathletic.com/93898/2017/09/06/russo-taking-wild-coverage-to-another-level/
And to be clear, these two left their long-tenured newspaper jobs to take this gig.
http://www.theathletic.com/94712/2017/09/06/rutherford-letter/
http://www.theathletic.com/93898/2017/09/06/russo-taking-wild-coverage-to-another-level/
And to be clear, these two left their long-tenured newspaper jobs to take this gig.
herman said:
And the 2018 Hart Memorial Trophy goes to... James Mirtle?!?
herman
Well-known member
The Athletic does have the standard beat coverage and game day stories, but they get into think piece territory quite often per the writer's specialty.
For examples (from the Toronto side of NHL coverage) of stuff that I like (which you're all probably aware already as I just re-share it here anyway):
Jack Han basically does a long form version of his 1-minute Tactics video breaking down plays from a coaching and strategy perspective, illustrating why a team is doing this and whether or not it is effective.
Tyler Dellow sees something in the video or data, asks a question about it, and then does a deep dive into interesting slices of data pivots. Most recently, his interest was piqued by a coach saying a certain player was good at line changes, so he tracked the plays and shot metrics following line changes and found that Matthews was a cut above the rest.
Justin Bourne gives a coach's perspective on what they look for in players that might make the NHL jump, as well as insight into the human side-effects of asset management. He'll be adding team structural analyses across the league soon as he did before.
Sean Tierney expands on the visuals that he has been putting together, pulling out interesting highlights on passing and zone entry/exit data that's being publicly collected.
Scott Wheeler, formerly of PPP, lends a scouts eye to prospect profiles and now covers the Marlies and the Draft from the Leafs' perspective.
Corey Pronman is basically doing what he did before, but under a different banner, so now I actually get to read it.
Mirtle is also writing much the same that he did before, but without the prescribed formula the newspaper format had. His podcast with Jonas Siegel is still around, but pretty short and occasional.
For examples (from the Toronto side of NHL coverage) of stuff that I like (which you're all probably aware already as I just re-share it here anyway):
Jack Han basically does a long form version of his 1-minute Tactics video breaking down plays from a coaching and strategy perspective, illustrating why a team is doing this and whether or not it is effective.
Tyler Dellow sees something in the video or data, asks a question about it, and then does a deep dive into interesting slices of data pivots. Most recently, his interest was piqued by a coach saying a certain player was good at line changes, so he tracked the plays and shot metrics following line changes and found that Matthews was a cut above the rest.
Justin Bourne gives a coach's perspective on what they look for in players that might make the NHL jump, as well as insight into the human side-effects of asset management. He'll be adding team structural analyses across the league soon as he did before.
Sean Tierney expands on the visuals that he has been putting together, pulling out interesting highlights on passing and zone entry/exit data that's being publicly collected.
Scott Wheeler, formerly of PPP, lends a scouts eye to prospect profiles and now covers the Marlies and the Draft from the Leafs' perspective.
Corey Pronman is basically doing what he did before, but under a different banner, so now I actually get to read it.
Mirtle is also writing much the same that he did before, but without the prescribed formula the newspaper format had. His podcast with Jonas Siegel is still around, but pretty short and occasional.
hockeyfan1
New member
Further to Herman's post, The Athletic features newcomer Karolina Urban (a former player) covering Women's hockey, plus their Toronto assistant managing editor is Sunaya Sapurji, who will also be covering the Leafs occasionally.
As an early subscriber to the Athletic, (I received an extra bit of discount on top of the promo price when I emailed Alex Mather concerning a question about payment plans), I have been looking forward to reading whatever unique content is presented by their very informative writers.
Glad I subscribed, for in the words of Edith Piaf..."Je ne regrette rien!"
Way to go, James!
As an early subscriber to the Athletic, (I received an extra bit of discount on top of the promo price when I emailed Alex Mather concerning a question about payment plans), I have been looking forward to reading whatever unique content is presented by their very informative writers.
Glad I subscribed, for in the words of Edith Piaf..."Je ne regrette rien!"
Way to go, James!
herman
Well-known member
hockeyfan1 said:
I'm interested to see where women's hockey goes with the additional coverage. PPP has been making a concerted effort in this regard as well. Unfortunately the league(s) are in a weird state where it's a bit of Betamax vs VHS (or iPod vs Zune? BluRay vs HD-DVD?) situation. The women's game is all speed and skill, without any of that enforcer garbage; I wish it were more accessible (to someone lazy like me) beyond Olympic events.
herman
Well-known member
Michael said:
I got you, buddy:
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticNHL/status/906161765448376323
www.twitter.com/TheAthleticNHL/status/906161765448376323
Usually, I copy/paste the web link of the tweet and then paste the link again swapping out the https:// for www. so people using apps/browsers that doesn't show the auto-embed have a shot at opening the link.
