08-29-2018, 10:45 AM
I had held off on subscribing to The Athletic for some time, as I could still find good sportswriting from many other sources, even after Fox Sports "pivoted to video." But as ESPN has slashed writing staff, other outlets have had cutbacks, and my local paper (The Denver Post) is a shameful shell of itself due to hedge fund owners who have reduced the newsroom below minimally acceptable levels, the sportswriting I was still seeing seemed of lesser quality and reduced quantity. So I jumped in a week or so ago. And for $3.50/month, I get everything. National analysis of every sport, in-depth coverage of my NFL teams (Vikings and Colts, due to Andrew), and advanced analysis that caters to the more informed fan (like NFL tape breakdowns to help illustrate a particular point about why certain blocking schemes are effective against certain fronts, or why particular players are either exceeding or falling below past standards). It's terrific.
I'd been flirting with the idea for a month or so now, but they added one of my favorite Vikings bloggers (who does great tape analysis and pre-draft work) and one of the Indianapolis Star's Colts beat writers whose stuff I read and enjoy regularly. I think of it like subscribing to SI, and in that sense, it's more than worth it. Sportswriters gotta eat, too, so I might as well pay for a better product I enjoy rather than free ride and consume a lesser product. (I prefer to consume sports through live events and good writing; I'll watch the occasional highlight package, but I'm rarely interested in watching videos of talking head segments.)
It's not like there's a daily article about Stanford from a dedicated beat writer (heck, we don't have that as it is), but with SI alums Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel and ESPN Pac-12 Blog alum Chantel Jennings, we'll still get talked about, especially if we're relevant nationally.
ESPN still has some good writers, but that site is so *loud* with ads and video clips that it's a relief to visit an ad-free homepage of just articles.
I'd been flirting with the idea for a month or so now, but they added one of my favorite Vikings bloggers (who does great tape analysis and pre-draft work) and one of the Indianapolis Star's Colts beat writers whose stuff I read and enjoy regularly. I think of it like subscribing to SI, and in that sense, it's more than worth it. Sportswriters gotta eat, too, so I might as well pay for a better product I enjoy rather than free ride and consume a lesser product. (I prefer to consume sports through live events and good writing; I'll watch the occasional highlight package, but I'm rarely interested in watching videos of talking head segments.)
It's not like there's a daily article about Stanford from a dedicated beat writer (heck, we don't have that as it is), but with SI alums Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel and ESPN Pac-12 Blog alum Chantel Jennings, we'll still get talked about, especially if we're relevant nationally.
ESPN still has some good writers, but that site is so *loud* with ads and video clips that it's a relief to visit an ad-free homepage of just articles.