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Is "The Athletic" worth it?

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Look at the absolute ocean of mediocrity that is football journalism - if The Athletic is a level or two above then it has to be worth it, just for the novelty of reading something with a bit of quality.

It seems massively weighted towards football though? If there was more on other sports I'd be interested, although prob that would end up being bad - seems unlikely you could get insightful, quality writing across the entire sporting remit.
 
Ring master said:
I would never pay to read stuff that should be free, no one should pay to be able to read stuff, but seems like many websites etc are slowly thinkng of going that way lol
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The proliferation of 'free' stuff is why 99% of football 'writing' on the internet is nothing more than poorly written clickbait and ill researched opinion pieces. I absolutely agree that garbage writing should be free but have no qualm with paying for a bit of quality journalism - it's a different beast and much more expensive to produce.

I've a feeling their model of getting very good journalists and letting them be journalists and giving them time to investigate and build a story rather than mass producing instant "content" wasn't working out financially though - that's why I sacked off my subscription as it was descending into just another football site with speculative opinion pieces.

Also the coverage of Benitez' appointment was appalling and a clear sign that the writers involved were more concerned with maintaining good relations with the club and preserving the access that came with it over any kind of balanced criticism.
 

SerenityNigh said:
The pods are overall very good but not like I can figure out how to listen to the ad-free/subscriber pods. (That said, anyone can listen to the pods with ads)
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I love the athletic and got a student discount from a friends email. For football specifically I think its head and shoulders the best publication out.

That said I will second between Totally Football with James Richardson's panels of writers format and the Athletic football show which usually is a pod highlighting a large profile from the site, among the other pods you can kind of experience most of the best pieces or writers via podcasts. That would also include Tifo which now often makes videos on the best pieces on the site.

Im sure they will screw me on a renewal but joining on a low offer promo is I think is totally worth it. I also think it may be free now with an NYTimes subscription although i'm not sure. All that said I have read the best sports journalism in recent memory almost entirely on the athletic.
 
nonstripdzebra said:
I love the athletic and got a student discount from a friends email. For football specifically I think its head and shoulders the best publication out.

That said I will second between Totally Football with James Richardson's panels of writers format and the Athletic football show which usually is a pod highlighting a large profile from the site, among the other pods you can kind of experience most of the best pieces or writers via podcasts. That would also include Tifo which now often makes videos on the best pieces on the site.

Im sure they will screw me on a renewal but joining on a low offer promo is I think is totally worth it. I also think it may be free now with an NYTimes subscription although i'm not sure. All that said I have read the best sports journalism in recent memory almost entirely on the athletic.
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Fair point, I listen to a lot of basketball pods which are more conversational and less promotional. I really don't enjoy the "you should read this piece" 5 minutes on a pod, and a lot of the soccer, err football, pods are like this, so not all the pods are great. Also, either the hockey pods get paid by the minute or it really is just dark early in Canada, because I have other stuff to do with my time.

And the guy who does the FM pods, can't remember his name, I can't tell whether I love or hate these. Let's take an interesting idea worth 5 minutes and turn it into a 35 minute interview/pod with several stories of another Sunderland save. Fair play to him, though, selling his podcast network to The Athletic and getting paid to talk about playing FM.
 

SerenityNigh said:
Fair point, I listen to a lot of basketball pods which are more conversational and less promotional. I really don't enjoy the "you should read this piece" 5 minutes on a pod, and a lot of the soccer, err football, pods are like this, so not all the pods are great. Also, either the hockey pods get paid by the minute or it really is just dark early in Canada, because I have other stuff to do with my time.

And the guy who does the FM pods, can't remember his name, I can't tell whether I love or hate these. Let's take an interesting idea worth 5 minutes and turn it into a 35 minute interview/pod with several stories of another Sunderland save. Fair play to him, though, selling his podcast network to The Athletic and getting paid to talk about playing FM.
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No MacIntosh slander. He's a lovely fella.
 
Connor said:
No MacIntosh slander. He's a lovely fella.
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No slander. Everytime I listen it's half delight and half wondering why I am listening. I know FM is a huge game, though, so maybe since I am removed from the cultural context it's a bit more odd to me. I'm sure some of the things Yanks do are bewildering to most.

*It's on account of his confessions bit on the pod that I've started a save with a little more... integrity? less American exceptionalism...
 

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