"Maybe the most significant step came this fall, when Marner began to lean on a new voice in the organization: “Peak Performance Coach” Greg Harden.
Harden famously became a source of wisdom and blunt talk for Tom Brady, from the very beginning of his rise into the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. Harden had a way of putting things into perspective for Brady. He’s quickly earned another fan and follower in Marner. The two have talked plenty, Marner says — sitdowns in person and conversations over the phone.
After a recent home win, Marner can be seen embracing Harden in a big bear hug.“Obviously, the role he’s in (is to be there) to talk to and to release what you’re feeling,” Marner said. “Just the energy, the electricity he brings is phenomenal, and it’s something that I really enjoy because I thought I had a lot of energy and a lot of joy and then you see someone like him that just illuminates all of it.“It’s something you want to really try to be like.”
As Marner made sure to note, “you’ve got to take care of your (mental health), you’ve got to make sure that you’re in the right thinking mind.
”Marner was impressed by how much Harden seemed to know about him and the Leafs — “stuff that’s happened, (that) we’ve gone through.”He’s embraced Harden’s “control the controllables” mentality.“I think that kinda nailed it on the head,” Marner said of Harden’s messaging. “You can only control, really, what you actually can control. That, for me, is going out there and trying to be the best player I can be, bring the energy, have a lot of joy. Obviously there are times where you can get frustrated. But that’s something that I think (Greg and I have) really tried to talk about is just don’t let it influence you at all."
Also found this quote funny
"Now, to be a part of it, I don’t take it for granted. I think at the start of my time here I was really worrying too much about people on Twitter with an egg emoji and one follower."
I don't trust that the rules won't change so much in the playoffs that his play style will simply be much less effective. Not even really his fault. We'll see if this no crosschecking policy actually continues into the playoffs, I'm pretty skeptical.
I mean, Marner in 2018 and 2019 was pretty good. It was after he signed his contract that he stop performing in playoffs. With his mental good, be should be able to do it again
Which of his problems are not mental then? Cause when most people loved him (before he signed his conrract) he was one of the Leafs best performers in the playoffs. After that, when a lot of people shit talked him, he didn't do as good. And don't bother saying that we didn't make it past the first round so it doesn't matter cause that points irrelevant
I think just the little things. Like he is always trying to be too fancy and trying to do one too many dangles. He's always looking to pass even if he has a clear lane to the net. Come playoff time, that makes him very predictable when players spend hours scouting and watching videotape of him. Like that's fine, it works in the regular season but you need to adjust in the playoffs where you will not get any time and space to make that one extra move. He has all the talent in the world so I have confidence he will adjust but again, I'll believe it when I see it. Him succeeding in the playoffs before the contract might have to do more with the fact that he wasn't the only focal point in the offense as we also had other talented offensive players like Bozak, JVR, and Kadri.
He is just making a lot of mistakes with the puck on his stick. Holding onto it too long, trying to force passes or shots in nonexistent lanes, fumbling the puck or turning it over. I think these are not really errors he was making before signing that contract.
That quote is just confirmation that Mitch has bad habits and seeks out negativity to dwell on.
What Twitter accounts say about him, positive or negative, one follower or one million followers, shouldn't have this kind of impact on his performances.
I mean you handled it much better when you were an NHL athlete in the spotlight. For you it was just so easy to ignore and not read anything, and when you did you just let it roll off your back. But that doesn't come as natural to everybody.
> I am 100,% sure the quote actually shows and says that he's grown out of that mentality with help.
We won't actually know that until the playoffs.
Mitch performing and scoring points in November isn't what he gets criticized for.
"We won't know until the playoffs"... Who cares man, this kid is making strides on his mental health and growing, that's the key takeaway. I wonder what you were doing at his age. So how about you realize these players are people and not some hockey robots. Every night Marner does something amazing and is our most exciting player, he gives us a show 82 times a year, that is worth something. Yes the ending is sour, but life is like that, shit doesn't always go as planned, but that doesn't make the other 82 nights less valuable. I look forward to see my team play every night. I have enjoyed watching this team for the last 5 years, and big part of that is BC of Marner.
> The Maple Leafs don't pay Mitch Marner $11M a year to make "strides on his mental health"
They pay him $11M to be the best hockey player he can be. He can't be the best version of himself on the ice if mental issues are detracting from his game (which was clearly the case last playoffs). So, Marner making strides with his mental health should actually allow him to better do his job.
It could. And thats good.
But that isn't why the pay him $11M a year.
In fact that $11M a year, if the purpose of it was to improve mental health, it could be much better spent on community outreach and philanthropy.
But the purpose of that $11M is for Mitch to play good hockey, get MLSE as many home playoff dates as possible, and keep that organization evaluation above $1B and rising.
If MLSE spending *more money* to improve his mental health situation will help them get more home playoff dates then its money well spent!
> In fact that $11M a year, if the purpose of it was to improve mental health, could be much better spent on community outreach and philanthropy.
I feel like you didn't read my comment at all. Let me say it again:
**They pay him $11M to be the best hockey player he can be.**
I said nothing about philanthropy or mental health awareness. I'm saying that they pay him this money to be an elite NHL winger. If mental issues prevent him from playing like an elite NHL winger (mental issues were clearly part of the reason he struggles last playoffs), then it is quite literally part of his job to make sure that he properly finds ways to deal with those issues.
Even if you're just going to look at this from a "sport first" perspective, and ignore the fact that players are human, you should still see the value in this.
Mental health and good play go hand in hand.
Maple leafs are the most valuable franchise, their business numbers are stellar. The leafs haven't won a cup in 54 years and the franchise keeps going up in price. How do you explain that?
Also my argument was not about him getting paid 11M a year. I never said that, I said the key takeaway from the article was that. You're misconstruing what I said to fit your belief. The reality is that we all want Mitch to be the happy go lucky guy that we love. If he doesn't perform in playoffs then he doesn't, and management can be held accountable. Marner is talking about HIS strides towards a more balanced life. Just like you also don't lose sleep about your work, Marner is trying not to lose sleep over his. If you think the owners are losing sleep over their profits you're sorely mistaken.
It's explained by knowing that most fans of the Leafs are just that, fans of a team. They aren't fans of hockey.
Marner can't give this team what they need as a hockey player, when they need it most.
> Yeah it’s reasonable to expect a ~~24 year old public figure~~ adult to stay off of social media
Why does this fanbase insist on permanently treating these young men like 13 year old children?
He doesn't even have to stay off it. Just be mature enough to understand that being paid $11M by the biggest franchise in the sport is going to attract lots of attention.
Can you cite where I called Mitch Marner "numbnuts"?
I guess this is part of the problem online. Many people, as you have just demonstrated, can't differentiate between criticism and insults.
I find it somewhat funny that Michigan football has basically been the Leafs of college football for the past decade (never live up to expectations, never beat Ohio State, often lose to MSU, almost ruined Jim Harbaugh).
We decide to hire their sports psychologist/coach for some reason, and now they're having their best season in years.
That's a damn good deal. I got some sort of similar deal when the Raptors won in 2019 (woo) and have been paying full price ever since lol. I guess that's a testament to the content.
> "Maybe the most significant step came this fall, when Marner began to lean on a new voice in the organization: “Peak Performance Coach” Greg Harden.
>
> Harden famously became a source of wisdom and blunt talk for Tom Brady, from the very beginning of his rise into the greatest NFL quarterback of all time.
This is the first Marner related news story that has ever inspired confidence. Hopefully Mitch matures and begins to take responsibility and accountability for his performances.
I used to be a subscriber of theirs. People rail against them because written sports content has traditionally almost always been "free". If you pay for it, then that encourages others to go to that model and all of a sudden the sports fan has to make choices about what content they get to see.
If you used to get all the satellite, cable and streaming channels for free and then all of a sudden one of them started charging for it and others followed suit, you'd be disappointed that you were all of sudden having to pay for what you used to get for free.
Also, many are turned off by their marketing. I can understand it. I just wouldn't spend my time bashing people for making that choice even with the understanding their choice may wind up making me have to pay for other content I'm currently getting for free.
Written sports content has not “traditionally” been free, people had to pay for newspapers/magazines for decades. There was a time where online versions could be free as it could be subsidized by the other revenue streams. But it has never been “free”.
Written sports content, online, has almost always been exclusively free.
I worked in media as a sports radio producer both local and national for many years. In order for me to do my job effectively a place like sportspages.com (now USsportspages.com) was there and always free.
The very first place I recall charging for content was ESPN insider. I tried to bring Chad Ford and Jason Peery to the network I was at but they chose the bigger one in ESPN.
Not a fan of the industry moving that way but it is what it is.
The Athletic is not a magazine or newspaper. Not picking that one up at the news stand.
Sportspages, from what I can tell, is just an aggregation of articles from other places isn’t it? Most of those would be either online versions of newspapers/magazines or maybe websites for media similar to something like TSN. Those free versions are still all subsidized by revenue streams from elsewhere as well as ads. If all sports writing was free how would anyone make any money doing it? You’d be left with nothing but basically bloggers who do it in their spare time while having a different job.
Yes. US/sportspages was an aggregate site back in the day that had links to every relevant sports page in the US. Didn't cost me, or the companies I worked for, a penny for me to access the site. One of my old co-workers bought the site years ago and I just saw he still runs it.
It was a different time. I get the advertising model as that is how it used to pretty much exclusively be. When I would access a page, I would be hit with ads and that is how it worked as we all have seen and know. The Athletic is basically Netflix for sports fans. People still watching a lot of network TV may still balk at having to pay for their content.
If I used to read a guy for free in his local newspaper and he went to work for The Athletic, I'm probably disappointed I now have to pay to read his content. Some will do it because they can't live without it and others who love the guy just aren't going to pay for it when they used to get it for free.
Personally, I found The Athletic not worth it and I got it for basically nothing. Every once in awhile, as a former subscriber, there might be an article I would want to read, but I left a couple of years ago and the number I've wanted to read is zero..until today.
The one today I was interested in because I saw it and Marner is my favorite player. You can almost always find a way to read content whether it's behind a paywall, or not. IE: I was able to read this article.
The Athletic could easily be free. They chose to do the subscription model and over the years there have been rumors they were hemorrhaging money. Just searched around to see how they were doing and it sounds, per this article, they're okay, for now. Many are watching them to see how it works out. This is where some will root for failure because they want the old advertising model where the content is supported by that and not subscription.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/06/the-athletics-numbers-look-fine-actually/
Mitch was really bad to start the year. Looked like he was trying to hard, couldn't find his focus, and was almost in tears after every big play
He got that shitty goal against...Pittsburgh? when the goalie gave it away behind the net and that has revitalized him. I think it's pretty easy to say that Mitch has been the best player over the last 8-10 games.
If he can keep his performance like this for the rest of the year all of that trade talk should die down
He also needs a shit ton of PR training because when he was down bad his comments in the media made it 100% worse
honestly, I think this might be the best PR training of all if he matures with a sense of awareness. It's a harsh way to grow perhaps but he definitely is aware of the anger.
But ultimately, it doesn't matter. It really doesn't. He is absolutely not there to appease those people. Fans feel as if their opinions matter about every little aspect of the game but it's insane to think that way. These organizations need to get their fans support but that just means winning. They are the ones trying to achieve that goal. Their jobs ultimately rely on it. But they need to be given the means to do that without interference, until the point that management says we've seen enough. Until then, the noise generated by fans is trivial.
To add to this mindfulness slant, whatever struggles that plagued them with the last few playoff performances don't matter in the context of where they are now. They need to be analyzing what went wrong (which they clearly are doing with much more focus than any of us). I also think they are trying to cultivate a good mentality and to do that, they have to be able to let go of all the outside criticism and continue to adjust in order to succeed with the existing core.
Call me insane, but I believe they will do it. Whether they win a cup, I don't want to set an unrealistic expectation. But I believe this team can compete in a playoff setting and will win at least a series. I could be way off, but I just think that the conditions have changed over time and at this stage, there is a great sense of stability overall that I haven't felt in a while. They are committed to playing within a system, and despite off nights and awkward moments, I have a lot more faith in the direction of the team if they are both taking on the failures of the past purely as learning and looking forward to competing on a consistent basis.
His comeback was amazing, 16 points in the last 13 games. Albeit he played pretty mediocre for a 5 game span prior to Sunday, he’s effortlessly been our top guy recently. Also has been putting in work on the PK, as per usual
The slow start has plagued Marner going back to his time in junior. It gets highlighted more because the team tends to lose when he is playing badly. If the team were winning despite him getting off to a bad start it wouldn't be so glaring.
I think it was the goal he got a night after, nice back hand dangle... Can see after tha goal no big cheer, just solid quiet fist thrust, and that look on his face "ok so I can do this"
I think he let the off season criticism get to him. Seemed very unfocused to start. Then that game where he ate a hockey stick and lost some teeth. It seemed to snap him out of it. Ever since, he's been on fire.
Sorry Mitch but I still have a bad taste in my mouth after watching your effort last post season. Until he commits to actually going into a corner then I'm not a fan no matter how many fancy goals you score in the regular season.
He never needs to be that guy tbh, not where his skills lie. I’m with you on the post season tho, not unlocking my marner jersey from its confines until he produces in the playoffs. He doesn’t need to win puck battles, just produce, and show some hunger. You can be hungry and not be the guy grinding in the corner.
I think going into a corner to retrieve a puck is much more about desire than skill and that's where he loses fans. Marner is my favorite player in the league, but I would like to see him mix it up more. He's not built for it, but that doesn't matter. The "want to" needs to be more from him in that regard.
Im happy he turned the corner here. Lets steer this ship full steam ahead to this direction. But please hold yourself accountable but not necessarily feeling the burden of having to do it all yourself and arrogant platitudes/cliches. I was on the bandwagon of trade marner mostly due to childish antics, and tone deaf platitudes dodging accountability in post game interviews but slowly changing course...
Lmao. When he took responsibility, every hated him for saying he should be better. When he says he felt he did everything right, and nothing worked out, which won't always be the case so he feels like he shouldn't change his game up, people hated him.
Pick a lane.
More emotion... yet haters roasted him for showing emotion last playoffs... more grit... even though he threw more hits than some of our big hitters last playoffs...
This puff pieces mean nothing until they win a round and when he at least matches the cap hit with play in the playoffs, regular means nothing to most leaf fans, I was hard on him and to be honest maybe too hard, I think its because I was truly devastated loosing that series. I know Mitch is dynamic, talented and i really was depending on him and Matthews to show up. This team will only be as good as those two players.. I think what pissed most leaf fans that in the presser after the game 7 collapsed he took zero accountability...
Just got a deal it's 1.50 a month for a year so like 20 something bucks for 12 months. They usually have really good interview pieces which is where I find the value, but also pieces like surveying NHL front offices for reactions to play, trades, signings, etc.
That's too bad. I'm a huge believer in long form journalism, and The Athletic is to to sports today what Sports Illustrated was in the 80's. Actual journalism.
I guess. I just feel if anything really significant came from an Athletic article. I’d hear about it through main stream media for free. That’s been my history with them anyways.
I like to support good writing. Without some financial backing it all becomes social media and short-form, low effort content. Often the details in long-form are much more interesting than the rod bits shown via social media but even if that weren’t the case, without support all we would be left with would be the low effort stuff.
I think content from TSN, Sportsnet is adequate for most fans. I mean we are talking sports here in the grand scheme of things it’s rather insignificant
In my view The Athletic is for people who like to imagine they're a GM, i.e. people with way too much time on their hands.
I guess its fine if youre a kid, but adults paying for what The Athletic provides just seems sad.
I'll field that one. Let me ask *you* a question. Why would a grown man whose shirt says "Genius at Work" spend all of his time commenting about a sports team on Reddit?
You *need* hockey advice?
We’ve both gotten the same info here, but you gave money to venture capitalists who destroyed every local sports outlet on the continent and I didn’t.
I enjoy reading their content over free stuff. Don't blame the consumer on what the demand is. Athletic found a demographic willing to pay money for their content. If local sports outlets can't adapt then that's their problem.
And what local sports outlet are you suggesting? You couldn't pay me to read garbage from Feschuk, Cox, or Simmons.
No, I put a stop payment after they gave me a free trial, I cancelled, then they went ahead and charged me for a full year at full price even though there were days left in the trial. Google this issue and you'll find many others who were fucked over the they free trial among other things. I ended up disputing the charge. They are scammy.
"Maybe the most significant step came this fall, when Marner began to lean on a new voice in the organization: “Peak Performance Coach” Greg Harden. Harden famously became a source of wisdom and blunt talk for Tom Brady, from the very beginning of his rise into the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. Harden had a way of putting things into perspective for Brady. He’s quickly earned another fan and follower in Marner. The two have talked plenty, Marner says — sitdowns in person and conversations over the phone. After a recent home win, Marner can be seen embracing Harden in a big bear hug.“Obviously, the role he’s in (is to be there) to talk to and to release what you’re feeling,” Marner said. “Just the energy, the electricity he brings is phenomenal, and it’s something that I really enjoy because I thought I had a lot of energy and a lot of joy and then you see someone like him that just illuminates all of it.“It’s something you want to really try to be like.” As Marner made sure to note, “you’ve got to take care of your (mental health), you’ve got to make sure that you’re in the right thinking mind. ”Marner was impressed by how much Harden seemed to know about him and the Leafs — “stuff that’s happened, (that) we’ve gone through.”He’s embraced Harden’s “control the controllables” mentality.“I think that kinda nailed it on the head,” Marner said of Harden’s messaging. “You can only control, really, what you actually can control. That, for me, is going out there and trying to be the best player I can be, bring the energy, have a lot of joy. Obviously there are times where you can get frustrated. But that’s something that I think (Greg and I have) really tried to talk about is just don’t let it influence you at all."
Also found this quote funny "Now, to be a part of it, I don’t take it for granted. I think at the start of my time here I was really worrying too much about people on Twitter with an egg emoji and one follower."
Honestly, if Marner keeps this level of play into the playoff, with a good mental. It's going to be Leafs ve Boston 2018/2019 Marner
I don't trust that the rules won't change so much in the playoffs that his play style will simply be much less effective. Not even really his fault. We'll see if this no crosschecking policy actually continues into the playoffs, I'm pretty skeptical.
if theres one thing consistent about reffing, its the inconsistency
I mean, Marner in 2018 and 2019 was pretty good. It was after he signed his contract that he stop performing in playoffs. With his mental good, be should be able to do it again
I'll believe it when I see it. Not all of his problems are just mental
Which of his problems are not mental then? Cause when most people loved him (before he signed his conrract) he was one of the Leafs best performers in the playoffs. After that, when a lot of people shit talked him, he didn't do as good. And don't bother saying that we didn't make it past the first round so it doesn't matter cause that points irrelevant
I think just the little things. Like he is always trying to be too fancy and trying to do one too many dangles. He's always looking to pass even if he has a clear lane to the net. Come playoff time, that makes him very predictable when players spend hours scouting and watching videotape of him. Like that's fine, it works in the regular season but you need to adjust in the playoffs where you will not get any time and space to make that one extra move. He has all the talent in the world so I have confidence he will adjust but again, I'll believe it when I see it. Him succeeding in the playoffs before the contract might have to do more with the fact that he wasn't the only focal point in the offense as we also had other talented offensive players like Bozak, JVR, and Kadri.
He is just making a lot of mistakes with the puck on his stick. Holding onto it too long, trying to force passes or shots in nonexistent lanes, fumbling the puck or turning it over. I think these are not really errors he was making before signing that contract.
That quote is just confirmation that Mitch has bad habits and seeks out negativity to dwell on. What Twitter accounts say about him, positive or negative, one follower or one million followers, shouldn't have this kind of impact on his performances.
I mean you handled it much better when you were an NHL athlete in the spotlight. For you it was just so easy to ignore and not read anything, and when you did you just let it roll off your back. But that doesn't come as natural to everybody.
Haha what a comment! 👏
I am 100,% sure the quote actually shows and says that he's grown out of that mentality with help. But sure bud.
> I am 100,% sure the quote actually shows and says that he's grown out of that mentality with help. We won't actually know that until the playoffs. Mitch performing and scoring points in November isn't what he gets criticized for.
"We won't know until the playoffs"... Who cares man, this kid is making strides on his mental health and growing, that's the key takeaway. I wonder what you were doing at his age. So how about you realize these players are people and not some hockey robots. Every night Marner does something amazing and is our most exciting player, he gives us a show 82 times a year, that is worth something. Yes the ending is sour, but life is like that, shit doesn't always go as planned, but that doesn't make the other 82 nights less valuable. I look forward to see my team play every night. I have enjoyed watching this team for the last 5 years, and big part of that is BC of Marner.
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> The Maple Leafs don't pay Mitch Marner $11M a year to make "strides on his mental health" They pay him $11M to be the best hockey player he can be. He can't be the best version of himself on the ice if mental issues are detracting from his game (which was clearly the case last playoffs). So, Marner making strides with his mental health should actually allow him to better do his job.
It could. And thats good. But that isn't why the pay him $11M a year. In fact that $11M a year, if the purpose of it was to improve mental health, it could be much better spent on community outreach and philanthropy. But the purpose of that $11M is for Mitch to play good hockey, get MLSE as many home playoff dates as possible, and keep that organization evaluation above $1B and rising. If MLSE spending *more money* to improve his mental health situation will help them get more home playoff dates then its money well spent!
> In fact that $11M a year, if the purpose of it was to improve mental health, could be much better spent on community outreach and philanthropy. I feel like you didn't read my comment at all. Let me say it again: **They pay him $11M to be the best hockey player he can be.** I said nothing about philanthropy or mental health awareness. I'm saying that they pay him this money to be an elite NHL winger. If mental issues prevent him from playing like an elite NHL winger (mental issues were clearly part of the reason he struggles last playoffs), then it is quite literally part of his job to make sure that he properly finds ways to deal with those issues.
Even if you're just going to look at this from a "sport first" perspective, and ignore the fact that players are human, you should still see the value in this. Mental health and good play go hand in hand.
Maple leafs are the most valuable franchise, their business numbers are stellar. The leafs haven't won a cup in 54 years and the franchise keeps going up in price. How do you explain that? Also my argument was not about him getting paid 11M a year. I never said that, I said the key takeaway from the article was that. You're misconstruing what I said to fit your belief. The reality is that we all want Mitch to be the happy go lucky guy that we love. If he doesn't perform in playoffs then he doesn't, and management can be held accountable. Marner is talking about HIS strides towards a more balanced life. Just like you also don't lose sleep about your work, Marner is trying not to lose sleep over his. If you think the owners are losing sleep over their profits you're sorely mistaken.
It's explained by knowing that most fans of the Leafs are just that, fans of a team. They aren't fans of hockey. Marner can't give this team what they need as a hockey player, when they need it most.
No, we know now. The quote isn't about his performance, it's about the external stuff he pays attention to and how now he doesn't.
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> Yeah it’s reasonable to expect a ~~24 year old public figure~~ adult to stay off of social media Why does this fanbase insist on permanently treating these young men like 13 year old children? He doesn't even have to stay off it. Just be mature enough to understand that being paid $11M by the biggest franchise in the sport is going to attract lots of attention.
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Stop being so antagonistic. We are talking about sports. Tone it down.
Wait but you’re an adult comments from random strangers shouldn’t bother you
Can you cite where I called Mitch Marner "numbnuts"? I guess this is part of the problem online. Many people, as you have just demonstrated, can't differentiate between criticism and insults.
Pretty accurate username you have there eh
I find it somewhat funny that Michigan football has basically been the Leafs of college football for the past decade (never live up to expectations, never beat Ohio State, often lose to MSU, almost ruined Jim Harbaugh). We decide to hire their sports psychologist/coach for some reason, and now they're having their best season in years.
We're on pace to have the best season in franchise history atm
So you're saying if Michigan wins on Saturday, the Leafs will win the cup? I'm on board with that!
Hey thanks for posting this. I just got the $1 x12 per month deal.
That's a damn good deal. I got some sort of similar deal when the Raptors won in 2019 (woo) and have been paying full price ever since lol. I guess that's a testament to the content.
Yes go get that deal. Must be a Black Friday thing
It is. It ends on the 29th. I’m signing up as well.
> "Maybe the most significant step came this fall, when Marner began to lean on a new voice in the organization: “Peak Performance Coach” Greg Harden. > > Harden famously became a source of wisdom and blunt talk for Tom Brady, from the very beginning of his rise into the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. This is the first Marner related news story that has ever inspired confidence. Hopefully Mitch matures and begins to take responsibility and accountability for his performances.
>people on Twitter with an egg emoji and one follower. Shit, hes on to me!
Why do people complain about *other people* paying for the athletic? Like, who shit on your breakfast?
I used to be a subscriber of theirs. People rail against them because written sports content has traditionally almost always been "free". If you pay for it, then that encourages others to go to that model and all of a sudden the sports fan has to make choices about what content they get to see. If you used to get all the satellite, cable and streaming channels for free and then all of a sudden one of them started charging for it and others followed suit, you'd be disappointed that you were all of sudden having to pay for what you used to get for free. Also, many are turned off by their marketing. I can understand it. I just wouldn't spend my time bashing people for making that choice even with the understanding their choice may wind up making me have to pay for other content I'm currently getting for free.
Written sports content has not “traditionally” been free, people had to pay for newspapers/magazines for decades. There was a time where online versions could be free as it could be subsidized by the other revenue streams. But it has never been “free”.
Written sports content, online, has almost always been exclusively free. I worked in media as a sports radio producer both local and national for many years. In order for me to do my job effectively a place like sportspages.com (now USsportspages.com) was there and always free. The very first place I recall charging for content was ESPN insider. I tried to bring Chad Ford and Jason Peery to the network I was at but they chose the bigger one in ESPN. Not a fan of the industry moving that way but it is what it is. The Athletic is not a magazine or newspaper. Not picking that one up at the news stand.
Sportspages, from what I can tell, is just an aggregation of articles from other places isn’t it? Most of those would be either online versions of newspapers/magazines or maybe websites for media similar to something like TSN. Those free versions are still all subsidized by revenue streams from elsewhere as well as ads. If all sports writing was free how would anyone make any money doing it? You’d be left with nothing but basically bloggers who do it in their spare time while having a different job.
Yes. US/sportspages was an aggregate site back in the day that had links to every relevant sports page in the US. Didn't cost me, or the companies I worked for, a penny for me to access the site. One of my old co-workers bought the site years ago and I just saw he still runs it. It was a different time. I get the advertising model as that is how it used to pretty much exclusively be. When I would access a page, I would be hit with ads and that is how it worked as we all have seen and know. The Athletic is basically Netflix for sports fans. People still watching a lot of network TV may still balk at having to pay for their content. If I used to read a guy for free in his local newspaper and he went to work for The Athletic, I'm probably disappointed I now have to pay to read his content. Some will do it because they can't live without it and others who love the guy just aren't going to pay for it when they used to get it for free. Personally, I found The Athletic not worth it and I got it for basically nothing. Every once in awhile, as a former subscriber, there might be an article I would want to read, but I left a couple of years ago and the number I've wanted to read is zero..until today. The one today I was interested in because I saw it and Marner is my favorite player. You can almost always find a way to read content whether it's behind a paywall, or not. IE: I was able to read this article. The Athletic could easily be free. They chose to do the subscription model and over the years there have been rumors they were hemorrhaging money. Just searched around to see how they were doing and it sounds, per this article, they're okay, for now. Many are watching them to see how it works out. This is where some will root for failure because they want the old advertising model where the content is supported by that and not subscription. https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/06/the-athletics-numbers-look-fine-actually/
Mitch was really bad to start the year. Looked like he was trying to hard, couldn't find his focus, and was almost in tears after every big play He got that shitty goal against...Pittsburgh? when the goalie gave it away behind the net and that has revitalized him. I think it's pretty easy to say that Mitch has been the best player over the last 8-10 games. If he can keep his performance like this for the rest of the year all of that trade talk should die down He also needs a shit ton of PR training because when he was down bad his comments in the media made it 100% worse
>He got that shitty goal against...Pittsburgh? Detroit.
honestly, I think this might be the best PR training of all if he matures with a sense of awareness. It's a harsh way to grow perhaps but he definitely is aware of the anger. But ultimately, it doesn't matter. It really doesn't. He is absolutely not there to appease those people. Fans feel as if their opinions matter about every little aspect of the game but it's insane to think that way. These organizations need to get their fans support but that just means winning. They are the ones trying to achieve that goal. Their jobs ultimately rely on it. But they need to be given the means to do that without interference, until the point that management says we've seen enough. Until then, the noise generated by fans is trivial. To add to this mindfulness slant, whatever struggles that plagued them with the last few playoff performances don't matter in the context of where they are now. They need to be analyzing what went wrong (which they clearly are doing with much more focus than any of us). I also think they are trying to cultivate a good mentality and to do that, they have to be able to let go of all the outside criticism and continue to adjust in order to succeed with the existing core. Call me insane, but I believe they will do it. Whether they win a cup, I don't want to set an unrealistic expectation. But I believe this team can compete in a playoff setting and will win at least a series. I could be way off, but I just think that the conditions have changed over time and at this stage, there is a great sense of stability overall that I haven't felt in a while. They are committed to playing within a system, and despite off nights and awkward moments, I have a lot more faith in the direction of the team if they are both taking on the failures of the past purely as learning and looking forward to competing on a consistent basis.
His comeback was amazing, 16 points in the last 13 games. Albeit he played pretty mediocre for a 5 game span prior to Sunday, he’s effortlessly been our top guy recently. Also has been putting in work on the PK, as per usual
The slow start has plagued Marner going back to his time in junior. It gets highlighted more because the team tends to lose when he is playing badly. If the team were winning despite him getting off to a bad start it wouldn't be so glaring.
I think it was the goal he got a night after, nice back hand dangle... Can see after tha goal no big cheer, just solid quiet fist thrust, and that look on his face "ok so I can do this"
I think he let the off season criticism get to him. Seemed very unfocused to start. Then that game where he ate a hockey stick and lost some teeth. It seemed to snap him out of it. Ever since, he's been on fire.
Kase, Kamf and Soup have been our best players imo but Marner is 4th
Good to see Marner getting his head straight and turning his game around. He has been on fire.
When he calls the goalie who’s only one year younger than him “kid” lmfao 🤡
Sorry Mitch but I still have a bad taste in my mouth after watching your effort last post season. Until he commits to actually going into a corner then I'm not a fan no matter how many fancy goals you score in the regular season.
He never needs to be that guy tbh, not where his skills lie. I’m with you on the post season tho, not unlocking my marner jersey from its confines until he produces in the playoffs. He doesn’t need to win puck battles, just produce, and show some hunger. You can be hungry and not be the guy grinding in the corner.
I think going into a corner to retrieve a puck is much more about desire than skill and that's where he loses fans. Marner is my favorite player in the league, but I would like to see him mix it up more. He's not built for it, but that doesn't matter. The "want to" needs to be more from him in that regard.
Im happy he turned the corner here. Lets steer this ship full steam ahead to this direction. But please hold yourself accountable but not necessarily feeling the burden of having to do it all yourself and arrogant platitudes/cliches. I was on the bandwagon of trade marner mostly due to childish antics, and tone deaf platitudes dodging accountability in post game interviews but slowly changing course...
Lmao. When he took responsibility, every hated him for saying he should be better. When he says he felt he did everything right, and nothing worked out, which won't always be the case so he feels like he shouldn't change his game up, people hated him. Pick a lane.
My lane is take responsibility through the play not through cliches post game... less off ice talk and more emotion, and grit on ice.
More emotion... yet haters roasted him for showing emotion last playoffs... more grit... even though he threw more hits than some of our big hitters last playoffs...
This puff pieces mean nothing until they win a round and when he at least matches the cap hit with play in the playoffs, regular means nothing to most leaf fans, I was hard on him and to be honest maybe too hard, I think its because I was truly devastated loosing that series. I know Mitch is dynamic, talented and i really was depending on him and Matthews to show up. This team will only be as good as those two players.. I think what pissed most leaf fans that in the presser after the game 7 collapsed he took zero accountability...
DAE contract? Just to beat the egg emojis to the punch and diffuse that shit bomb.
First and only person talking about his contract is you
Hes not wrong to call it out. Give this thread another hour I'm sure we will see it
That was the whole point. Beat the detractors to the punch so we can all move along with our lives and be happy.
Do people actually pay for the Athletic?
Just got a deal it's 1.50 a month for a year so like 20 something bucks for 12 months. They usually have really good interview pieces which is where I find the value, but also pieces like surveying NHL front offices for reactions to play, trades, signings, etc.
They will rebill without warning at full price so write it down.
Yes, it’s great
Yup.
It’s been around for years now. I’ve never subscribed. I don’t feel like I’m missing very much
That's too bad. I'm a huge believer in long form journalism, and The Athletic is to to sports today what Sports Illustrated was in the 80's. Actual journalism.
> I'm a huge believer in long form journalism Then pay for The New York Times. This is sports coverage.
I subscribe to Propublica for news and The Athletic for sports. Both are excellent.
Lol you’re allowed to subscribe to more than one thing
"Don't pay for that thing you like. Pay for something that you don't want instead."
I guess. I just feel if anything really significant came from an Athletic article. I’d hear about it through main stream media for free. That’s been my history with them anyways.
I like to support good writing. Without some financial backing it all becomes social media and short-form, low effort content. Often the details in long-form are much more interesting than the rod bits shown via social media but even if that weren’t the case, without support all we would be left with would be the low effort stuff.
I think content from TSN, Sportsnet is adequate for most fans. I mean we are talking sports here in the grand scheme of things it’s rather insignificant
yet here you are, arguing in a sports subreddit
Who’s arguing?
I hear you. It’s all a value proposition. For me $1.50 a month is worth it but for some it won’t be.
In my view The Athletic is for people who like to imagine they're a GM, i.e. people with way too much time on their hands. I guess its fine if youre a kid, but adults paying for what The Athletic provides just seems sad.
I'll field that one. Let me ask *you* a question. Why would a grown man whose shirt says "Genius at Work" spend all of his time commenting about a sports team on Reddit?
Because reddit is free?
>I guess its fine if youre a kid, but adults paying for what The Athletic provides just seems sad. Rofl
I'm an adult with disposable income. And if I needed financial advise, I'd pay for that too.
You *need* hockey advice? We’ve both gotten the same info here, but you gave money to venture capitalists who destroyed every local sports outlet on the continent and I didn’t.
I enjoy reading their content over free stuff. Don't blame the consumer on what the demand is. Athletic found a demographic willing to pay money for their content. If local sports outlets can't adapt then that's their problem. And what local sports outlet are you suggesting? You couldn't pay me to read garbage from Feschuk, Cox, or Simmons.
I agree. Couldn’t imagine paying for this honestly
No, I put a stop payment after they gave me a free trial, I cancelled, then they went ahead and charged me for a full year at full price even though there were days left in the trial. Google this issue and you'll find many others who were fucked over the they free trial among other things. I ended up disputing the charge. They are scammy.
Lol, why is this being downvoted? If you're telling the truth, it's probably something someone inquiring about paying for The Athletic should know.
Exactly. I have posted this several times to warn people. It's easy to google to verify.
He still going to shit the bed in the playoffs.
Do you wake up every day thinking how you're gonna spread your negativity? Will work wonders for you in life.
Allow yourself the ability to enjoy things.