The Athletic

NCHawker

NCHawker

Well-Known Member
I'm wondering if any of you are members of this sports website. Apparently they have attracted a lot of top CFB writers from across the country, Scott Dochterman was among them. I'm not one to pay for much online. How about you?

https://theathletic.com/
 
I've always felt the depth of knowledge was much greater on this site than most paid sites. Once you start paying for someone's opinion/knowledge the purity of it all is compromised...plus you miss out on all the Cyclone and Husker trolls.
 
The Athletic, content-wise, is far and away the best site out there. Remains to be seen if they can make a go of it long term as a "pay for play" site....
 
SpiderRico said:
The Athletic, content-wise, is far and away the best site out there. Remains to be seen if they can make a go of it long term as a "pay for play" site....
Click to expand...
Not saying it isn't worth it, but $100 a year is going to be pretty steep for most folks. I hope they last.

I do know that the actual Hawks coverage on this board is almost nil on the free side now. Rob used to post article links and start discussions on the free side, but you don't see it anymore (I know it's the off season...) I paid for a year of HN Extra and I can tell you that he posts a hell of a lot and there is more "in-depth" stuff and tidbits about recruit relationships, etc., and a lot of times he has info that doesn't come out in the media but is very interesting. Jon hasn't posted since, what, October?

HN's forums (the free ones) have basically become a place for banter back and forth instead of Hawkeye info. I'm not saying it's bad at all because I participate, but there isn't the Hawks coverage on this board like there used to be, even during the football and basketball seasons. The best way to say it is that it isn't bad, it's just different. This place is like 40 or 50 Hawkeye fans sitting at a bar, giving each other shit and either complaining about the programs, or complaining about the people who are complaining about the programs. Jon and Rob left it like the wild wild west where anyone gets away with anything, and the pay board is kept super civilized.

I guess what I'm getting at is that if you want (quality) news coverage you have to usually pay for it somehow. If you want free you're going to have to settle for Leistikow licking Ferentz's fart box and David Schwartz writing stories that don't even make sense to Brick Tamland.
 
NCHawker said:
I'm wondering if any of you are members of this sports website. Apparently they have attracted a lot of top CFB writers from across the country, Scott Dochterman was among them. I'm not one to pay for much online. How about you?

https://theathletic.com/
Click to expand...

If you enjoy all sports articles and not just Hawkeye related articles it's probably worth the price. They have a lot of good writers, and their articles actually have substance unlike ESPN.
 
Fryowa said:
Not saying it isn't worth it, but $100 a year is going to be pretty steep for most folks. I hope they last.

I do know that the actual Hawks coverage on this board is almost nil on the free side now. Rob used to post article links and start discussions on the free side, but you don't see it anymore (I know it's the off season...) I paid for a year of HN Extra and I can tell you that he posts a hell of a lot and there is more "in-depth" stuff and tidbits about recruit relationships, etc., and a lot of times he has info that doesn't come out in the media but is very interesting. Jon hasn't posted since, what, October?

HN's forums (the free ones) have basically become a place for banter back and forth instead of Hawkeye info. I'm not saying it's bad at all because I participate, but there isn't the Hawks coverage on this board like there used to be, even during the football and basketball seasons. The best way to say it is that it isn't bad, it's just different. This place is like 40 or 50 Hawkeye fans sitting at a bar, giving each other shit and either complaining about the programs, or complaining about the people who are complaining about the programs. Jon and Rob left it like the wild wild west where anyone gets away with anything, and the pay board is kept super civilized.

I guess what I'm getting at is that if you want (quality) news coverage you have to usually pay for it somehow. If you want free you're going to have to settle for Leistikow licking Ferentz's fart box and David Schwartz writing stories that don't even make sense to Brick Tamland.
Click to expand...

I have been trying forever to come up with a comparison to Schwartz and you freaking nailed it! Nice job!
 
I paid for Jon's site for several years, before the age of social media. Now with social media, along with having 3 kids, I get all the content I have time to read for free. I wouldn't discourage anyone from spending $8 a month to read content though, if they have time to get there money's worth. And if Scott is writing for them, I'm sure there will be worthwhile stories.

On top of that, I pay enough $8-10 a month subscriptions, I can't do another one, simply out of principle.
 
Fryowa said:
Not saying it isn't worth it, but $100 a year is going to be pretty steep for most folks. I hope they last.

I do know that the actual Hawks coverage on this board is almost nil on the free side now. Rob used to post article links and start discussions on the free side, but you don't see it anymore (I know it's the off season...) I paid for a year of HN Extra and I can tell you that he posts a hell of a lot and there is more "in-depth" stuff and tidbits about recruit relationships, etc., and a lot of times he has info that doesn't come out in the media but is very interesting. Jon hasn't posted since, what, October?

HN's forums (the free ones) have basically become a place for banter back and forth instead of Hawkeye info. I'm not saying it's bad at all because I participate, but there isn't the Hawks coverage on this board like there used to be, even during the football and basketball seasons. The best way to say it is that it isn't bad, it's just different. This place is like 40 or 50 Hawkeye fans sitting at a bar, giving each other shit and either complaining about the programs, or complaining about the people who are complaining about the programs. Jon and Rob left it like the wild wild west where anyone gets away with anything, and the pay board is kept super civilized.

I guess what I'm getting at is that if you want (quality) news coverage you have to usually pay for it somehow. If you want free you're going to have to settle for Leistikow licking Ferentz's fart box and David Schwartz writing stories that don't even make sense to Brick Tamland.
Click to expand...
I have a tough time paying for something I'll eventually get 2 hours later for free in regards to breaking news or whatever. The sort of things most gossiped about are what? Recruits and where their leaning/visiting etc etc. Injuries and how bad they might be all that goes with those. Depth charts and how players are being used. There's probably more but those are mostly what grab my eye anyway. I'm perfectly fine being patient and finding out a short time later than those that wish to pay and find out first. That's just me..
 
Not sure that Scott writes articles that fall into the category of scoop. I've found his work to be more analytical. I may consider it. But wonder if he would be sharing his ideas on the podcasts with Marc.

I had a conversation today with a sportwriter in another state. He said that Marc and Scott D. are A+ - among the best in America and that Iowa fans are very fortunate to have them.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
I have a tough time paying for something I'll eventually get 2 hours later for free in regards to breaking news or whatever. The sort of things most gossiped about are what? Recruits and where their leaning/visiting etc etc. Injuries and how bad they might be all that goes with those. Depth charts and how players are being used. There's probably more but those are mostly what grab my eye anyway. I'm perfectly fine being patient and finding out a short time later than those that wish to pay and find out first. That's just me..
Click to expand...
The pay board here was pretty good actually. There was a lot from Rob about his convos with recruits and coaches that doesn’t get mentioned over here. If that’s not something that’s worth money to you then it probably wouldn’t be worth it for you. I know that I didn’t go there or post enough to make it worth the spend. I just read mostly.

The other thing about HN Extra is that there are far fewer posters and the same 5 ish people start every thread. Along with that though, there are never any threads getting derailed and everything is super civilized because if it. That’s why a lot of people go there because it’s so tightly moderated. I’m sure that’s where @HuckFinn went after getting torn up on the free side.
 
I just can't afford it. I'm not saying insightful information and well written articles are not worth it. It's just a luxury I can't do. If I could, I would, because I simply have an insatiable appetite for knowledge when it comes to things I like. Things I don't like?? Dumb as a box of rocks.
 
Fryowa said:
Not saying it isn't worth it, but $100 a year is going to be pretty steep for most folks. I hope they last.

I do know that the actual Hawks coverage on this board is almost nil on the free side now. Rob used to post article links and start discussions on the free side, but you don't see it anymore (I know it's the off season...) I paid for a year of HN Extra and I can tell you that he posts a hell of a lot and there is more "in-depth" stuff and tidbits about recruit relationships, etc., and a lot of times he has info that doesn't come out in the media but is very interesting. Jon hasn't posted since, what, October?

HN's forums (the free ones) have basically become a place for banter back and forth instead of Hawkeye info. I'm not saying it's bad at all because I participate, but there isn't the Hawks coverage on this board like there used to be, even during the football and basketball seasons. The best way to say it is that it isn't bad, it's just different. This place is like 40 or 50 Hawkeye fans sitting at a bar, giving each other shit and either complaining about the programs, or complaining about the people who are complaining about the programs. Jon and Rob left it like the wild wild west where anyone gets away with anything, and the pay board is kept super civilized.

I guess what I'm getting at is that if you want (quality) news coverage you have to usually pay for it somehow. If you want free you're going to have to settle for Leistikow licking Ferentz's fart box and David Schwartz writing stories that don't even make sense to Brick Tamland.
Click to expand...


This is why I like it here. I already have enough monthly, bills, subscriptions, charges, etc.. I am in NO WAY interested in adding another. I don't need to know everything that bad or fast.
 
Hey. Got back from vacation last night and had an HN meeting with Jon in Des Moines this afternoon. I'm sure you all missed me. :p

We talked about putting up a donation page and freeing up our premium board as a possibility moving forward. We realized it's tough for people to pay for content they can get for free and the board hasn't really become an active community which we hoped it would. Hopefully people will help if they can and think our site is worth supporting. We've got some cool ideas coming for the upcoming season we think people will like. As always, we want all content to be free.

We are basically advertisement-based. We're trying to sell more local ads as the money generated from Google-type ads continues to decrease nationally. We're brainstorming to keep HN going with ways to generate revenue.

Scott and Bobby did excellent work at Land of 10, which was run by a large media group in Cox, and they dropped it after two years. It's not easy to make it in a saturated market. We want to keep HN alive.

The Athletic is a great site for people that appreciate good writing as it pertains to sports. It's analytical and feature based but also covers things on beat basis.

Ultimately, it's a personal decision on what we choose to support. I subscribe to Baseball America and the Athletic because I can, because I believe they're worth supporting and I enjoy the content. I'd be disappointed of either went away.

I probably wouldn't pay extra for breaking news these days like years gone by. With social media, when something happens, it's out all over the place pretty quickly.

I do think it's important to support good journalism, especially locally, if possible. More and more good outlets, like Land of 10, go away when we don't. Others, like the Gazette and the DMR, continually lose employees and it hurts their products. The readers then miss out.

This will be my 22nd year covering Hawkeye athletics and I don't feel particularly secure on my job. Very few in the business do these days.
 
Stanzi said:
If you enjoy all sports articles and not just Hawkeye related articles it's probably worth the price. They have a lot of good writers, and their articles actually have substance unlike ESPN.
Click to expand...
ESPN has really become a joke. Heather Dinich is the person that ultimately drove me away from espn.com entirely. The ineptitude of that woman's commentary is truly incredible.
 
Fryowa said:
Worse than Meth Bowins?
Click to expand...
Her voice is nowhere near is bad, but I really don't understand her hiring. The woman isn't there for eye candy and she has no idea what she's talking about. I don't think I've ever heard her call a game though, so it's apples to oranges. Her web content was just so terrible, it goes beyond ESPN's usual SEC bias, she straight up knows nothing about any teams outside the SEC.
 
Finebaum is a pretty bright guy who knows his audience and knows his job. I don't need to agree with him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top