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Does anyone else plan on getting a subscription to The Athletic?


JGMcD2

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Just now, TikiTailgateRentals said:

I chose not to give Tim Graham my beer money.  Hope he learns the hard way that being an ahole on Twitter doesn't help with subscriptions aka $$$

There's no way to quantify this, but I haven't seen a single person suggest they're canceling their subscription to the Athletic.  OTOH, I've seen a boatload of people suggest they've signed up for him.  

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No I do not.  I refuse to pay for content.  There ar4 different methods of making money off of a high traffic sports website and IMO the ones that have adopted a subscription model like the athletic will not work.  I much prefer a model like the Ringer, which has advertisements.  

 

As far as Tim Graham I had to unfollow him on Twitter years ago because he was such a smart ass.  I don't know the man at all but the way he comes across on Twitter was, IMO, not only petty but embarrassing.

 

I like Fairburn's podcast with Joe B.....and I'll just continue to listen to that for free.  If they decide to charge for that eventually I'll listen to the next guy who fills the non subscription model vacuum.  

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52 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Speaking to Harrington, apparently.  :lol:

 

Goes back to who Graham is as a person...who takes a private conversation -- from a colleague, no less -- and throws it out on Twitter?

I’m glad none of my conversations get out on Twitter. I’m sure I’d have mean looking people at my door within seconds.

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51 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

Pay for “news”? Lulz.

 

News is generic.   But how about entertainment and insight?     

 

Quality writing's worth paying for, just like quality music, quality movies, quality beer, quality women... 

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52 minutes ago, stony said:

There's no way to quantify this, but I haven't seen a single person suggest they're canceling their subscription to the Athletic.  OTOH, I've seen a boatload of people suggest they've signed up for him.  

A whole boatload?  That will pay Timmah's bar tab for a month, not much else.  

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1 hour ago, That's No Moon said:

Thank you for reminding me why I refuse to support anything those jackasses do.

For the life of me, I don't understand why anyone with anything to lose would ever participate in "social media".

 

I also have no idea why a so called professional--at anything---would get involved in this new breed of online mud slinging.

 

It is totally unprofessional, lowers the so-called professional to the level of the worst in society, and casts the poster of this **** in a really negative light.

 

I don't follow the stuff myself, but you can't avoid these references in various threads at this and other forums.

 

 

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I guess I’m in the minority here but I’m not paying - for the same reason I wouldn’t pay for the Buffalo Bills.  There’s more than enough free coverage and while I love Fairburn and Graham (Not a fan of Turner), excludes articles from them just doesn’t entice me.  

 

Maybe if they continue to evolve, it will change my mind but now I don’t feel that I would get the $40 or so out of the subscription.  

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31 minutes ago, Lurker said:

 

News is generic.   But how about entertainment and insight?     

 

Quality writing's worth paying for, just like quality music, quality movies, quality beer, quality women... 

 

You make a fair point.

 

Maybe if I followed as closely as I did say 10-20 years ago. But I’m kinda “sportsed out” in general.  Bills are more of a habit than a hobby these days, and beyond that, I don’t really care about any other franchises. Sabres would be fun to see in the playoffs someday, but ‘meh’ to regular season hockey.

 

So I reckon I take back my snarky post. I personally wouldn’t pay for insight or opinions, but to each his own.

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18 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

 

You make a fair point.

 

Maybe if I followed as closely as I did say 10-20 years ago. But I’m kinda “sportsed out” in general.  Bills are more of a habit than a hobby these days, and beyond that, I don’t really care about any other franchises. Sabres would be fun to see in the playoffs someday, but ‘meh’ to regular season hockey.

 

So I reckon I take back my snarky post. I personally wouldn’t pay for insight or opinions, but to each his own.

 

I’m with you.  I’d actually be more inclined to pay for premium podcasts than a subscription to The Athletic

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It's cheap enough.  I just don't think it's for me. I rarely read full sports articles. I do have about an hour commute to work every day and I do get my fill of sports news from satellite radio. 

Ads don't really bother me by the way unless they open new screens. I usually just see items I looked at over the last few days.

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I do not mind paying for good journalism - actual insight and analysis and good old fashioned reporting based on delving into the teams and the relevant organizations.   The BN Blitz has not been that.  Perhaps they will improve having ditched some of the dead weight.  The Athletic seems to be legit and I will probably give it a try for $40 and a free tee shirt, given they do have a Buffalo sports focus area and some reporters that know the ground and have shown good work in the past.  

 

That said, I am skeptical about Timmy's value add.  He is a good reporter and writer when he focuses on that, but I can't stand his snarky, arrogant attitude.  If he leaves that at home and just does the job, could be good.  I am not betting on that though.  

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2 minutes ago, MDFan said:

I do not mind paying for good journalism - actual insight and analysis and good old fashioned reporting based on delving into the teams and the relevant organizations.   The BN Blitz has not been that.  Perhaps they will improve having ditched some of the dead weight.  The Athletic seems to be legit and I will probably give it a try for $40 and a free tee shirt, given they do have a Buffalo sports focus area and some reporters that know the ground and have shown good work in the past.  

 

That said, I am skeptical about Timmy's value add.  He is a good reporter and writer when he focuses on that, but I can't stand his snarky, arrogant attitude.  If he leaves that at home and just does the job, could be good.  I am not betting on that though.  

 

I can respect that but I have a different view.  At this point, I know I wouldn’t get the $40 out of the subscription.  I don’t spend a lot of time reading online articles to get value out of that.  Also, does Fairburn or Graham offer enough that other journalists covering the Bills don’t?  

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2 hours ago, stony said:

There's no way to quantify this, but I haven't seen a single person suggest they're canceling their subscription to the Athletic.  OTOH, I've seen a boatload of people suggest they've signed up for him.  

 

It's a balancing act. The Atlantic has more going for it.

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4 minutes ago, BuffaloRush said:

 

I can respect that but I have a different view.  At this point, I know I wouldn’t get the $40 out of the subscription.  I don’t spend a lot of time reading online articles to get value out of that.  Also, does Fairburn or Graham offer enough that other journalists covering the Bills don’t?  

For me, it's not so much about specifically getting $40 value out of the subscription (how would you even judge that?), but supporting the journalists that take pride in their work and offer a good product.

 

There were at least a few members here that were posting about how they couldn't understand why people would complain about spending a few bucks a month for BN.  Personally, I'll save my support and clicks for people who actually seem to give a **** about their jobs. Hopefully that support has some small impact on the level of writing that these news agencies are hiring for.

 

Hard to say how much opinions like mine contributed to the BN shakeup, but I hope that situation and a successful transition for writers like Fairburn are slowly moving the needle in the right direction.  Of course, that's also why I'm a bit disappointed that TG is getting lumped in with the others.  He's a good writer, but if I had a choice to somehow not pay for his stuff while supporting the others, i would.

 

BTW, while I was considering the subscription to the Athletic (reviewed their website), I got an ad on Facebook for 50% off (no T-shirt), so I went ahead and purchased one year for $30.  

 

 

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4 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

What's Timmah's record for most days between being a douche on Twitter?

I'm gonna guess more than his "most days without being a douche" record.

17 minutes ago, Acantha said:

For me, it's not so much about specifically getting $40 value out of the subscription (how would you even judge that?), but supporting the journalists that take pride in their work and offer a good product.

 

There were at least a few members here that were posting about how they couldn't understand why people would complain about spending a few bucks a month for BN.  Personally, I'll save my support and clicks for people who actually seem to give a **** about their jobs. Hopefully that support has some small impact on the level of writing that these news agencies are hiring for.

 

Hard to say how much opinions like mine contributed to the BN shakeup, but I hope that situation and a successful transition for writers like Fairburn are slowly moving the needle in the right direction.  Of course, that's also why I'm a bit disappointed that TG is getting lumped in with the others.  He's a good writer, but if I had a choice to somehow not pay for his stuff while supporting the others, i would.

 

BTW, while I was considering the subscription to the Athletic (reviewed their website), I got an ad on Facebook for 50% off (no T-shirt), so I went ahead and purchased one year for $30.  

 

 

I think it's quantified by what is being said.  Anyone can be a Sully or Bucky.  "This team sucks and here's why" articles.  That's not worth the money.  Not everyone can give their two cents while liking the teams but still be unbiased.  I feeling like some of these guess are pretty good at doing it.

 

Murph is an example of being biased and liking a team and most people don't like having to hear the homerism all the time.

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