The Players' Tribune does some cool stuff. Like others mention, the amount of ghostwriting is unclear, but the pieces all feel faithful (and accurate) to the subject. They are never hagiographic, and while there's some amount of bravado in almost all of them (I mean, they're former sports stars), it is always tempered by honesty, and often regret. Maybe HN is less likely to assign much weight to what athletes say, but these are pretty unvarnished accounts from people who, by and large, became <i>world-class</i> at something tons of people try. They have interesting things to say.<p>Some other good pieces are NBA player Dion Waiters' freewheeling account of his life so far [1], former NBA player Steve Francis's bizarre path to and from stardom [2] (an interesting complement to teammate Yao Ming's entertaining account of his own rookie year [3]), and for a rather darker and more harrowing (but also quite moving) story, former NHL player Clint Malarchuk's account of his infamous on-ice injury and its (extensive) consequences [4].<p>[1] <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/dion-waiters-miami-heat-nba-is-lucky" rel="nofollow">https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/dion-waiter...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/steve-francis-i-got-a-story-to-tell" rel="nofollow">https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/steve-franc...</a><p>[3]
<a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/yao-ming-my-rookie-year-rockets-china" rel="nofollow">https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/yao-ming-my...</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/clint-malarchuk-bleeding-out" rel="nofollow">https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/clint-malar...</a>
I work at The Players’ Tribune, leading a small team of engineers, and I never thought I’d see one of our articles on the front page of HN.<p>Our mission is connecting fans and athletes, and our long-form articles do a great job of that. We’re also exploring how technology can create even deeper connections and more compelling experiences. Would love to hear thoughts on this from the HN crowd.
If you start reading this, pause and think "is this my sort of thing"....I strongly encourage you to go back and keep reading.<p>Wonderful article, but easy to jump by if you're in Hacker News skim mode like I was.
When the Players Tribune started, I thought it was gonna be garbage. It's soooo good. At least the handful of pieces I've read. I know there's a lot of ghostwriting. But I don't really care because the end product is compelling.
This is such a great read. For those who don't know (I didn't) East St Louis is in Illinois, across the bridge (Eads?) is St Louis. Never been to Illinois. Most I know about it is it's not actually windy and Chicagos there.<p>I spent a lot of time in the projects in Virginia (Hampton/Norfolk), places like Lincoln Park. My friends were living it rough, I got to see it from the outside when I'd bike over to play Gameboy. They had to come to my house to play Sega, they didn't have tvs or if they did no games. I can't imagine Darius' life.
Wow. The way he described his childhood felt surreal. The only thing I had to worry about as a kid, was classes and high-school drama. I literally never once worried for my life or physical safety. It's insane that some kids in America, one of the richest countries in the world, have to grow up in an environment like that.
> “Look at these boys! Look at my beautiful boys!”<p>I mean we all know at this point that Donald Sterling is/was racist, but holy fuck the sliminess of the plantation owner vibe I get from this quote.
i didn't think much of darius miles back then, he could definitely dunk, but i didn't see him as an upcoming star, the guy flat out couldn't shoot the j and sometimes he made some really bad decisions on the court, so i didn't have much respect for him, didn't think he was the brainiest of the players.<p>but this article changes everything, i think he's quite articulate, if this was really written by him and reviewed by q, it's not a bad piece of work, never mind the ebonics, but it's not half bad at all.<p>i think a lot of fans don't realize the punishment professional athletes take on their bodies, surgeries that normal folks would probably forego and instead wait to heal at their own pace. obviously professional athletes get compensated for this, but it's still quite taxing, look at all the scars grant hill has from his multiple ankle and knee surgeries, walking just isn't the same anymore. but i'm sure most people would give up their right arm for the chance at a few years in the nba on those salaries.
WoW. I can only say this from the bottom of my heart. It takes courage, persistence and a hell lot of dedication to pull yourself up, especially when everyone else is trying to pull you down. God Bless you man. Fist Up!
I am an nba crazy person and vividly remember those guys and that era. It was a thing. That team with those two and Odem showed glimpses of being the future of basketball. It was easy to cheer for them because they seemed like good dudes just having fun. Great article.
I grew up in SoCal in the early 2000s and I distinctly remember how <i>fun</i> the Clips were to watch. They were heavily overshadowed by the Lakers and no one really expected them to win. But they were entertaining.<p>This is a story that mostly focuses on the come up rather than the come down. It must have been a hell of a run to become a multimillionaire teenager and work out of LA, no less. The anecdotes with Alonzo, MJ, and Shaq are hilarious. I could totally see Shaq doing something like that. I hope Miles can parlay that history and access into something cool for his future.<p>There's an interesting point both of them make about social media; I'm not sure I believe it. I imagine it's just as fun and wild to be a teenage NBA player was it was in the early 2000s.<p>Props to Miles for speaking out about his depression. Kevin Love and I think Lowry have been open about their struggles. We're all human, NBA players or not.
I read this the other day and thought it was an interesting story. I find some of the troll comments on here just as interesting. When I read it originally, the style of writing didn't even cross my mind. I could tell it was conversational. And seeing that Darius Miles is a little younger than me we use the same type of slang in conversation. At least around friends.<p>When I'm at work it's a different ball game. Like anybody else I try to sound more professional. But I find it amusing that some people are saying that the story doesn't read like English. It's a little hard to take them seriously.
Wow spent that last 20 min reading the whole thing glued to wonder what did happen to Darius Miles. His mom was awesome and understandably a reason to be depressed, at the end of the day all you got is your family.
Seriously incredible...I know nothing about basketball but he has a way with words that made the whole story unfold in full color.<p>Heartbreaking in parts, glad to see something like this on HN.
This is great. I liked the early 2000s Clippers and many times have asked what happened to Darius Miles. First NBA game I went to was Clippers vs. Lakers with this group.
Started reading, couldn't stop. A lot of the tone-deaf comments here seem to be missing the point that growing up where Miles did might as well be a different country. It's about <i>culture</i> – and looking down on someone just because they talk different is ignorant. And you do yourself a disservice by missing out on a piece of writing that is pretty fantastic. Is it relevant here? Of course. It's about making it in America; and all the ups, and downs, and inequalities involved.