GRIII Players' Tribune Article
You'll want to read this article written by GRIII in The Players' Tribune.
Spoiler alert--Michigan isn't mentioned once, but it's got a lot of cool insight into him growing up around NBA players as the Big Dog's son and his quest to dunk for the first time.
I don't know if TPT has editors to help these athletes write, if it's the Michigan difference, or if GRIII is just a naturally gifted writed, but I was really impressed by this article.
https://theplayerstribune.com/glenn-robinson-iii-indiana-pacers-dunk-co…
I suspect that there is a "preferred style" which really translates to "heavy editing" when needed, and light editing when not. GRIII is a very sharp guy, and no reason to think he would be anywhere but the "light editing" bucket. But I think Pope Lando's sense that the writing styles are eerily similar on the Player's Tribune is correct.
*I.e., a total re-write.
Pretty much all the articles on the players tribune are ghost written based off interviews. None of these guys are actually sitting down and writing these articles themselves.
Wagner's article after the Big Ten tournament stuck out to me as one that was written by the player, himself. It certainly showed his personality, and I have a hard time believing some of the jokes or items in parenthesis were taken from an interview.
My guess is most are heavily edited/based on interviews, but I would think some are written by the players and only lightly edited.
There was a pretty good article that came out last month about Jeter's development of TPT. This is the relevant excerpt:
The process of how a piece is created varies. Sometimes the contributor writes a first draft, which then gets developed with an editor much like it would at any other outlet. Other times, an editor conducts a long interview with the contributor then uses that to construct a first-person narrative built on the contributor’s words. The athletes get final eyes on whatever is published and only get paid if their pieces are part of a branded content campaign.
LOVED the way that ended. Thanks for sharing.
Coach Harbaugh would have fouled the shit out of him to make sure he didn't make that shot.
I'm nearly certain that the articles are ghost written. How many articles would get written if it required the athlete, who in the case of GRIII, is in season?
And if they were concerned about how the quality of the written piece affected the way the athlete was perceived, there would be very little upside.
Guys, I'm not sure, but I think the articles are ghostwritten. Any other opinons on the matter?
The ending was great! Good read.
I enjoyed reading that very much.
April 12th, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^
that gives me a great amount of pride is how articulate the majority are, and most of them are speaking to a national audience. I asked my son about this in a simple manner, "Is it just me, or do UM athletes tend to be better spoken than the average college athlete?" He answered, "No, you aren't imagining it. They are." Many of these young men/women enter Michigan with excellent verbal skills. I know this has been the deciding factor from a parent's perspective in many hotly contested recruiting battles. Those parents who have stressed academics since their kids started school are very interested in campus visits so they can determine how much truth there is to Michigan's recruiting pitch and their claim of "offering the best combination of academics and sports excellence in the nation." Many of them have stated just how impressed they were after their visits and happy to find out the claims are true.