I guess the just-retired future Hall of Famer wants to keep busy. Less than a week after appearing in his final game, Jeter announced the launch of The Players’ Tribune a new website promising to give fans (subscribers?) “a place where pro athletes can “connect directly with our fans, with no filter.”
This was a topic on yesterday’s Pardon the Interruption, and frankly, neither Tony Kornheiser nor Michael Wilbon believe this will be the case, the key phrase being “no filter.” They expect the stories to be topical but not especially newsworthy or controversial. For that information, they say, fans will probably go elsewhere.
For one thing, at least to me, no filter means exactly that. Some salty language would be par for the course since, let’s face it, a lot of us talk that way. But that would give the site an explicit rating, and thereby make it inaccessible to what I imagine would be a core component of visitors — young people. (If you tell me to cut back on the cursing, sorry, that’s a filter.)
I must say, the site looks nicely done so far. Yesterday was just an introductory note, telling readers what they might expect. Seattle Seahawk’s quarterback Russell Wilson, listed as “senior editor,” had the honor of posting the first article. He chose to write about domestic violence, which has certainly been a topic of discussion since the NFL season started.
(Are these titles actual or honorary, like getting producer credit on a film. Hard to conceive of Wilson in the Jonah Jameson role).
Certainly there is no shortage of bright athletes out there willing to share their thoughts, but will fans want to hear about politics and social activism, or just the dish from the locker rooms?
We’ll see how long this lasts.
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