9 ms·
What the hell happened to Darius Miles?
- acjohnson55 8y agoWhen 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.
- ericcholis 8y agoI agree. I really appreciate the fact that there's similar through-lines between the major sports. So many of these athletes are treated like superheros we forget that they've got their own struggles and triumphs like everybody else. It comes with a strong air of honesty too. There's been a number of articles that touch on my hometown teams (Buffalo Bills and Sabres) that make me respect the athletes even more for being so truthful.
- stilltorn 8y agoWho gives a fuck until you learn to write readable text instead of this "yo we blacks write this way yo" bullshit. You know other black people can communicate via text without issues. you're out your way to fuck with language.Un-fucking-readable phoney bullsit.Trying super-hard to fit into a community you don't fit in.
- Keyframe 8y agoSo, what does this have to do with anything?
- abcdcba 8y agoI think it's just an interesting story
- Carl_Platt 8y agoWhat does anything have to do with anything?
- Keyframe 8y agoHacker News
- zhte415 8y agoFantastic story.
- buzzdenver 8y agoYes, and think about it, how concise it was. I got the same out of reading this 10-minute article as if he had a 250 page autobiography.
- graeme 8y agoIf you start reading this, pause and think "is this my sort of thing"....I strongly encourage you to go back and keep reading. Wonderful article, but easy to jump by if you're in Hacker News skim mode like I was.
- sureaboutthis 8y agoYeah, I was wondering what language it was written in cause I didn't understand the first third of it as English at all.
- yawn 8y agoI mean, it's pretty damn obvious it isn't written in French. I would hate to go through life missing out on so much forest because the trees look different from the ones I know. This is a fantastically written article full of wonderful storytelling that transports you into shoes few people get to wear.
- bridanp 8y agoThere's a wonderful book entitled Several Short Sentences About Writing from Verlyn Klinkenborg that I feel is important to everyone who enjoys reading and writing. It's about learning to free your mind when writing (don't try to stick to strict rules, find your own voice in writing). Reading that book also helped me learn how to clear my mind of bias when reading an essay such as this. And I did enjoy this. Not because I understood where he was from or where he's been. Just the opposite: I don't understand and cannot comprehend living his east St. Louis life, his NBA life, or his post-career depression. I enjoyed it because the style of writing fit the story being told.
- yawn 8y agoIt makes me wonder if folks who criticize this writing would also criticize something like Neuromancer, Huckleberry Finn, or A Clockwork Orange in the same way.
- slics 8y agoWoW. 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!
- epynonymous 8y agoi 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. 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. 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.
- 55555 8y agoI would assume that most of these stories are ghostwritten. After all, you dont make it to the NBA by spending your time reading and writing... Great story, though.
- avip 8y agoListen to Jalen Rose to soften that prejudice. He’s better as a podcaster than he was on the hoops.
- goatherders 8y agoPlayfully I disagree. Jalen was an amazing player and his junior year at Michigan is perhaps my favorite college season of any player. He had a coast to coast dunk in the great 8 (game they lost) that was...perfect.
- gdubs 8y agoStarted 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 culture – 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.
- dorchadas 8y ago> It's about culture – and looking down on someone just because they talk different is ignorant. It's a shame, but linguistic discrimination is super common, and there doesn't seem to be much of a trend to change that. Likely because of education forcing the idea there's "One True English" (TM) and that if you didn't learn it you're dumb...Despite the fact nobody learns it natively, and you have to actually learn it, not acquire like your native dialect...So it all comes down to proper education, and did you learn when to use it, etc. Linguistic register is a nice term for everyone to Google.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- majos 8y agoThe 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 world-class at something tons of people try. They have interesting things to say. 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]. [1] https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/dion-waiters-miami-heat-nba-is-lucky https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/dion-waiter... [2] https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/steve-francis-i-got-a-story-to-tell https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/steve-franc... [3] https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/yao-ming-my-rookie-year-rockets-china https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/yao-ming-my... [4] https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/clint-malarchuk-bleeding-out https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/clint-malar...
- ISL 8y agoIt might be pure hometown bias, but this article by Sue Bird immediately comes to mind when I think of the Player's Tribune: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/sue-bird-seattle-storm https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/sue-bird-se...
- js2 8y agoI liked the piece by Pete Sampras which also got some traction here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9803867 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9803867
- hobolord 8y agoas an avid NHL fan, so many of the NHL stories brought tears to my eyes. Also never though I'd see this on HN
- swozey 8y agoThis 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. 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.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- joe_momma 8y agoWow 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.
- mindfulplay 8y agoReally awesome article. Felt real and touching.
- goatherders 8y agoI 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.
- toasterlovin 8y agoMy dad had partial Clipper season tickets (because Laker tickets are obscenely expensive and Clipper tickets were dirt cheap at the time) when these guys started playing. Before them, the team was a joke. The people who went to the games we’re just there to see whichever team the Clippers were playing against. There were like 12 actual Clipper fans and everybody would look at each other and go, “What kind of a weirdo wears a Clipper jersey?”. But these guys changed everything. There was this incredible energy at the games. There were real fans. Little kids whose favorite player of all time was a Clipper. It was surreal. And so, so much fun.
- simonsaidit 8y agoI have no idea who this guy is or any interest in basketball but couldn’t stop reading. Awesome!
- mrcsparker 8y agoThis is really well written.
- wildermuthn 8y agoI 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. 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.
- goatherders 8y agoIs there a good way to contact you? Or maybe email me (addy in profile)? Would love to drop you a line on exactly what you are asking - deeper connections through tech with the folks that enjoy TPT. Regardless, keep up the great work. I'm a big fan.
- wildermuthn 8y agoWould love to talk more, and have some projects in-progress that will need beta-users. nwildermuth at playerstribune.com
- goatherders 8y agoSent
- avip 8y agoAsk HN “Beta testers for players tribune?” Will likely fill your quota.
- dorchadas 8y agoIf you could incorporate a reading of this, by Darius (and Quentin for his parts), that'd be amazing. I'd love to not only see the athletes write long-form articles about themselves, but to hear them talk about it. I feel like there's just so much more emotion that comes through, even when they do write in a colloquial style like this one, which does showcase a lot of emotion.
- 8y ago
- bredren 8y agoI have a Darius Miles Trailblazer jersey from when he was on our team. Just saying.
- HAL9000Ti 8y agois this reddit?
- wildermuthn 8y agoI was surprised to see this on HN too. I’ve commented before that HN has changed since becoming popular, and perhaps more importantly, since PG stopped posting and commenting. Having said that, the movement of sports (and generally of TV) into the digital medium will be a profound disruption in terms of business and culture. The Players’ Tribune is an early glimpse into what changes are coming: behind the scenes becomes normative, and inside-the-scene becomes possible. Twitch is experimenting with streaming NFL games. Not sure if that will work out for them, but someone will figure this out.
- loso 8y agoI 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. 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.
- dopeboy 8y agoI grew up in SoCal in the early 2000s and I distinctly remember how fun the Clips were to watch. They were heavily overshadowed by the Lakers and no one really expected them to win. But they were entertaining. 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. 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. 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.
- emilfihlman 8y agoThe article flowed, I liked reading it.
- JDWolf 8y agoThis 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.
- whack 8y agoWow. 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.
- ambicapter 8y ago> “Look at these boys! Look at my beautiful boys!” 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.
- mcnichol 8y agoSeriously incredible...I know nothing about basketball but he has a way with words that made the whole story unfold in full color. Heartbreaking in parts, glad to see something like this on HN.