Sean Avery - Transition Season

[edn88]

I cannot believe I am posting something written by Sean Avery - but it was a decent read.

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/sea...-after-hockey/

[mikeecho]

"In my 11 years in the NHL, I cannot recall a single season when two teammates didn’t fight each other at practice."

In fairness, his observations may not be a fair representation since in each instance he was one of the teammates fighting.

[CliffFletcher]

Good article. As much as Avery was a d-bag in the NHL (and I think much of that was simply a persona he created), he's pretty sharp. This part is interesting:

In fact, on game days, your phone can’t even be in your hand from the time you get to the rink to the time you leave the locker room. So no iBooks, no reading financial news or answering e-mails. Some teams even extend this no-phone rule to practice days. The unspoken culture is “don’t think about anything but hockey.”

Is this accurate? And he implies that it extends to reading books. I remember comments back in the day about Bobby Holik being a bit of a book worm and going to museums and stuff, and the tone of the comments suggested he was regarded as an oddball for doing that stuff. Hockey players seem like decent guys by and large, but the stultifying conformity and lack of curiosity about anything outside hockey strikes me as unhealthy.

[FlamesAddiction]

He has a pretty good ghost writer, no doubt.

[bluejays]

I always like guys who buck the trend when it comes to not conforming to silly culture. Avery was an interesting guy, though a ######.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Good article. As much as Avery was a d-bag in the NHL (and I think much of that was simply a persona he created), he's pretty sharp. This part is interesting:



Is this accurate? And he implies that it extends to reading books. I remember comments back in the day about Bobby Holik being a bit of a book worm and going to museums and stuff, and the tone of the comments suggested he was regarded as an oddball for doing that stuff. Hockey players seem like decent guys by and large, but the stultifying conformity and lack of curiosity about anything outside hockey strikes me as unhealthy.

No iBooks. As in no phones.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

He has a pretty good ghost writer, no doubt.

Did you hear this somewhere? I thought these player tribune things were meant to be very candid and genuine, and Sean Avery despite his douchbaggery is a pretty intelligent person.

[timbit]

Dead on.

Brilliant commentary on the transition from player to real life.

[Traditional_Ale]

As an NHL player I'd of had him on my team anytime.

If he didn't use a ghost-writer then this is really solid writing.

[Northendzone]

Given that most pro athletes are fairly competitive guys who are alpha males working in an environment where there is a lot of pressure and physical contact Ii have to think this is not far from off.

Whomever came up with this idea of the players tribune is a genius

Originally Posted by mikeecho

"In my 11 years in the NHL, I cannot recall a single season when two teammates didn’t fight each other at practice."

In fairness, his observations may not be a fair representation since in each instance he was one of the teammates fighting.

[cKy]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Given that most pro athletes are fairly competitive guys who are alpha males working in an environment where there is a lot of pressure and physical contact Ii have to think this is not far from off.

Whomever came up with this idea of the players tribune is a genius

This website is Derek Jeters brainchild

[Cheese]

Good article and wow...The Players Tribune is fantastic...spent two hours reading articles.

/bookmarked

[Funkhouser]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Did you hear this somewhere? I thought these player tribune things were meant to be very candid and genuine, and Sean Avery despite his douchbaggery is a pretty intelligent person.

I'm pretty sure that the Players' Tribune has a permanent staff of ghost writers who help the players in penning their stories. They all have a similar writing style.

Intelligent or not, most of the players probably never had to write a paper since they were 16-20, and I find it doubtful that they suddenly developed their writing skills in their 30s.

[TSXCman]

I thought this was going to be like Bruce Jenner when I read the title.

Good luck with the transitioning Sean!

[Huntingwhale]

Avery was an ass on the ice. But I must say, I really enjoyed him screening Brodeur in the playoffs, driving him up the wall, then scoring on him later in the period. I think it was a dumb move by the NHL to implement the ''Avery rule''.

For all the grief Avery gets, I think he's an incredibly smart guy. He got made fun of for going to Vogue, but good on him for following his passion and developing work skills outside of hockey. Even though he's not a part of hockey anymore, he has a bright future.

[mikeecho]

I'll be looking forward to the Matt Cooke piece where he tries to convince us he's really a great human being but was forced by the league and all it's pressures to put on the mask of the games greatest cheap shot artist.

This is a well disguised attempt to build back his personal brand by explaining away all his faults, masked with some decent insight into transitioning into life after hockey.

[Deelow]

Originally Posted by TSXCman

I thought this was going to be like Bruce Jenner when I read the title.

Good luck with the transitioning Sean!

He now goes by Avery Avery,.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Did you hear this somewhere? I thought these player tribune things were meant to be very candid and genuine, and Sean Avery despite his douchbaggery is a pretty intelligent person.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/sp...re-iphone&_r=0

Like nearly every post on the site, the Ortiz essay was not written directly by its bylined athlete but instead crafted from a recorded interview with a Tribune staff producer.

[kbvall]

Regarding ghost writer or not. In the article there was this link to another Avery article:
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/the-new-avery-rule/

And there you´ll find this quoute:
"I have a small fine art collection and a great book collection. And I like art and books and writing and writers — my pro writer buddy, Michael McKinley, helped me pen this story. So, financially, I’m OK, but that happened because of friendship, not anything the NHL did for me by way of financial planning."

So maybe this Michael guy helped him with other texts as well.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Good article. As much as Avery was a d-bag in the NHL (and I think much of that was simply a persona he created), he's pretty sharp.

What would be the difference, though? He's not a d-bag? But he just acts like one all the time to act out a manufactured persona? End result is the same in my opinion.