I have now published four articles regarding the sports world, making me a published part of the sports community. Writing these articles has been really fulfilling and has me excited for the future. As you may know, I want to be a sportswriter one day, which means I’ll probably be writing for one of the industries titans at some point. The Undefeated is one of those titans.
The Undefeated launched in 2016 as a website the not only explored the sports landscape, but also the culture around it. Of course their main focus is sports, one glance at their home page makes that pretty clear. Though further examination will lead you to the “culture” and “The Uplift” pages of the site that offer articles with a stronger focus on the social side of sports.
When ESPN initially conceived the website, the hope was that The Undefeated would give the colored community a larger voice that would in turn reach a larger colored audience. That seems to be exactly how The Undefeated worked out.
Each article is much more personal than your typical sports article. There are plenty of quotes, and the writers have a clear interest in what the players are thinking as they play. Articles that cover culture tend to have a really strong voice. Each writer laces in their own personal experience, because well, they’re part of the culture too.
Overall, The Undefeated is a very empowering website. It amplifies the voice of not only the writers, but of the community as a whole. The writers are really a part of the community they write about, which allows them to truly tell the stories of the players and people they interview. The Undefeated’s ability to unify the colored community through sports and other types of culture makes them unique.
If I were to complain about one thing though, it’d be the pictures. Some of the articles get very wordy, and a few images here and there would make the content a little more digestible. Though this is the most knit-picky thing I could criticize The Undefeated for, so that has to tell you how well ran it is.
Maybe one day I’ll find myself writing for The Undefeated. When going through the site I discovered a “We’re Hiring” hyperlink. Welp, who knows.
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