AOW #20

http://articles.boston.com/2008-04-20/sports/29277449_1_paul-pierce-ocd-baselines

The following article was written by Boston Globe's Jackie MacMullan about  Ray Allen, NBA superstar.  The article talks about Ray Allen's routine for excellence and how he became not only one of the best players in the league, but one of the best three point shooters in the history of basketball.  Jackie MacMullan will revisit Ray Allen's past and observe his behavior, revealing a personal, often overlooked, aspect of sports.

The context includes having prior knowledge of what it is like to play a sport competitively, especially basketball.  It includes sharing the fact that we all have routines we go through before a game in order to perform the best way that we can. 

Jackie MacMullan takes a rather different approach than I've seen most sports journalists take.  She observes Ray Allen in more than just statistics and game performance, she goes behind the scenes.  She goes in to find out what makes Ray Allen so special and how he as a person has affected him as a player.  I think just this approach itself is an interesting and new rhetorical choice.  She pulls unique quotes from Ray Allen himself which give great insight about who he is.  Through this, one can see that Ray is more than just an athlete.  Jackie also contrasts Allen with other members of his team to highlight certain unique qualities about him.

I think the author did a very effective job in writing about Ray Allen.  What she revealed about Ray Allen's personal thought-process interested me far more than the actual basketball aspect of it all.  She truly does him justice by illustrating that he is a master at what he does, and that he holds wisdom far beyond the subject of basketball.