On the Field

"Underdogs. No shot. Dead in the water. The first No. 1 seed since 1970 to be ’dogs in the divisional round."

We know there are a lot of doubters, but I don’t think we’d have it any other way.

Athletes and their families gave photographers from The Players’ Tribune extraordinary access in 2017. Below are our 17 favorite images of the year.

It’s like "The Art of War" — you gotta know your enemy just as well as you know yourself.

Whatever team that drafts me, you're going to get a guy that's extremely competitive and a guy that's going to work harder than just about anyone.

We got together two players who know a thing or two about Game 7s, David Ortiz and Anthony Rizzo.

When I think about the 2004 playoffs, I think about Kevin Millar. Nothing would have been possible without this guy. What a freaking character, man

I searched the world for musings to add to my AI Musecage. This led me to study how great whites sharks hunt seals off the coast of South Africa.

I still don’t think the magnitude of the whole thing has really set in. I don’t know that it ever will.

Everything has been leading up to this. Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago and Waterloo have all led me to South Bend. And it’s time to play hockey.

The image of Gazza falling to the ground with his arms out, the noise at Wembley and the crowd going wild — that’s what the national team is to me.

“New year, new season, new a** whupping." We’ve been repeating it over and over this week.