Uncategorized


Ticket Perfection Strikes Back

Posted by Alex Dalenberg in Uncategorized on 09-14-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

So a while back I posted on a service called Ticket Perfection which lets sports fans insure their tickets against blowouts. Basically, if the final score is lopsided beyond a certain threshold, the insured will get at least some money back — potentially all of it — depending on how much ticket insurance they purchased.

My first impression: not a service I think I would use. More to the point, I called it a rip-off.

Needless to say, the entrepreneurs over at Ticket Perfection weren’t thrilled with my admittedly harsh assessment and you can check out the company’s complete response at the end of the original post.

Basically, to refute my perception that insuring every game wouldn’t be worth it because you’d be shelling out so much money in ticket insurance, Ticket Perfection’s data shows that, if you went to every NFL game played by a particular team last season, and fully insured your ticket for each game, the majority of fans would make money back.

Ticket Perfection’s Eric Brancaccio told us in an email that, in laying out its service, the company has built something of an actuarial table showing blowout margins and the price of insurance.

Of course, in this case, if you can actually afford to attend every NFL game — including road games — I can’t imagine you’re that concerned with getting your money back on ticket insurance.  But Brancaccio says the service makes just as much sense for the ordinary fan who goes to to one or two games a year, although, in my mind, you’re reducing your probability of a blowout that way.

But for Brancaccio, the point isn’t so much in making money using the service, it’s addressing the fact that, when you buy a ticket to a sporting event, on some level you don’t really know what you’re paying for.

“We don’t see Ticket Perfection as a money making vehicle although as our numbers show it can be. We truly believe that generally a closer contest is a better experience for the fan than a lopsided one even if our home team is putting a beatdown on a bitter rival. The crux of our service is based around addressing how a fixed price ticket can yield either a thrilling game or a boring one.”

Brancaccio also added that most users choose to insure their tickets for smaller amounts, as low as 2.5 percent of ticket price which would yield 25 percent refund in case of a blowout.

So, if the principle of potentially shelling out money for what ends up being a crappy game is something that’s important to you, you could probably do worse than give Ticket Perfection a try.

Just keep in mind, you’re pretty much straight up gambling on the outcome of the event. So you’re just going to have to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Or I guess since you could be watching a blowout it might better to ask yourself: Do I not feel lucky?




Watch Baseball While Eating In-Flight Peanuts

Posted by Anthony Mowl in ALL, INTERNET, MOBILE, TELEVISION, Uncategorized on 08-31-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Baseball fans have less excuses to miss or reschedule flights now that some airlines have committed to showing all 2,400 Major League Baseball games live and in-flight. Row 44 is a developer of flying wi-fi hotspots on Southwest Airlines and other major airlines in Europe. While Row 44′s partnership with the MLB AdvancedMedia appears to be exclusive, it’s unclear if Southwest has an exclusive hold on Row 44 in the U.S. as well.

Since it seems as if Row 44 inked an exclusive agreement with baseball (a la DirectTV and the NFL), hardcore baseball fans might start scheduling all their spring through fall flights on Southwest. But is this really something to be excited about or simply a marketing gimmick? Fans who really can’t make it through a few hours on a plane without their baseball are probably already subscribing to MLB’s online package, MLB.TV, which they can access on any flight that has wi-fi. It’s likely that Row 44′s baseball games won’t be free, making this “exclusive deal” simply a good press release.

Beyond that, anyone who has used wi-fi aboard a flight knows that service is typically slow, and streaming video is rarely very effective. But then again, baseball isn’t as fast-paced as a basketball or football game, so streaming baseball just might work out.




Sporting News Today Is Logging Off

Posted by Seth in Uncategorized on 08-27-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

The ongoing saga of the Sporting News and its struggle for survival continued this week with word that they plan to cease publication of Sporting News Today, a digital daily that never did gain any traction.

Full disclosure, I did some freelance work for the Sporting News several years ago, when it was still publishing its print magazine weekly, as it did for most of its 125-year history. The magazine publishes every other week now. Count me among the many sports media types who have a soft spot for it. I remember the Sporting News when it was a weekly tabloid on newsprint, full of the previous week’s baseball box scores. But times have changed and the venerable brand has had difficulty changing with them.

Sporting News Today debuted as a free publication. Then they decided to start charging money for it. Problem is, there wasn’t enough compelling content in it to make it worth paying for. They did try to innovate. They launched an iPad app — word to the wise, you don’t want to buy it now. They partnered with Comcast to create localized editions for the areas where Comcast operates regional sports TV networks.

But the product was loaded down with AP stories and box scores that you can get for free almost anywhere on the web. It did have daily stories from Sporting News staff, just not enough of them. And nothing that screamed, “Read Me!” The Sporting News has tried to stick close to its longtime brand identity: a little bit about a lot of teams and sports. But at a time when all of that information is available elsewhere, a different route is necessary. Look at what Yahoo Sports has done — an online operation that has developed into one of the most relevant sources for investigative and breaking sports news.

The takeaway here is actually a positive one for folks in the media business — namely, content is still king. If the material is compelling, buzz-worthy — hell, I’ll say it, interesting enough to generate chatter on Facebook and Twitter — then people will read. Being unique and provocative is what it takes to survive. Sporting News Today was neither of those things.

Sporting News told subscribers it plans a free “personalized” digital daily product coming in September. We’ll have to wait and see what that means. But in the meantime it seems like another blow for a once-grand old sports brand.




Blowout Insurance: Do We Need This?

Posted by Alex Dalenberg in Uncategorized on 08-25-11    2 Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

If you’ve ever walked out of an arena after a 30-point blowout feeling like you’ve been ripped off,  then I’ve got a startup for you.

Seriously.

Ticket Perfection sells “ticket insurance” to protect consumers against the scourge of lopsided games by providing refunds to customers if their game is decided by more than a certain number of points.

Here’s how it works. Purchasers can insure their tickets for up to 100 percent of their original purchase by paying 10 percent of the value they’d like to insure. Let’s say you purchase a $100 ticket, but you want to get all your money back in case your team gets utterly embarrassed. For $10 you can insure the entire value of the ticket.

Of course, if it’s what Ticket Perfection defines as a good game, then you’re out $10. Where oh where to begin?

For one thing, money-wise this makes no sense. The Ticket Perfection blowout standard is pretty steep. More than 23 points for NBA and NFL game, 8 runs for Major League Baseball, and more than 3 goals for the NHL and Major League Soccer. If you’re going to a lot of games, buying insurance for each game is probably to far exceed whatever you’re getting back, which to me means its worth it just to eat the cost for crappy games, you know, like sports fans have done since their were turnstiles. For single game tickets, they’re expensive enough as it is, why tack on an extra $10 or $20 for something that isn’t a sure thing.

Ticket insurance isn’t actually a new phenomenon. Ticket Master offers its own insurance plans in case you get sick or otherwise miss your event. That’s not crazy, especially for big ticket items or people whose schedules can change from minute-to-minute.

But, for a sports startup, Ticket Perfection seems to be missing some important facets of the whole sports thing. First you’ve got to agree with Ticket Perfection when they say “We believe that the quality of any sporting event is determined by the whether or not the score is close.”

I’d say that depends on who’s getting blown out. If you hate the Yankees, you’re probably inclined to believe that the quality of any sporting event is determined by how many runs the Yankees lose by.

Also, there’s something inherently entertaining in the act of sport. Blake Griffin plays for the friggin’ L.A. Clippers. No doubt he’s made a few ridiculous jams in some hopeless games.

Or, if you’d like a more historical analogy. Let’s consider March 2, 1962. The Philadelphia Warriors blow out the New York Knicks 169-147. That’s not quite the 23-point threshold but it’s still a blowout. Also, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points.

What a rip off.




Geocaching: A Souped Up Scavenger Hunt

Posted by Anthony Mowl in GENERAL, Uncategorized on 08-22-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Imagine a scavenger hunt on steroids. I’m talking the full-blown, Barry Bonds, race horse stuff. Now imagine 1,300 people came together to form 600 teams and started looking for stuff.  Put the two together, and we get one of the biggest geocaching games around.

Geocaching is the ultimate event for geeks who want to imagine they’re pirates, or families who want some bonding time.

Geocachers use GPS technology to look for hidden caches. Clues are GPS coordinates that get you within 30 feet of the hidden cache. Once you find the hidden trove, players sign in, get the next coordinates, and follow their GPS to the next cache and clue. Some geocache games require miles of hiking to get to the cache, which can be cleverly hidden where even GPS coordinates wouldn’t be enough. Then there’s Extreme Geocache, where caches can be hidden under bridges, inside caves, and in the water accessible only with SCUBA gear.

Geocaching has only been around since 2000 when GPS technology was made available to the masses, and has since grown to become a popular and entertaining sport. Although prize money and sponsorships haven’t gotten to the point where players can consider themselves professionals, people are traveling far, even to other countries, to participate in geocaching events.

Ironically, while this sport is enabled by technology like GPS, a fuzzy and not-so-accurate GPS makes the game more challenging. If GPS improves and becomes capable of pinpointing locations to the square foot, then most of the fun would probably be sucked out of it. We’re currently in the GPS’ capabilities “sweet spot” of close, but not needle-in-a-haystack-accurate, which keeps geocaching fun and challenging — unless people start hiding caches in tall buildings, trees, in the water, or under several feet of sand.

Or how about we use geocaching to help the Carolina Panthers find the end zone? Now that would be a fun and impossible thing to watch. But as long as GPS technology is only accurate within 30 feet, that would still leave them 10 yards short of the end zone to fumble around.




Big Leaguers Getting Their iPad On

Posted by Alex Dalenberg in Uncategorized on 08-10-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

So a couple weeks ago Seth did a little digging into Bloomberg Sports’ Pitch Review. It’s basically a video analysis app that pro ballplayers can use on their iPad to look at video of their past at-bats or pitches. Players can use it to call up instantly call up video tailored to meet any situation. It’s pretty obviously a cool piece of sports tech that takes watching film to a whole different level.

As it goes with these kind of things, there may be an app for everything, but are people using them? Do players actually take advantage of services like the ones offered by Bloomberg?

Apparently so. A vice president from agent group Reynolds Sports Management (quoted in Baseball Digest) said his clients — and also fellow agents — have been embracing devices like the iPad when it comes to analyzing film and statistics on-the-go. Pretty handy for both players and agents who spend so much time on the road. The agent Mike Dillon even name drops some players who’ve been using their tablets to get an edge when it comes to studying film, including Angels’ players Torii Hunter and Howard Kendrick, B.J. Upton of the Rays, and Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks just to name a few. And for agents, Baseball Digest speculates tablet-based apps will probably replace agents binders of stats and ledger sheets when it comes to evaluating players and making negotiations with teams.

So there you have it. This stuff is changing how we enjoy sports so why not the real thing as well? So for now, geek out a bit knowing you’re managing your fantasy team from the same device.




XOS Digital: Taking Film Study Out Of The Dark Ages

Posted by Anthony Mowl in Uncategorized on 07-27-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

It used to be hell for a football team to analyze video, scout other teams and manage thousands of hours of footage. This usually meant rooms filled with tape — remember VCRs? — endless hours in dark rooms with clunky technology and a lot of searching. But as good as players have gotten in recent years, the technology behind video analysis has gotten even better. XOS Technologies (branded as XOS Digital) is one of those companies that obviously has employees who used to be film room rats. They came up with some seriously cool tools that may actually make time spent in the film room a little more fun.

While coaches and players would not dare think of spending less time studying film, these sorts of tools are allowing them to get much more production out of the time they spend, helping them devise the best schemes and make sports much more of a chess game than ever before.

Backed by more than $50 million in funding (most recently raising another $3.95 million in venture capital), XOS has developed a suite of products geared toward college and professional programs. XOS makes broadcasting and live production products like digital signage and on-field camera systems, but their most productive item is the Thunder, designed for coaches, scouts and players to break down the game much more quickly and effectively. A team that buys the entire line of products from the camera to the broadcasting tech is going to be able to seamlessly make use of the footage from every second played in every game. It’s part production studio, part coaching tool, allowing coaches to find patters in the chaos and get their game plans organized.

XOS also is working on apps for fans, including this one featuring the University of Kentucky basketball program and this one for the Big East Conference.

There’s no question that this stuff is expensive, likely beyond the reach of many schools, giving yet another advantage to the teams with the most boosters, car dealerships and tattoo parlors funneling cash into those programs. It makes the gap between the haves and have-nots much wider, but then again what else is new? Like every other innovation in the past, prices will drop eventually, and that kind of technology will make it in every program that wants to win. Having teams come up with more advanced and exciting schemes is sure to make games much more fun to watch. And with tools like these, being a film room rat might not be so bad.




Is There A Sports Gene?

Posted by Silissa Kenney in Uncategorized on 07-06-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

When I was a child, my parents brought a sample of my DNA to scientists who then examined my genes to predict my athletic ability. I’m kidding. That’s science fiction. Well, at least it was science fiction when I was a kid. Not anymore: Atlas Sports Genetics is offering mail order genetic testing kits starting at $169 a pop.

The idea is this: You swab the inside of your child’s cheek and send it in the mail to Atlas. They are looking specifically at the ACTN3 gene, which everyone has two copies of (one from each parent). Specific variants in the gene may predict whether you have a predisposition for speed and power sports or endurance sports. I’m not a scientist (surprise!), so I’m not sure how accurate a predictor this test is. Studies have linked the gene to muscle performance, but it isn’t certain what kind of predictive power the test really offers.

So, while this test probably won’t tell you if your kid will be the next Michael Jordan, parents will undoubtedly still want to test their children. And Atlas, I’m sure, is counting on that. At the risk of sounding cynical I have to ask: Is this just about making money off the dreams of parents wanting a superstar kid? Maybe I’m being too harsh, but none of the star athletes we know today were getting their genes tested when they were kids.

And what kind of pressures emerge when a child is determined to have the potential to excel in a sports? If you know your child could be great, do you still let them choose to not be? It all sounds like innocent fun, to get a peek into what nature has already designed. But it just has an ick factor.  Even the choice of the company’s name — Atlas — has that two-sides-of-the-coin thing going on.

In ancient Greek mythology, Atlas was punished for his part in a war against the Titans. He was doomed to carry the heavens upon his shoulders. Such a feat would take admirable strength, yes. But bearing the weight of the world sounds awful. Is genetic testing condemning children to bear the heavens on their shoulders? Maybe this is hyperbolic, but we’ve all known those parents who push their children too far, who want nothing more than to produce the next Olympian or all-star athlete. In the future, maybe people will look back and laugh at our prudish views toward genetic testing. But for now, it’s a little creepy.




Modern Gaming: Two Sports Titles Make IGN List

Posted by Seth in GAMING, Uncategorized on 07-05-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Like one of those countdown shows on VH1 Classic that are great for killing a Sunday afternoon, the folks at video game website IGN.com have been busy ranking the top 100 modern games. Modern, for their purposes, means games made for the current generation of consoles, the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. They’ve also tossed some PSP and Nintendo DS games in there as well.

There were only two sports games on the list … no, I don’t count Wii Sports Resort or Forza Motorsport, both of which made it. I’m talking about honest-to-goodness sports games here, and they didn’t pick the one I’d have expected to be there.

The two they singled out are FIFA 11 and NBA 2K11. Definitely two good choices. FIFA 11′s gameplay and customization are excellent. NBA 2K11 featured a whole mode dedicated to the career of Michael Jordan, where you could replay some of his greatest performances. This is the sort of thing more sports video games should embrace. An appreciation for the history of sports is often lost in these games.

The one they left out that would certainly be on my list is NHL 11, which came out last year and added a whole bunch of new in-game tweaks that upped the realism and a new Ultimate Team online mode. But by far the best part of NHL 11 is its fluid, fast-paced, addicting gameplay. It gives you a realistic hockey simulation while still retaining the sense that novices can simply pick up and play. And that doesn’t happen very often with the so-called modern games — especially not the sports titles.




NFL Fights To Black Out The Lockout

Posted by John Hamlin in Uncategorized on 07-01-11    No Comments


VN:F [1.9.10_1130]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

The NFL wants to make sure it sells every ticket to this fall’s regularly scheduled grass-growing spectacles before it gives any local moochers a chance to watch the action on TV.

The NFL has become the first to respond to a petition filed in May by the Sports Fan Coalition, a nonprofit organized to give sports fans a collective voice. The group wants the FCC to take a look at its rules regarding sporting event blackouts, arguing that the tactic is merely a tool used in retransmission disputes at the public’s expense.

“We asked the FCC to prevent sports programming from being used as a weapon in retransmission fights and to examine whether sports blackouts are even necessary,” Executive Director Brian Frederick said. ”Only the NFL chose to speak up and absurdly claim that sports blackouts are actually necessary for fans.”

In its reply, the NFL attacked the coalition as pay-per-view shills, saying “commenters have called the SFC ‘a house organ for Dish Network,’” and that the group “has received substantial financial support from Verizon and Time Warner Cable.” The NFL went on to defend blackouts and its policies as a public service, rather than a greedy game of politics.

But the question remains: What exactly does the NFL hope to black out this year? Broadcasts of its empty stadiums? Maybe they’ll at least turn on the sprinklers to liven things up a bit. Then again, watching the grass grow in a barren stadium sounds better than watching the paint dry in a vacant NBA arena.