Print Is Dead – Except In Fantasy (Football) Land

Posted by Seth in GENERAL on 07-26-10    No Comments


Courtesy Sporting News

Next time you’re in a bookstore or the supermarket, take a look at the magazine rack. If you like football, you won’t be disappointed.

As the Washington Post pointed out in a piece last week, the market for annual football preview magazines seems to be defying the notion that print is dead. The Post story counted more than 20 different football magazines – everything from general preview mags to those that specialize in fantasy football information.

It’s the fantasy football titles that really keep this thing going. For whatever reason (and I’ve got a few ideas) those of us who play fantasy sports still want to have something in print when it comes time to sit down for hours on end and pick the players who we’ll spend the next few months obsessing over. It makes all the sense in the world, and it makes no sense all at the same time. To wit:

  • You want more than just a list of rankings when you’re picking your team. You want some analysis, and the more the better. Even if you’re doing your draft online, where you can sit and scan whatever Web sites you want the whole time, you still want that printed form to refer to. There’s something about it that lends credence to what’s written there.
  • The publisher makes a difference. I usually stick with somebody I know when it comes time to buy a fantasy preview mag: Sporting News is one I like. Nice layout, easy to use. There are other big-name publishers like ESPN and Yahoo and many others that play here too. You go with the one you know and like, and you feel good about it. It gives you peace of mind.
  • It’s a lot easier to find what you’re looking for when you’ve got a magazine. If you’re on the clock and running out of time, what do you trust more, waiting for a Web page to load, or being able to grab a mag and flip right to the section you’re looking for? I’ve got Verizon Fios, which is lightning fast, but I still want that magazine by my side.

Of course, this whole preview magazine business is also total nonsense. In order to be on the newsstands in late June – which is when some of these things start hitting the street, believe it or not – these mags go to press in early June. I bought the Fantasy Football Index mag, which included a confusing set of instructions about how to get updated information from their Web site — something about a place on their Web site that tells you a word on a certain page to enter. I felt like Ralphie with his Little Orphan Annie Secret Society decoder pin in A Christmas Story. I took a cursory look at their site and didn’t see how I’m supposed to access this fresher info. At least they didn’t try to sell me Ovaltine.

So these mags can’t help you when it comes to knowing who is injured, or which free agents haven’t yet signed with anyone. And that always leads to some levity during the draft when some schmuck who isn’t paying attention picks a guy who’s hurt or out of the league.

Be that as it may, publishers are still falling all over themselves to put these things out. And it stands to reason. An estimated 27 million mostly affluent people are playing fantasy sports. Some of us are in multiple leagues.

It’s a wonder any work gets done at all.



Three Road Rides For The Tour De … Philly!

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 07-23-10    No Comments


How about a post on a couple of road rides that we like. These are well priced bikes, with nice features and good tech that can get you out and rolling.

The Novarra Buzz ($999) For way less than you should expect to spend for technology this good, small maker bike Novarra packs a whole lot of tech into a small package. Sure pure road riders will sneer at the aluminum frame, toe baskets and thickish tires. But for bashing and crashing ’round town, it’s tough to beat the Buzz. Relatively forgiving geometry, full disc brakes and the comfy saddle will make road time a breeze.

GTR Series 3 ($999) For roughly the same dough as the Buzz, you can step up into and entry level legit road ride with the GTR. You get a hydroformed aluminum frame with a carbon fork, some nice shifters and gears, and  high-speed frame that can take you places fast. You will miss all the niceties of the Buzz, and a real road bike will be faster, but a thousand bucks you can get some serious riding done. Great bike for the money.

Kona WorldBike ($370) Ok I’m busted. No question, I am getting in touch with my inner tree hugger by going with Kona and their WorldBike. But for about what you would spend for a crap Wal-Mart bike, you get a legit riding machine that can take you, and a ton of junk, anyplace. You won’t mistake the WorldBike for something Contador would ride. But you’ll be surprised the performance of this 3 speed.

Now go have yourself some fun.



Big Bats For A Big Fly

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 07-16-10    No Comments


Nothing like the MLB All-Star Game to bring out the hidden slugger in all of us. And with this year’s Home Run Derby just done, it turns out bat technology has brought bad-ass hitting within reach for the rest of us.

Here are a couple big sticks I dig for that “big-fly” feel.

Combat Virus Plague: ($300) If you can’t hit a monster slow-pitch home run with this sucker, it’s time to pick up another sport.

With a simply ridiculously large sweet spot, monster head and composite thin-wall construction, the fully balanced 30-ounce Virus Plague will give you that major league, fast bat head feel in a bat any amateur can swing. The graphics are over the top for this sports geek, but still for those looking for some  Sunday afternoon slow-pitch softball power, the Combat is the Virus to get.

DeMarini 2011 CF4: ($325) If you want to try to hit a baseball, this composite uber bat is the one to get.

DeMarini has pushed the boundaries of what a bat is with this sucker. With a mixed construction handle and head, it brings both unparalleled stick stiffness and head flexibility to maximize power and drive through each swing. The key with these bats is to keep it light to get the best bat speed. The models that may feel a little too light will get you the best swings.  For pure baseball power, DeMarini is setting the bar the CF4.



Sports Tech Nihilist’s Wish List: Give Me More Stat Tracker

Posted by Seth in INTERNET, TELEVISION on 06-24-10    No Comments


So it’s a hot Thursday afternoon in June, and through the magic of satellite TV I have access to five baseball games in progress. Day baseball in June. It gets no better.

But our recent discussion about sports packages and interactive content has me doing some wishful thinking. MLB Extra Innings needs to add a player tracker function, just like the one DirecTV has for the NFL Sunday Ticket package. That’s really the frustrating part — they’ve got it for Sunday Ticket, so why not for baseball?

Of course, if I weren’t so addicted to following my fantasy teams, I wouldn’t need either the player tracker or the out-of-market packages. But I am addicted. And so are a lot of other people, which makes it such a no-brainer for the cable and satellite providers to add something like this.

The Sunday Ticket player tracker works well. It lets you input up to two fantasy starting lineups worth of players, and you get an on-screen message telling you every time one of your guys did something. The only problem is that by the time the message pops up, whatever your guy did has already happened and you missed it. The great thing about a baseball player tracker is that it could prompt you when your players come to bat, so you could switch the channel and watch them.

Some of the fantasy sports Web sites, like Yahoo and CBSSports.com have similar functionality built into their live scoring mechanisms. So if you keep an eye on your computer, you’ll know when your guys are hitting. Now, I’m all for the two-screen experience, but it would be cool to be able to follow my fantasy team without having to sit on the couch with the laptop or stare into a tiny cell phone screen.

So that is the Sports Tech Nihilist’s request: Give me more stat tracker.



And Now The Booming Market In Vuvuzela Filters!

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT, TELEVISION on 06-24-10    No Comments


Got an issue with the Vuvuzela? You are not alone.  San Francisco-based video technology company called Elgato has come to market with a quicky audio filter that pulls out the Vuvuzela drone from the World Cup broadcasts.

Now, obviously this product is mostly just PR spin, since really all the code does is create a single frequency filter to remove the sound from the broadcasts. Still, Elgato, which makes video tools for Macs and PCs, should get some credit for coming with a simple way to de-Vuvuzela a broadcast.

I’m withholding judgement until we see if the thing works. Audio filtering can be tricky. But it probably does cut  the noise out a bit. The audio filter that fits into their software links from Elgato’s Web site, although, this link is not downloading quite right at this minute. Probably getting overloaded.