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MLB to allow players to Tweet during Home Run Derby

July 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Major League Baseball’s All-Star week is upon us once again and as usual I have mixed feelings about the event. I much preferred it when I was younger and not because of any nostalgia about players wanting it more but rather in those days I never saw American League players except in the playoffs and All-Star game.

Overall, games of this sort do not interest me that much because they do not really mean anything, home field advantage in the playoffs notwithstanding. The same goes for other sports — I have never made it past the first quarter of the NFL’s All-Pro game.

Complaints aside baseball continues to advance what happens for the game, and while many are aware of the home run derby (more on that in a second) there are a number of other baseball related events. Yesterday there was the All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball game, which I somehow missed.

Today is of course the State Farm Home Run Derby, but MLB has added a new twist that should make it interesting to follow, at least online. Players will be allowed to use social media i.e. Twitter and Facebook, to comment on events live.

I think this is very interesting as some of the players already have large followings and often have very interesting things to say. Now it is sanctioned by MLB. Included in the lineup is David Ortiz (@davidortiz),Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19) andMatt Kemp (@TheRealMattKemp), Heath Bell (@HeathBell21), Gio Gonzalez (@GioGonzalez47), Hunter Pence (@HunterPence9), Brandon Phillips (@DatDudeBP), Gaby Sanchez (@GabySanchez215), Justin Upton (@RealJustinUpton), C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer), Howie Kendrick (@HKendrick47) and Joel Hanrahan (@hanrahan4457).

In addition, but of less interest to me at least, is that there are now League captains with National League captain Prince Fielder choosing Matt Holliday, Matt Kemp and Rickie Weeks for his team, and American League captain David Ortiz choosing Jose Bautista, Robinson Cano and Adrian Gonzalez for his team. The two ‘leagues’ will face off against each other and there will be an individual overall winner as well from the contest.

Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Baseball, ESPN, Major League Baseball, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

The Friday Loose Ends

July 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Smithsonian looks at ways to cheat in baseball
Cheating in baseball is a time honored tradition except when it annoys the sports writers, who are after all the arbitrators of the sports unwritten rule book. The Smithsonian took a scientific look at a couple of the more popular topics in this space such as the impact that using a corked bats or confining baseballs to a humidor can have on the distance a baseball can travel. Fun read.

Samsung and Apple at odds, again
Samsung Electronics is suing Apple for violating its patents and using the technology in Apple’s iPhones and iPad. If this rings a bell it might be because Samsung already has other litigation brewing versus Apple. On the other hand Apple is suing Samsung for copying Apple’s iPhone look and feel in Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones.

Pac-12 official; Did ESPN ‘lose” the Big Ten over hardball tactics?
Today is the day that changes are occurring in College football. One of many is that The Pac-10 Conference is officially dead, Long live the Pac-12 Conference. With the Colorado Buffaloes and the Utah Utes joining the Pac it will now have two divisions and a playoff, as well as considerably more revenue from a new TV deal. In other news it was reported in the Chicago Tribune that ESPN played hardball with the Big Ten and that led to the creation of the Big Ten Network as feeling were bruised.

Smartphones continue market gains, Android and iPhones lead the pack
Smartphone sales continue to grow as the communications devices are increasingly popular with consumers, according to a May survey conducted by Nielsen. Currently 38% of all US mobile users have a smartphone and in the last three months the handsets accounted for a robust 55% of all mobile phones purchased in the last three months. Android-based systems lead the way with a 38% market share while Apple’s iOS-based devices account for 27%. Apple has seen a surge in recent months according to Nielsen, something that coincides with its move to a second major US carrier. RIM’s Blackberry is third with a 21% share with a number of others having less than 10% market share.

Microsoft adds Office 365 for mobile users
Love the Cloud and want to use it for your business applications? Then Microsoft wants you and has released its Office 365 this week which enables collaboration and access between e-mail, web conferencing, documents and calendars. There is a $6/month version for professionals and small businesses and a $10/month plan for mid and large size offices. Designed for sharing across a range of devices including smartphones it supports versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari browser; mobile devices requires Wi-Fi. Some mobile functionality requires Microsoft Office Mobile 2010, which is included with specific releases of Windows Phones and Nokia phones. So for full functionality sorry iPhone and Android users, Windows phones will rule in this space for the near term.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Baseball, BlackBerry, ESPN, iPad, iPhone, Nielsen Ratings Tagged With: , , , ,

How to Watch 2011 Wimbledon on Mobile Devices

June 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Venus Williams wore this gold-zippered romper on day No. 1 of 2011 Wimbledon

U.S. mobile sports consumers looking for ways to follow the 2011 Wimbledon Championships quarterfinal, semifinal and Ladies’ and Gentlemans’ Finals between June 28-July 3 have plenty of options.

And sports fans have already used mobile devices to create buzz. When Venus Williams wore an out-of-regulation, gold-zippered romper, pictures of the tennis star were among the most circulated images for the day under the Twitter hashmark #Wimbledon.

WatchESPN gets you to Wimbledon on smartphones, iPad, iPhone

So what are the best ways to watch all the upcoming tennis coverage on smartphones and iPads? If you are a subscriber to Verizon FiOS, Brighthouse Networks or Time Warner Cable, WatchESPN for iPad, iPhone and Android will get you live streaming of the event beginning at 7:00 AM Eastern Standard Time.

For tennis fans in need of technical support, Apple, Windows and Web news service Hi-Tech Analogy posted June 23 tutorials and technical resources aimed at Wimbledon viewers.

Desktop, Wi-Fi access to Wimbledon live streaming

The technology news service GigaOM provided an excellent description about how to get access to Wimbledon on desktop computers or the Wi-Fi capabilities of your smart phone or iPad, as well as a handful of great links. GigaOM said “ESPN3 will be live streaming the event online as well as to Xbox Live users” so long as the consumer’s Internet service provider has an agreement with ESPN to provide ESPN3 to its subscribers.  

In fact, ESPN publishes a list of Internet Service Providers that provide its subscribers with ESPN3 access, and if yours doesn’t Mobile Sports Report recommends you consider a switch.

If you don’t have a mobile sports app or online access to ESPN3, NBC Sports will offer replays, highlights and interviews on its website. The official Wimbledon Twitter feed is scheduled June 27 to resume regular posts, which will continue through the finals. Another must-see venue for mobile sports viewers interested in Wimbledon is IBM’s tennis-related programming tied to the event.

Filed Under: ESPN, ESPN3, Live sports via mobile, WatchESPN, Wimbledon Tagged With: ,

Reds’ 2B Surges on Twitter, Asks for Extension

June 19, 2011 by 4 Comments
Picture of Brandon Phillips from his Twitter account

Brandon Phillips' photo from his @DatDudeBP Twitter account

He’s arrogant, famously calling the St. Louis Cardinals a bunch of “little bitches,” but Brandon Phillips is quickly establishing himself as Major League Baseball’s must-follow athlete on Twitter. Is it a tactic to get the Cincinnati Reds to grant him a rich extension, or trade him to a major market team that can pay him big coin?  

Phillips’ Twitter followers surging

Phillips’ followers surged from just over 50,000 to 65,000 in the three days ending June 19, after an ESPN.com story about the Cincinnati Reds second baseman’s use of Twitter to improve his image. Phillips tweets as @DatDudeBP, and is a Mobile Sports Report recommended athlete to follow.

Twitter as negotiating tactic? 

Favorable accounts of Phillips’ Twitter use comes at an auspicious time for the all-star second baseman. Days after the ESPN.com story broke, Phillips asked the Reds to negotiate a contract extension, according to an NBC Sports report.

Phillips told ESPN he will keep clubhouse talk off his Twitter account, but the timing of the ESPN story closely followed by a demand for a contract extension proves that he knows a large and favorable fan base will improve his chances of becoming one of baseball’s highest-paid athletes. Phillips has a $12 million team option for 2012, which ESPN said the Reds may not be able to pick up. Major League Baseball’s trading deadline is July 31.

Even if Phillips doesn’t start sending pay-me-or-trade-me tweets, the day is soon approaching when high-stakes contract negotiations become a part of an athlete’s online repertoire, and something fans will want to follow on smartphones and iPads.   

“The Ochocinco of baseball”

According to Phillips, Twitter is part of a more benign strategy. Twitter gives fans a chance to get to know him better, he told ESPN.

Phillips tweets occasional contests, which in the past have awarded fans spring training visits, dinner, and trips to San Francisco. According to ESPN, Phillips’ use of Twitter may have contributed to improved clubhouse maturity and leadership in 2011.

In addition to famously slurring the St. Louis Cardinals, which caused bench-clearing brawls the next time the two teams met, Phillips has been a controversial player in his seven-year major league career for failing to run out balls to first, laughing and joking when his team has trailed and other on-field lapses.

Phillips acknowledged that he’s after the celebrity athletes can get by being wired to their fans, including another famous Cincinnati pro.

“I want to be the Ochocinco of baseball,” Phillips told ESPN. Of course, Phillips was referring to the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver who once threatened to be the first player to produce in-game tweets and has attracted greater than 2.13 million followers to his @ochocinco account.

Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Cincinnati, ESPN, Major League Baseball, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Score Media Beefs Up to Battle ESPN, Yahoo

May 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Canadian Benjie Levy is committed to giving mobile sports consumers in North America choice.  Chief operating officer and executive vice president of Score Media, Levy was the driver behind his company’s May 12 deal to acquire SportsTap.

The SportsTap acquisition means Score Media has the third largest U.S. audience of sports consumers on smartphone sports applications, trailing only Goliaths ESPN and Yahoo.  

A corporate challenger speaks

In a statement, Levy said, “ScoreMobile’s acquisition of SportsTap brings together two innovative and popular services and positions us well to deliver even more exciting experiences for sports fans and creative solutions for our advertising partners.”

Two mobile sports application worth a look

Launched in 2007, SportsTap is available free through iPhone App Store and Android Market for free. Providing real-time NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL, NCAA, NASCAR, Futbol, Golf and Tennis scores, SportsTap includes drill downs to stats, player news and top stories. The app has automatic refreshes, and is an excellent choice for the mobile sports viewer on a budget.

Terms of the SportsTap acquisition were not disclosed, but ScoreMobile said it would operate SportsTap as a stand-alone company. Based in Toronto, Score Media operates The Score.  A more robust application that includes a strong take on sports news and video, The Score is a portal for sports fans with a strong take. For example, The Score featured May 22 an excellent blog post and video about James Hardin’s flop against the Dallas Mavericks that most mobile sports viewers would consider a value-add to their sports knowledge.

Competition guards again mobile sports monopolies

Score Media’s acquisition of SportsTap is significant because it means not all companies are willing to cede the mobile sports application market to ESPN and Yahoo. If Score Media or others are able to retain enough consumers to woo big-budget advertisers and sponsors, it will likely be able to forge into live video broadcast. In turn, that would break ESPN’s potential stranglehold on live sports via mobile devices, and a charge-what-it-wants mentality. Consumers would benefit. 

Is Levy an emerging industry’s Ted Turner?

With its bold move to acquire SpartsTap, ScoreMedia bears close watching, and prime placement on the menu of your mobile device. That is, unless you don’t believe consumers gained when Ted Turner acquired the Atlanta Braves and created a super station in the early days of cable.

Filed Under: Apps, Benjie Levy, ESPN, ScoreMobile, SportsTap, Yahoo Tagged With: , , , ,

Review: ESPN Enhances ESPN Radio App

May 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I do not know why, but it had never occurred to me to load a sports radio program into my iPhone. Now I actually have several radio apps, all part of my iTunes package, but I do not listen to them as I have so much music also loaded on the phone. I guess sports radio to me is something I listen to my car or at my desk, since both environments that are better suited for different broadcast modes.

However I noticed that ESPN has released a new version of its iPhone radio app, namely ESPN Radio 3.0, technically it is v3.2.106, and so I decided to kick the tires, so to speak. Oddly enough getting to the app was not quite as easy as most, probably because of the roundabout method I followed. My iTunes app was set for search when I opened it so all I did was type in ESPN Radio. Unfortunately it gave me dozens of ESPN podcasts. So I typed in ESPN Radio 3.0 and I got an ESPN FIFA app. When I used my computer I found it instantly.

The $2.99 app has some specific target markets, and I noticed in the comments sections people complained about not getting a variety of live game broadcasts, however it should be noted that while it does provide some live sports action, it is very focused.

The program, good for both iPhones and iPod Touch devices provides a variety of streaming radio from over two dozen ESPN affiliated stations around the nation as well as ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio Network feeds. Also included is 35 different ESPN podcasts. (There are also versions of the app for Android phones and BlackBerry devices; didn’t try them but guessing they have similar capabilities.)

Several areas stand out to me from the app including the live radio programming carrying ESPN standards such as Mike & Mike in the Morning, The Heard with Colin Cowherd, The Scott Van Pelt Show and others. Another is that it will carry live all of the college football games that ESPN broadcasts, something that I could not test at this time.

Other features include up to the minute scores and the ability to text message and call-in directly to ESPN Radio and ESPN affiliate station. The app includes a nice degree of customization including adding favorite stations and programs and a feature called myESPN that provides what ESPN calls customized audio of your selected teams which will be pulled into the app and it has searchable audio for specific clips broken down by a variety of categories including team and player.

It has the ability to run in the background so that you can use your iPhone for other tasks, but a volume control would be appreciated. I found that the radio shows and podcasts were easy to find and run. I did not encounter any breakups or dropping of programs when I tested the app but I am sure that it happens since it also happens with calls and other apps I have used in the past that require live streaming.

The app seems best suited for a variety of fans including those who want to listen to a different city’s sports radio and ones that want to hear a specific football game that is on the air, but possibly not in their area or they cannot get to the television to watch.

On a side note for fans of ESPN’s various radio programs it looks like both Mike Greenberg of the Mike and Mike show could be getting his own sitcom based on his book “My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot,” which will give two ESPN personalities shows, as Colin Cowherd also has one in the works.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, ESPN, iPhone Tagged With:
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