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Want to Follow the French Open Online or Mobile? Here is how

May 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The French Open has started today with warmup match play and as with the Australian Open there is a wide range of options for fans looking to follow the tournament played at Roland-Garros that will run until June 10th.

To start with is a very nicely designed web page, that is easy to navigate and clearly explains where you going. There are nice minor touches such as providing the weather in Paris as well as the time. Then there are the more expected features such as listing the draws, providing past scores and live updates, as well as a number of guides to the event, the players as well as a radio feature.

In the Fan Zone there are a number of photo contests including Fan of the Day and Guess Who as well as a daily quiz and regular blog postings. You can follow the Twitter feed at Rolandgarros and of course there is also a Facebook and Google + page as well

For the truly mobile there is an updated free app for both iOS and Android users called Roland-Garros 2012. It features a 3D tour of the facility and has games that users can play and post scores from. Starting on May 25th the app will also provide all the Twitter feed from the stadium, Facebook connectivity and real time statistics.

Also included will be results schedules, draws, news, videos and interviews as well as match alerts for up to 5 players. Included in the video provided will be daily highlights of the day’s events.

For those that have the opportunity to watch matches at home on the television the matches will be carried by a variety of networks in the United States including ESPN 2, NBC, The Tennis Channel and TV5.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, Facebook, Fanatic Fans, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NBC Sports, Tennis, The French Open Tagged With: , , ,

The War of Words begins between ESPN and NBC Sports

May 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

ESPN has had an emerging rival in the all-sports all day broadcasting model in recent days with the rise of NBC Sports Network, and while the two have not had much to say about each other that may be changing.

According to USA Today the war of words began earlier this week when ESPN President John Skipper made some comments about rival NBC during ESPN’s upfront presentation that on the face of them did not seem to extreme, but that lit the fuse.

NBC shot back deriding ESPN’s quality and the value they deliver for the dollar they charge, ESPN shot back that more people use its mobile app than watch NBC, and so it goes. I expect that this will continue for some time, mostly at events such as the upfront presentations.

For those of you with a long memory you will recall the battles between ESPN and rival Fox when Fox was working on establishing itself as a 24/7 sports network. They sniped at each other; put their logos over all sorts of images to prevent rivals from using them and a host of other actions, many of them infantile.

Ah, the good old days. First they seemed to come to an understanding and ceased over use of their respective logos and refrained saying trite and petty things about each other and then finally Fox eventually threw in the towel and dropped its efforts, although rumors have recently come that it might be reexamining the idea.

While in some ways this current fight has no impact on sports fans, in other ways I believe that it will have a positive one. Competition is good for fans because hopefully it means the players involved will raise their game. I think that the rise of MLB’s network has made ESPN raise the level of Baseball Tonight, for instance.

One issue is that there is little overlap, ESPN has a large range of premium sports and NBC does not, although it does have the upcoming Olympics and a few other sports such as the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, which are seeing a strong resurgence in viewership. Other events such as the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 and the Amgen Tour of California, while very good, just do not have the viewership of or the range of games that ESPN rolls out.

Filed Under: Baseball, Contests, Cycling, ESPN, Fox Sports, Live sports via mobile, NBC Sports, NFL, Sailing, Volvo Ocean Race Tagged With: , ,

Online Video Features at the Heart of BBC’s Olympics Coverage

May 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

If they can live up to their promises, the folks at the BBC may be the heroes of this year’s Olympics in London, especially for the online audience. According to news released today the BBC plans to have live coverage of every event from every venue — and for its online content the BBC is promising some cool twists, like the ability to rewind to the start of an event as well as “chapter marks” to let you skip to whatever part of the coverage you desire.

I am not sure if and how the BBC will be sharing broadcast rights with NBC, which also plans to stream everything online. Either way, it sounds like this will finally be the year that we don’t have to miss that important archery semifinal or equestrian dressage. It will all be online.

The promise of 24 simultaneous live HD streams sounds great — but so far we have been unable to ascertain whether this will be available only in the U.K., or to audiences worldwide. We are hoping the latter, will pass along more info as we get confirmation. If it is for everyone, we can hardly wait until what will likely be the biggest online sports event ever gets underway.

Filed Under: Apps, BBC, NBC Sports, Olympics Tagged With: , ,

Looks like the USFL is for Real

May 14, 2012 by 2 Comments

We reported a few months back, on April Fool’s Day to be exact, that there were rumors that the United States Football League was about to resurrect itself as a spring football league and it now appears that the rumors were not a joke and that you can expect to hear more about the league in the coming months according to a piece at NBC Sports.

At the time of the report there was a web site for the league as well as at least one news story that claimed it was true and that they had interviewed the new owner of the league. Now we have seen a second piece that said that the league was for real.

It has now started to fill out a bit of its top management with the reported hiring for ex Oakland Raider great Fred Biletnikoff as an advisor for the league. The league also has James Bailey, a former executive for the Cleveland Browns and then the Baltimore Ravens for 21 years, on the USFL’s board of advisors.

The league intends to model itself after Major League Soccer and that it will have the players and coaches under contract to the league, rather than individual teams and said that it views itself as a minor league source for the NFL.

It has no plans to try and steal away, or even sign, players that are drafted by the NFL and will instead look to fill its ranks with both undrafted players and those that did not make the grade in their first try with NFL teams.

It has said that there have been no talks yet with the NFL but that it expects to have talks within the next 60 days and said that it will keep all of its practices and games open to NFL personnel. It is the process of gaining owners with ties to the areas where t hopes to locate teams and is creating a board of directors.

The USFL plans to be a summer league with initially eight teams. While no schedule has been announced I wonder how well non-drafted college players will be interested in going here instead of waiting for NFL minicamps and trying to catch on there instead. If the NFL gives its official blessing to the USFL’s role as a minor league that might help draw in these players. Also just a footnote, the web site I listed as the league’s in the first article was incorrect and the correct one is listed in this article. Sorry.

Filed Under: NBC Sports, NFL, NFL Draft, USFL Tagged With: ,

Get Ready, Twitter — Here Comes Kevin Na. Well, Maybe. No, Wait. Yes… No! Maybe… Yes!

May 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

If you caught any golf on the tube or online today you couldn’t miss the new trending topic of the PGA: Golfer Kevin Na and his unbelievable 5-minute pre-shot routine, where he practice swings, backs away, practices a few more times, then even maybe throwing in a full-swing miss over the ball (which is apparently legal) and then backing off again, practicing some more and then… finally… HITTING THE D@MN BALL.

Did we mention he’s leading the Players Championship, aka the “fifth major?” So all these other guys, with their high profile swing coaches, hours spent on the range, new souped up clubs, and monster man fitness routines… and they’re being beaten by a guy who is afraid to hit the ball?

If you want to know what’s behind Na’s eminently unique pre-shot approach there is no shortage of exhaustive stories out there (here’s a pretty good explanation with a video interview link). Geoff Shackelford also has some great video links so you can relive the agony. For the casual viewer I hope NBC tomorrow opens up its prime twosome coverage with some kind of rules explanation as to why it’s OK for Na to take a full whiff over the ball. (Here is the rule in question and a good explanation of why it’s not a penalty in tour play.) But for most golfers watching I am guessing it was a “C’mon man!” moment. If you’re playing with me and you pull one of those, my response would be, “that’s one.”

We’ll let the stewards of golf wring their hands over what the slow-playing Na would do to the soul of the game should his methods produce a victory. Here at MSR we will be watching the Twitter trending scorecard to see how high up his waggles get him.

Filed Under: Golf, NBC Sports, PGA Tagged With: , , ,

Watching Golf this Week: The Players Championship

May 10, 2012 by 1 Comment

As we said earlier in the week, it’s all about the island green 17th hole at The Players Championship, aka the “fifth major.” I still don’t agree with that sentiment since to me the whole Pete Dye railroad ties-thing seems like mini golf. Plus, there is absolutely no tradition behind The Players equal to that of the heritage of the U.S. Open or British Open, or the grandeur of Bobby Jones’ idea, the Masters.

Even the PGA to me has more major muster than The Players, simply again because of its connection to course pros and the history of the sport. But that doesn’t mean we won’t watch all the big guns this week, since there is (hooray!) online coverage again. (I just watched defending champ K.J. Choi rinse one at the 17th as I am writing this.) Now all Tiger needs to do is conjure up some more 17th hole putting magic to put all the chattering to rest.

Here’s where to follow the action:

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, May 10 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 7 p.m.; 9 p.m. — 12 a.m.
Friday, May 11 — Golf Channel, 1 p.m. — 7 p.m.; 9 p.m. — 12 a.m.
Saturday, May 12 — Golf Channel, 12 p.m. — 2 p.m.; NBC, 2 p.m. — 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 13 — Golf Channel, 12 p.m. — 2 p.m.; NBC, 2 p.m. — 7 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
12 p.m. — 7 p.m., Thursday-Sunday

ONLINE
The PGA’s Live@ is back! This page seems to be the best for links to whatever they are showing on @Live. Here is the @Live schedule:
Thursday/Friday: 9 a.m. — 7 p.m.
Saturday/Sunday: 12 p.m. — 7 p.m.

PGA SHOT TRACKER
Get another online fix via Shot Tracker for the TPC.

TIGER TRACKER
GolfWeek is back with its hole by hole recap of El Tigre’s swings… Here’s round one.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW

Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
The main TPC page has an exhaustive hole-by-hole description of TPC Sawgrass.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
K.J. Choi.

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Hunter Mahan, 1,378 points
2. Bubba Watson, 1372
3. Rory McIlroy, 1,290
4. Phil Mickelson, 1,178
5. Carl Pettersson, 1,135

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Rory McIlroy; 2. Luke Donald; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Bubba Watson; 5. Hunter Mahan.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.

Filed Under: Golf, Golf Channel, Live sports via mobile, NBC Sports, Tiger Woods Tagged With: , , ,
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