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Watching Golf this Week: Many Ways to Watch the U.S. Open

June 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Why is this post a little late in delivery? Because I’ve been spending the morning watching the U.S. Open live, on a window that’s open just to the left of the one I’m typing on. I could go over to the couch and watch ESPN’s live coverage, which starts at 9 a.m. Pacific time today and Friday. But I like the online focus, which today is following the Tiger-Phil-Bubba group from start to finish.

Unlike the Masters online coverage — where you had choices of different groups or different holes — the US Open online video is one group at one time. But there are so many ways to get U.S. Open coverage, from the ESPN overload on Thursday and Friday — which is sandwiched around a couple hours of NBC coverage Thursday and Friday — that you won’t go lacking.

Since this is the first U.S. Open we’ve been able to cover live, it’s been an incredible learning experience to see a course like Olympic up close and personal. Check out our previous links for info that will help you with your viewing. We’re also big fans of the U.S. Open site itself, since it has a plethora of info (live scoring, archived video interviews, and a new feature called “Playtracker” which shows a live view of the groups on the course, with stats for each player in each group. (This would be cooler if it had a live view of where the players were on each hole, like a visual Shot Tracker. Maybe next year?)

So far, we haven’t seen many glitches with the live online video — like the Masters coverage there are intermittent stops and stalls but we’ve found that when that happens, it’s easy to just close the old window and re-open a new one. Since I had to stay home this morning for work and family reasons I wasn’t able to use my press pass to watch the golf up close and personal — but I bet I have a better seat than most press folks there, because the blanket coverage of the marquee group has been phenomenal, and I can sip coffee and sit in my comfy office chair while watching. Enjoy the great weekend of San Francisco golf!

Here’s where to follow the action:

2012 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

(all times Eastern)

OFFICIAL U.S. OPEN COVERAGE SCHEDULE

TV COVERAGE
Thursday, June 14 — ESPN, 12 p.m. — 3 p.m.; 5 p.m. — 7 p.m. NBC, 3 p.m. — 5 p.m.
Friday, June 15 — ESPN, 12 p.m. — 3 p.m.; 5 p.m. — 7 p.m. NBC, 3 p.m. — 5 p.m.
Saturday, June 16 — NBC, 1 p.m. — 7 p.m.
Sunday, June 17 — NBC, 1 p.m. — 7 p.m.

RADIO
Radio this week is via the U.S. Open app, or the U.S. Open website.
1 p.m. — 7 p.m., Thursday-Sunday

ONLINE
See above. Live online at USOpen.com, Thursday and Friday, following a “marquee group” in the morning and afternoon. Morning tee times around 7:30 a.m., afternoon tee times around 1

PGA SHOT TRACKER
No shot tracker this week — hard to believe, but true.

FACEBOOK PAGE
The USGA is doing a great job with its Facebook page. Like.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
US Open — The official Twitter feed for the championship is active and great, with lots of links, live info. Add it to your feed now.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer — go back in his timeline this week for some great videos showing the holes on the Olympic course. Maybe the top golf Twitterer out there, especially when it comes to analysis/insight.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend. Works hard and long every day, and also has great insider views, via Instagrams.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
If you haven’t had your fill of Olympic info, you’ve been on another planet. So far the overall view we like best was the Sunday special in the San Francisco Chronicle, where beat writer Ron Kroichick interviewed Ken Venturi for a hole-by-hole breakdown of the course. The official Open website also has an extensive hole by hole page with flyby views, etc. etc.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Rory McIlroy, the boy wonder.

LOCAL FLAVOR
The columnists and writers at the San Franciso Chronicle do golf right.

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Jason Dufner, 1,735 points
2. Hunter Mahan, 1,477 points
3. Tiger Woods, 1,404
4. Zach Johnson, 1,386
5. Bubba Watson, 1,372

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

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

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, ESPN, ESPN Radio, Golf, Golf Channel, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, NBC Sports, PGA, The Masters, Tiger Woods, US Open Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

ESPN’s Soccer Push Pays off with Euro 2012 Viewership

June 13, 2012 by 3 Comments

ESPN has reported preliminary numbers for its UEFA Euro 2012 broadcasts and it is showing the sports giant that there is great potential in the sport. The opening match for the Group C teams Italy and Spain, both powerful squads, garnered an average of 2.1 million viewers.

While in terms of other major American sports this might not be that impressive but it, along with results from the Premier League show that increasingly ESPN can draw in viewers for a variety of soccer matches. It should be noted that the matches do not include a US team so there is no nationalistic urge to watch the sport.

According to ESPN the Italy vs Spain match was the biggest Euro match viewership aside from the championship match four years ago that had a 3.76 million viewership. Overall through the first six matches the network is averaging a hair over 1 million households and 1.3 million viewers on its English language broadcasts.

This represents a increases of 198% and 214%, respectively, versus the first six games of the UEFA EURO 2008

Last Sunday’s UEFA EURO 2012 match between Italy and Spain at on ESPN, a 1-1 tie and tournament opening match for both Group C teams, was seen by an average of 2.113 million viewers, bigger than any UEFA European Football Championship 2008 match except the final on ABC. That game, Germany vs. Spain, was watched by an average of 3.760 million viewers.

Through six matches, ESPN’s English-language presentation of the event is averaging 1,007,000 households and 1.328,000 viewers — up 198 percent and 214 percent, respectively, versus the first six games of the UEFA EURO 2008 (338,000 households and 423,000 viewers in ’08). The second most-watched game to-date in 2012 is Saturday’s Portugal-Germany match up – a 1.1 household coverage rating, 1,244,000 households, and 1,798,000 viewers, second to only one ESPN game in all of 2008.

Then there is the viewership from the rest of the networks broadcasting arms. ESPN Deportes is showing a 147% increase in households watching over 2008, and has reached 166,000 households. It is also getting strong viewership on its digital platforms, not a surprise since many of the matches are during work day hours for most of us.

Its ESPNFC.com has globally logged 876,000 daily visitors, 8.5 million page views and 33 million minutes, up 45%, 11% and 191%, respectively from four years ago. ESPN3 and WatchESPN, which reach a broad array of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as well as PCs has generated 65.8 million minutes to both the English and Spanish language feeds.

It will be interesting to see how the numbers grow as we head to the elimination rounds and more weekend matches. It is tough to head out to the TV, or even watch at work, with matches that occur when your boss is expecting you to be productive.

Filed Under: ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Euro 2012, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Soccer, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

The Euro 2012 Tournament Starts this Weekend-ESPN Will be there for all of the Matches

June 7, 2012 by 1 Comment

The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship aka the Euro 2012 starts today to see which national soccer team will emerge victorious in the 14th European Championship which sees 16 nations vying for the title. In the next championship, in 2016, the field will expand to 24 teams.

Aside from bragging rights the winner gets something much more substantial, an automatic entry into the 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup that will be held next year in Brazil. The event, which will carry on for the next month will see matches held in eight cities sprawled across two nations-Poland and the Ukraine.

While I enjoy a good match I am really in no position to predict who is a favorite or which teams are the top ones to follow. I would suggest heading over to The Big Lead and look at Ty Duffy’s body of work on the subject.

The tournament has had a touch of scandal currently, with the continued growth of the match fixing scandal in Italy, something that initially helped kill that nation’s bid for the tournament and now sounds like it might have killed the national team’s chance of participating.

A few days ago the Italian team captain, Cesare Prandelli said it would not bother him if the team was withdraws from the event due to the scandal, which has been ongoing since 2006 in one form or another. There were 14 arrests last month and a player was dropped from the squad. As of this writing it has not happened.

In addition the BBC has reported that racism and neo-Nazis could be a problem and that former England team captain Sol Campbell is advising English fans to watch the matches from the safety of their home. And last but not least there are reports from Fox Sports that the jerseys sold at the matches contain toxic chemicals.

The Finalists
Group A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic

Group B
Netherlands
Denmark
Portugul
Germany

Group C
Spain
Italy
Ireland
Croatia

Group D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England

The official site for the tournament is well laid out and carries a lot of current and past information, including how the teams did in the recent batch of friendlies, videos, photos, past history of the event, updates from team camps and general news.

There is the usual data on teams and when the event starts statistics will start to fill in on each game. What I like is that there is a number of games in the fan section where you can make prediction on who wins their group, who will win the Golden Boot, and other events

ESPN has taken the soccer broadcasting bull by the horns and will be broadcasting all of the matches, spread out across the ever growing network of channels and outlets that it owns. It has been working to make itself a much stronger player in the soccer broadcast world and so far it seems to be paying off.

This will be a real test to its commitment and I am looking forward to watching as many of the matches as possible. I will also be interested if I hear anything about this event from a number of friends who suddenly became soccer fans when the US Women advanced in the World Cup but had never mentioned the sport prior or after to me.

Filed Under: BBC, Contests, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Euro 2012, FIFA, Fox Sports, Soccer Tagged With: , ,

USGA Debuts Redesigned Going Mobile Website for U.S. Open at The Olympic Club

May 31, 2012 by 2 Comments

Watching the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in mid-June is the best way to see the world’s best golfers compete for the country’s national championship. But as with any major, only a small percentage of the tournament’s fans will see the event in person.

Which, of course, is why the United States Golf Association (USGA) launched the redesigned official website of the 112th U.S. Open Championship scheduled at iconic Lake Shore course in San Francisco, June 14-17.

The new usopen.com is powered by IBM’s cloud computing technology and includes features such as live-streaming video, live scoring, interactive PlayTracker and access to Web and mobile applications.

“We set out to create a multi-functional, easy-to-use website that will provide the outstanding digital experience that fans of the U.S. Open have come to expect,” said Sarah Hirshland, senior managing director, business affairs for the USGA. “With superb photography and video, compelling articles and enhanced interactivity, usopen.com extends beyond the desktop to bring the championship experience to the user.” IBM is also the technical brains behind the online presentation of the Masters.

With an emphasis on bringing the U.S. Open experience to users around the world, the site features real-time scoring, live high-definition (HD) video streaming, interactive play tracking and the Virtual U.S. Open, which allows fans to experience each hole at The Olympic Club.

Complete coverage of U.S. Open sectional qualifying, expanded social-media capabilities and enhanced near-time photo viewing are among the upgrades for 2012.

The official 2012 U.S. Open mobile application for Android and iPhone devices will be available for download on June 1.

Like usopen.com, the app’s tablet-friendly design will provide access to live HD video streaming, news, photos, real-time scoring and Twitter feeds.

The 2012 usopen.com will feature:

Sectional qualifying (June 4) with scoring, images and articles from all qualifying sites; PicStream Photos; PlayTracker, interactive leader board; Enhanced course profile of the Lake Course at the Olympic Club; Select television HD live streaming and ESPN Radio streaming; Social media updates via Twitter (@usopengolf) and #usopengolf) and via Facebook (Facebook.com/usopengolf).

Additionally, fans can virtually play holes at The Olympic Club with players who make the cut with a chance to attend the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. for players who make the cut.

And, finally, beginning June 4, for the U.S. Open, live video, photos, real-time scoring and tweets on Android, iPhone and tablet devices as well as stream radio and social media to interact with ESPN Radio analysts will begin.

Filed Under: Apps, Golf, Golf Channel Tagged With: , , ,

Wanna Bet? World Series of Poker is Here

May 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

For those of you in the non-betting category the World Series of Poker has started and will run from May 27 to July 16 in lovely Las Vegas. As usual the rooms are packed with the hopefuls and the hapless vying for a total of 61 bracelets..

The official site is an interesting hodge podge of good and bad. Live reports from the ongoing events are nice, a link to Twitter feeds is always a positive and so is live video of events. Links to Facebook and a mobile app are great. But where is a general event news link? I am not just talking about past results- how about who has left the tournament, who did not attend, etc…? It might actually be there but it is not easy to find.

Also there appear top be a number of new events including a re-entry event and the $1 million buy in tournament, as well as more tables on the Rio’s floor for the main event which will mean a faster overall tournament.

As in past years the event will be broadcast by ESPN, starting July 3, but as yet does not have a prominent position on the sites web page, you have to look under the More Sports section to find it. There is one event that ESPN is doing on its own that I did not realize had been ongoing- a Fantasy Tournament.

Over the years I have been in a number of different fantasy leagues, baseball, football, NASCAR and one year golf but I have never been in a fantasy poker league, and yet not only is there one but it is in its seventh year.

This Fantasy leagues is however a closed one, which I suspect may change a bit if ESPN decides it wants to do a bracketed tournament of some type like it does with March Madness, for instance, but it still makes for some interesting watching for poker aficionados.

There are ten teams, and the owners of the teams select 8 players and during the course of the tournament they can add/drop one player during the course of the tournament. Many of the team owners are probably well know to poker fans since there are a fair number of pros.

The professionals include professional poker players Daniel Negreanu, Dwyte Pilgrim, Eric Baldwin, Josh Brikis and Bernard Lee. There are two from ESPN, Gary Wise and Andrew Feldman while the remainder of the field is comprised of Bluff editor-in-chief Lance Bradley; Chops from WickedChopsPoker; and PokerNews contributor and 2010 fantasy poker champion Chad Holloway.

Players on teams score points for a variety of actions including finishing in the money, making a final table and finishing first, with additional points being earned on higher buy-in games. I think that this is an interesting way to follow the World Series of Poker and I am a bit surprised that I have not noticed it before.

I am also surprised that it is not more heavily hyped by ESPN as a draw to its site. There are plenty of poker players spending a great deal of time online and this is a way to draw them to ESPN’s site.

Filed Under: ESPN, World Series of Poker 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: , ,
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