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Fab Melo Blows Up Twitter; Should You Blow Up Your Bracket?

March 13, 2012 by

That smoke you are smelling is the aroma from ESPN’s website servers, cooking at full temperature as everyone changes their brackets to downgrade Syracuse after the Fab Melo news today.

Even before the tournament has started, it’s clear that Twitter will be the de facto “news wire” for updates of all kinds: scores, injuries, missed shots and inevitably, academic eligibility questions like Melo’s, which just adds to a very weird year in upstate New York.

The question is, how will Syracuse be affected by Melo’s absence? They got beat by Notre Dame during the season when Melo missed three games due to “an academic issue” but he only averages 7.8 points per game. But then he also averages 5.8 rebounds and possibly most important, 2.9 blocks per game. So can Syracuse survive without its signature big man? Will they become the first first seed to fall in a first-round game? Or will they complete the strangeness of the season and take the title?

Carmelo Anthony’s not walking through that door. And Fab Melo’s walking out of it. See ya, Syracuse.

March 13, 2012 1:10 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@jimrome

Jim Rome

Whatever happens… we know we’ll hear about it on Twitter first.

UPDATE from the New York Times which says Melo is probably out at Syracuse. Love the throwaway line at the end of the story: “The announcement is likely to force some late scrambling in office pools.” ya think?

Filed Under: NCAA Hoops, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Bracket Apps: ESPN’s Rocks, Which One are You Using?

March 13, 2012 by

Being old enough to remember the days when we had to sketch out NCAA brackets by hand, do a bunch of photocopying and then massive all-night scores tabulations for hoops pools, I can only sit back and wonder where technology has brought us… to having my bracket live on my phone.

As an ESPN bracket user (please join our bracket challenge) I noticed today after downgrading my Syracuse picks that there was a phone app available for tracking my bracket. A quick download, a quicker sign in and… presto, my brackets and groups were live and ready for viewing. And even more importantly, there was a quick way to change the name of my entry which as many of us do, depending on the fate of our picks.

Will be interesting to see how quickly the mobile platform updates when the games start — so far ESPN servers seem to be working overtime, but as we all know it gets different when the ball is tossed up in the air. Anyone else using a different bracket service or mobile app? Let us know in the comments.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, ESPN, NCAA Hoops, Samsung, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , ,

It’s Madness Time: Join the MSR Bracket, Follow the NIT @ ESPN

March 12, 2012 by

Is anyone getting any work done today, or is everyone filling out brackets? If you are looking for a place to show the world your NCAA hoops savvy look no farther than the inaugural MSR Bracket Challenge. Hosted over at ESPN, of course, the group is public so come one come all. If you are searching for the group its title is the “MSR Bracket Challenge.” We’ll think of some cool prize for winning; if any sponsors want to step up with some schwag hit me with an email to kaps at mobilesportsreport.com.

Also: If your team didn’t make the dance (Sorry Washington fans!) you will probably be headed over to ESPN since the WWL has the rights to the National Invitation Tournament, including some games shown only online at ESPN3. Here’s the full NIT broadcast schedule.

And here’s a great post from The Big Lead showing NCAA broadcast times and (most importantly) which announcing crews will be on hand.

UPDATE: How cool is this? A CBS Sports interactive map of the tournament field.

Filed Under: About MSR, Contests, ESPN, ESPN3, NCAA Hoops, The Big Lead, truTV, Turner Sports, WatchESPN Tagged With: ,

CBS and Lowe’s Team for March Madness Cube Contest

March 9, 2012 by

Do you have one of those so-called Super Fans in your office? You know the type- they always come in with a hangdog expression when their team loses a game. Some are one sports fans but most almost always include support for the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

Now all of their years adding team pennants, photos of their favorite coaches and pinning up headlines from newspapers talking about epic wins can pay off due to an event from CBSSports.com and Lowe’s.

They have launched an event called March Madness Cube Mania for the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship that rewards a few select fans with the most rabid cubicle. The event runs from now until March 25th and calls for fans to decorate their cubes with their favorite teams’ colors and logos.

Once the decorations are finished all a fan has to do is take a tasteful photo of the cube and post it at the CBS Sports page on Facebook (Facebook/CBSSports).

In addition fans are encourage to share the images over social media such as Facebook and Twitter and to try and get their friends to vote. It would be good to ensure your friends are rooting for your teams first — or at least open to bribes.

The images will be sorted in a variety of manners including by most popular, teams represented and participating companies. After the closing day for submitting photos, March 25th, the polls open and will remain open from March 26 to March 30, 2012.

Three winners will be selected by a combination of public votes, and judging by the Social Media department at CBSSports.com based on originality and creativity. Grand prize winner’s photo will be announced on March 31, 2012 during The Final Four Show on CBS and receive a $300 gift card to Lowe’s. Two secondary winners will receive $150 Lowe’s gift cards.

In addition the grand prize winning photo will be announced on CBS during The Final Four Show prior to the Men’s Final Four semifinal games on March 31, 2012 so your efforts will receive a brief national note. So as they used to say in Chicago ‘Vote early and vote often!’

Filed Under: CBS Sports, Facebook, NCAA Hoops Tagged With: , ,

ESPN: Online Audience for College Hoops Soaring — Now Just Wait Until the iPad 3 Arrives!

March 7, 2012 by

Even before the new Apple iPad arrived to save humanity and burn through wireless data plans, ESPN said that people watching college hoops on small screens this season set new records, with 1.6 billion total minutes and 283 million visits across the worldwide leader’s various online entities, representing increases of 16 percent and 5 percent respectively compared to 2010-11.

While these stats aren’t really unexpected — I mean, what’s not to like about watching hoops on an iPad? — it is pretty amazing on one hand to consider that in just a few short years mobile devices like the iPhone, Android phones and the iPad and its imitators have become fixtures in the sports-audience landscape. Want more stats? The most-viewed game online this year, according to figures provided to us by ESPN, was the Duke-North Carolina game on Feb. 8, with 4.4 million online minutes generated across computers, smartphones and tablets.

ESPN called that event the “most watched college basketball game ever” for online, but we are betting that it gets quickly eclipsed sometime during the upcoming NCAA men’s tournament, when all those shiny new iPad 3s get turned on and tuned in.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, ESPN, ESPN3, NCAA Hoops, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , ,

Is YouTube the New SportsCenter? ESPN Thinks So

February 8, 2012 by

Remember those old days, grampa Internet, when you used to have to watch SportsCenter on ESPN to see video highlights of the day’s best plays? Remember them slightly newer days, daddio, when you could go online and maybe see some sketchy vid-clips of broadcast games before they were taken down?

No? Me neither. I’ve completely forgotten those days of 2011 and now just rely on Twitter and YouTube for my sports highlights coverage — like for instance, today’s incredible finish of the always classic Duke vs. North Carolina matchup. Within minutes, the official, ESPN approved clip is on YouTube — commercial free!

I’m not sure if this dims overall ESPN viewership numbers — by all recent accounts there is nothing but an upward curve for ESPN content viewership — so it makes sense for ESPN, instead of online pirateers, to take advantage of the Internet replays that are going to happen anyhow. Seems like the NBA agrees with this approach as well.

Somewhere in here there are the seeds of a discussion about how YouTube is becoming, or has become, the new sports network — and I’d spend time writing about it when I am done watching some Shaun White clips of sick snowboard stunts. Talk amongst yourselves.

Filed Under: ESPN, NBA, NCAA Hoops, YouTube Tagged With: , , ,
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