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Friday Grab Bag: New Windy City Sports Blog This Spring

December 9, 2011 by

New Chicago focused Web site launches with solid cast
While the review might be a bit over the top, Robert Feder in his column points out a new entrant to the world of sports blogging, and one focused on Chicago that will go by the name of ChicagoSide that is slated to officially launch on baseball opening day in 2012.

Author and columnist Jonathan Eig is helping lead the charge. If you are unfamiliar with his name you may have seen some of his books in the sports sections- such as Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season.

The web site will have three dozen writers, something that in this day and age is almost mind blowing. Among the initial lineup will be Lou Carlozo, George Castle, James Finn Garner, Jim Coffman, Lauren Etter, Elliott Harris, Noah Isackson, Billy Lombardo, Amy Merrick, Joel Reese, and Alan Solomon,. Theo Epstein might find himself missing the Boston press corps.

Will Tim Tebow slay ESPN’s QB rating system?
Rating systems are always a lot of fun, often hard to figure out, great source of bar arguments and rarely do they provide any insight if rating an individual in a team sport. ESPN happily entered the market this year with its QBR.

The Washington Post’s Achenblog takes a good poke at the system noting that winning is not one of the metrics and that Tebow fares poorly in the QBR. He says that it does not measure heart, leadership and desire.

While those are often the lead in anti-stat diatribes this one is not really that. He also notes that rating systems do not take into consideration the changes in rules in the NFL that allows QBs and receivers to run free to a degree that players a generation earlier would have loved. Also would you trust any rating system that puts Philip Rivers as a better QB that Joe Montana?

Control your Xbox from your Windows Phone
Microsoft has released its Xbox Companion App for its Windows Phone 7.5 operating system. With the app a user can control select services on their Xbox as well as consume any content that they might have stored on the device. In addition Microsoft has added search capabilities to examine the entire Xmox catalog and find games, apps, movies and movies.

The phone enables users to learn additional details about the objects of a search as well as select and launch a search result movie, video game TV show or app on the console as well as play, rewind and pause music and video. The App is free from Microsoft.

Will the Kindle Fire be 50% of Android Tablet Market in 2012?
That is the thought of Evercore Partners’ Robert Cihra who believes that the tablet from Amazon will have a major impact in the Android space, carving out a huge niche for itself and creating barriers for rivals to enter and profit from the space.

The Kindle Fire, which many have estimated Amazon sells for cost, and possibly just a hair under, in the old razor/razor blade business model, could “Vaporize” the for profit Android tablet OEM business according to Cihra.

He notes that Apple will remain the dominate player in this space with its iPad and that it will continue to dominate the most profitable segment of the market. The Kindle talking 50% of the Android market would represent a drop in the bucket of the overall market which Apple is expected to have a market share of as much as 70% in 2012 depending on the source.


Twitter claims iOS integration boosts signups by 25%
The redesign of Twitter appears to have struck a chord with one segment of the market, the Apple iOS users. The redesign, for those of you who have not noticed, includes a consistent menu across desktop and mobile platforms, the ability to track what has happened with an individual post and a Discovery section that recommends new areas based on previous history, among other changes.

So where does the iOS come in? Well it actually started helping the micro blogging site earlier when it integrated the service into its mobile OS. Users can tweet photos directly from the camera, for instance. Since the integration Twitter has seen a notable uptick in status updates, according to MACNN.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Baseball, iPad, Major League Baseball, Sports Social Media, Twitter

Bloomberg Exec Squadron at Baseball Winter Meetings with Mobile Scouting Pitch

December 5, 2011 by

Bloomberg Sports' Bill Squadron

Bloomberg Sports is pushing hard at The Baseball Winter Meetings in a bid to sell more teams and players on the merits of sports information products that tailor video and statistics to an individual player’s needs, MobileSportsReport.com has confirmed.

Bloomberg Sports head Bill Squadron and two sales executives are maintaining a big presence at the annual Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, which began today and run through Thursday, December 8 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. Bloomberg’s goal is to sign as many as 11 new Major League Teams as clients for its Pro level product, which would make Bloomberg a perfect 30-for-30  in selling its Pro level of service into teams.

“Right now, we have 19 out of 30 clubs,” Bloomberg’s Squadron told Mobile Sports Report. “I am not going to make predictions, but I guess our goal is to have all of them.”

Used during the 2011 season by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers, among others,  Bloomberg Pro is a secure, rights managed, web-based system that provides real-time analytical tools, data and video to team executives, employees, broadcasts and players.  The 2012 version, which will be showcased at the Baseball Winter Meetings, is faster and has improved scouting data, including reports from Caribbean leagues, college and high school baseball, Squadron said.

Bloomberg will be closely watched at the Baseball Winter Meetings. If successful in sewing up the baseball market, it is likely to quickly push into NBA and NFL products in the year ahead. Such products as Bloomberg’s are a natural fit for the new world of mobile sports because the next generation of professional athlete is completely comfortable using iPads and other devices to access game-day information, and there are more video-centric and Sabremetric-savvy professional athletes than ever before.

Bloomberg’s product isn’t the only data and video platform available in professional sports. As reported by MobileSportsReport, Modevity LLC is used by National Football League teams and the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes to deliver playbooks and scouting videos to players through its ARALOC Sports Platform. There are significant differences between Bloomberg and Modevity. Bloomberg has ready access to video, news and analytics by being a part of the same company that dominates financial services information, among other verticals. Modevity handles proprietary information generated by coaches and players, and shared in a totally secure environment. Both are examples of new ways sports teams are leveraging technology to get an edge.

For his part, Squadron is an executive of interest to the mobile sports business community. Before joining Bloomberg, Squadron worked at SportVision, which is the company behind the Emmy-Award winning Virtual Yellow 1st & Ten line shown on network football broadcasts, the FoxTrax hockey puck used during the NHL All-Star Game and the concept of virtual advertising shown during television sports broadcasts. If Squadron continues to enjoy success at Bloomberg, it could make one of the first time a mobile sports innovator has risen through the ranks to much broader responsibility at a Fortune 500 company.

Filed Under: Bloomberg Sports, Major League Baseball Tagged With: , ,

Bleacher Report and Turner Sports Continue to Expand Sports Apps Space

December 1, 2011 by

Ever wanted to follow a Div III Field Hockey playoff or have streaming news from your favorite pro team? Well there is a couple more apps that will help you do just that as web sites and news organizations continue to expand their presence in the mobile sports space.

First up is Turner Sports which has developed a mobile app called NCAA Sports for the Apple iOS and Android platforms. Designed to cover a wide spectrum of sports that often do not get wide coverage the free app will include live streaming video of over 60 NCAA championship games.

It will provide live streaming video of championships for all NCAA sports including Division II football, Divisions II and III wrestling, Divisions I, II and III field hockey, Divisions II and III men’s and women’s soccer, and Divisions II and III women’s volleyball. The app will also include in-depth regular season coverage of football and basketball.

The program permits users to drop in and out of the live broadcasts and provides the ability to chat with friends using Facebook or to post comments via Twitter.

In addition Turner has added a new mobile website on its hosted NCAA.Com space that is designed for mobile browsers user with touch screen devices such as Tablets and smartphones. The mobile website will allow fans to get live scores, schedules, news, rankings and video recaps that have been tailored for display on the mobile devices.

In a press release Mark Johnson, vice-president of Turner Sports’ NCAA Digital group said about the development that “College sports content is underserved in the mobile space right now and we’re excited to offer fans mobile products that are 100% dedicated to college sports.”

Bleacher Report moves desktop offerings to mobile app

The second app coming down the road is from Bleacher Report called b/r Team Stream App and the free app is now available for both Android and Apple iOS devices. It will cover a number of sports including NFL, College Football, MLB, NBA, NHL Soccer, Tennis and Golf.

The app is in ways a news aggregation program, Bleacher Report searches the web for news on the team you have selected and streams them to your mobile device using the app. However it will also include tweets from athletes and sportswriters.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apps, bleacherreport, Facebook, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, Soccer, Turner Sports, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

Will MLB’s New Deal Kill or Enhance Players’ Access to Social Media?

November 29, 2011 by

Just catching up on Major League Baseball’s off-season news prior to the hot stove league heating up with the arrival of the Winter Meetings and I came upon an interesting piece in Baseball Nation about a change in social media usage in baseball.

It pointed out that there is a single line in the new collective bargaining agreement that says “All players will be subject to a policy governing the use of Social Media.” That is it, no details and no policy.

I have no issue with baseball, or any sport, having a set of guidelines for the athletes to follow in regards to social media. For instance you probably do not want people Tweeting shower scenes, which has already happened in basketball. Or sending images of their junk, which has (purportedly) happened in the NFL.

The question is will MLB simply move its rules for team employees to now also cover players or will it create a new set of guidelines, one that might be designed to always put MLB in a good light?

The new players’ policy is so short it is hard to give it the title of policy, but the open-ended nature of it does give you reason to pause. Currently baseball, and for that matter most pro sports, are pretty open about the use of Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media as a tool that its players can more directly with the fans. Outside of outlawing tweets from the free-throw line or the line of scrimmage, it’s pretty much an open game.

And rightly so. Curt Schilling has had the blog 38 Pitches for years where he posts his opinions and people can chime in. That seems almost old school (yes I know he also Tweets and uses the two for different purposes) now with the ability to follow players’ feelings and opinions in almost real time. A quick look at the web site tweeting-athletes shows the huge number of players from around the globe and around sports that are active at some level in tweeting.

Fans enjoy hearing directly from players. It may not be the most insightful sometimes, but it is often colorful and much more interesting than the canned quotes that players tend to give to live broadcasters.
I see the need for rules and a cooling off period, so that in the heat of the moment a player does not post something that he and possible his team, will regret, but I worry about leagues taking it too far.

The NFL feels no qualms about fining coaches for criticizing refs even when everybody in America has seen the replay that shows how wrong the ref was on a play. Let’s not even talk about fining people for wearing the wrong color cleats. It really is earning its title as the No Fun League. The NBA has been increasingly worried about its image over the last decade and has dictated how players will dress. However they both do seem to have an open mind on the topic of social media.

The existing rules for MLB employees and contractors can be found here– and it is pretty much what you would expect it to be: don’t pretend you are speaking for MLB, no confidential information, no using logos and property of the league and so on.

I think baseball, and all sports, need to embrace social media as an adjunct to marketing and advertising efforts. What could be better than players directly accessing fans? I guess if the players are unhappy and the team is poorly run bad things can happen, but on the whole I think the net results will be positive.

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

Friday Grab Bag: Look at Android 4.0

November 18, 2011 by

Major League Baseball makes Two Moves- Hate them Both
MLB has made moving to the American League a condition for the purchase of the Houston Astros by Jim Crane, a deal that was unanimously approved by baseball owners The team will move in 2013 and so there will be two 15 team leagues, with interleague games starting at the beginning of the season.

The second move is the creation of two more Wild Card spots for the playoffs. Ohh boy, I will be on the edge of my seat waiting for that one game playoff between the wild card teams before the real playoffs begin.

I guess Selig wants this as his legacy prior to his long awaited retirement. I thought turning a blind eye to a decade of steroid usage and then crying crocodile tears was enough of a legacy for the man.

A good look at next generation Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich technology
The good folks at Slash Gear have uploaded a walk through on some of the latest features that will be included in the new Android 4.0 operating system that is just now reaching users hands. The operating system has a range of features that will continue to create a clear differentiation between it and Apple’s iOS technology.

The first feature highlighted is the Active Voice Diction feature that greatly enhances an already existing feature of the phone. It allows for pauses from the speaker and types out what you are saying as you go along.

Another feature is the Face Unlock and unlock to camera. This technology allows the phone to automatically unlock when it views a preregistered face. There are still issues to this and it can be deactivated by the user. The device will also have a quick method to unlock the camera so that you can quickly take photos. Head on over and see all of their coverage of ICS.

Klip Raises $8min Series B Round-App Popular with Sports Fans?
Klip, a startup app developer that is creating an iOS App that enables users to capture, share and view mobile videos has closed its Series B funding round after raising $8m led by Benchmark Capital with Matrix Partners and Klip founder Alain Rossman also participating. This brings the total funding for the company to $10m.

The company, which launched its first App in September, will now have Bruce Dunlevie of Benchmark join Josh Hannah of Matrix Partners and Klip Founder/CEO Alain Rossmann on the Board of Directors.

The program has a range of automated features that allow users to easily record, ports and resend klips. Video can be easily accelerated for a quick look. In an interview with TechCrunch, founder Rossmann said that the use of hashtags is very important especially among sports fans where its use is very prevalent.


A solid look at Tebow’s Throws
The ever solid Football Outsiders takes a look at how Tim Tebow has progressed as a NFL quarterback this season. Tebow baiting has been growing as a popular sport and this appears to be one of the few well researched pieces on his games.

One thing that leaped out at me was the amount of time between snap and throw, which in the Miami game was 4.4 seconds but declined every week and was 2.5 seconds by the Kansas City game five games later. It also breaks down his results according t how long he holds the ball. I would love to see a chart like this for every NFL quarterback.

PCWorld Writer Claims not too late for Windows Phone-Or Not.
A recent column by Tony Bradley in PCWorld talks about why it is not too late for Microsoft to establish Windows Phone 7 as a serious player in the smartphone arena. While acknowledging that it is late to the market he sees positives from the company.

Bradley lists the ability to take advantage of the Microsoft ecosystem, to seamlessly integrate with that ecosystem and that Microsoft, by scrapping Windows Mobile and developing Windows 7 from the ground up helped it integrate new features that will differentiate it from its rivals.

For a counter point look no further than PCWorld columnist Joseph Fieber who wrote a week earlier that Windows Phone 7 is too late and has missed the boat. Not yet having had the opportunity to try Windows Phone 7 I am staying out of this one.

A Last Laugh-Password Edition
PCMag has released a list of the 25 worst passwords. Does anybody really use 123456? Aside from my Dad?

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Denver Broncos, Klip, Major League Baseball, NFL Tagged With: , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Magic Johnson Issue

November 4, 2011 by

Twitter wings its way over Mexican Soccer team
Are you a fan of Mexican soccer? Maybe follow the Jaguars in the Primera Division? Then you have already noticed that the team has gone one step further than any other sports team and has replaced the players’ names from the back of their jerseys and replaced it with their individual Twitter handle. In addition the jerseys, which have no sponsor logo, use Twitter’s teal color as well as its bird logo. I am sure that Bud Selig looks on in envy.

Cybersquatters combine iPhone and Porn-is that wrong?
Apparently Apple is upset that a mobile porn website has acquired a number of web site names that give the impression that they are related to Apple’s iPhone for the purpose of luring the unwary to its sites. A report filed by Domain Name Wire and forwarded by the ever popular Register that seven URLs redirect to pornography web sites. Apple has experience with this type of legal fight in the past but the question remains how did it not register www.iphone4s.com, although it now seems to be out of commission. Just checked for professional purposes of course.


20 years ago- Magic Johnson retired (for the first time)
On Nov 7, 1991 one of the most electrifying players in the NBA announced his retirement due to the discovery during a routine preseason physical that he had been found to be HIV-positive. Following his retirement he did play in the 1992 NBA All-Star game and was voted MVP, the 1992 Sumer Olympics basketball “Dream Team” and subsequently had two brief comebacks with the LA Lakers and a stint as head coach. It is nice to say that he seems to be going strong today, 20 years later.

Who will buy the Dodgers?
Now that Frank McCourt has seen the light and agreed to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers the question arises- who will buy them. The rumored going price is in excess of $1 billion, which would be a nice return on investment for McCourt, who paid $421 m in 2004, except that he has paid no taxes in the interim. One announced prospective buyer is former owner Peter O’Malley, as is former player Steve Garvey.

Apple has new iPhone and iPads in future plans- shocking
According to Taiwan-based blog Digitimes, Apple is building iPad 3s as fast as it can and seeks to have 1 million made by the end of 2011 in hopes of avoiding the supply bottleneck that is hurting its sales currently when the new iPads roll out in early 2012. In addition the much hyped iPhone 5 is expected at the end of 2012, late Q3 or early Q4, according to the publication. Hopefully long battery life is a feature with the new phone.

New 24 hour Sports News Channel-A rival to ESPN? Just kidding.
Al-Jazeera has launched what is believed to be the Middle East’s first 24-hour sports news channel, which it will call Al-Jazeera Sports according to the Associated Press. The TV Network already has 18 channels that broadcast a range of sports including the World Cup, Champions League soccer and men’s and women’s tennis tournaments. According to the channel’s general manager, Nasser bin Ghanem al-Khelaifi, says the aim is to “uncover the ins and outs of everything that surrounds and affects sports, quickly, accurately and around the clock.”

Filed Under: Al-Jazeera Sports, ESPN, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, NBA, Soccer, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,
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