Way back when (i.e. 1975), the NFL was up in arms about television taking business away from individual teams. The thinking was that people’s abilities to watch the local team from their homes was causing a slide in ticket sales. In those days, gate receipts were a big part of a team’s (and the league’s) revenue. So the NFL went crying to the people who control TV markets — the FCC. The FCC enacted rules saying that games that were not sold out couldn’t be aired on local television. It was a rule to protect teams. In 2014, it’s become a rule that hurts fans.

Blackout rules have been a constant point of consternation to fans (and critics) of the NFL. Now, that movement has a big name in its corner — Tom Wheeler. You might not know the name, but if you aren’t a fan of the current blackout rules for NFL football, Wheeler is the kind of guy you want on your team. Tom Wheeler happens to be the chairman of the FCC.

In a recent op-ed for USA Today, Wheeler came out against the current set of rules, calling them “anti-fan.” He states his case about how the rules are now out-of-date, and confirms that he has sent a proposal to the rest of the commission to change how blackouts are handled. Wheeler states he plans to vote on the new proposal on September 30th.

Whether this new proposal discusses online-streaming rules and regulations is unclear. As of now, even subscribers to the expensive NFL Sunday Ticket package on DirecTV cannot stream a local game on the app if they are not near a TV. Fox has worked around this with their Fox Sports Go application, but CBS has no such option as of now.

The first step is getting games on TV. Hopefully, if these regulations pass, some definitive standards can be set for online streaming, as well.

(Header photo via Kyle Nishioka)

The phrase “I have seen the future, and it works” is attributed to Lincoln Steffens, a proto-socialist who thought the USSR would be humanity’s haven for order and beauty. What he saw in the soon-to-be failed state, however, was merely a glimmer of the true light. Here is the true light:

It is a homemade arcade system equipped with every worthy game of our generation; it is the shimmering jewel of the ages, three decades-worth of pixels and magic. According to its assembler, Brian Collette, brother of baseball writer Jason Collette, the device has all you require:

Some of the sports games I do have working are arcade games like NBA Jam, Tecmo Bowl, ‘80s WWF games, Punch Out, Super Dodge Ball, Arch Rivals, Blades of Steel, etc., and some home console games like RBI Baseball 1-3, Baseball Stars, NHLPA ’93, among others.

A hearty giggity goo! A giggity goo to echo across the ages!

The principle of the machine is very simple — it’s basically just an old computer with a MAME emulator inside it. For more info on the parallel beauties and troubles of emulation, check out David Wiers’ excellent emulator article.

The hard part, really, is the hardware. But according to Brian, this is a device you, sir and/or madame, can build too:

• The “arcade cabinet shell” hails from Rec Room Masters
• Brian says the assembly is not taxing and that particular dealer has “lots of cool styles at all price ranges.”
• You will need a two-player joystick and trackball control panel.
• You will need a cheap PC and monitor. Says Brian: “I used a $200 Dell, any old one you’re no longer using would work; doesn’t need much modern power. Add some old computer speakers.”
• And for the cherry atop the castle of techno-awesome, Brian elected to add a coin-operated edifice so as to simulate spending extra money on playing these games. (And though he does not explicit suggest this, it may also work as an excellent power play in the family dynamics. He who controls the quarters controls the universe.) According Brian, this cleverness “only requires some simple wiring setup. They sell them here.”

(NOTE: We and I personally do not get any kickbacks from any of these above-linked business. Of course, if you work for one of those businesses, feel free to send me free stuff.)

And before you assault your loved one with tales of digital valor and majesty — and therefore signify the pressing need for a device such as this in your own home — girdle yourself with this knowledge: Apparently Brian is not the only enthusiast in the house. According to him, it’s a family affair:

My wife and son love it too, there’s nothing like playing a game on a real arcade machine whether it’s Galaga or Street Fighter II. Even Nintendo games like RBI Baseball translate well.

So really, not building one of these babies is like voting no on family values.

Bri-man estimates the total cost in the $500 to $1000 range, depending on what you’ll need to buy fresh. I, for instance, have lobbied to save at minimum two old towers (both of which have smaller processors than my Nexus 5 at this point), so I’d be gravy on that end, but the monitor would need to be acquired — perhaps via prudent garage saling. But can we put a price on awesome? Or, more importantly, can we put a price on the validation we will douse ourselves in when we suddenly have a (moderately) legitimate reason for storing those old computer parts in the baby’s closet?

Some things, I argue, are worth more than money.

While we here at TechGraphs recently wrote about wearable tech, a new addition to the style of gadgets was officially announced: the Apple Watch. Shiny, new wearable tech, all for the price of $350. Now, for that much money, I would hope that there would be great new things that come with it, sports and fitness related. There are some of those, though, so don’t be disappointed. But when it comes to sports-related things? It doesn’t look like there’s anything on that so far, at least, when it comes to new, shiny things.

As a sports fan, I want to know if there will be anything new and specific to the Apple Watch that would pique my interest. If there are going to be Watch-specific apps that would enhance my viewing of games or anything that would just be helpful when I go to games, then awesome. Could I order a hot dog through a Watch when I’m at the game? Have we reached that level of 21st century technology yet?

There’s a lot of user-interactive technology on it, such as the Digital Touch features. While it’s not the thing that sports app developers would utilize, it could be something that would come into play in future Watch-friendly apps for sports. I’m not saying that it would be logical or that there would be a coherent reason, it’s certainly possible. Even with simple things like being able to go back on a game and see previous plays, or use a modified version of MLB’s AtBat or NHL’s GameCenter to track scores. Say, if watching highlights isn’t available because of a spotty connection, just pull up AtBat and you can swish through the gameday highlights.

The potential is certainly there, but is it worth the $350?

Since the Watch isn’t out yet, and third-party apps haven’t been announced, it’s hard to tell what exactly we can judge what it’s capable of. But for the Apple Watch to be a must-have for a tech-loving sports fan, they’re going to have to sell the product hard on sports features. Otherwise, I might as well just go for the cheaper alternative in Android Wear if the features are similar. I’m an Android user myself, so selling me on an Apple product might be tough enough, but I could easily be swayed by Back to the Future II-esque futuristic options that are snazzy.

(Screenshot via Apple.com)

Even veritable strangers to the world of soccer like myself know that one thing reigns prevalent over every game — the running. Some players have been tracked running over 9.5 miles in one game. Multiply that by 22 players, and you get a lot of footsteps. The energy corporation Shell is looking to turn those footsteps into storable power with the help of some new technology.

Shell announced today in a press release that they have completed refurbishing a soccer field in the Morro da Mineira community of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that uses 200 specialized tiles buried underground to capture energy of the players running on the field. The energy is stored — along with energy generated by solar panels next to the field — and used to power the flood lights that allow play after dark.

“The pitch proves the potential and power when scientists and entrepreneurs focus their efforts to develop creative and innovative energy solutions,” Andre Araujo, the Shell Brazil Country Chair, explains. “By tapping into the world’s passion and interest in football, we aim to capture the attention of youngsters around the world so they think differently about energy and the opportunity of science studies and careers.”

The technology to achieve such feats was developed by a company called Pavegen. Pavegen’s CEO, Laurence Kemball-Cook, was a finalist of Shell’s LiveWIRE UK Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011. The project is part of Shell’s Make the Future campaign that hopes to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and engineering.

The price of such a project was not disclosed, but similar implementations have been installed by Pavegen in places like the 2012 Olympics in Sochi and Heathrow Airport in London. While it’s fair to assume that impoverished neighborhoods will not all be getting new decked-out soccer pitches, the idea is certainly an intriguing one. If this technology can become easy and affordable enough to install in even a handful of the thousands of fields in Europe and South America, it may help offset some of the costs and energy consumption of a typical match.

Sports teams all over are looking at ways to conserve resources, to save both money and face with the public. There is no reason that such a thing can’t be installed in a new American football stadium in the near future. They don’t run as much as soccer players, but wouldn’t it be cool to know that your new beer was kept cold with help from your favorite player as he a broke a 40-yard touchdown run?

There’s a lot of talk about energy consumption and conservation going on these days. And while talking heads on cable news continue to yell at each other over the merits of their arguments, it’s nice to see that some people are taking the initiative to work on a solution. I don’t envision a future in which every pee wee soccer game is played on a magic energy-making field, but it’s a nice start.

It is not totally uncommon for one brand to be designated as the signifier of an entire product group. All tissues are known as Kleenex, all large trash containers as Dumpsters, all photocopies are Xeroxs. There is a whole Wikipedia article devoted to this, in fact. And while other lip balm makers probably aren’t thrilled that their product is usually called ChapStick, the effect is lessened by the fact that their product is on the same shelf as ChapStick. Consumers get to see the products side by side and compare packing and promises and pricing. Their sales aren’t ruined simply because Pfizer has a trademark on a catchier name.

This isn’t necessarily the case in the consumer electronics field. In this cutthroat world where competition is fierce, prices are high, and margins are low, brand recognition can be everything. We don’t ask friends and family what brand of cotton swab they use, but we’ll surely probe for opinions on tablets or laptops, making mental notes of the brands mentioned. When walking into a Best Buy or Fry’s, people are overwhelmed with choices. Having a trusted, recommended brand can be the difference between winning and losing a sale.

Getting their hooks into customers is everything for electronics makers. If someone is buying their first tablet, Google or Apple or Microsoft doesn’t just want the revenue from the device. They want to get consumers to be reliant on a specific ecosystem. Apps purchased in their app stores ensure revenue for these companies. This is basically Amazon’s entire model when it comes to their Fire tablets. Even free apps that consumers decide they can’t live without become sticking points when it’s time to upgrade devices. It’s not a hardware-based arms race. It’s a fight for brand loyalty.

And, at least right now, it’s a fight that Microsoft is losing badly. Apple and Google have their tentacles wrapped around the mobile market and up until now, Microsoft has had a hard time breaking in. This is part of the reason Microsoft entered an agreement with the NFL worth a reported $400 million to allow their Surface line of tablets on the sidelines of football games. These kinds of product placements aren’t all that new. Samsung has been doing it everywhere from the Oscars to the White House. Microsoft wants more people to know about their Surface. A lot of people watch NFL games. It all seems pretty straight forward. Except for one problem — TV announcers keep calling them iPads.

NFL announcers aren’t paid to be tech know-it-alls. They are hired for their expertise in announcing or their knowledge of the game (some jokes could be made here, but I’m leaving it alone for the time being). It’s a pretty safe bet to say that they are making these mistakes due to a lack of education, rather than malicious intent toward Microsoft. But that is part of the problem. If Microsoft is willing to drop that much cash on implementing Surfaces on the sidelines, wouldn’t they want to make sure the announcers know that? Yes, the announcers are technically employed by the TV network, but those are networks that have a tight and lucrative affiliation with the league. Certainly someone could have passed a few memos around. Forgetting the name is one thing, using the name of a direct competitor — a competitor that is kicking the butt of the product in question — is another.

There’s a bigger problem here, as well. The Surface is more than a tablet. Save for the ill-thought RT version from a few years ago, the Surface strives to out-feature the iPad. The Surface 3 is the most laptop-like tablet Microsoft has released. It even markets itself as a laptop replacement. However, the integration with the NFL doesn’t highlight those features — the features that set it apart from others in the space. The implementation simply calls for the Surfaces to show photos of previous plays (replacing those binders of black and white snapshots) with the ability to draw on said photos. That’s it. Microsoft is trying to raise eyebrows by showing off features a $200 Android tablet could do.

This is not entirely Microsoft’s fault. Security and fair-play considerations had to go into the integration. Therefore, no Internet connections are allowed (they are connected to a locked-down wireless network). The Surface allows (and promotes) pen input, but I have yet to see a player or coach using one. The case that adorns every Surface on the sideline covers up the kickstand — another selling point of the device. Nothing the NFL does with a Surface sets it apart from the crowd, especially from the iPads that NFL teams are already using.

In fairness, a lot of this couldn’t be helped. There isn’t a whole lot of use for tablets on the sideline to begin with. As far as application goes, Microsoft and the NFL have pretty much exhausted their options. Which makes the $400 million so curious in the first place. Could that money be better spent on more advertising? Perhaps product placement in movies or TV that can show off more of its features? This space is a tough one to break into, I get it. But as it stands, Microsoft’s partnership with the NFL isn’t enough to get the Surface recognized. Especially if announcers can’t even get the name right.

(Header photo via Kārlis Dambrāns)

We are well into the Major League Soccer season — the regular season wraps up October 26 — so if you’re in the market for domestic soccer at a great rate, the MLS Live subscription has recently dropped its price. With only seven weeks remaining in the season the key question seems obvious: is the $25.99 worth not even two months of content?

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The advent of NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV must have felt like a godsend for re-located football fans across the country. Never again would they have to comb through the TV schedule to see if their favorite team played in the local market, or perhaps got a Sunday night or Monday night game. All they had to do was pay a lot of money and plop down in front of the TV. But as our culture turns ever more mobile, we have different needs. It’s no longer good enough to have all the games on our TV. We want them with us wherever we go. Enter the NFL Sunday Ticket mobile app.

We’re officially through our first NFL Sunday of the 2014/15 season. My favorite team got drubbed on Thursday, so this left me some time to test out the NFL Sunday Ticket app for iOS. It’s hard to talk about the app without first discussing the price. It’s technically free in the app store, but you won’t be able to get past the login screen unless you are a subscriber of Sunday Ticket. And even then, you need to have the right version of Sunday Ticket. Spoiler: you need to more expensive one.

DirecTV offers two different packages in which to get games: Sunday Ticket and Sunday Ticket Max. The former will get you the bare-bones setup for $39.99 a month: all the games, the Mix Channel that allows you to watch eight (tiny) games at once, and various on-demand features. Sunday Ticket Max comes in at a whopping $54.99 a month, and adds the Red Zone channel (which is actually pretty cool) and the ability to watch games on a computer, phone, tablet, or gaming console (XBOX One, PS3, or PS4). So basically, it’s an extra $15/month to stream games on the go. Sunday Ticket bills for six months, so it’s an extra $90 on top of regular Sunday Ticket which is already on top of your DirecTV package. (It is possible to get Sunday Ticket without a DirecTV subscription, but there are a good deal of requirements that must be met.)

When you first open the app, you are greeted with an advertisement. Though it only lasts for a few seconds, it seems like an incredible kick in the pants to have to see an ad in a service you paid a great deal of money for. You are then greeted with the opening screen which has a video player on the right, and the list of current games  and scores on the left. Just tap a game to watch. It’s that easy.

Switching between games is very fast, a nice feature that other apps like MLB.tv lack. After tapping a game, the video was up in less than a second. This was true on WiFi or 4G, though the WiFi offered a higher-quality video at first. The 4G connection needed some time before the picture was HD-quality. There is a tradeoff, however, as there seems to be a significant delay in the streamed games and actual games. Using the Bills/Bears game as a test, the app stream clocked in at around 43 seconds behind the game on TV. The amount that this is a big deal depends on the watcher. If you’re just clicking around during commercials, it really doesn’t matter all that much. If you are following along on Twitter (on another device, presumably) it might.

The app offers a few other nice features, like on-demand highlights from the game you are watching listed below the video. If you turn to a game and want to see how the score ended up the way it is, the video evidence is right there. The app also pushes highlights from other games that appear as little widgets on the video screen. If you click one, you are sent to the highlight, then, when it’s over, immediately back to the game you were watching. The widgets only show for a few seconds, so they are not too intrusive, and the ability to see an insane down-the-field-catch on the fly is a nice thing.

Overall, the app performed well. I only had one instance of it misbehaving over the course of a couple hours of heavy game switching. The glitch was fixed on a close and relaunch of the program. It was annoying, but the app cooperated much more than some from other leagues (cough, cough, MLB). There was also a slight issue with audio where after switching to a different game, the audio would be loud for about three seconds, then drop in volume quite a bit. This seemed to happen on all games. The first three seconds weren’t painful, but the dropoff was so drastic that I often found myself adjusting the volume.

The Sunday Ticket app would work well for football junkies, fantasy junkies, gamblers, or people who can’t be homebound on a Sunday. The app works very well, and does exactly what you want it to do — stream all out-of-market games — with solid performance. For the fan who just wants to watch their team on their couch every Sunday, it might not be worth the price of Sunday Ticket Max. The addition of the Red Zone Channel is a bonus, but if the main goal is just to watch your team, you might be better off with the standard package. Going on just the features and reliability of the app alone, DirecTV has put out a fairly solid product.

Grade: A-

Few things can flood my memory banks with thoughts of my childhood better than hearing the startup music for certain Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) games. From FIFA Soccer 96 to Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball — and of course other games such as Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past — I have fond and vivid memories of spending hours in front of the TV. I wasn’t fortunate enough to own a SNES, instead I relied on my friends to get my video game fix. Sometimes I would simply watch my friends play and be amazed by what I was seeing on the screen. Those high quality graphics pumping through the 16-bit chipset was something that captivated me. For the first time in my life rather than pretending to be Cobi Jones or Kasey Keller in the backyard, I could pick up a controller and really play as my favorite soccer stars.

Fortunately there is a way to go back in time, at least for video games, and it doesn’t even require a DeLorean. Short of purchasing an older system on eBay or Amazon, the best way to replay those games is to download a system emulator. To be a nine-year-old kid again isn’t something I find particularly appealing, but it would be a lie to say I didn’t occasionally long for the days of playing on a SNES again.
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Each Friday, we here at TechGraphs like to point out some of the sports-tech stories that may have slipped through the cracks. It’s the Friday News Roundup. I have a busy schedule of getting my butt kicked in Madden, so let’s get right to it.

• It’s football season! To celebrate, the temperature in the American Middle West dropped twenty degrees within 24 hours. As of this writing, we are one game into the NFL season. Hopefully you didn’t blow your entire nest egg on Seahawks/Packers, because betting on games just got easier. Thanks to the Windows Phone feature Cortana, all you have to do is ask who is going to win. Cortana will use a “combination of stats, previous match-ups, and subtler criteria like stadium conditions” to pick a winner for you. If you program your bookie in your phone, your gambling problem can be 100% voice-activated.

• Speaking of the NFL, Fox announced that you should be able to use its Fox Sports To Go app to stream 101 games to which they have the rights for the 2014 season. One will need a cable or satellite subscription to access the feature on their computers, phones, and laptops, and the game will have to be available in their local area. This means that fans of out-of-town teams are still stuck with needing Sunday Ticket or sketchy streaming web sites.

• Verizon is also offering up a similar service, but with the added bonus of RedZone.

• Also on the streaming front, ESPN announced that customers of MediaCom, Suddenlink, NCTC and NTTC should now have access to the WatchESPN service on computers and mobile devices. There’s a joke here about watching First Take while sitting on the toilet, but I can’t nail it down yet. I’ll get back to you.

• ESPN also updated their SportsCenter app for the iPhone, allowing quicker access to favorite teams and shows. It seems as if my request to add curling to the scores section went unnoticed yet again.

• GOLF! The Ryder Cup said it would ban social media posting by fans on the grounds, but then they changed their minds. Or succumbed to scrutiny. Either way. Limiting ways fans can interact with a game everyone says is dying was probably a dumb move, so it’s nice to see the Ryder Cup rectify it.

• Not a Madden person? Don’t have $60 to spend on something that pretty much only makes you angry? You’re in luck! Tecmo Super Bowl 2015 has been released! With just a little emulator magic, you can get that virtual football experience without all those buttons and joysticks to get in your way. Now you can get angry for free, though that was already pretty easy.

• In baseball, MLB said that they have crossed the point of no return — more people are watching MLB.tv on devices than on computers. I’m guessing this guy had a lot to do with it.

• We may be closer to removing the first down markers and chains from football, thanks to some research being done with magnetic fields. While I’m all for getting the calls right, I will miss that part when the ball is short by a good foot and a half, but the quarterback runs to the coach signaling that they ONLY NEED TWO MORE INCHES. I grew up watching Brett Favre, so I remember this happening a lot.

• And finally, EA Sports launched their Madden GIFERATOR this week. This tool is supposedly for taunting your Madden opponents on Twitter or something. I’m not really sure what the practical use is. Anyway, the Internet did what the Internet always does, and ruined it. Actually, they took a dumb, gimmicky thing and made it pretty funny. I even tried my hand at it today:

That’s all for this week. Remember to ice those thumbs periodically, and try not to curse too much at pre-teens.

(Header photo via John S)

I’ve never been to Cooperstown, but thanks to the Google Cultural Institute, I’m able to check out a virtual version of it. Now, as a baseball fan, of course I’ve got Cooperstown on my eternal baseball bucket list, but a virtual tour? How could it possibly hurt my desire to visit the place itself?

The screen starts off simply enough. A little too simple, maybe. You have three categories on the first page: Exhibits, Street View, and Items. Exhibits show you a slideshow of photographs featuring Osvaldo Salas’ work. The exhibit itself is fascinating, showing a side of baseball from a time when minorities began to be included in the game after Jackie Robinson’s debut. There’s an atmosphere that’s lost when looking at it on a laptop, though — I don’t think you would get the full effect of the exhibit from looking at it on a computer screen.

Street View is a bit more interesting. It’s Google Maps Street View, except you can go inside a building — which is neat! Because who doesn’t want want to use Street View inside a building? There’s a floor map alongside the Street View, so you have an idea of where certain items are in the building. Because of Street View, it’s kind of (very) awkward to see every item on the walls, so keep that in mind if you’re looking at the exhibits. It’s not the best view of the exhibits, either.

Items leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a collection of photos on the main page of the Cooperstown Google Cultural Institute and that’s basically it. You could just Google images of your favorite ballplayers from the past and it would have the same effect.

All in all, I don’t think this is something to take time out of your day to check out. If you feel like it, of course, go and give it a look. It’s a good way to figure out which parts of Cooperstown you want to check out when you’re actually there, but don’t let it be a replacement for going to the actual thing.