Microsoft is already having a bit of a branding issue when it comes to the NFL, and it now appears that the NFL is looking to nip a future problem in the bud. The NFL has an exclusive contract with Bose, and part of that agreement features language that prohibits headphones from other manufacturers appearing on camera. In this case, it seems as if the NFL is specifically targeting the Beats brand. Players are not allowed to wear Beats during pre-game warmups or during post-game interviews. I suppose they aren’t allowed to wear them during the game, either, though this seems like an unlikely scenario.

According to the NFL, Bose isn’t the one actually making the stink. The league is. According to their statement (via Re/Code):

“The NFL has longstanding policies that prohibit branded exposure on-field or during interviews unless authorized by the league. These policies date back to the early 1990s and continue today,” an NFL spokesperson said in a statement. “They are the NFL’s policies – not one of the league’s sponsors, Bose in this case.  Bose is not involved in the enforcement of our policies. This is true for others on-field.”

The NFL is big business. They make a killing via TV rights, ticket and merchandise sales, and a slew of branding deals. But they also lean heavily on sponsorships. In the 2013-14 season, the NFL and their teams brought in about $1.07 billion through sponsorships alone. Needless to say, they want to keep sponsors happy. The recent fallout from the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson suspensions further proved that. With Bose v. Beats, the NFL is looking for an easy win to keep at least one sponsor happy.

The NFL has a long way to go to recoup its image with some fans. They will be under a large microscope for some time. And they know that their sponsors know that as well. They may take a hit with players after taking away their preferred brand of headphones, but it looks like that’s a price the NFL is willing to pay.

(Header image via Titanas)

It’s Postseason time and you want to put some baseball in your face. But what if you are on a plane during the game? What if your TV exploded? What if your dumb boss is forcing you to work the weekend? What if your significant other is making you go to a farm to pick apples or decorative gourds? Well, believe it or not, it will actually be easier to (legally) stream playoff baseball this year. Please notice my use of the word easier in the previous sentence, and how I did not use the word easy. MLB is offering many of their games to stream through MLB.tv, assuming you have the proper cable/satellite subscription. The games not offered by MLB.tv, those playing on Fox Sports 1, can also be streamed if you have the proper cable/satellite subscription, but the way the provider/subscriber deals work out, there is actually very little overlap. For a five spot, you can subscribe to Postseason.tv, which offers “alternate” — read: bad — views of the ALDS and ALCS games, and an Gameday Audio subscription should give you the ability to stream the radio broadcasts. Otherwise, if you just can’t park your butt on the couch this weekend, here’s your guide for streaming the Postseason this weekend.

(EDIT: Intrepid reader Micah pointed out that he was able to watch Friday’s early game through TBS.com, which allows subscribers of other providers like Dish, Xfinity, and COX to watch as well. This may be an option for AL games tomorrow. I’ll edit this post if that is the case. Thanks Micah!)

(Followup: It does appear you can stream these via TBS.com, but the option is only available for computers, not mobile devices.)

NLDS Game 2 (SFN @ WAS)

• You can only stream this game on mobile devices or the web, not through connected devices (game systems, Roku, etc.)
• You can only stream this game through the Fox Sports Go App
• You must subscribe to Fox Sports 1, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers (some smaller providers not listed):
  • AT&T U-Verse
  • Bright House
  • Cox
  • Mediacom
  • Time Warner Cable
  • Xfinity (Comcast)
  • Optimum
  • Suddenlink

NLDS Game 2 (SLN @ LAD)

• You can stream this game on mobile devices, the web, or on connected devices
• You can only stream this game through the MLB At Bat app or on MLB.tv
• You must provide a valid MLB.tv login
• You must subscribe to MLB Network, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers:
  • DirecTV
  • Optimum
  • Time Warner Cable
  • Verizon FiOS
  • Bright House
  • Buckeye

ALDS Game 3 (BAL @ DET)

• You can only stream this game on mobile devices or the web
• You can only stream this game through the MLB At Bat app or on MLB.tv
• You must provide a valid MLB.tv login
• You must subscribe to TBS, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers:
  • DirecTV
  • Optimum
  • Verizon FiOS
  • Buckeye

ALDS Game 3 (LAA @ KCA)

• You can only stream this game on mobile devices or the web
• You can only stream this game through the MLB At Bat app or on MLB.tv
• You must provide a valid MLB.tv login
• You must subscribe to TBS, and provide a valid login to one of the following TV providers:
  • DirecTV
  • Optimum
  • Verizon FiOS
  • Buckeye

Clear as mud? That’s what I thought. Of course, if you have a decent cable/satellite package or can get to a local watering hole with a bank of TVs, you should be set. Stay tuned for another steaming guide on Monday to get you through the week. In the meantime, enjoy some weekend baseball.

We all know hockey is a dangerous sport, what with all the smashing and the fighting and the flying sticks. And while the sport can take its toll on the body, it can also be life-threatening. At any given time 12 players can be roaming the ice, which means 24 super-sharp blades are also moving around out there. While the chances of someone going full-on Happy Gilmore and attacking a player with a skate, slips and falls and tumbles can always happen. One wrong move could spell trouble. One company is hoping to keep players safe from skate cuts with a line of high-tech clothing.

Base360, Inc, a Canadian manufacturer of sports apparel, makes specialized shirts and pants to help prevent severe cuts on the ice. Their line of compression shirts and pants come with added layers of Kevlar-enforced material around high-risk areas like the calf, ankle, and wrist. This added layer helps protect against cuts to major veins and arteries, while still providing the movement and range of motion needed for competition on the ice.

Base360 has recently paired with the fabric company Garmatex, and now offers CoolSkin technology in their apparel. CoolSkin is designed to offer a high rate of moisture wicking and evaporation to help keep a player drier. Bact-Out technology is also incorporated to help prevent odor and keep fabric integrity. This is a good move by Base360, as adding technologies that players are already looking for in hockey apparel on top of an added level of protection from skate-related injuries really helps set them apart.

Every year, a good deal of professional hockey players have to be treated for skate lacerations. Extrapolate that out to all the minor-league, youth programs, and recreation leagues in existence, and that’s a lot of possible injuries. While hockey will certainly never be a 100%-safe sport, taking measures to prevent severe and possibly fatal injuries is always a welcome one.

(Header photo via Paul L Dineen)

GoPro, the popular rugged-camera maker, has come to an agreement with the NHL to use the mountable cameras to create a point-of-view look for fans in NHL promos and game broadcasts. According to AdWeek, around a dozen NHL players were outfitted with GoPro cameras during a recent media tour. With cameras on their helmets, jerseys and masks, GoPro filmed the players doing various acts of shooting, skating, and puck handling. The video will be mainly used for promotional material, but some is expected to be cut in to various broadcasts on NBC, Rogers Network, and the NHL Network.

Plenty of hockey-related material shot with GoPros can be found on YouTube, but not of it has to do with the NHL — the best of the best — as of yet. Affixing the cameras to top-tier players will give fans one of the closest approximations available as to what it’s like to play in an NHL game. The footage can provide not only a totally new point of view, but a better realization of just how fast the game can be.

GoPro cameras were made for this kind of thing. Getting their start as the camera of record for extreme sports, they have branched into almost any field imaginable. While people are using GoPros for anything these days, they got their start in sports. It is almost slightly curious as to why it has taken this long for this kind of partnership to flourish. Nevertheless, it makes perfect sense, and should give a more in-depth look at the sport while perhaps even drawing in a few new ones.

(Header photo via Tom Hart)

The popular ride-sharing app Lyft has announced a new partnership with Major League Baseball just in time for the playoffs, and is celebrating by offering baseball fans a free ride to or from the park.

Lyft will now be the official rideshare app for MLB for the 2014 Postseason and the entire 2105 season. Details aren’t too plentiful as of now, but Lyft promises “varied, creative promotions across MLB’s industry-leading web and mobile platforms – including ongoing free ride giveaways, special promotions for the playoffs this October, sweepstakes opportunities and more across all clubs’ websites and social media sites.”

Yep, that’s a little vague, to be certain. But while future details might be a little fuzzy, baseball fans can cash in right now on the new collaboration. Lyft is offering one free ride to new customers if they use the promo code HOMERUN when paying for their trip. There is no mention that the ride has to be exclusively for a baseball trip, so fans in a losing city (or a city with no Major League team at all) still should be able to take part in the program.

Fans who use the MLB At Bat app — and especially the MLB At The Ballpark app — should begin to see special promotions and offers from Lyft on their smartphones in 2015, and playoff-ticket holders might be seeing them sooner. Apps like Lyft offer affordable and environmentally-conscious options for sports fans to get to and from a game, and a safe way to get home for those who want to participate in more beverage-heavy ways. MLB is no stranger to business partnerships, and one with direct ties to the fan experience could be a welcome one.

(Header image via Raido)

CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a fairly hot topic within the NFL lately. The disease is known to cause depression, memory loss and dementia among suffers. CTE is brought on by repeated head trauma, like that which can be found in contact sports like football and hockey. Recently, lawsuits have been filed on behalf of former NFL players against the league, and CTE made the news when it was linked to the suicide of former player Junior Seau. One of the many unfortunate details about CTE is that, currently, it is only detectable post-mortem. However, a recent collaboration between Boston University and Exosome Sciences may help create a test that can detect the disease among living patients.

Earlier this year, Exosome Sciences, Inc. (ESI) announced that they had detected markers that carried tau proteins across the blood-brain barrier and into the bloodstream. One of telltale signs of CTE is an elevated amount of tau proteins in the brain. Now, in partnership with the BU CTE Center, they are looking to develop a reliable test for CTE in living individuals.

The study, called Diagnosing and Evaluating Traumatic Encephalopathy Using Clinical Tests (DETECT), is funded by the National Institute of Health, the National Institute of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke, the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

With the recent findings by ESI and the prestige of the BU CTE Center as a leading researcher of the disease, this partnership brings hope to current sufferers of CTE. Once the disease is detectable in living subjects, drugs and therapies can be developed to help mitigate the effects on sufferers. Once sufferers can be identified, further study can be done into finding the types and severities of head trauma that are most likely to lead to CTE. This collaboration is a big first step in treating, if not eventually curing, this terrible disease.

(Header image via thirteenofclubs)

Sure, there are a lot of jokes to be made about the age of the San Antonio Spurs’ three biggest stars. But the fact of the matter is that a very big part of the Spurs’ recent success — including the 2013/14 NBA Championship — has to do with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, and Tony Parker. Duncan is 38, Ginobili is 37. And while Tony Parker comes in at a spry 32 years of age, all three players’ ages don’t necessarily reflect how much wear and tear basketball has brought on their bodies. While perhaps not on par with a Willie Nelson or Tom Waits, San Antonio’s Big Three have bodies that are perhaps a little older than their actual ages project — at least in basketball terms. The Spurs have been in the playoffs every year since 1997, Duncan’s first season. They’ve gone all the way to the Finals six times. That’s a lot of playoff games to tack onto the normal 82-game schedule, not to mention the international play that all three have been a part of. That much basketball can certainly take its toll on a player. The Spurs know this, and are hoping to enhance their elder players’ health and performance with a new hire they recently announced.

According to MySanAntonio.com, the Spurs have brought on Xavi Schelling, a PhD in Physical Activity, to serve as their Applied Sports Scientist. NBA teams are already able to do a good amount of player tracking with their SportsVu system, and Schelling’s hiring should play nicely into that as San Antonio is notorious for keeping very close eyes on their players’ minutes and usage throughout the NBA season. While details haven’t been announced (are they ever with the Spurs?), it isn’t hard to envision San Antonio going beyond the simple task of tracking game minutes for a player to looking at how they’re being used, how far they’ve run, how long the’ve spent getting banged around in the post, etc. and cross-referencing that with biometric data. This can not only aid in game strategy, but at looking at how hard eight minutes is on Tim Duncan as opposed to Manu Ginobili.

Windows for success are usually small in sports, though the Spurs have managed to keep theirs open for a remarkably long time. Pairing traditional physical training with quantifiable numbers and statistics could help them squeeze the very best out of an aging team that has been dominant in recent years. Players like Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili aren’t going to be around forever in San Antonio, but it looks like the Spurs are trying to make sure those three spend as many productive minutes on the court as possible, while spending the least amount of time in the trainer’s room.

(Header photo via Katie Haugland)

If you purchased NHL 15 for the PS4 or Xbox One, you may have noticed an update being pushed to your system. If you were one of the people lamenting some of the missing features — features that appeared in previous games and still exist on the PS3/Xbox 360 versions — consider it an update of some importance.

According to EA Sports, some of those missing features have been patched in to the next-gen versions of the game. Those of you who install the recent update might notice the return of Playoff Mode, allowing an offline, bracket-style competition that supports up to 16 teams. Coach feedback in the Be A Pro mode will allow players to get reports from coaches after every line shift, telling them what they did well and what they need to improve upon.

One of the more perplexing omissions from the original release of the game was the naming of the naming of the Three Stars at the end of the game (only was one player was highlighted in the past). This feature, along with some small improvements to the Hockey Ultimate Team feature is also included in the update.

While not available at the moment, EA also hinted at future content pushes, including Online Team Play and the ability to draft rookies in the Be A GM mode.

GM Connected and EA Sports Hockey League are still nowhere to be seen, and if previous reports turn out to be accurate GM Connected will never appear on NHL 15. The most recent update is a step in the right direction, but it does little to make up for EA Sports’ original and on-going blunder. Fans of some of the deeper features of the game are still left in the dark. Recent backlash has surely spawned the most recent patch on next-gen consoles, and will hopefully be enough to convince the developers to resurrect all the features fans are expecting for next year’s release.

(Header photo via SFUPAMR)

The 40th Ryder Cup competition doesn’t officially begin until Friday (with practice rounds beginning Wednesday), but that gives you ample time to get yourself up to date on this iteration of the bi-annual golf competition. It’s an exciting event for the avid golf fan, the fan that only watches majors and even those desperate for some old-fashioned national pride. Here’s what you need to know to keep tabs on the event through your computer or mobile device.

Pre-Event

Some simple Googling can give you all the Ryder Cup previews your heart desires. There’s no shortage of opinion on who will win, which player will shine or which player needs to step up for their team. If you’re just looking for basic info on the event, the Ryder Cup’s official web page will give you everything you need to know. You can download the official program, get the schedule of events, and take virtual tours of all the holes at Gleneagles. The tours of the holes are a nice touch, but be ready for some VERY annoying ads before EVERY video flyover. In my experience, most ads actually last longer than the hole previews themselves which, you know, is super dumb. It’s a real bummer, but the hole tours are still nice if you want to get an idea of how players will be tackling the course this week. The official site also offers a lot of news in both print and video form, if you just can’t get enough Ryder Cup info.

Golf Channel is providing a boatload of coverage throughout the week, starting with previews and analysis and moving on to practice round coverage starting Wednesday. If you can’t be near your TV, you can follow along via Golf Live Extra, Golf Channel’s streaming service. You do need to provide your TV carrier credentials, so it’s not available for cord-cutters. But TV subscribers who receive Golf Channel can stream coverage live on their computers, iOS or Android devices.

During the Event

Competition begins Friday, so if you want to follow along while at work in the morning, the Ryder Cup is offering live streaming on their web site.  If you’re on the go (or work somewhere with a less-than-favorable browsing policy), you can rely on the complementary iOS and Android apps for your live video needs. You can use these apps all weekend, of course, so you’ll never have to miss out on the action. The apps can also provide live scoring updates, so you can still know how the teams are doing even if you can’t be glued to your device.

If you’ll be near a TV over the weekend, both Golf Channel and NBC will have you covered, as they are broadcasting the entire event for the first time ever. The event is in Scotland, so you’ll need to stay up late or get up early to catch all the coverage. You soccer fans should be used to this by now. Full TV listings can be found here.

From what I can tell, no TV subscription is necessary to follow along on the Ryder Cup video stream and apps, so even if you don’t get Golf Channel, you should still be able to see live video when you require it. So set those alarms, pre-program those coffee makers, and get ready for an exciting three days of international competition as golf returns to the motherland. Just don’t blame us if you’re really groggy come Monday morning.

(Header photo via Jim Epler)

The smartphone app Snapchat may seem like it should only appeal to over-sharing tweens and dirty little dirty birds, but the company’s higher-ups are hoping that they can gain further traction with sports, leagues and athletes (pause for Brett Favre jokes) with a recent hire.

According to TechCrunch, Snapchat has recently swooped in and stolen Nike’s global director of digital, Eric Toda. Toda brings experience in social media, licensing, and content syndication, among others. Snapchat is most likely hoping to leverage Toda’s skills into cultivating partnerships in the sports world — to help teams and leagues better engage with fans.

This is all possible with Snapchat’s Our Stories feature. Users have the ability to add snaps to their own individual accounts, allowing their friends to view a 24-hour collection of all they wished to share. Our Stories brings in a bigger sense of community, allowing users to add their content to an event-based story that anyone could see. The recent 2014 World Cup was one such event, and fans could post images and video to that stream from the stands in Brazil or their own living rooms.

If Snapchat can work deals with sports entities, the Our Stories feature could widen to include individual games, playoff rounds/tournaments, or just be a place for fans of a certain team to post all their team-related pictures and videos. Fans could post scenes from their seats at the NCAA basketball tournament, videos from the Super Bowl, or clips of them cheering for their team during Game 7 of the World Series for the whole world to see.

Though it’s easy to speculate, exactly what Toda’s roll at Snapchat will be remains to be seen. But Snapchat would be a modern and fairly unobtrusive way for teams to create and cultivate fan engagement. Snapchat has moved on from naughty pics into big time corporate involvement. Sports seems like a logical next step, and it appears to be one Snapchat is trying to take.

(Header photo via Maurizio Pesce)