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Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Showing posts with label nfl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nfl. Show all posts
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Thursday, September 18, 2008
If you're an NFL fan, which is another way of saying, if you're an American, and you haven't checked out America's Game on NFL Network - go to iTunes right now and buy the series. Or, if you don't have $30 lying around in some dusty internet account, put it in your Netflix queue, or just watch for it on NFL Network. America's Game chronicls the Super Bowl Champions in NFL history in a very pointed, dramatic fashion. Several members of each winning team share their experience face-to-face with the audience. No interviewers, no graphics, no sets. Just a white background and film clips. And, of course, the gold-standard game music NFL Networks always nails.
Now, with The Missing Rings, NFL Network has set out to serve justice to all the great teams that never won. I assume team is a rather loose term, referring to a franchise during a specific era or general roster makeup. This isn't necessarily focused on teams that showed up, but lost the big one. The first episode aired tonight. The late '70s to 1981 San Diego Chargers were the team of choice. This team, Dan Fouts and company, never made it to the dance, but they present their case in a very compelling manner. "We changed the way defense is played, " they claim. And I'm inclined to believe them. Check it out on re-airs throughout the week, and be sure to watch for new episodes. Any time NFL Network churns out new content is a happy time.
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Sunday, September 7, 2008
Football season has returned. Tom Brady might be out for the season, Willie Parker had a monster day (and lit up my Fantasy Football team as a result), and NBC has done a great service to sports fans. They debuted a broadband site during their Sunday Night Football broadcast that allows users to choose from five camera options: Main Broadcast, Sideline, End Zone, Star and Cable Cam. This mirrors what DirecTV does with NASCAR's HotPass feature - there you can follow a driver in his in-car, roof and bumper-cam through the whole race, complete with a separate show announcer and scanner audio. For NBC's iteration, the Madden/Michaels duo is your only audio choice, for better or worse. However, you do get to view the game unfiltered by the show's director.My favorite is the Cable Cam (viewed above). This reminds of playing Madden a little bit, allowing a better picture of the formations, and strictly game action. Star Cam swivels around between QBs, RBs, and WRs, as well anyone else making big plays. This view will also swing to players who are being discussed by the announcers after a play. End Zone and Sideline Cams simply grab the action from their respective locations. Main Broadcast should need no explanation. One interesting feature occurs during commercials. Only on the main broadcast view do you see them. (Although you do hear them no matter what.) If you have the other views selected, you'll instead see a stat screen for the game. (Pictured Below)
Another nice touch is that no matter which image you have selected in the forefront, the others will continue playing in the background, allowing you to decide which view to switch to easily. There is also a 'Fullscreen' option; this isn't truly full-screen, but rather replaces the multi-view with a larger, single view. Aside from a few stutters and sometimes poor video (buffering, no doubt), this broadcast is a nice alternative if you're at your computer, or prefer to make the directing decisions yourself.
UPDATE: Another thing I just noticed during the broadcast: the main broadcast is tape-delayed online just as it is over the air by a few seconds. This is noticeable when you are viewing the other angles, which are not tape-delayed. So, you'll here some calls by Michaels a few seconds after it already happened.
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Thursday, September 4, 2008
Well, I finally did it. I joined the decades-old legion of "sports geeks" who play fantasy football. If you are a football fan, you might enjoy the guys who do the NFL Rants & Raves podcast. I joined one of their leagues, and now countless hours are disappearing into the ether of ESPN.com and other fantasy-focused sites. I would have never been able to tell you who the starting tight end for the 'Skins was, but now Chris Cooley is starting for my team, The Mifflinburg Marshals. And he should be pretty damn good.
Draft Day was great. ESPN uses a live draft system, so all 12 owners logged on at 10:15 AM ET (Sorry to our Australian owner.). I had the last pick of the first round; no LT, Adrian Peterson or Tom Brady in my clubhouse. I did grab Ryan Grant RB and Randy Moss WR, though. My strategy left me with Donovan McNabb as QB starter, which is tough for a Steelers fan, but as long he stays healthy, I'll be happy. (A pending trade should land me Brett Favre as a good backup.)
Fantasy Football is interesting because it forces participants to pay attention to teams they wouldn't normally root for, and cheer for guys they'd often never even hear of. I'll actually watch open night, paying attention to the 'Skins passing game because my Tight End is playing. I'll never cheer for the Pats, but I sure hope Brady hooks up for a thousand yards with Randy Moss this season. I'm a company man, though. I did land Willie Parker and Hines Ward. That was best available drafting, though. Hopefully they keep it together in Steeltown. Parker was undervalued, so I nabbed him in the bottom of the third round.
My first matchup is agains the show's host and a long-time FF player, so I'll let you know if I win or fail in epic fashion.
UPDATE: The season opener (Redskins @ Giants) almost scored me some decent points. I have the Giants D, but they let a touchdown slip in and my 11 points dropped to 5. (One sack) Unfortunately, Campbell only attempted one pass to my TE Cooley, and it was only a 7-yard gain: 0 points.
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