FX’s original broadcasting has a reputation for being pretty racy and adult-oriented — after all, this is the network that brought us “The Shield,” “Rescue Me,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Nip/Tuck” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
Last night, “The League” debuted. It’s a half-hour comedy that follows a group of friends that are all in a fantasy football league together. One guy is the defending league champ, and his wife doesn’t want him to play, even going so far as giving away his lucky draft shirt. Another’s wife is supportive, and actually runs his team for him. Then there are the two clueless friends that are either too high or too ill-informed to compete in the league.
But fantasy football doesn’t dominate “The League,” which is more like “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” for the married, suburban set. It’s raunchy, but often funny.
FX is replaying the premiere tomorrow (Saturday) night and before the second episode next Thursday.
Taking advantage of its free preview week, I test drove NBA League Pass Broadband last night, and I was pretty impressed.
My cable company (Time Warner) offers the NBA League Pass, and access to the Broadband package is included. Unfortunately, Time Warner does not offer the package in my area in HD, so the picture is pretty crummy. After using Broadband, I think I may instead watch NBA action on my computer.
The interface is intuitive and powerful. There is a list of games at the bottom, and users can pick up to three games to watch at once. One game is bigger (on the left) while the other two games are on the right. Audio can be instantly switched by clicking on the game. Tired of watching a game? No problem. Any of the three windows can be swapped out by clicking on a game in the list below. Want to watch one of the games full screen? No problem. It’s just a click of the mouse. Want to see a replay? No problem. Each game has DVR functionality, so you can pause, rewind and fast forward, just like you would on a TiVo.
Fantasy hoopsters can easily check the stats of a game by clicking a button. There’s also a function (”My Players”) that allows users to track the stats of up to 12 players, which makes it easy to check the status of a fantasy team.
The picture quality leaves a lot to be desired, but with all the motion in basketball, it’s going to be tough to get clear, clean picture without going full HD. But the picture isn’t much worse than the standard video feed that I get from Time Warner, so no harm, no foul.
Another downside is that the nationally televised games (and local games) are blacked out on Broadband, so if there’s a game on TNT, ESPN or ABC, users won’t be able to watch it on their computers. This was a little inconvenient last night, since I wanted to catch some of the Hornets/Spurs game. I had to run into the kitchen to do so. Radio broadcasts of the blacked out games are available, however.
There are only two games on tonight, and they’re both on TNT, so if you want to check out Broadband, give it a test drive tomorrow (Friday), when there are 13 games on the docket. It’s worth a look.
FX has a reputation for broadcasting high quality content aimed at adults. While most of their shows are of the one-hour variety (i.e. “The Shield,” “Rescue Me,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Nip/Tuck,” etc.), they also occasionally dip their toes in half-hour comedies like the brilliant “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.”
I’ve always wondered if a series based on fantasy football could survive, and I guess we’re about to find out, because FX debuts “The League” this Thursday. Check your local listings.
The play was close enough to warrant a measurement, and the picture above is a screenshot of that measurement. The guy pulled the big first down stick, the ball wasn’t quite there, so no first down, correct?
Incorrect, as it turns out. The official, Walt Anderson, looked at what you’re seeing above, and he ruled that it was a first down. The Steelers ended up getting a field goal out of it.
Odd. I would use a stronger word, but the Steelers were going to beat the Browns, regardless of that first down or the ensuing field goal. It didn’t affect the outcome.
Predictably, the official in question stands by his call, saying that the ball broke the plane even if the angle on the TV didn’t show it. But that’s a fairly straight on shot of the football and even if the angle were changed by a few degrees, it would still be short.
Is it just me or was this a fairly useless clip? The only possible nugget of information is that the Broncos are working harder behind the scenes to move Marshall than they’ve been letting on. (But isn’t this fairly intuitive given all the trouble Marshall has caused over the last couple of weeks?) This is supposed to be the latest news on Marshall, but he only rehashes everything we already know (that the Jets are interested, that the Broncos are interested, and that the money could be a hold up).
Schefter says that if the Jets offer the Broncos a package that meets their expectations, then the Broncos will move Marshall. Isn’t this the crux of any trade in any sport? One team has a player and is given an offer that they think is worthwhile, so they pull the trigger on the trade. This isn’t very insightful.
How about discussing exactly what the Broncos are looking for? Is it still a 1st and a 4th, or have they changed their tune? What kind of contract is Marshall expecting if he’s moved? Is the money reasonable or would his asking price dissuade potential suitors?
The bottom line is that, given a camera, a backdrop and a satellite hookup, Anthony Stalter and I could have produced the exact same clip without the sources available to Schefter. It’s almost as if ESPN called up Schefter and told him he was on the air in five minutes and ignored his pleas for more time to call his sources, so he could only speak in generalities.
The Little League World Series finished today in dramatic fashion. Now I can finally get new episodes of PTI. A come from behind win brought the Chula Vista, CA team to the top of the boys’ baseball pile, defeating a tough team from Taipei. I got this off of Sports Illustrated:
With the U.S.-partisan crowd on their feet, Garcia closed out the victory by striking out Yu Chieh Kao, completing a comeback from a 3-0 deficit. The California fans yelled “USA! USA.”
“We knew we could come back,” said the 13-year-old Garcia in between laughs with his teammates. “We always do.”
They’re surely celebrating in the San Diego suburbs after California secured the fifth straight Little League championship for the United States.
After a wild celebration around Garcia, the Californians invited Taiwan to accompany them on the customary victory lap around Lamade Stadium on a sun-splashed afternoon.
It’s a nice display of sportsmanship from the Americans and overall it was a hard-fought tournament and there was some real great plays to see. But here’s my question, does anyone really care?
I’m a big baseball fan, but the only reason I was aware of this was because it was all over ESPN this week. How is it that I can’t escape Little League baseball every year? While it’s understandable that the parents are all completely into this stuff, what about this should I, a busy average joe, find compelling?
- Bullz-Eye.com reviews the latest Madden NFL 10 game, which they gave four (out of five) stars.
- SPORTSbyBROOKS calls out Giants fans for being hypocrites in how they treated Manny Ramirez during last night’s San Fran-L.A. game (i.e. they booed Manny, but cheered for Barry Bonds). Of course, the author fails to mention that Dodgers fans are hypocrites themselves for booing Bonds, yet cheering for Manny. Just sayin’…
- DEADSPIN tries to explain and evaluate SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett’s pet phrase, “Hotter than a fox in a forest fire.”
- TONY BLOGS.NET shares the news that Jay Mariotti will write for the Chicago Tribune on September 1.
- YARDBARKER discusses whether or not Cubs’ starter Carlos Zambrano is the most overrated player in baseball.
FX’s original broadcasting has a reputation for being pretty racy and adult-oriented — after all, this is the network that brought us “The Shield,” “Rescue Me,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “Nip/Tuck” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” 
