The Swimsuits are Coming, the Swimsuits are Coming...
by Amazon Newsstand at 10:09 AM PST, February 6, 2008
 This blog posting comes with a warning: if you are viscerally offended by artistic photos of scantily-clad models in exotic locales, then this blog entry is not for you.If, however, you're still reading, you might like to know that the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is coming February 12, and you can pre-order it at a 5% discount. Plus, if you hit that handy "Buy both and save" button under "Best Value," you get the 2007 issue free, too. For a limited time, anyway. As of today, we're still waiting to see who will be on the 2008 cover... --Noelle
In topics: Advance Copy, Fashion, Controversial, Guilty Pleasures, Time Wasters, Editors' Picks, Sports
Monk, the Patriots ... And What Broadcast TV Means
by Armchair Commentary at 10:52 AM PST, December 27, 2007
 When I heard that Monk and Psych, two appealing and popular USA cable shows, will air on NBC in 2008, my first thought was ... so what? But the truth is that channels still matter -- especially when you're talking broadcast, free, over-the-air vs. cable. For a significant number of people, Monk and Psych will become real when they air on NBC. Same goes for Showtime's Dexter, which may get a run on CBS (though I'm not sure I see how that bloody drama will make the leap). It's all part of the writer's strike dance the networks are doing. But a different dance also illustrates the power of broadcast accessibility. It's not enough, football fans say, for the NFL to offer this Saturday's historic Patriots game on their own network. Millions of cable subscribers don't have access to the NFL Network, and the ones that do have to pay extra for the privilege. Hence federal intervention and a compromise: CBS and NBC will simulcast the game. (It will also be available for download, but after the fact.) And it will be one of those moments that is unique to broadcast TV, when millions of us share an experience at the same time (and it will be an NFL Network-branded experience, which is a win for the league). Shared experience is a rare thing in this time-shifted, splinter-tainment world, and I'll be enjoying that as well as the game. -- Stephanie Reid-Simons, Unbox TV Freak Pre-order the World Series games while you watch them
by Armchair Commentary at 8:23 PM PDT, October 25, 2007
 As I write this, the Boston Red Sox hold a slim 2-1 lead over the Colorado Rockies in game 2 of the 2007 World Series. In the old days of sports TV, you had to watch the game live (or maybe on tape delay!) then maybe you could buy a VHS tape of highlights a few months later. Now in the golden days of media consumption, you have many options, one of which is buying it on DVD now and receiving it a few days after the game ends. For example, Red Sox fans who missed their team's game 1 pasting of the Rockies, or who saw it and want to own a packaged version, can pre-order it. Colorado fans, or people who (like me) became fans during their red-hot late-season and post-season run, will hope that the Rockies can rally tonight and take a 1-1 tie back home. You say you're supremely confident in your team? Pre-order the whole series now. --David
Game Preview: NBA 2K8
by Amazon Game Room at 4:22 PM PDT, October 16, 2007
 I've never really been a fan of sports games, but I've got to say that NBA 2K8 is pretty enjoyable for me. I can't really explain why. The graphics, of course, are amazing, and there are a lot of cool features, including great controls and a Slam Dunk contest, but at the end of the day it's really very similar to most basketball video games, taking place on the court and consisting of (essentially) passing the ball from yourself to yourself, and trying to make baskets. Maybe it's how realistic it seems--you have amazing control over your primary character (whichever team player has the ball at the moment); this is the first basketball game I've played where you can fake left and right to psyche out your opponent, or shoot a basket while you're running. Or maybe it's the slow-motion factor that you see in the preview, allowing for really great opportunities for awesome dunks and saves--and if you're not a big basketball fan, the ability to slow things down so you can process what's happening and react is a big plus. Maybe it's the great commentary that runs over the game that makes it feel real (the preview voice-over is a sample of what you might hear while actually playing). Or maybe it's just that, for whatever reason, everything in this game just aligned right, and a non-sports fan ended up liking it. So, if you're big into basketball or sports games, check NBA 2K8 out--but also give it a try if you're not!--The Rancor
Hands-On with DirecTV Supercast
by Amazon Current at 1:28 PM PDT, September 24, 2007
 This post will not make football-crazy cable subscribers very excited. NFL fans know that DirecTV pays the league literally billions of dollars to maintain exclusivity with the all-access Sunday Ticket package. If you're a customer, you can get every NFL game, many in high-definition, making Sunday afternoons in your home the place to be as you can flip amongst a dozen or more games. I had Sunday Ticket for years and it's just as awesome as any deprived football junkie can imagine. Over the years DirecTV has been good about also improving their offering (helping to justify frequent price increases), adding many high-definition feeds and now Supercast. Supercast, which comes from a partnership with Sling Media (makers of the Slingbox), is Sunday Ticket on your PC. Just log in and you can watch any game, wherever you are provided you can get on the Internet. It's similar to Major League Baseball's mlb.tv service, but unlike MLB.tv Supercast is free for all Sunday Ticket subscribers. Don't have Sunday Ticket? Then no Supercast for you. The folks at Sling hooked me up with a login to test it out this weekend. As an MLB.tv subscriber (gotta see the Yankees while I'm living out here in Seattle), I can say that Supercast's interface and picture quality are better. On one screen in IE (no Firefox yet) you can see the scores of all the games, see instantly if a team is in the red zone, and view the game of your choice or watch near-instant highlights of live games as they happen. There are three different streams depending on your connection type (Wi-Fi, DSL, cable/fiber). The "medium" setting worked great on my Wi-Fi, giving me a nicer picture than the "low" setting, which was more pixelated. Overall, the connection was very steady, although increased traffic to this service as word gets out could change that. Overall Supercast was impressive. It's a nice addition to the Sunday Ticket service and allows subscribers to watch their games even if they have to be away from the couch some Sunday afternoons. Now if only I could get a dish at my condo ... --Chris B. Get on the Bus!
by Amazon.com Bookstore at 8:58 AM PDT, August 23, 2007
Former Pittsburgh Steeler Jerome Bettis is bringing sports fans back to simpler times with a good ol' fashioned, smack-talking memoir, The Bus: My Life in and out of a Helmet. Along with detailing his journey from an awkward youth to Super Bowl Champion, Bettis doesn't shy away from throwing barbs at a handful of former gridiron collegues. (Most notably, Jim Everett)
While I can't support his gleeful admission that he faked a training camp injury to avoid being cut before the 2000 season, I'll take that scandal any day over steroids, corrupt referees, doping, etc. Bettis' bio is scheduled for release on September 4th. --Dave Phil Rizzuto, 1917-2007
by Amazon.com Bookstore at 10:31 AM PDT, August 14, 2007
 Why would our book blog stop to note the passing today of Hall of Fame shortstop and longtime Yankee broadcaster Phil Rizzuto? (Here's the anecdote-filled Times obit.) Well, thanks to Village Voice writers Tom Peyer and Hart Seely, who began transcribing his most brilliantly meandering broadcasts in the Village Voice, he became a published poet. (Seely recently also collected Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld.) Their collection of his impromptu verses, O Holy Cow, is still in print over a decade after it first appeared, which is an achievement few other poets can claim. Here's a favorite (from the Wikipedia "Found Poetry" entry):Forever Young I've always been among the legion of Yankee haters, but the Scooter's nutty, neighborhoody broadcasts came the closest to bringing me over to the dark side. --Tom
What Would You Do for a Free Slingbox?
by Amazon Current at 10:22 AM PDT, July 18, 2007
 Would you create your own Slingbox commercial? Would you sing the praises--literally--of Sling in a video? If you are willing to possibly humiliate yourself and be one of the first 75 people to do so, Sling Media will send you a Slingbox Classic on the house. And not only that, these Slingbox units have all been autographed by Tony LaRussa, who's mostly known for managing several World Series-winning baseball teams. He was more recently in the news for falling asleep in his running SUV at a stop light during spring traning in Florida this past March. Click here for the details of the contest. --Chris B. An Inconvenient Top 10 List
by Amazon.com Bookstore at 10:11 AM PDT, May 23, 2007
With no disrespect to Al Gore or my colleague Tom's recently posted interview with the former Vice President, I couldn't resist sharing this Al Gore-related pop-culture postscript--last night Sir Charles Barkley threw Letterman an assist and read the Top 10 List [Video clip available on Late Show Web site]. (My favorite item from "Top Ten Surprises in Al Gore's New Book"? No. 3: Besides the Internet, also claims to have invented Keno.) --Brad
Steinbrenner Take Note
by Amazon Newsstand at 9:57 AM PDT, May 1, 2007
 This time of year you'll find most middle-schoolers who have an interest in baseball on Little League diamonds mastering curve balls and making over-the-shoulder catches. Not Jake Floyd. As General Manager of the Ash Fork Miners (Desert Cactus Independent League), you're more likely to find this 13-year old phenom in his office engineering a trade to shore up the Miner's infield defense or concocting a new metric for evaluating player talent with the help of a 9-year old intern named Tyler. In the May issue of GQ (subscription only),  editor Jason Gay travels to Ash Fork, Arizona (pop. 457) to uncover what might be the biggest and most improbable baseball story of the year. Also in the May issue: Stephen Colbert for President; San Francisco's temple of food; an interview with Allen Iverson; death by meeting; and more. ~Harry C. Edwards
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