Emerging Media in Sports
 
I've lived in Milwaukee for over 10 years, and over the course of time, managed to adopt the local sports teams as my own. MIssing from our wonderful city, however, is top-level professional hockey. In addition, growing up I lived and died for the New York Rangers. The 1994 Stanley Cup was one of the best sports moments of my life, and I attended the subsequent victory parade. My ties to other teams in New York might not have been as strong, but over the years I managed to maintain a great connection with my Rangers.


I still attend one game a year, whenever I can, usually when I'm back in the City for Thanksgiving. That leaves 81 others to worry about, though. Admittedly, my interest from a distance ebbs and flows based on how competitive the team is, but early on in the year, and come playoff time (when applicable), I find myself looking for way to watch the Blueshirts in action.


The NHL offers a television and online out-of-region package, similar to the MLB Extra Innings TV package I buy every year. While this would solve the problem, I can't justify buying two costly sports packages a year, and the baseball package is precious to me (I generally watch several games a night, whereas with hockey, I probably wouldn't watch too many non-Rangers games).


This leaves online streams as the final option. Always a legal gray area, several websites (which I won't mention or link to- they're easy to find) offer streams of sporting event, generally originating from someone's TV. Thanks to a good samaritan with a fast computer in the NYC area, I'm able to keep up with my team, from 800 miles away.


This year, I took it one step further. I dusted off an old G4 Mac Mini that I had lying around, and connected it to the VGA input on my HDTV. Add in a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I have a fully functional computer, right on the big screen. The G4's an old processor, but most every sporting event I have tried to stream has worked nearly flawlessly. An additional perk is that I have connected an external hard drive to the Mini, and am now streaming my media to any computer in the house (as well as the Apple TV in the bedroom). All in all, it's been a great setup.


As for the legality of the streams, as I said, transmitting the content is certainly a gray area, and occasionally the streams shut down mid-game, leaving me to scramble to find a new one. Viewers, however, are not breaking any rules by simply clicking on a link, and are subjected to the same ads that TV viewers in New York get, so I feel OK doing this, and will gladly continue watch my Rangers hockey as long as I can.
12/13/2010 02:12:56 am

I agree that a hockey team is missing from this city! Especially since it's the Midwest, I mean come on. People here I left to root for the Blackhawks who I can't stand.. :)

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.