The image of the Internet is often taken to extremes. Either
we're
supposed to be fomenting revolutions in benighted countries
with
digital samizdat, or we're presumed to be salivating over
naughty
pictures of naked ladies.
The truth is as ever far more banal. Me, for instance,
I spend far
too much time indulging in another form of entertainment:
sports. And
yes, the Internet can be addictive for sports junkies.
You could probably
spend all your waking hours just surfing for news on your
favourite
teams.
This weekend, a good place to start would probably be the
Super Bowl
site at http://www.superbowl.com.
Just in case you haven't had enough
mind-numbing trivia driven into your head over the last
two weeks
about a game which will probably turn into another blowout,
click onto
this official site for live coverage of media events prior
to kick-off
and live chats with players. You can also check out some
interactive
games and some comic bits from Jay Leno.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if there will be any
live broadcasts
of the game itself over the Internet, either at the official
site or
elsewhere. But superbowl.com will have game-day chats
with expert
analysts, instant photos and live play-by-play coverage
with graphics.
If for some reason you can't get to a TV at 6 am tomorrow
morning, but
can log on to the net, you can also follow the action
minute-by-minute
on CBS Sportsline at http://cbs.sportsline.com,
where they'll have
continually updated graphics showing little helmets marching
up and
down the field.
If you really want to catch some of the American flavour
of this
extravaganza come game time, you can click on to the CNN/Sports
Illustrated site at http://www.cnnsi.com/,
which will send video
streams of the hugely expensive advertisements that run
during the
(all too many) time-outs in the action.
Both Sportsline and CNNSI are great places to follow all
types of
sports with news reports, features stories and columns
on all the
action. But my favourite sports site is probably ESPN's
Sportszone at
http://espn.sportszone.com.
Along with its excellent pre-Super Bowl
coverage it is also offering a virtual tour of the stadium
(formerly
named Jack Murphy Stadium after a well-known sports writer)
in San
Diego which is hosting the game.
Although there really is not much to choose between all
these sports
websites -- they each offer plenty of free material, plus
added
features for paid subscribers -- ESPN's columnists are
pretty tough to
beat, and all their features are attractively and concisely
packaged.
Also, Sportszone offers live audio broadcasts of all NBA
basketball
games (although most are only available to subscribers).
In fact, you can find live broadcasts of all types of sports
events
over the Internet, but it usually depends on the teams
which are
playing. Some teams broadcast all their games, others
-- for reasons
I simply can't fathom -- don't. They would seem to have
much to gain
from such broadcasts, including added revenue and an increased
fan
base.
The Broadcast Network at http://www.AudioNet.com
has listings for many
live sports broadcasts, but it is by no means comprehensive.
Search
around for websites belonging to radio stations, fan groups
or teams
themselves for other links to the games you're interested
in.
Of course, most of these sites I've mentioned predominantly
cover
American sports, along with those popular the world over
such as
tennis, golf, motor racing, athletics and so on (their
coverage of
European football tends to be pretty poor, though).
Well, in the end, sports loyalties, like politics, tend
to be local,
and my American roots are showing. More specifically,
I'm from New
York and I've found that the best way to follow my favourite
teams is
simply to read the coverage on the websites of New York-based
newspapers. This holds true for wherever you're from:
to learn all
about your local team, simply look for your local newspaper's
website.
Yet this simply scrapes the surface of the Internet's sports
coverage.
Most teams and leagues have their own official websites,
and many of
the most popular teams have lots of unofficial fan sites
offering
news, analysis and chat rooms. Combine that with all the
fan groups on
Usenet, and you can see why ''sports widows'' may be tempted
to bash
in their husband's computers!
On a personal note, the upshot of all this for me is that,
living here
in Bangkok I know far more about my favourite teams than
I ever did
living in New York. When you think about it, that's pretty
startling.