RevJT: Football And New Tech

The Twitterverse is all a Twitter about Tweets these days. Just writing that sentence has made my nose bleed, but it’s true! Even CNN is getting in on the Twitter craze (just look at how they’ve covered Michael Jackson and Iran lately) and NFL players are no exception. But it isn’t just Twitter that has this season hyped to be the tec-mo super bowl year of the century!

As soon as I got into Twitter I immediately saw how one day Chad Ochocinco would be tweeting from the end zone. I mean he’s gotta one-up Joe Horn…I mean he was only on a cell phone so naturally Ochocinco has to rock some sort of awesome tech to earn his fines this year. But while we read about how various players feel about Vick’s return, @DHall23 and his new site, and Chris Cooley’s burned horse there are far more tools out there to help us, the common fan, get in touch with not just the players but the game itself. Lets take a quick look at some of these new techs including Twitter:

• ESPN.com and fantasy football: Fantasy football has come a long way since we all sat huddled around someone with a spreadsheet application or a white board drinking PBR and making fun of each other’s mothers. Now there is a vast landscape of draft tools, mock draft applications, and “cheat sheets”. Preparing for a fantasy draft is now like scouting. Seriously it borderlines on not even being fun sometimes…but only sometimes. If you head over to ESPN.com’s fantasy sports page you can get a listing of every players ratings according to ESPN’s experts and even a whole “Draft Kit” page that can break down each team individually.
• Madden 10: I’ve been playing Madden games for many, many years. Now back in the day I was a Tecmo Bowl user (can you tell by the reference?) but as soon as Madden hit the PS2 I was hooked. This year’s version of the game might be the best yet! There are all kinds of things you can do BESIDES play fake football. You can adjust your teams budgets and buy video kiosks for your fake stadiums! Even without the lifelike tedium of program management the football game play is incredibly realistic and if you simulate a season or two you might just get a feel for how the Skins may fare this year.
• Twitter: And here is the Twitter. Have you ever wondered what an NFL player does after a game? WONDER NO MORE! Now you can see how a populace revolts against their oppressive government (Iran) AND you can see how frequently a player watches cable programming. For those who doubt the insightful nature of Twitter I’ll repeat an earlier claim: CNN uses it as a reference.
• Mobile content: I just got myself a Palm Pre. At the risk of this posting reading like one big ad I must say it is a killer device. Part of the Pre’s awesomeness comes from Sprint TV which comes loaded on it. Sprint TV allows you to stream certain content from providers. One of these providers is none other than the NFL Network. Today I watched video of a young Brett Favre (3 teams ago) running away from a rabid squirrel on the football field. This video invoked two reactions from me 1.) How did Favre get the toughness to survive so many consecutive games when he was running from a squirrel like a little girl with a skinned knee? 2.) I can literally get a football fix whenever and wherever I want. Now I watched this on my small mobile device while sitting directly in front of my big screen TV which had a REAL game (Ravens vs. Jets) but that just goes to show you that this year, more so than any other year, anything you could possibly want from the National Football League is right there at your beckon call.

It is only the second week of the pre-season and I’m already knee deep in player tweets, fantasy scouting reports, simulated season results, and squirrel fearing Favres. There is so much content out there that you’ll forget stuff you used to know. I used to be upset that the O’s are on their way to their 12th loosing season in a row…but now I’m surrounded by the NFL. Is it any wonder that its the largest league in the nation? Is it any wonder that we’re all already ready for some football? #HTTR!!!!