Any Given Sunday: 7 Sports Tools You Can't Live Without

Written by Dana Oshiro / October 26, 2009 2:15 PM / 10 Comments

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Touchdown dances, chest painters and rally caps - if you're not a sports fan, it's hard to understand why a perfectly upstanding citizen would wear a gigantic foam hand or engage in the politically incorrect Tomahawk chop. But if you are a diehard sports addict, you've probably been one since you were a kid. We watched in awe when Nolan Ryan pitched a 101 mph fast ball at the age of forty, when Air Jordan effortlessly dunked from the free throw line and when Joe Montana set the record for most yards passing during Super Bowl XIX. When you've been present to watch sports history, you can't turn your back on the game now. Nevertheless, with so much happening at once, below are a few tools that can help you juggle multiple games:

1. Lockerblogger: Lockerblogger offers users a chance to create fan profiles and track the sports they're most interested in. Through blogs, video uploads, short messages and in-site chat, the service offers users a chance to connect with sports stars and fans.

2. Yardbarker:Similar to Lockerblogger, Yardbarker lets fans keep up-to-date with the latest rumors, training news and injuries. With strict league policies arising around Twitter-usage, these services are a great way to get insider news.

3. ESPN ScoreCenter: This iPhone App offers the official stats and scores on more than 500 sports leagues including the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB. Users can also follow Soccernet for soccer scores and news.

4. MLB at Bat iPhone App: A number of services offer users a chance to listen to regular season games and watch clips. For $10, MLB at Bat offers live video of postseason games streamed via the iPhone. The free app offers scores and stats.

5. NBA Game Time iPhone App: Similar to MLB at Bat, NBA Game Time has both a free version with basic scores and info and a premium iPhone application with radio broadcasts, video recaps and push notifications to keep tabs on your favorite teams.

6. Fanfeedr: ReadWriteWeb first covered Fanfeedr in mid-August. The site offers a real-time feed of sports-related traditional news reports, blog posts and Twitter updates. The company also offers an iPhone app where users can check scores, talk trash with rival fans and follow along with game analysis.

7. Watercooler: Having just raised $5.5 million dollars to expand it's sports-related social games, Watercooler connects more than 40 million fans via Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. Best known for its Facebook Fantasy Football application, the company creates sports applications for individual teams as well as sports-related networks.

Photo Credit: John Lew

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Comments

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Surprised not to see sportacular iphone app on this list. Push notifications FTW

Posted by: Chuck | October 26, 2009 3:50 PM

No love for StatSheet? How about http://statsheet.com or http://statplot.com?

Posted by: Robbie@StatSheet.com | October 26, 2009 4:13 PM

Very surprised not to see Sportacular Pro. Hands-down, my favorite sports app out there (and honestly, the only one I need).

Posted by: Megan | October 26, 2009 4:53 PM

What about FantasySP? Anyone who plays fantasy sports absolutely loves this site. It collects fantasy news from dozens of sites to help set lineups and has one of the best trade analyzer's around. Not to mention has a mobile version.

http://www.fantasysp.com/
http://www.fantasysp.com/nfl_trade_analyzer/

Posted by: Brant Tedeschi | October 26, 2009 6:58 PM

The title of this post should include the phrase "in the US" since it only focuses on the sports with large audiences in this country. Then again, who cares what is going on in the rest of the world, right?

Posted by: pz | October 27, 2009 4:48 AM

Those are some definitely helpful tools, especially for me because i love sport tools & these all are really an amazing..

Posted by: cadeau | October 27, 2009 6:08 AM

I have been to all of thesse and the growth has been tremendous...

I like the interaction with the pros on Lockerblogger and how they can voice blog straight from Lockerblogger and it posts on twitter.... They are the frontrunners in this category....

Would like to see more highschool stuff though

S. T.

Posted by: Sebastian | October 27, 2009 8:14 AM

Good list, I like Lockblogger's take on sports as well.

Posted by: Hooliga | October 27, 2009 9:40 AM

Just signed on to lockerblogger.com. Pretty cool. They have Kerry Rhodes interviewing Braylon Edwards on the site.

Posted by: PN | November 11, 2009 1:23 PM

I love chilling on LockerBlogger.

They have some prominent as well as legendary athletes engaging with fans on it--everyone from Kerry Rhodes to Jason Kidd to Don Mattingly ha!

Posted by: bathwawa | December 21, 2009 11:19 AM