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TV touchdown: Fantasy football fans find nirvana, but the price of admission is high
01/31/2002
The kickoff Sunday for Super Bowl XXXVI marks the end of the football
fantasy league season for millions of statistically obsessed Americans,
including me.
It also marks the end of a season-long experiment in personal technology
undertaken with the cooperation of DirecTV, Microsoft's UltimateTV unit
and CBS Sportsline. Hardware and services from those companies were used
to develop the Ultimate Fantasy League Television System for NFL
freaks.The challenge: create a system that provides unlimited,
up-to-the-minute monitoring of an NFL fantasy league team for true couch
potatoes, cost no object.
The result: a perfect, albeit pricey, combination of satellite video
feeds and Web access that lets a coach remain planted before a TV for
five hours each Sunday, yet be within reach of the stats needed to
adjust lineups and win head-to-head league contests.
Fantasy leagues, to the chagrin of my spouse and others everywhere, have
invaded the leisure lives of a growing legion of NFL fans.
Like NCAA office pools, they have taken root among co-workers and
friends who select players from all NFL teams in a draft, then play
fictional games based on statistics compiled by their quarterbacks, wide
receivers, running backs and other players.
No more faxing
Since then, new online services have offered increasing sophistication.
This season, CBS Sportsline (www.sports line.com) was the top choice of
the 20-year-old Alternative Football League, a loose association of
sportswriters, professional sports league executives and others.
The free Sportsline service keeps track of transactions, runs the annual
player draft, allows live chat between league members and, best of all,
provides a running total of statistics in each weekly contest, displayed
in a browser window updated by the minute.
The hardware and video side of the system was designed with the help of
Marc Altieri of the DirecTV public relations team. Mr. Altieri, an avid
fantasy league coach, had already experimented with two pieces of the
system – using UltimateTV's $299.99 set-top box with a dual LNB dish and
DirecTV's $189 Sunday NFL Ticket service.
"You're not going to believe this combination," Mr. Altieri told me as
the season began. "It will blow you away."
True. With the NFL Ticket service, I was no longer limited to the games
telecast to local markets. A full schedule of 13 games being covered by
the CBS and Fox networks was at my fingertips each weekend.
Quick reactions
With a click of the remote, the smaller picture can be brought to the
larger screen when there's important action. Key plays can be paused,
then rerun in slow motion.
As games began unfolding during the 2001 season, my fingers became more
deft on the remote. I was nearing sedentary nirvana. Employing the WebTV
feature included in this set-top box would take me all the way there.
In general, I consider WebTV service for UltimateTV ($9.95 per month)
far from compelling. In fact, I never used it. But for this effort in
laziness, it was perfect. With an RCA wireless keyboard ($49.95) on my
lap, I found I could log into CBS Sportsline, call up the DigiDucks'
Live Scoring page and watch continuous scoring updates while the action
unfolded in my main picture window.
This synergy proved invaluable one November afternoon when DigiDucks
wide receiver Marcus Robinson of Chicago suffered a severe injury. As he
hobbled to the sideline, I picked up the wireless RCA keyboard, whipped
over to the league Web page and claimed Mr. Robinson's replacement,
Marty Booker, before my opponents could get to their computers. A
head-to-head victory for the next week was all but assured.
Big investment
Breaking down the costs for the equipment and services into four equal
payments over a single season, the Ultimate Fantasy League Television
System runs about $176 per month. It is expensive to remain motionless
for hours every Sunday.
Of course, winning a fantasy league season could also result in a cash
windfall.
And claiming a hefty chunk of the cash pools usually associated with
this avocation could assuage the system's sticker shock – as long as the
check arrives before the poor, bored household accountant gets a look at
the bottom line.
1. DirecTV television feeds
DirecTV dual LNB dish: A subscription starts at $31.95 per month.
NFL Sunday Ticket: This costs an additional $189 (or four
interest-free monthly payments of $47.25 each) for the season. And
here's what you get:
Watch scoring from the couch via the Web. Using the wireless
keyboard, you never have to move to the computer to see how well your
team is doing. You simply log in to the CBS Sportsline service via WebTV
and position your stats page in the picture-in-picture window. Updates
are made every minute.
Chat live with other team owners as you watch games in real time.
The ability to watch your key players performing live each Sunday
on two feeds – one in the main television screen window, the other in a
smaller picture. Toggling back and forth between games is easy using the
remote control or keyboard.
Pause the action to get another beer from the refrigerator.
Resume without missing a single play.
Check controversial plays yourself by using slow-motion instant
replay functions of the UltimateTV.
2. Microsoft's UltimateTV connection
Set-top box: A $299.99 dual-tuner/DirecTV receiver with a
built-in personal digital recorder and picture-in-picture feature
WebTV access to the Internet: Cost for the UltimateTV service is
$9.95 a month in addition to DirecTV service. Add on monthly fees of $5
to use your Internet service provider or $20 to use WebTV as an ISP.You
need three main pieces for
the Ultimate Fantasy League Television System:Wireless keyboard:
RCA Wireless Infrared keyboard, costing $49.95, allows you to control
your receiver and TV up to 50 feet away.
3. Fantasy League scoring service
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