Sports Web Sites Reviewed

Since I am new to the sports scene, I’m looking for a quick way to get immersed in the endless knowledge that is America’s 50 favorite pastimes (sorry baseball, but you’re not the only one anymore). As a result, I took a look through the three top-ranking sports-related pages to get a taste of what’s out there, and what’s in it for me.

In no particular order:

• Sports Illustrated - This Web site seems to be more about sports as a part of pop-culture than as a man-hands-only topic for discussion. This site opens up with the up-to-the-minute sports headlines that you would expect, but then also puts its gossip links and blogs front and center. Scrolling down, you also find features like “Extra Mustard,” which go beyond the rumors to cover pop-y highlights such as Jenna Jamison’s cameo at recent team parties. Of course, there’s a drop-down to let you choose the image of your swimsuit model of choice and goofy photos of mascots are also close by. It is easy to get the latest on teams and scores from the front page, and I really like that I don’t have to register in order to customize “my pages” to the teams I want to follow. The specific team pages are very robust, but the advertisements make it feel cluttered and may even effect the page loading time. Finally, I was really impressed with SI’s inclusion of high school coverage, which can be accessed from the front page along with everything else. The focus of SI seems to be to cover a lot of different angles of sports, from guts to pop to sex to human interest. I thought it was stimulating.
• Fox Sports - Fox Sports is the sort of Web site you’d expect of a sports page: It’s very masculine and in your face, but it’s in your face with a lot of information. Once I was no longer overwhelmed by the bold graphics, I found that it was really easy to find the information I was looking for, particularly the scoreboard, which was just enough in front of the page that your eyes didn’t have to search for it, but it didn’t get in the way of the top story.Scrolling through the page, I got the sense that Fox Sports was really into interactive play with its readers. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on Fantasy sports, and its Fantasy page gives you the opportunity to participate in sports from baseball to racing. I don’t play fantasy sports, but I’ve known people that have in years past. I remember that this was their go-to page for that purpose, so I’m assuming the extra attention is well-deserved.

  The page goes on to highlight its own articles on the typical goings-on of sports teams, but again you notice right away that they give you every opportunity to stay plugged in through RSS feeds, mobile updates, etc. Other pages probably offer these amenities as well, but it was just more obvious through Fox.

  Finally, when I registered with Fox to customize my page, I liked that they created sidebars for my favorite teams on the main page, that I could collapse as I liked. The individual team pages were also very well put-together, and I especially liked the extra features on these pages such as salary amounts and transactions (again, probably associated with the high fantasy-focus). There isn’t as much fluff as Sports Illustrated, but I imagine the Fantasy aspect helps to fill that void. Overall, a hard-hitting sports site from what I can tell.

• CBS Sports - CBS Sports’ Web site is what I would imagine my grandfather looking to for information on his ailing Cornhuskers. The site has a very clean, quiet look about it, which, for a former sports bartender such as myself, is a little bit disarming. I expect to have sports information fly at me with pictures of screaming basketball players and intense-faced footballers. In most of the pictures I saw, though, the players seemed to be smiling, having a good time. What?Demure attitude aside, though, the information to be found here is very cut and dry. There is very little offered in terms of blogs and not a sign of rumors to be found. You get the scores, the stats and the rest of the information you need with few ads, graphics or any other stimulation, to be frank. For some, though, this might be a good thing, so I’m not counting it as a negative.I signed in to customize the pages, and I was disappointed at the results. The only noticeable difference was that the scores had a “My Scores” page, and a box below featured select stories about my chosen teams. Otherwise, no fireworks here.There was some community interaction on the team pages, but it was pretty subdued. I did like the “depth chart” on the baseball team page, because I always forget who’s on first (haha).

  I should say that CBS has a pretty extensive Fantasy page, but they don’t make much of a fuss about it, so neither will I. Overall, I think CBS Sports is just delivering the information and making itself available to you if you have any questions. As long as you ask nicely.

Across the Pond - While these pages were great for getting acquainted with American sports, my next blog will delve into getting to know the sports of Great Britain. Stay tuned!

Angela Bull

(photo credit: imovermyhead)

April 7th, 2009 by Sports Fan | Posted in General | (0)