Dino Baskovic Can’t Lose

A new breed of sports geek

Here's a photo I snapped in the middle of a Red Wings-Blue Jackets game on February 15, 2008 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. (Columbus won 5-1.) Hardly SI worthy, I captured this grainy shot from the nosebleeds using my old Palm Treo. Still, I'm mildly proud of it, marking the first time I shared a sporting event on Facebook.

 

Two BlackBerrys, an iPod Touch and myriad mobile apps later, I've liveblogged Browns games, wished I could do the same at Tribe games, tweeted snarky Super Bowl ad crits and wall-posted to anyone within earshot willing to endure me wail about my ill-fated World Cup faves or lament over LeBron's playoff implosion. Good times, good times...

 

Pardon the cliché, but social media has become a game changer. Big surprise, I know, but connecting with fellow and rival fans from afar has undoubtedly changed the game of sports. Sure, nothing will ever replace a cold and blustery Saturday morning tailgate, foot-long franks and ten-dollar drafts, pyrotechnics and ticker tape when we hail the home team victors. I get that. But between texting every basket from home or at-bat at the bar, coveting badges for stadium check-ins and streaming fantasy draft picks, I suspect that millions like me are giving apps like FanFinder ringside seats for the main event, er, main menu.

 

And let's face it: we can't hate the vuvuzela that much if there's an app for that.

Tags » baseball basketball cleveland columbus detroit facebook football foursquare hockey mobile soccer social media twitter world cup (0 Comments)

• 30 June 2010
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