Yahoo! Sports
Encyclopedia
Yahoo! Sports was launched on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc.
, employs various writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American sport. (Before the launch of Yahoo! Sports, certain elements of the site were known as Yahoo! Scoreboard.)
, College Basketball
, NASCAR
, Golf
, Tennis
, World Soccer
, Arena Football
, Boxing
, CFL
, Cycling
, IndyCar
, Major League Soccer
, Motor sports, Olympics, NCAA Baseball, NCAA Hockey
, NCAA Women's Basketball
, WNBA, World Cup
, Track & Field, Cricket (UK)
, Figure Skating
, Rugby (UK)
, Swimming
, Mixed Martial Arts
, and Horse Racing
. Yahoo! Sports also previously covered the now defunct ABL
and WUSA
.
, Adrian Wojnarowski
, Jason Cole, Charles Robinson, Jeff Passan
, Josh Peter, Tim Brown, Kevin Iole, Dave Meltzer
, Pat Forde
, Bob Margolis, Jerry Bonkowski
, John Murphy, Michael Silver, Matt Buser, Justin Phan, Terry Bowden
, Kenny Smith
, Matt Romig, Martin Rogers, James C. Black, Brandon Funston, Brad Evans, Greg Anthony
, Cris Carter
, Marc J. Spears and Gerry Ahern.
Yahoo! Fantasy Sports is a section of Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo! Fantasy Sports was created with Yahoo's acquisition of Sportasy.com for an undisclosed amount in December 1998. It has grown to include numerous sports. Yahoo! offers both free and pay fantasy sport
s. The types of games offered include traditional fantasy sports, pick 'em contests, and salary cap games.
Yahoo! Fantasy Sports has captured a substantial fraction of the fantasy sports market. In the week ending May 6, 2006, its fantasy baseball
product accounted for 35% of visits to fantasy sports sites. The main fantasy sports URL represented another 25% of category visits that week. The site had 3.1 million users in July 2006, out of the more than 15 million adults that play fantasy sports in the United States
.
. He came up with the first fantasy idea using golf as the sport. Each individual in the league drafted several golfers and in the end the individual who had the lowest combine score between the golfers on their team would win. Later, Wikenbach adapted a similar scoring theory to baseball using home-run hitters and the statistics among pitchers. By 1962 Wikenbach took fantasy sports one step further after coming up with a fantasy football league. He presented his idea to two writers of the Oakland Tribune. The three men came up with a way to score points in the league that night: Ten points for an extra point, 25 points for a passing touchdown, 25 points for a touchdown reception, 25 points for a field goal, and 200 points for a punt, kickoff, or interception returned for a touchdown. They then developed an eight-team league for participants. In the early years there were very few leagues and competitors, but the ones who did participate were very serious. However, data-management technology was inadequateto track and communicate all the necessary information: not only statistics and other data, but also the roster changes each fantasy-league participant made.
Today, due to the technology and internet explosion, fantasy sports has become a modern-day phenomenon. Players can now update rosters instantly on mobile phones or laptops. Points can be tallied and scored minutes after games finish, and player statistics can be reported immediately. Communication between members in leagues today is now easier using social networking sites, e-mail, texting and instant messages as ways to organize league data. With such innovative technology, fantasy sports has expanded greatly, with new many new leagues created. With technology growing rapidly along with the popularity of fantasy sports and competition of different sites, fantasy sports looks to have a successful future. It has featured fantasy experts such as Matt Buser. Fantasy sports leagues are ways that many dedicated fans can enjoy their favorite sports leagues at home away from the playing field. Fantasy sports league use real game statistics from on field play in a league made up of twelve or so competitors. These competitors have a draft where they pick individual players from different teams. A random draft is also an option as well. Over the season the users in the fantasy league accumulate points based on the individual statistics each player generates on their team.
is a virtual community whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. Online communities have become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. When it comes to Fantasy Sports, many leagues are made between friends. These friends see and communicate with each other face to face, but use Fantasy Sports as another means of communication, as well. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars. With Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, there are multiple ways interacting players can communicate within the website. The first is the live online draft. To create a team in a fantasy league, the players must go through a draft where they select there actual players that is very similar to the drafts of the actual sport. Players are selected one by one in a number of rounds until every players team is created. While this is going on, there is also a chat room open. This chat room is open to all the players participating in the league where they can talk about their players, or anything they would like to talk about.
Once the fantasy season begins, players have other opportunities to communicate with each other. One of these is Smacktalk.Players have an option within their team page to post something on the league's homepage about their team or the league. It relates to smack talk because most of these posts end up being inflammatory comments insulting their opponents or talking up their own team. Smack talk can lead to long conversations because insulting or rude comments end up attracting more attention from other players than nice or indifferent comments. Players can also communicate through trade offers for players, free agency of players and the ability to vote for teams every who they believe will win.
in fantasy sports are the player's physical representation in the online world. In most leagues, the player's avatar is fixed, however increasingly games offer a basic character model, or template, and then allow customization of the physical features as the player sees fit. Yahoo!
allows players to create unique faces, clothing, backgrounds, hair, etc.
Aside from an avatar's physical appearance, its dialogue, particularly in cut scenes, may also reveal something of its character.
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are the source of the most varied and sophisticated avatars. Customization levels differ between players on Yahoo! Fantasy Sports; for example, players can choose just to have a football helmet represent their team. They can make a logo on the helmet and that would be their only representation of their team online. But they can also create the avatar. It can be just a generic person, which Yahoo! offers or the player can customize as much as they want.
This is how each player represents themselves in the Yahoo! Fantasy Sports online community. If they want their opposing players to get an idea of what they look like or how they act, the avatar is the closest to that. It all depends on their level on interaction within the community. Many Yahoo! Fantasy Sports leagues are done between friends in private leagues in where the players know each other, so there is no need to create very personal avatars because the players know what you look like. But there are also public leagues that players can choose from. These are chosen by players depending on the rules and regulations of the league, the amount of teams allowed within the league, and other certain preference players have for their fantasy leagues. Players may be more likely to create personal avatars in these leagues to create a relationship online or give other players more insight on who they are playing. This could also work in the exact opposite manner. Some players may not want random people to see what they look or act like so they may keep their avatar as generic as possible.
But Yahoo! avatars are quite ancient compared to other gaming systems and websites' avatars. Game consoles such as the Wii
, Playstation 3
, and Xbox 360
feature universal animated avatars. Nintendo
's Wii console allows for the creation of avatars called "Miis" that take the form of stylized, cartoonish people and can be used in some games as avatars for players, as in Wii Sports. In some games, the ability to use a Mii as an avatar must be unlocked, such as in Mario Kart
Wii. On November 19, 2008, Microsoft released an Xbox 360 Dashboard update which featured the introduction of Avatars as part of the console's New Xbox Experience. With the update installed users can personalize the look of their Avatars by choosing from a range of clothing and facial features. On August 11, 2009, the NXE Avatar program was updated with the inclusion of an Avatar Marketplace feature that allows users to purchase additional product and game branded clothing, jewelry, full body suits, and animated props. On initial release of the update, game branded content included items from Gears of War 2
, BioShock 2
, Star Wars, Fable II, Halo 3
, and The Secret of Monkey Island
special edition. The Xbox LIVE
Avatar Marketplace is updated weekly with new items. PlayStation Home for Sony
's PlayStation 3 console also features the use of avatars, but with a more realistic style than Nintendo's Miis or Microsoft
's Avatars.
Fantasy Sports, ESPN
Fantasy Sports, and Yahoo! are all competing for fantasy football players because they have witnessed fantasy leagues' increased popularity and the profit that can come with it. They are also competing for viewership. Yahoo! held a slim lead over ESPN with 1.33 million viewers compared to ESPN's 1.24 million, enough viewers in both cases to draw advertising. (If large numbers of people are visiting a site, advertisers want to put their product on that website. The more views, the more chance a viewer will become interested in the advertiser's product and want to buy it, which equals more profit.) It is said that there are over 18 million fantasy sports players in the U.S. These players are known to be loyal to their teams continue to play over multiple years. The number has increased steadily over the past decade. 85% of those 18 million are fantasy football players. So fantasy football can be a large profit maker for advertisers and websites like CBS
, ESPN
and Yahoo!
have been taking advantage by putting these advertisements on their pages due to such a large online community that is fantasy sports.
STATS, Inc.
STATS LLC is a global sports statistics and information company – the company name originated as an acronym for "Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems". It was founded on April 30, 1981 by John Dewan, who became the company's CEO...
, employs various writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American sport. (Before the launch of Yahoo! Sports, certain elements of the site were known as Yahoo! Scoreboard.)
Sports covered
Yahoo! Sports covers many sports, including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, College FootballCollege football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
, College Basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
, NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
, Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, World Soccer
World Soccer
World Soccer may refer to:*World Soccer Magazine*World Soccer, a game for the Sega Master System-See also:*Football around the world, a listing of all international teams*World Soccer Daily, a U.S. based soccer radio show and podcast...
, Arena Football
Arena football
Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....
, Boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, CFL
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
, Cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, IndyCar
IndyCar Series
The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...
, Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
, Motor sports, Olympics, NCAA Baseball, NCAA Hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, NCAA Women's Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, WNBA, World Cup
Alpine skiing World Cup
The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA...
, Track & Field, Cricket (UK)
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, Figure Skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
, Rugby (UK)
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, Swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
, and Horse Racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
. Yahoo! Sports also previously covered the now defunct ABL
American Basketball League (1996-1998)
The American Basketball League, often abbreviated to the ABL of 1996 was an independent professional basketball league for women in the United States. At the same time the ABL was being formed, the National Basketball Association was creating the Women's National Basketball Association...
and WUSA
Women's United Soccer Association
The Women's United Soccer Association, often abbreviated to the WUSA, was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the United States...
.
Writers
As of November 2011, writers at Yahoo Sports included Dan WetzelDan Wetzel
Dan Wetzel is an author, screenwriter, and national sports columnist for Yahoo.com.He is a New York Times best-selling author. He's written sports-related books "Resilience", Sole Influence, Glory Road, and Runnin' Rebel. As a sports journalist, he has covered NASCAR, college football, the NFL,...
, Adrian Wojnarowski
Adrian Wojnarowski
Adrian Wojnarowski is a sports columnist and author, who regularly writes NBA articles for Yahoo! Sports.Wojnarowski has worked in print media, and in 2006 published a New York Times best-seller: The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty. ...
, Jason Cole, Charles Robinson, Jeff Passan
Jeff Passan
Jeff Passan is the lead baseball columnist at Yahoo! Sports and co-author of the critically acclaimed Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series. Passan graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in journalism.After graduating from Solon High School in Ohio,...
, Josh Peter, Tim Brown, Kevin Iole, Dave Meltzer
Dave Meltzer
David A. Meltzer is the editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Sports Illustrated senior writer Frank Deford has praised Meltzer's work, saying that "Meltzer, I believe, is the most accomplished reporter in sports journalism." Meltzer has written for the Oakland Tribune, the Los Angeles...
, Pat Forde
Pat Forde
Pat Forde is a sports journalist who currently serves as a national columnist for Yahoo Sports.- Work :Forde is currently a writer for Yahoo Sports. Forde left ESPN on November 1, 2011 to pursue a career with more journalistic freedom. Prior to leaving ESPN, Forde was a staple on radio and...
, Bob Margolis, Jerry Bonkowski
Jerry Bonkowski
Jerry Bonkowski is an American writer who has for 35 years covered NASCAR and various sports including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA, Colleges, etc.. He has written about the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NHL and college sports. Included in his career are lengthy stops at USA Today and...
, John Murphy, Michael Silver, Matt Buser, Justin Phan, Terry Bowden
Terry Bowden
Terry Bowden is an American football coach at the University of North Alabama. Bowden was previously the head coach at Salem University , Samford University , and Auburn University . Bowden is the son of former Florida State University head football coach Bobby Bowden...
, Kenny Smith
Kenny Smith
Kenneth "The Jet" Smith is a retired National Basketball Association player and current TV basketball analyst, primarily for Inside the NBA on TNT.-Early life:...
, Matt Romig, Martin Rogers, James C. Black, Brandon Funston, Brad Evans, Greg Anthony
Greg Anthony
Gregory Carlton Anthony is an American former National Basketball Association basketball player and former personality on the ESPN family of networks. He is currently an analyst for CBS's college basketball coverage...
, Cris Carter
Cris Carter
Cristopher D. Carter is a former American football player in the National Football League. He played wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles , the Minnesota Vikings and the Miami Dolphins ....
, Marc J. Spears and Gerry Ahern.
Key dates in Yahoo! Sports
- December 8, 1997 - Yahoo! Sports is launched.
- January 17, 2003 - Yahoo! Sports launched the first major redesign of the website.
- February 8, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports launched the Yahoo! Sports Blog.
- May 8, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports starts streaming free live NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
games. - May 30, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports launched the Yahoo! Sports Beta website.
- January 30, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports puts the following on its sports homepage: "What if your favorite sports site got even better? The all new Yahoo! Sports. Coming soon."
- February 1, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports launched the current homepage.
- February 1, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports Beta website was taken offline.
- June 21, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports acquires Rivals.com.
- January 11, 2011 - Yahoo! Sports combines with SportsFanLive.com. to begin producing ThePostGame.com, a daily online magazine.
Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
Fantasy sport
A fantasy sport is a game where participants act as owners to build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statistics generated by the real individual players or teams of a professional sport...
s. The types of games offered include traditional fantasy sports, pick 'em contests, and salary cap games.
Yahoo! Fantasy Sports has captured a substantial fraction of the fantasy sports market. In the week ending May 6, 2006, its fantasy baseball
Fantasy baseball
Fantasy baseball is a game where participants manage an imaginary roster of real Major League baseball players. The participants compete against one another using those players' real life statistics to score points...
product accounted for 35% of visits to fantasy sports sites. The main fantasy sports URL represented another 25% of category visits that week. The site had 3.1 million users in July 2006, out of the more than 15 million adults that play fantasy sports in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Fantasy Sports History
Fantasy sports first came to the mind of Wilfred Wikenbach in the 1950's. Wikenbach was a partial owner of the Oakland RaidersOakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. He came up with the first fantasy idea using golf as the sport. Each individual in the league drafted several golfers and in the end the individual who had the lowest combine score between the golfers on their team would win. Later, Wikenbach adapted a similar scoring theory to baseball using home-run hitters and the statistics among pitchers. By 1962 Wikenbach took fantasy sports one step further after coming up with a fantasy football league. He presented his idea to two writers of the Oakland Tribune. The three men came up with a way to score points in the league that night: Ten points for an extra point, 25 points for a passing touchdown, 25 points for a touchdown reception, 25 points for a field goal, and 200 points for a punt, kickoff, or interception returned for a touchdown. They then developed an eight-team league for participants. In the early years there were very few leagues and competitors, but the ones who did participate were very serious. However, data-management technology was inadequateto track and communicate all the necessary information: not only statistics and other data, but also the roster changes each fantasy-league participant made.
Today, due to the technology and internet explosion, fantasy sports has become a modern-day phenomenon. Players can now update rosters instantly on mobile phones or laptops. Points can be tallied and scored minutes after games finish, and player statistics can be reported immediately. Communication between members in leagues today is now easier using social networking sites, e-mail, texting and instant messages as ways to organize league data. With such innovative technology, fantasy sports has expanded greatly, with new many new leagues created. With technology growing rapidly along with the popularity of fantasy sports and competition of different sites, fantasy sports looks to have a successful future. It has featured fantasy experts such as Matt Buser. Fantasy sports leagues are ways that many dedicated fans can enjoy their favorite sports leagues at home away from the playing field. Fantasy sports league use real game statistics from on field play in a league made up of twelve or so competitors. These competitors have a draft where they pick individual players from different teams. A random draft is also an option as well. Over the season the users in the fantasy league accumulate points based on the individual statistics each player generates on their team.
Yahoo! Fantasy Sports as an Online Community
An Online communityOnline community
An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...
is a virtual community whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. Online communities have become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. When it comes to Fantasy Sports, many leagues are made between friends. These friends see and communicate with each other face to face, but use Fantasy Sports as another means of communication, as well. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars. With Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, there are multiple ways interacting players can communicate within the website. The first is the live online draft. To create a team in a fantasy league, the players must go through a draft where they select there actual players that is very similar to the drafts of the actual sport. Players are selected one by one in a number of rounds until every players team is created. While this is going on, there is also a chat room open. This chat room is open to all the players participating in the league where they can talk about their players, or anything they would like to talk about.
Once the fantasy season begins, players have other opportunities to communicate with each other. One of these is Smacktalk.Players have an option within their team page to post something on the league's homepage about their team or the league. It relates to smack talk because most of these posts end up being inflammatory comments insulting their opponents or talking up their own team. Smack talk can lead to long conversations because insulting or rude comments end up attracting more attention from other players than nice or indifferent comments. Players can also communicate through trade offers for players, free agency of players and the ability to vote for teams every who they believe will win.
Avatars
Avatar (computing)Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
in fantasy sports are the player's physical representation in the online world. In most leagues, the player's avatar is fixed, however increasingly games offer a basic character model, or template, and then allow customization of the physical features as the player sees fit. Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
allows players to create unique faces, clothing, backgrounds, hair, etc.
Aside from an avatar's physical appearance, its dialogue, particularly in cut scenes, may also reveal something of its character.
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are the source of the most varied and sophisticated avatars. Customization levels differ between players on Yahoo! Fantasy Sports; for example, players can choose just to have a football helmet represent their team. They can make a logo on the helmet and that would be their only representation of their team online. But they can also create the avatar. It can be just a generic person, which Yahoo! offers or the player can customize as much as they want.
This is how each player represents themselves in the Yahoo! Fantasy Sports online community. If they want their opposing players to get an idea of what they look like or how they act, the avatar is the closest to that. It all depends on their level on interaction within the community. Many Yahoo! Fantasy Sports leagues are done between friends in private leagues in where the players know each other, so there is no need to create very personal avatars because the players know what you look like. But there are also public leagues that players can choose from. These are chosen by players depending on the rules and regulations of the league, the amount of teams allowed within the league, and other certain preference players have for their fantasy leagues. Players may be more likely to create personal avatars in these leagues to create a relationship online or give other players more insight on who they are playing. This could also work in the exact opposite manner. Some players may not want random people to see what they look or act like so they may keep their avatar as generic as possible.
But Yahoo! avatars are quite ancient compared to other gaming systems and websites' avatars. Game consoles such as the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, Playstation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
feature universal animated avatars. Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Wii console allows for the creation of avatars called "Miis" that take the form of stylized, cartoonish people and can be used in some games as avatars for players, as in Wii Sports. In some games, the ability to use a Mii as an avatar must be unlocked, such as in Mario Kart
Mario Kart
is a series of go-kart-style racing video games developed by Nintendo as a series of spin-offs from its trademark Mario series of platformer adventure-style video games...
Wii. On November 19, 2008, Microsoft released an Xbox 360 Dashboard update which featured the introduction of Avatars as part of the console's New Xbox Experience. With the update installed users can personalize the look of their Avatars by choosing from a range of clothing and facial features. On August 11, 2009, the NXE Avatar program was updated with the inclusion of an Avatar Marketplace feature that allows users to purchase additional product and game branded clothing, jewelry, full body suits, and animated props. On initial release of the update, game branded content included items from Gears of War 2
Gears of War 2
Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski, and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series. The game was officially released in North America, Europe and...
, BioShock 2
BioShock 2
BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The sequel to the 2007 video game BioShock, it was released worldwide on February 9, 2010....
, Star Wars, Fable II, Halo 3
Halo 3
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2...
, and The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by the same company after its name was changed to LucasArts. The game spawned a number of sequels, collectively known as the Monkey Island series...
special edition. The Xbox LIVE
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
Avatar Marketplace is updated weekly with new items. PlayStation Home for Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's PlayStation 3 console also features the use of avatars, but with a more realistic style than Nintendo's Miis or Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Avatars.
Competing Online Fantasy Sport Websites
CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Fantasy Sports, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
Fantasy Sports, and Yahoo! are all competing for fantasy football players because they have witnessed fantasy leagues' increased popularity and the profit that can come with it. They are also competing for viewership. Yahoo! held a slim lead over ESPN with 1.33 million viewers compared to ESPN's 1.24 million, enough viewers in both cases to draw advertising. (If large numbers of people are visiting a site, advertisers want to put their product on that website. The more views, the more chance a viewer will become interested in the advertiser's product and want to buy it, which equals more profit.) It is said that there are over 18 million fantasy sports players in the U.S. These players are known to be loyal to their teams continue to play over multiple years. The number has increased steadily over the past decade. 85% of those 18 million are fantasy football players. So fantasy football can be a large profit maker for advertisers and websites like CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
have been taking advantage by putting these advertisements on their pages due to such a large online community that is fantasy sports.
Blogs
| Sport | Title | Editor |
|---|---|---|
| NFL | Shutdown Corner | Doug Farrar |
| MLB | Big League Stew | Kevin Kaduk |
| NBA | Ball Don't Lie | Kelly Dwyer |
| NHL | Puck Daddy | Greg Wyshynski |
| College football College football College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities... |
Dr. Saturday | Matt Hinton |
| College basketball College basketball College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III.... |
The Dagger | Jeff Eisenberg |
| NASCAR NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr... |
From the Marbles | Jay Busbee Jay Busbee Jay Busbee is an American journalist, novelist, sportswriter and writer of comic books.-Early life and education:Busbee was raised in Atlanta, GA... |
| Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... |
Devil Ball Golf | Jay Busbee Jay Busbee Jay Busbee is an American journalist, novelist, sportswriter and writer of comic books.-Early life and education:Busbee was raised in Atlanta, GA... |
| Olympics | Fourth-Place Medal | Chris Chase & Maggie Hendricks |
| Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be... |
Cagewriter | Steve Cofield |
| Fantasy sports | Roto Arcade | Andy Behrens |
| Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... |
Busted Racquet | Chris Chase |
| Soccer | Dirty Tackle | Brooks Peck |
Notable accomplishments
- In 2006 it was revealed that "Fans spend more time on Yahoo! Sports than any other sports site" according to comScore Media Metrix.
- Before the 2006 NFL Draft2006 NFL DraftThe 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offered by ESPNU and, for the first time, by...
, Yahoo! Sports revealed the allegations that Reggie Bush accepted gifts from an upstart sports marketing firm in exchange for his patronage. They have since issued several updates on the story. - On August 16, 2011, Yahoo! Sports broke the story of a massive scandal2011 University of Miami athletics scandalIn 2011, the University of Miami Hurricanes football and men's basketball programs were investigated for NCAA rules violations alleged to have taken place from 2002 to 2010, centering around improper benefits given by booster Nevin Shapiro, and reported by investigative reporters at Yahoo!...
involving the University of Miami, based on over 100 hours of interviews with former Hurricanes booster and convicted fraudster Nevin ShapiroNevin ShapiroNevin Shapiro is a former University of Miami football booster who is currently imprisoned for orchestrating a $930 million Ponzi scheme. According to interviews, he engaged in rampant violations of NCAA rules over eight years as a booster for University of Miami athletes...
.