Blocking each other, lol, now thats turning on the style!

Off to a flying start then, watch out Phil Jackson!

NBA Gametime is now up on Live.

If you pay for League pass (out here it's $220 for the whole season, or $44 a month), and sign in with that account, that's HD games on your TV! The app is already up and you can look at it without signing in to league pass. If the game pic quality is the same as the highlights pic quality, this is the fucking bees knees.

Really slick presentation and set out in a similar way to all the other video stuff on 360, but twice as polished. Fuck yes.

14 hours and counting to first game of the season.

Where's kilted when you need him?

Just to confirm the link Face posted for GameCenter is available internationally - with the exception of Scandinavian countries I think. The current season isn't available as there is still a lockout.

It's a great service if you plan to watch a lot of games but, unless you cancel in the first week of sign up, it's worth noting that the minimum subscription is one season.

Facewon wrote:

Not available for this season. And this says nothing about international access.

Suckage. I got quite into ice hockey while I was in Canada. No where else seems to broadcast the matches.

I may have to investigate nefarious means.

Facewon wrote:

Ghah. Why are the NBA and co so intent on getting so much right, and then fucking up and being petty about minor shit. So, the good news: League Pass works a treat on 360. Perfect HD quality games streaming, etc etc. BUT as far as I can tell, you can only watch 75% of games on 360. If it's on TNT, then you can't watch it on 360. Heat v Celts today is up and available to watch on PC, but not 360. What sort of petty BS is that?

Seems to be an issue with watching old games through the 360 too. So either there's some bugs, or there's shit deals between the NBA and the TV providers about what they can show, or both.

The pic quality on the 360 is off the charts, and the menus and stuff seem to work great. It'll just be shitty if I can't watch the big games on the TV. Don't mind watching on the PC, but it's just petty and silly.

As to the actual results:

Heat looked impressive, and I'd forgotten who they'd picked up other than Allen. Rashard Lewis. Woah.

Celts might actually be ok though. Some good pick ups, and Pierce looks healthy.

Can't decide what was worse for the Lakers. O or D. Looked good in short bursts early, but other than that, shiteful.

Blue Swirl wrote:

Facewon wrote:

Nefarious or not, with a lockout, there's nothing to watch.

Yeah. They did that the year after I left Canada. Bloody stupid. It's not like they're making crazy money playing the sport they love. What are they pissed off about this time?

Don't know the specifics of the NHL sitcho, but it'll be the same as all the other leagues:

Owners want:

Strict salary cap.
Lots of restrictions on player movement.
Strict rules on max payments to individual players.

Players want:
No/loose salary cap.
Complete free agency.
No cap on how much individual players can be paid.

I'm probably missing something, but basically, all the negotiations seem to rest on similar issues.

It is an interesting discussion, I reckon. Yes, they get paid ridiculous amounts, but the leagues overall can make even more ridiculous amounts. And there has to be some system. making things more difficult is how the rules effect small market teams. In the NBA there's 30 teams. While teams like the Lakers and Celtics and Knicks rake in cash regardless because of location, teams like Milwalkee and such struggle, and the owners can lose money on a team and teams do fold.

The thing that I find really mental is this. The NBA has a salary cap, in theory, this keeps things relatively even. But there's limits to what they can do/want to do, so there's a luxury tax. So each team has $100 mil. per year cap (for argument's sake), and any player salaries that go over that are charged dollar for dollar. So if a team salary is $120mil, they have to play an extra $20 mil in lux tax.

The Lakers have Dwight Howard this year, along with a bunch of other all stars. if they want to keep him next year, they'll be taking on a massive lux tax. I believe they'll be paying $190mil next season. But since they're LA and since they just signed a 4 Billion dollar TV rights deal they don't really give a shit. Small market teams can't do that. And I'm not sure that there's a way to design a salary cap, short of not allowing it to go over AT ALL, that can stop big market teams from dominating most of the time.

Of course, it's debatable whether the NBA wants to fix it. Lebron going to the Heat has sent TV ratings and ad revenue for the whole league through the roof.

Anyhoo.

Facewon wrote:

Ghah. Why are the NBA and co so intent on getting so much right, and then fucking up and being petty about minor shit. So, the good news: League Pass works a treat on 360. Perfect HD quality games streaming, etc etc. BUT as far as I can tell, you can only watch 75% of games on 360. If it's on TNT, then you can't watch it on 360. Heat v Celts today is up and available to watch on PC, but not 360. What sort of petty BS is that?

Lets change that % to maybe 10%. You're fucking idiots NBA.

Promo work with the coaches down at a Melbourne Tigers home game. Good fun, but damn rebounding for 3 hours is hard work.

Bet the lakers wish they got phil. Just lost to cleveland.

League pass on 360 just got an update. Theres already virtually no blackouts and it already runs well and I already thought the pic quality was solid hd, but they've upgraded it anyway. I can count dick bavetta's wrinkles.

Niners vs Ravens in the SB.

Watched the 49ers game yesterday and it was tense stuff. The defence got shredded in the 1st half (Atlanta put up 24 points and were only stopped once) but locked them out 2nd half.

The Falcons had the ball on the 10yrd line with a minute remaining but needed a touchdown to win it which they just couldn't manage. The last throw on 4th down was knocked down.

Still plenty for the 9ers to work on. Justin Smith wasn't much of a factor last night so the 49ers pass rush didn't harass the QB enough (especially in the 1st half).

Harbaugh vs Harbaugh in the final.

lols.



2013 huh.

Watching Clippers v OKC. Mini-play offs time.

That's amazing. Congrats. No knicks?

Super Bowl time, only time I bother with non-Patriots games.

Beyonce can sing damn son.

Didn't expect the ravens to be ahead by so much to be honest. Cracking game so far.