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We're in the heart of the sports season. I must admit the spring classics of bicycle racing have great appeal to me. But for the majority of sports fans the heart of college and pro football, the baseball playoffs, and the start of basketball season is as good as it gets. And there are plenty of apps to support your sports habit. When it comes to sports apps, the issue is detail. If you're going to have just one sports app on your smartphone, ESPN is the one to have. This app is incredibly comprehensive. Of course, it includes the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA football. But it also includes ten soccer leagues, boxing, MMA, WWE, and multiple car-racing series. Alas, professional cycling is not among the listings. When you download the ESPN app, you are prompted to enter your ESPN login info. You can skip this part, but it's easy to create an ESPN account by going to ESPN.com and signing up. Next on the app, you're prompted to select your favorite sports and teams. The significance of this becomes apparent each time you open the app because scores and information on your favorites are displayed first. The detail available on this app is astounding. There's a great feature called Gamecast. If you select a game in progress, you are shown a pictorial display of the game. Things like score, ball position, and down and distance in football; or score, inning, runners on base, and batter information in baseball. Frankly, I find watching a baseball game kind of boring. But I'll often have the app open following a Dodger game on ESPN Gamecast while I'm doing something else. There's a companion app called WatchESPN. This app is like watching a television game on your phone. For this app you need to have cable or satellite service. Since ESPN is included with just about every television service, all you need to provide is the service and your login info for that service. If you're a Spectrum (Time-Warner) customer, all you need to use Watch ESPN is your Spectrum username and password. If the detail for a specific sport in the ESPN app isn't enough for you, every major sport has an app, and every major team has its own app. A few of these apps have certain restrictions. For example, the NFL mobile app is free for Verizon wireless users. (Otherwise, you have to pay $99 for the season.) If you want to see NFL games on your phone, this is the app for you. And even cycling fans like me can find apps which cover cycling. I can pay $20 a year for the NBC Sport Gold app for complete coverage of many races throughout the year. But I can also use the free Steephill.TV app for detailed race information on just about every professional European cycling event including a video race summary. I'm a huge USC football fan, and the Trojans have an app dedicated to the football team. I was able to watch a Fall Camp press conference with coach Clay Helton within hours of the event. The app includes schedule and roster info as well as team news. If you're a SC football fan, you should have this app. I need your help. I'd like to do a column on the apps you use. Please send me an email with your favorite apps or even ones you didn't like. I'd love to hear your suggestions and opinions. Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. 8 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2017 Apps for Sports Fans THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! By Steve Benoff Handyman Services Call Today! Bill Blakeslee Sun Lakes Resident Faucets • Toilets • Garbage Disposals Heating & Air Conditioning Maintenance Ceiling Fans • Lighting • Smoke Detectors All Household Repairs… Just Ask! (909) 896-3980 32 YEARS EXPERIENCE

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