Displaced Sports Fans, Rejoice

Once in a while an idea, website, or resource comes along that can revolutionize a sports fan’s experience, and it must be shared with whoever will listen. As a fellow sports fan who has made one too many purchases on outrageous cable packages to watch my teams play, I feel it is my duty to call to your attention an easy and affordable solution.

I headed out to the local watering hole a couple weeks ago, and on the way in I was listening to the crotchety old Mike Francessa on WFAN 660 New York belittle callers and yell at people who didn’t agree with him, but I digress. The point is that at some point during the show there was a mention of a Slingbox — I can’t remember if it was a caller or one of the promos that were running in which WFAN was giving away some of the devices. Either way, I had heard about the Slingbox a bunch of times before in passing but never knew exactly what it did. BIG mistake on my part.

So I finally reached my destination and met up with a few friends to watch the Phillies game, which I could not get at home because I get a New York cable feed. I asked them if they had ever heard of a Slingbox; the Anonymous Mets Fan said no, but my other friend told me that he knew it had something to do with a cable feed. I was naturally intrigued. Without any solicitation, my buddy picked up his phone and quickly Googled the product (ahh, the beauty of the mobile Internet), and immediately filled us in on all of the capabilities.

The whole purpose of the Slingbox is to allow users with an entry point to their very own cable box remotely by accessing it remotely by computer or even a variety of smartphones. While most of the device’s marketing has been directed at traveler’s who would like to still be able to enjoy their shows on the road, a major market that really needs to be aware of this is YOU, the almighty sports fan.

Displaced sports fans, your salvation has arrived.

Anyone who knows me personally can speak to the endless horrors that I have had to deal with in years past because of a terrible black hole that exists between MLB.tv online and Comcast cable in my central NJ area. Comcast provides me with one Philadelphia channel that feeds me sporadic Phillies games throughout the season, but does not provide me with the channel that 95% of the games are on. MLB.tv believes that I am close enough to Philly to get the feed through my cable provider and therefore blacks out all of the Phillies games that I would like to access with their much cheaper version of the MLB package through my computer, which I can then just hook up to my TV. So, my friends, this leaves with one terrible option (or so I thought). For the past couple of years I have tried to hold out on paying the absurd amount of money for the MLB TV package (usually I can get to about the second week of the season, after the free, week-long preview that MLB provides), but I always fold and end up shelling out the cold hard cash. But now I know about Slingbox, and it is going to really change everything. Not only for me, but for displaced sports fans everywhere.

Most sports fans have some kind of geographical tie to the teams they root for; perhaps they moved away from home and try to follow their teams as best they can. Maybe they have family or friends in that area and jumped on board a team’s bandwagon at a young age. The point is that the die hard sports fan usually has ties to his/her team’s city. So, rather than piss away a couple hundred dollars every year to get a programming package to really just watch one team play, why not get a Slingbox, set it up at a relative or friend’s house, and have them set you up? It’s a one-time fee, and in the very worst case scenario, you could offer to pay for an extra cable box to be set up in a room that’s never used. That’d probably cost you somewhere in the area of $6/month to pay for, making it about $70/year for the full MLB season, which is roughly a third of the cost of the actual package. Better yet, find someone in that city who likes the team of you the city you are in — the Anonymous Mets Fan and I have grand plans to set up this arrangement and reap the full benefits of our glorious plan! Even better — here’s a million dollar idea for someone more tech savvy than me to get off the ground: a social network devoted to finding displaced fans with Slingboxes. Just remember, you read it here first.

Those of you who are interested in a few basic details, I’ve already done the legwork for you. I actually reached out to Slingbox through Twitter, got in touch with a couple very friendly reps over there, and asked a few important questions. You’ll need:

-A cable box
-TV
-Slingbox

Hook all three up and you are good to go. You don’t have to have the TV on where you are taping, but the cable box does need to be on the appropriate channel, which you can control remotely. If you want, you can even stream games to your phone by buying the $30 mobile player (one time cost). Managing everything online through their website is fast and easy, and those of you with up-to-date computers and TVs can stream right through your television.

Slingbox is here to stay. If you have any doubts, just go to their website and check out their Twitter feed, which consists of hundreds of real-time conversations about how people are in love with this device. Those of you who, like me, are unable to watch your favorite teams through your local cable can now afford to do so without having to break the bank every year. If only I had someone like me to share such a worthwhile and money-saving anecdote years ago…