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Thuuz Sports

           Smart phones and applications have changed the way sports fans and sports media outlets access sports information and news. With all of the new applications, it is obvious that sports media has been revolutionzed for the better and will continue to adapt and change as we invent new apps and technology.

           One exciting new application that has been invented is “Thuuz Sports.” Thuuz Sports is a mobile and connected television service that allows sports fans across the world to connect and discover the different aspects about sports programming. Thuuz has partnered with major television corporations such as Charter, Dish, and TiVo. Pictured below is a list of all the partners Thuuz has. Thuuz is a fairly small company that is housed in Palo Alto, California and is comprised of 11 employees.

           One really cool feature is that this app allows users to customize what games, teams and events they follow. It is extremely convenient for individuals who travel and do not have the time to sit down in front of a television to watch the game. You can customize basically anything on the app and receive notifications when your team does something such as score. Since fantasy sports are a huge deal in todays’ sports realm, Thuuz allows those fantasy sports participants to be up to date on when their players are going off, injured or when they’re on television. One really cool feature dealing with the fantasy sports section is that Thuuz will import your fantasy rosters from other major platforms such as ESPN.

           On Thuuz’s main website there is a question & answer section. One main question I had was: why should a sports fan use Thuuz over other sports apps. I thankfully wasn’t the only individual who thought that. Thuuz’s website states that “Our goal isn’t necessarily to replace other sports apps, but here are four reasons why we’re different:

1. We monitor the world for trending games and rate them all

2. We provide more powerful personalization

3. We tell you when to tune in

4. We have unique alerting capabilities.”

           I really do not have many sports apps on my phone except for ESPN. I’ve had ESPN since I bought my first iPhone and never really thought about switching apps. However, I find it extremely helpful that Thuuz alerts you when your team is playing. We are so busy today that things like sporting events can sometimes slip our minds. This app also ranks the games so people can see which games are the most exciting. I know that sometimes my favorite teams games are boring so it is really cool to see how other games compare. Pictured below are the different rankings for games. After seeing all of the features that the Thuuz application has, I am extremely tempted to download the app for college football season. I can never keep up with all the games and having every single college football games excitement ranking at the tip of my finger tips sounds like every football fans dream.

Listed below are the links to the apps Twitter and Facebook pages.

https://www.facebook.com/thuuz

https://www.twitter.com/thuuz

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The NFL’s Royal Couple

In a previous post I talked about my obsession and admiration for Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback. Wilson gives back to his community whether its in Seattle or Arlington. However, as a girl, I am in awe of any celebrity relationship because of their picture perfect life and families. When thinking of “perfect” couples that are apart of the sports world, the only couple that comes to mind is New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and former super model Gisele Bundchen. I think there is not one single person who would deny the fact that Brady & Bundchen have an incredible life and are a beautiful couple.

Celebrities use their social media accounts for a multitude of things. Whether its just posting pictures of their lives or promoting games, they are active and engage with their fans. On April 15, 2015 Brady’s wife walked in her final runway show before retiring from the modeling industry. Brady doesn’t have a strong presence on social media; however, he took to his Facebook page to post a heart-felt message to his wife. Brady states that he is inspired by his wife and is excited to see what the future holds. (Pictured below is Brady’s post). This was really cool to see. Brady comes across to me as a tough guy who really doesn’t have a personality/let the media really see whom he is and for him to post something this sentimental let me see him more as a person than just an athlete.

As stated earlier, Brady does not have a strong social media presence, which could change the way his fans view him. Brady not posting on Instagram and Twitter makes him not as personal as players such as (my absolute favorite) Russell Wilson. When you search on Twitter for Tom Brady, the first verified account that appears is a rugby player (https://twitter.com/tbrady14). Brady really needs to get his act together and join the technological/social media savvy age. Being a part of a successful organization, you would think he would want to tell fans what is going on and how they’re doing in the off season. Almost all NFL quarterbacks are present on social media, except for one of the most popular players in the league. Yes, I’m talking to you Tom.

Unlike Brady, his wife Gisele post on social media websites all the time. Her Instagram account is filled with photos of their family, including their three small children. When the Patriots won the AFC championship, Bundchen posted a photo with her husband stating how proud she was of him and the team (pictured below). Before the game, she also posted a photo of their children in their Brady jerseys and another one with a sign that says, “ Go Patriots, Love you daddy” with their handprints (pictured below).

Most of my previous blog posts have been how athletes use social media and it seems that Instagram is my favorite outlet to connect to professional athletes. If you sit back and examine your own accounts, you see that you only post things you are proud of or love. The same is for athletes and their families. You get a sense of them actually being normal functioning humans off the field instead of being an idolized athlete. Social media has given fans more insight to their players than they probably ever dreamed of. I can’t wait to see how connected we can actually become with our favorite players in the future.

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Discover feature & ESPN

SnapChat has been one of the fastest growing apps in todaystechnological, iPhone savvy world. SnapChat allows users to send pictures,videos and messages to those of whom they choose. Snap Chat has been had its fair share of controversial issues over the past year. For instance SnapChat users information had been compromised (http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/01/tech/social-media/snapchat-hack/). However in January 2015, SnapChat introduced a feature that allows users to access information from different media sources such as ESPN, Cosmopolitan, CNN and many other sources (see photo below) (http://blog.snapchat.com/post/109302961090/introducing-discover).  This feature helped their brand expand become even more popular with those of all ages. With the discover feature users can see different stories that these media outlets think are important. One really cool thing is that users can chose which media outlets they want to view. I personally think that this was a genius idea and partnership for SnapChat.

Since SnapChat has partnered with ESPN, sports fans everywhere were ecstatic to see that they could view top stories on one of their favorite apps. Every 24 hours each news source updates and has brand new stories for their fans to enjoy. On March 31st, 2015 when I was scrolling through, ESPN had featured stories such as the Final Four being set, Mike Krzyzewski making his 12th Final Four appearance (tying John Wooden for the most in NCAA tournament history) and the Sports Center Top 10.

 Every day people watch ESPN to see these top news stories but now they are accessible right on their smart phones. Personally, one of my favorite features that Sports Center does is the Top 10. I love seeing what ESPN considers the best plays for the day/night. Now I don’t have to watch an entire Sports Center broadcast, I can easily click right on my phone to see them. As I stated earlier, March Madness is in full swing. Throughout the tournament, SnapChat has featured the tournament every step of the way. I can only imagine how SnapChat plans on covering the championship game whether it is between the Duke Blue Devils and The University of Kentucky Wildcats (the game I’m hoping for) or the Michigan State Spartans and the Wisconsin Badgers.

As this feature becomes more popular, the more stories and events will be featured. One thing that will be featured next year is the College Football Championship game. Although the game was in January when the feature was released, it occurred before the feature was available to everyone. In our society today, we want things instantly. We are not fans of having to wait for something to come on television, be printed in the newspaper or anything that involves “wasting our time.” Our need for instant gratification is not only changing our world but the sports world as well. With apps such as SnapChat, we now no longer have to wait. Since we now have features such as the Discover feature, it is crazy to think about how we will receive news in the future and how sports networks will send out breaking sports news to their fans.

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Instagram, Childhood cancer & the NFL

In life we are faced with hardships that are unimaginable. Life does not care whether you are rich & famous or a homeless person not sure of where you are going to be in the next week. The trials and tribulations we have in our life have the ability to shape us into people we never thought we would become, show us how strong we really are and teach us to love more than we ever imagined.

One of the most touching stories I have ever heard was the story of Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still’s little girl Leah. Leah was diagnosed with stage 4 Cancer back in June of 2014 and continued to fight a long hard battle for her life over the course of several months. Throughout Leah’s battle, Still posted photos on his Instagram account that allowed fans to follow her long, tough journey. I first saw Leah’s story on Sports Center, which left me sobbing and curious as to how I could help this incredible, strong little girl. I began to look online and I saw how the Bengals organization allowed for all of the proceeds from Still’s jerseys to go to Pediatric Cancer Research. Within 4 days over $400,000 had been raised (http://www.axs.com/news/bengals-devon-still-jerseys-raise-400-000-for-pediatric-cancer-still-r-21191). Pictured below is Leah Still surrounded by her princess dolls in the hospital and non traditional hospital gown.

Over the next few months Still posted photos of Leah and expressed how much he truly loved her. On the Sports Center special it was very moving to see such a large NFL player crying over his little girl. Although the special wasn’t featured directly on Social Media, ESPN and Sports Center tweeted about the special and when it would be airing. One thing most NFL players don’t do is breakdown and show emotion but Still could not hide his emotion in his daughters special. As a fan, it made me want to find a way to help and keep routing for Leah, and the Bengals as they continued their playoff journey.

On March 25, 2015, I logged onto Instagram and saw one of the best things to ever hit social media. Still posted the picture below of his daughter stating that after 296 days of fighting, that Leah’s cancer was finally in remission.

If it had not been for social media, Still wouldn’t have been able to communicate to his fans and others who were concerned & wanted to follow Leah’s journey and see her progress. With Still’s position and status in our society, childhood cancer has gained a lot of awareness. The journey his daughter has gone on has shown us all that no matter who you are, you are dealt things in life that you do not necessarily want to deal with. Still has shown us all that with courage, faith and support that you can get through the hardest time. Although Still does not know every single person who supported him and his daughter, he will be forever thankful. It’s really comforting seeing strangers reach out to people they do not know to express their happiness for them. On April 7, 2015, CBS featured Still and his daughter’s heartwarming story http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/nfls-devon-still-and-daughter-leah-on-winning-fight-against-cancer/. 

 #LeahStrong 

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Russell Wilson: quarterback, 2nd baseman and servant

       When looking at certain NFL quarterbacks there are multiple individuals who standout. Some say Tom Brady is the best, while others say Peyton Manning is. In my opinion, the best NFL quarterback has to be Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson.Wilson is the jack-of-all-trades in my eyes. He plays football and baseball,but most importantly he gives back so much to the local Seattle community. Wilson connects with his fans through his Instagram and Twitter accounts. Days after the world’s most televised sporting event, Wilson was back in Seattle visiting children who were in the hospital with conditions such as cancer. When you scroll through Wilson’s Instagram account, you see that every picture isn’t related to the Seahawks but most are screenshots of music, inspiring quotes, him with fans and ill children.

             When fans go on his account it gives them a much better feeling of whom he is as a person, not just a famous quarterback and baseball player. When us as fans see him posting personal photos we can relate more to him. One of my favorite things Wilson has posted on Instagram is the quote “ It’s Tuesday. I’m breathing. I’m blessed. God still has a plan for me. The world needs my love, my smile, my talent, my light, my encouragement. I can’t give up.” The photo was captioned “It’s not about me….It’s about others. John 3:30- He must increase, but I must decrease.” As a fan it’s pretty awesome to see someone who seems to have everything say that they aren’t going to give up and that our lives aren’t about ourselves. This was posted after the Seahawks suffered a rough loss. Fans were nothing but supportive saying things such as “ don’t worry about last nights game” and “you’re still an incredible player, Christian and person.” Since fans now have the opportunity to interact with their favorite players, the players can personally see the impact they have on their fans lives.

             Wilson not only connects with his fans through social media, he has connected with even more female fans by starting an anti-domestic violence campaign called “Pass the Peace.” The NFL has been under so much scrutiny over the issues dealing with some players and domestic violence situations. Wilson donated $2 million dollars in order to bring awareness to domestic violence. Like ALS ice-bucket challenge, you “nominate” people to pass the peace. Wilson first posted this on Instagram, which allows for millions of to view. In his Instagram video Wilson stated that he hasn’t always been the golden child that many people view him as. In his earlier years, he was a bully and a very mean child. Wilson also stated that domestic violence goes much farther than NFL suspensions and is an issue that the NFL and American society needs to address.

             After looking through all of Wilson’s Instagram post and contributions to the Seattle community, I am even more in awe of the incredible quarterback and person that Seattle has the privilege of having. Even if you’re not a Seattle fan, you can’t deny the fact that Wilson has used social media to connect on a deeper level with his fans and promote his platform as a charitable NFL quarterback whose impact will still be seen in years down the road.

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Vine & the Super Bowl

Social media is one of the fastest growing trends in America. Social media all seemed to start with MySpace back in the early to mid 2000's. Since then social media has grown from sites like Facebook where you can make anything as public or private as you want it to smart phone apps like SnapChat where you can send pictures and videos that only last a few seconds to whomever you select. 

One of my favorite social media sites is Vine. Vine allows users to post 6 second videos that loop for the world to see. Vine gives users the freedom to post whatever and be as funny or serious as possible. One feature Vine has for its users is the "explore" feature. Here viners can see different categories such as animals or comedy. 

My favorite category on Vine is the sports section. There are a wide wrong of sports clips that are posted during this section. Most post are of incredible catches, dunks or plays. On the other hand, you have clips that some players want to forget like Wilson's interception in the Super Bowl that cost the Seahawks the game. One really neat thing fans will do is post "throwback" plays. That allows us as sports fan to see old footage that had a major impact on our favorite sports organization or sport in general. 

Vine featured a special category for the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl draws millions of viewers every single year. Since social media is such a popular American trend, Vine had a special category just for football. Fans were able to engage with fellow football fans around the globe. Some popular vines were of bad lip readings, the fight at the end of the game, the insane catch made by Jermaine Kearese (vine 1 below) and the interception that lost the game for Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. The 6 second videos captured the best moments of the game. Fans also shared videos of the halftime show with Katy Perry, Missy Elliot and Lenny Kravitz. The most popular vine from the halftime show was the dancing sharks (Vine 2 below). 

https://vine.co/v/OFuA9X9DKMF

https://vine.co/v/Ot0EEWbi952