It may not have a catchy name, but mid-April to mid-May is at the top of my favorite sports “months” of the year. With the NHL Playoffs starting off in style last night, the NBA starting its playoff push on Saturday, and the MLB season in full swing, there are a slew of games each and every day.

Standing against that backdrop of joy makes it that much harder for me to break the following news:

The Sports Ticker that we know and love is dead.

Never to be faulted for effort, that reliable friend seen everywhere from our living room TV to our favorite smartphone app, had dutifully churned through each and every score of the day for decades. Sure, it took up room on your beautiful new flat-screen even when you didn’t need it, and sure, if you missed the actual game you’re looking for it was another 12 minutes before you realized you just missed it again, and sure…well, you get the point.

The cause of death is still being speculated, but the culprit has been confirmed.


I’m thrilled to introduce the Are You Watching This?! Game Tracker, the new application that revolutionizes sports fan multi-tasking. At a glance you can easily track dozens of games at a time, and with built-in TV listings and the ability to rewind individual games back in time (drag the dot), or rewind the whole tracker back in time (click the date), it’s Christmas in April for the Superfan.

Today we’re launching as an embeddable widget, a historic excitement viewer (check out Butler vs. Florida or what a No-Hitter lost in the 8th looks like), and in our featured sports Chrome Web App.

Congrats to Ashley, Angus, and gun.cho. Each wins their choice of a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate, or a RUWT? t-shirt made by yours truly. Extra respect to Ashley for winning the topping everyone–she’ll have 10 roots until we crown next year’s champ!

Ashley	Angus	gun.cho

If the players can’t even stay awake, how could we? But there’s good news, everybody. The main course is just a few hours away, and we have two special entrees on the way.

Watch Games Live!
As we’ve been doing since 2007, links to a live stream for each and every Men’s College Basketball game will be available via CBS MMOD. Just click on any game, and hop on the video link for live streaming goodness.

Who You Got? Challenge
Back by popular demand, we’re running another Who You Got? Challenge! Correct picks for each game of the Tourney earns you points, and the most points wins. Up for grabs will be an Amazon Gift Card and those world-famous, handmade RUWT?! T-shirts. More info to come, but start picking now!

Starting next year, EVERY game of March Madness will be broadcast live on TV.

Beginning next year, every game through the second round will be shown nationally on the four networks. CBS and Turner, an entity of Time Warner Inc., will split coverage of the regional semifinal games, while CBS will retain coverage of the regional finals, the Final Four and the championship game through 2015. (more)

The Connecticut/Syracuse game set a new record for roots last night in a game that was absolutely epic. That word is overused a lot these days, but in this situation it’s an understatement.

There is no better of example of why this technology exists than the unreal fun of screaming at my TV as the players willed their way into overtime after overtime. For your sake, if you’re reading this, I sure hope RUWTbot had your back last night.

update: the game is being replayed on ESPN Classic if you can find a tv…

Fresh off of a 10-3, rolling through the playoffs to win it all performance in my NFL Fantasy league last year, I put up a big stinker in 2008. I’ll finish under-.500, miss the playoffs, and I’m still blaming Eli and the Giants D for costing me a must-win back in Week 6.

And just as a side-note, you shot yourself Plax? Really? Really?!?

Anyways, without Fantasy to keep me occupied my productivity on Sundays is threatening to skyrocket, and I just can’t have that. So to keep things interesting I’m dipping my toe into the world of BetUS.com, out first NFL sport sponsor at areyouwatchingthis.com. I’m a sportsbook n00b, but I figure this is a great way to add some spice to the rest of the regular season. This week? I’m liking the Colts giving 6½ at the Browns.

This should be fun.

Are you looking to reach the most passionate sports fans? Start advertising on RUWT? Sports today!

After calculating the bonus points for picking correct Final Four games, much congrats to the top 5 users bigsexy, senorpepr, alamowx, lpickrell, and Militia who’ll each be getting a high quality (and handmade!) RUWT? T-shirt.

		Correct Picks	Bonus Points	Total Points
	bigsexy	50	1	51
	senorpepr	49	2	51
	alamowx	47	2	49
	lpickrell	47	-	47
	Militia	46	1	47
	DDrake	45	-	45
	sparticis	44	1	45
	BIGDAWG	44	1	45
	McTool	44	1	45
	bigbelly	44	1	45
	Nuno	43	-	43
	colguy	42	1	43
	SuketoKetchi	42	-	42
	shopgirl	42	-	42
	bouch	41	1	42
	anorexicivan	41	-	41
	jemurray	41	-	41
	kosukeson	41	-	41
	SOLRAC	40	1	41
	OICU812	39	1	40
	flynnwt	39	1	40
	coolguy	39	-	39
	mark	38	1	39
	jo36	38	1	39
	FRUITCAKE	36	1	37
	klong3	36	-	36
	FOOTBALL	35	1	36
	virgilm	34	-	34
	razor	32	-	32
	Dodge298	31	-	31
	SUPERMAN	30	-	30
	Pizznerkins	30	-	30
	Heavymeddler	30	-	30
	redsoxfan2133	28	-	28
	DaSaintFan	27	-	27
	mrman226	24	3	27
	mack788	24	-	24
	RubberSoul	24	-	24
	cos5000	24	-	24
	Pasta2000	24	-	24
	420fire	23	-	23
	katieb	21	2	23
	KNOWLEDGE	22	-	22
	QUICKPICK	20	-	20
	creede1	19	-	19
	marcman9	17	-	17
	Brother	17	-	17
	LionO	17	-	17
	bones	16	-	16
	dalai	16	-	16

So it looks like I fatfingered my SQL query for the Pick-em’ Challenge’s latest update. My bad.

The leaderboard is fixed now.

I think I’m still in mourning that Curry and Co. couldn’t continue the run, but I’m holding out hope that top seeds will make the Final Four more exciting. Eh. I’m skeptical.

3 games left, and they all count for double points. Get those picks in!

Member		Correct Picks
	bigsexy	49
	senorpepr	47
	lpickrell	47
	Militia	45
	DDrake	45
	alamowx	45
	BIGDAWG	43
	sparticis	43
	McTool	43
	bigbelly	43
	Nuno	43
	SuketoKetchi	42
	shopgirl	42
	colguy	41
	jemurray	41
	anorexicivan	41
	kosukeson	41
	bouch	40
	SOLRAC	39
	coolguy	39
	OICU812	38
	flynnwt	38
	mark	37
	jo36	37
	klong3	36
	FRUITCAKE	35
	FOOTBALL	34
	virgilm	34
	razor	32
	Dodge298	31
	SUPERMAN	30
	Heavymeddler	30
	Pizznerkins	30
	redsoxfan2133	28
	DaSaintFan	27
	RubberSoul	24
	cos5000	24
	Pasta2000	24
	mack788	24
	420fire	23
	KNOWLEDGE	22
	mrman226	21
	QUICKPICK	20
	katieb	19
	creede1	19
	Brother	17
	marcman9	17
	LionO	17
	bones	16
	schin101	16

RUWT? is first and foremost a sports site, but the integration with TV listings is what makes it really special. Katieb IMed me this morning asking if I knew when the Elite 8 games were this weekend. I thought a quick jaunt over to Google would solve it, but no dice—everywhere listed dates but not times. And that’s when having TV listings nearby helps.

If you go to http://areyouwatchingthis.com/tv/stations, you’ll see a list of every station you get. Then just click on channel you’re wondering about and you’ll get a schedule for everything sports for the next two weeks. Bitchin’.

Oh yeah. And she lives in Hawaii. Don’t wake up at 8a to watch basketball on Sunday or you’ll be really disappointed.