Anyone know hacks for internet sports viewing?

[Bob W]

So thanks to my MMM comrades here I bought a couple of Roku sticks and am now happily addicted to Netflix and TED talks.   We are cutting the cable cord in a few days.

I watched a sports game a year or so ago.  Australian football --- never really figured out the rules but man those Aussies are fit!  Needless to say, I am not a sports watcher. 

But my wife's son is a sports guy who visits us often on weekends.   He would also like to go the Roku route buy can't stop his sports addiction. 

So does anyone know how to get some good sports through the net?   I think I can get some local stations through Hulu Plus if I want to pay $10 per month.

So what is your trick for getting your sports fix through the net?

[The_Crustache]

theres a couple of websites you can pull up with a quick google search of "streaming sports broadcast" or something similar.

my neighbor uses a website called "sportslemon" or something like that. i can vouch for it; we've used it with success to watch NFL games.

the quality isn't always consistent, and theres lags, etc. also there are usually tons of popup ads and such. get an adblocker on your browser.

but it's free.

[arebelspy]

$20 for ESPN streaming is now offered by Dish.

Google "Sling TV ESPN".  $20/mo. I believe.

There are also ways to stream from overseas that are in the grey area of legality.

You can also just go to a local pub and enjoy the game, or to a friends' house.  Sports are more fun enjoyed together, IMO.

[wtjbatman]

There's no super legit way. There are several illegal and unreliable ways along with some half-assed measures like ESPN3/WatchESPN or Sling Box ESPN or CBS Sports/NBC Sports Online streaming, etc etc.

There's no service like Netflix where you can pay $8 a month and stream "sports". God I wish.

[randommadness]

For some of those more... gray... sites, ensure you download Ad-Block Plus (it's free) for whatever browser you use. A lot of sites have the thousand pop-up ads every time you try and utilize them.

Ad-Block also blocks annoying ads on YouTube.

[icek05]

With an antenna you can get Fox/CBS/NBC/ABC,  that will cover your local NFL team plus a couple other NFL games per week.  You'll also get several the major college football games of the week.  As others have said there are some different sites that are a little questionable but okay if you have a good Ad-block program and don't click on anything for 30 seconds at a time (they are really good at making ads look like a normal play button but the ads only last for 30 seconds).  Other options in the morally objectionable route include getting the log in info from someone you know and using their info on ESPN website.

My personal route is the antenna + feed2all website and using an older computer that I wouldn't miss too much if it crashes.

[Tyler]

It depends a bit on the sport. 

The last I checked, NFL Sunday Ticket is available streaming with a Playstation (no satellite subscription required).  And if you can wait, I believe they have a "rewind" option online where you can stream full games a day or two later for only like $40 a year. 

The NBA offers an online streaming option. I subscribe to Ballstreams, a European rebroadcast that is cheaper and more dependable than the US version (it's not sanctioned by the NBA, but still legal and has been around a while).  I'm not a hockey or baseball fan so am unsure about all of the options but I know they exist.

College football is tricky, as ESPN seems to have a monopoly on bowl games.  You can either sign up for the new Sling TV, borrow a login from a friend, or go to the various "gray-area" streaming sports sites on the web. 

I personally use the questionable sites and have had great success.  They have many more sports than you'd normally see (Premier league is cool, DW was even watching rugby and cricket recently).  I recommend Adblock as well as Chrome to control auto-play on flash plugins.  Most importantly, never download software to stream anything.  But plug it into a TV, and the quality is surprisingly good. 

[Hijinks]

I don't have cable, but my parents do. When tennis season comes around, I use their Time Warner password to log onto espn.go.com, and I can watch matches online. Sometimes the picture can get a tad grainy, but it's usually pretty good. I would only suggest this type of mooching with family and super close friends, though!

[Hvillian]

$20 for ESPN streaming is now offered by Dish.

Google "Sling TV ESPN".  $20/mo. I believe.

It looks like this is going to be a decent option and will be fully available in the next few weeks.  $20 includes ESPN, ESPN, TNT (which shows some sports) and some other channels.  Should work fine through your Roku.  Also, there is no contract, so if he has favorite sports, you could cancel it when they are not in season.  I also read that they may even add more sports channels for an additional fee, but if he is really into sports the extra $5-10 might be worth it depending on which sports channels are included.

[Bob W]

Thanks for the ideas folks!   I live in the boonies and don't have access to broadcast TV.   

I'm thinking that we are all spoiled now though since we went like 10 years without any cable and for 2 years only received PBS on the antenna.  I'm thinking that since this isn't even a remote desire of mine to watch sports that the son may just have to suck it up when he visits.   

Perhaps we can play a pick up game on the driveway with the youngsters instead. 

[Stlbroke]

Firstrowsports
Vipbox.tv

Quality isn't great, there are a lot of pop ups, but they get the job done.  After you find the game you want you may have to try a couple different links to find one that works.

If on an ipad, Safari will not work for these.  You have to download a different browser