Mobile Football Madness: Best Apps For The Gridiron
College football season is in the first quarter and the NFL season about to kickoff. Take your football experience mobile this fall by arming yourself with the best mobile apps for following your team, be it fantasy or real, and staying in the game no matter where you roam. Here's 20 of the best.
The TV network's free iPhone/iPod Touch, Android, and BlackBerry apps, developed by CBS Interactive, deliver live NFL scores and stats, play-by-play and breaking news combined with standings, videos and commentary from CBSSports.com experts and pundits. That's perfect for keeping track of your NFL team, but the apps also offer tools for fantasy football devotees, allowing you to set lineups and add or drop players instantly.
After a summer of anticipation, training camp reports, recruiting scandals, endless pre-season games and the annual Brett Favre will he-won't he announcement, football season is at long last upon us. With mobile apps now mainstream, the football experience extends well beyond the stadium, sports bar or couch -- the game comes with you wherever you are. For hardcore fans, this is nirvana! You can keep tabs on the latest injury reports and recruiting rumors while watching video of your team at the same time you're listening to your college fight song, tweaking your fantasy lineup and picking out a seat in the stadium for next weekend while placing an order for a giant foam finger. And if someone calls, don't worry; you've got your team ringtone ready to roll. From Death Valley to The Big House, Texas Stadium to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, are you ready for some football? It's kickoff time.
Available in free and paid versions for iPhone/iPod Touch, Android and BlackBerry, the Plusmo app offers live play-by-play and real-time push updates for top rated teams or a personalized dashboard of teams. There's a social component as well with a "Boo" or "Cheer" feature during live play and a "smack talk" discussion area along with the scores, stats, polls, schedules, news and other vital data along with AP photos.
When it comes to sports highlights, ESPN is the marquee stage. The free ESPN Scorecenter iPhone/iPod Touch and Android apps (paid version available for the iPad), skip the pithy catch phrases in favor of up-to-the-minute updates for NFL and college football (and other major sports too). The push scoring alerts ensure you never miss a touchdown -- if you see it on the ESPN ticker, it's on your phone -- and setting up the MyTeams card allow for easy tracking of your favorite teams.
First the disclaimer: this is not the same Madden experience as you get from a console. Then again, try slipping an Xbox 360 into your pocket. Available for iPhone/iPod Touch ($7.99), iPad ($12.99) and BlackBerry ($6.99), the 2010 edition of the Big John's eponymous game has the expected annual refresh, complete with Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees shouldering this year's Madden curse. It's loaded with features (a streamlined version would be an improvement given the screen real estate) and the perfect diversion when you're ready to get off the sidelines and get into the game. And EA also offers NCAA Football for the iPhone/iPod Touch ($6.99), if college pigskin is more your game.
Keeping tabs on the latest line, doubling down on your favorite team or setting up a parlay can take time and the clock always counting down to kickoff, you can't afford any confusion. Enter the iBet NFL 2010 iPhone/iPod Touch (Lite version free, $9.99 for full feature set) app from iBet Sports Apps. It will track your wagers, your wins and losses, open bets, betting history and even model best case and worst-case scenarios for you. It won't place bets for you though, but just about everything else.
Forget face painting and alumni hoodies, hardcore fans can pimp out their iPhone or iPod Touch with officially licensed college wallpapers from the school of their choice. The $1.99 app from Smartphones Technologies allows four downloadable wallpapers from a collection of more than 2,000 logos, football actions shots, cheerleaders, mascots, marching bands and even stadiums.
Fantasy football fans know that mastery of stats is crucial to victory and this Android app ($0.99) from BuboWare makes it easy. The cheat sheet pulls data directly from ESPN for the top 200 players in the league and then you can peruse the rankings by position with a few taps on your phone so your team is always top of the heap.
The venerable paper of record for American sports offers free mobile apps for both Android and iPhone/iPod Touch developed by Zumobi Network. There's the expected scores, stats and fantasy tracking that you can get from other providers, but what sets it apart is the exclusive analysis from the Sporting News blogs and podcasts that offer the nuance and commentary hard-core fans demand. The only thing missing is video.
With your favorite NFL team, you have a choice of apps. For the Green Bay Packers alone, there are 10 iPhone/iPod Touch apps (from free to $2.99), 10 Android app (again, from free to $2.99) and even one for BlackBerry ($5.99). The reality is those most of these load up your phone with themes, audio, video, games and wallpapers that pimp out your phone for your team and that's where they stop. A notable exception is Green Bay Packers Football Fan News for the iPhone ($1.99). The Yuan Ventures app, despite the predictable obsession with all things Favre, delivers live scores, schedules, standings, roster updates, photos and RSS feeds of Packer news from most notable outlets to keep any cheese head in the loop.
Chock full of options for the hard-core college football fan, the Tom Klimek iPhone/iPod Touch app ($0.99) delivers schedules, stats and more for all 120 Division1-A college football teams. Review schedules by team, by conference or by day and peruse current rankings or even schedules and scores from the 2009 season. Planning a road trip for the big game? This app gives you detailed stadium seating charts. What the app won't give you is live score and updates (next day only) making this more a reference app than a game day dashboard.
Championships are made on draft day and that's doubly true for fantasy football aficionados. The free Draft Analyzer iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad apps, paired with the paid web and desktop clients from Advanced Sports Media, provide the mobile component of a draft day war room your fantasy opponents will fear. The richness of the data is the hook for this app, which pulls data from all the major sources and offer recommendations on picks, mock draft worksheets and personalized picks from the Draft Analyzer experts.
Marching bands are longtime staples of fall Saturday afternoons and whether it's dotting the I at the Horseshoe in Columbus or goose-stepping with the cadets in College Station, a fight song is something special. The free iPhone/iPod Touch app from Smartphones Technologies connects fans with the official fight song for their school performed by the marching band or pep band, which can be downloaded to iTunes (costs vary by song).
Paper football -- yes that game you once played in the school cafeteria -- is the ideal diversion to break up the tedium of an extended instant replay review or a carry you through those endless TV timeouts. A free iPhone/iPod Touch app (though you can buck up $0.99 for the signature edition) from JIRBO makes you the kicker for the crucial last minute field goal, but with multiplayer options so you're not the only once getting iced.
If you want smash mounth college football, look no further than the SEC, home to the last four national champions. Fittingly, the ascendant football conference has myriad mobile apps for keeping tabs on the clash between Florida's Urban Meyer and Alabama's Nick Saban. The $1.99 Android App from R. Stephens offers rosters and schedules for all 12 teams along with alerts and links to news. The SEC Football Edition for My Pocket Schedules for iPhone/iPod Touch (free for LITE, $0.99 for full features) from SilverTree Technology offers the same functionality, with more refined graphics and is also available for Big 10, Big East, Big 12, ACC, WAC and Big West conferences.
For any exasperated football fan who has dealt with a spouse, child or foreign visitor who's baffled by American Football, help has arrived. The $2.99 BlackBerry app from Incelligence explains officiating complete with penalties and diagrams, a 300+-term glossary of football terminology and an in-depth history of every NFL team. "I dunno" won't cut it next time someone asks you to explain why the ground can't cause a fumble or what exactly a "football move" is.
As with NFL teams, just about every major college football team has its own app. Some produced by the university cover all sports (want updates on the fencing team?) and others by independent developers are sport specific. For the crazed fans of Big Red, the Huskers Football Clocks & News Android app ($0.99) from Shot doesn't stop with the latest scores, Tom Osborne rumors and insights on what Bo Pellini had for lunch. No, it will take over your entire phone from a cheer center with the fight song, an air horn and two custom clock widgets so it's always Husker time.
The NFL (or No Fun League, as some players call it) has banned players from using Twitter immediately before and after, not to mention during, games. But Commissioner Roger Goodell's nemesis, the NFL Players Association, has embraced the micro-blogging service and offers a free iPhone/iPod Touch App to track players tweets. So not only can you keep pace with the latest from Chad Ochocinco, but you can also check and update your own Twitter account while you're at it.
Love it or hate it, the Bowl Championship Series is the path to the mythical national championship. Sure, you can drive yourself nuts reviewing the AP, USA Today, Fox Sports and every other poll, but that's all smoke and mirrors -- the BCS rankings are what count. This iPhone/iPod Touch app ($0.99) from Jeff Huxen puts all those other polls right on your phone, and (starting week 5 when the BCS kicks into gear) updates each Sunday with the latest BCS rankings (as well as those other polls) and tracks bowl matchups when bids are announced for all bowl games (not just BCS bowls).
Whether its a few bucks in the office pool or regular trips to a bookie, gambling is part of football -- it's not just did your team win, but did they cover the spread. And with the new free Leroy's app for BlackBerry users on Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile, American Wagering has made it easy to place your bits with a few taps or clicks. Though approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, there's a caveat -- and it's a big one -- the app is certified only for users in Nevada. Support for more carriers and an app for the iPhone are in the works.
DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers get every NFL game every week -- league-mandated blackouts aside --but that requires a long time on the couch every Sunday. When you do need to wander further than the bathroom (or even then), the free DirecTV app (though you must be a Sunday Ticket subscriber) available for iPhone/iPod Touch, Android and Blackberry puts the action right on your phone -- every game, every play. It also offers real time player and team stats, highlights from all Sunday Ticket games and a Red Zone channel so you can watch the final yards of every single scoring drive.
DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers get every NFL game every week -- league-mandated blackouts aside --but that requires a long time on the couch every Sunday. When you do need to wander further than the bathroom (or even then), the free DirecTV app (though you must be a Sunday Ticket subscriber) available for iPhone/iPod Touch, Android and Blackberry puts the action right on your phone -- every game, every play. It also offers real time player and team stats, highlights from all Sunday Ticket games and a Red Zone channel so you can watch the final yards of every single scoring drive.
The TV network's free iPhone/iPod Touch, Android, and BlackBerry apps, developed by CBS Interactive, deliver live NFL scores and stats, play-by-play and breaking news combined with standings, videos and commentary from CBSSports.com experts and pundits. That's perfect for keeping track of your NFL team, but the apps also offer tools for fantasy football devotees, allowing you to set lineups and add or drop players instantly.
After a summer of anticipation, training camp reports, recruiting scandals, endless pre-season games and the annual Brett Favre will he-won't he announcement, football season is at long last upon us. With mobile apps now mainstream, the football experience extends well beyond the stadium, sports bar or couch -- the game comes with you wherever you are. For hardcore fans, this is nirvana! You can keep tabs on the latest injury reports and recruiting rumors while watching video of your team at the same time you're listening to your college fight song, tweaking your fantasy lineup and picking out a seat in the stadium for next weekend while placing an order for a giant foam finger. And if someone calls, don't worry; you've got your team ringtone ready to roll. From Death Valley to The Big House, Texas Stadium to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, are you ready for some football? It's kickoff time.
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