Show HN: A Different Kind of Scoreboard

http://scoreboard.dpearson.me/

by dpearson • 14 years ago

23 31 14 years ago

scoreboard.dpearson.me

ddw• 14 years ago

Very cool. Where's the data come from?

dpearson11• 14 years ago

The raw game data comes from a scraper I wrote, but the summaries are generated by the same backend that I use for @NFLScoreBot and friends.

Skywing• 14 years ago

This is pretty neat. I think a minor tweak that makes it easier to glance at, and see the scores, would be to wrap the score in a span and style that span with a light colored background to make it stand out. Perhaps some light yellow-ish color. I like to use #fffeca for this, on a white background.

dpearson11• 14 years ago

Not a bad idea...it might be a tad tricky to implement though given that my backend spits out summaries as plain text. I'll try to implement it later.

josh_blum• 14 years ago

What were your reasons for not using jQuery? Not that everyone has to use it, but it seems your refresh.js script could have been reduced a fair amount using library functions. Just wondering if there was a specific reason you don't use it.

dpearson11• 14 years ago

I don't have any particular reason for not using jQuery; I'm just not a huge fan.

seanmccann• 14 years ago

I'm a bigger hockey fan than football but this format isn't very usable for me at the moment.

"Packers are up against the Bears, 21-13" is so much harder for me parse than "Packers 21 - 13 Bears". Perhaps you could show the score by the logos and identify the player names with their team (color?).

dpearson11• 14 years ago

I think I'd rather go with Skywing's suggestion of highlighting the scores rather than placing them next to the logos, although coloring player names (despite the same problems as highlighting scores) is something I should do.

As for hockey, I'll be adding it once the NHL lockout ends.

soulashell• 14 years ago

I think it would be good also to show who has possession.

dpearson11• 14 years ago

I forgot about possession when I was building this, but I will be adding it before next week's games.

tbjohns• 14 years ago

I like it. For me, the Twitter integration with @NFLScoreBot is the best part.

I'm sure there are a lot of issues getting video highlights on the site, but if that were somehow possible and you added a link in each tweet, it'd be something I follow and occasionally click on... i.e. a nice app.

dpearson11• 14 years ago

Video highlights as a link out would be possible (although I certainly couldn't embed them). Maybe I'll add a highlights link on mouse over, so as to keep it relatively uncluttered.

pseut5• 14 years ago

Edit: more seriously, I care about who won much more than rushing, etc. Bolding the score and winner would help a lot scanning, and pushing te scores to the beginning of the line would too.

Second edit: regretted and removed lame self promotion. Apologies.

salman89• 14 years ago

You must not play fantasy...

pseut5• 14 years ago

I don't. It makes a lot more sense now. Bold might be nice still

dpearson11• 14 years ago

The winner/leader has their logo shown above the team that's trailing, although I will add some highlighting of the final score.

pseut5• 14 years ago

That's a little subtle if you don't know to look for it. I'm on a iPhone, though. I don't know if there's a desktop version where it's more obvious.

joshuahornby2• 14 years ago

Any chance of a blog post on how this was made? the buts and bolts lets say. Been thinking about an idea like this for my beloved football (not soccer!!!)

dpearson11• 14 years ago

If you're asking about the backend (and how the summaries are generated), probably not, at least for now. The frontend, on the other hand, doesn't have much to it.

joshuahornby2• 14 years ago

Oh right ok shame. Would like to know more about the backend.

bstar773• 14 years ago

I think this is a really interesting idea (and a great start), but I'm quite positive that you will need NFL licensing. Knowing someone that worked for the nfl and nfl films for nearly a decade, they protect their IP to obscene levels. Employees of the NFL can actually get bonuses if they report you and you are successfully prosecuted. This is the one thing I really despise about the NFL, they need to get with the times.

Here's a good response from: http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/do-i-need-an-nfl-license-o...

"Scores and schedules can be reported without obtaining a license from the NFL or NBA---these are facts, and copyright law does not protect facts. But be careful here---you cannot do anything to suggest that your application is associated with, or endorsed by, the leagues or individual teams. And you can only make limited, "nominative" of team and player names. Don't use logos or team colors.

Further, when you show scores and schedules, you need to be careful that you do not copy the format or template that others use to report the same information. While facts are not protected, specific approaches to reporting and organizing facts may be protected. For example, copyright law covers the organization of box scores-----the USA Today baseball box scores are unique when compared to those published in the NY Times and other newspapers---and if the NY times started copying the format of the USA Today box score, USA today would have a good copyright infringement suit against the NY Times. You need to develop your own, unique way of presenting the scores and schedules---if you copy someone else's format or compilation of this information you can get into big trouble.

Also, you need to make sure that you retain counsel to retain a patent clearance before you launch your app---there are many patents that cover applications that purport to present factual information regarding sports----and if your application infringes such a patent you could face an expensive law suit.

Bottom line----you need to retain IP counsel to guide you through the creation of this application--failure to retain IP counsel would be a major mistake---and potential financial disaster."

pseut5• 14 years ago

I am not a lawyer but... I think that timeliness also comes into play with this sort of copyright. There may be different issues in live updates vs next day results.

bstar773• 14 years ago

The fact that he's not just reporting the scores, but using logos and mentioning the players is what I think could be a problem. The advise of consulting with an attorney is the safest route so at least there is some understanding of what the boundaries are.

dpearson11• 14 years ago

You have a point about logos, and I'll remove them if someone complains. The rest, though, I believe is unique enough (and I do disclaim affiliation/endorsement at the bottom).

Ultimately, this is a continuation of a school project, so I'll take it down if it's a problem.

bstar773• 14 years ago

Great project, and I would encourage to keep working on it, discouraging you is not my intention.

legutierr• 14 years ago

You may receive a "complaint" in the form of a cease-and-desist, or a lawsuit. Do you really want to take that risk? If you are hesitating it is probably because the logos make the app better--but that's the point! There is value in the logos and the right to benefit from that value is 100% the NFL's.

The app is awesome, though. I hope you're able to keep it going. I'd get rid of the logos now, though!

Kopion• 14 years ago

This is very cool. Do you intend to put this on GitHub?

dpearson11• 14 years ago

I might open source the frontend, but the code responsible for summary generation probably won't be released any time soon.

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