And no matter where you live or travel, Knarr says, the place to start is VeloNews interactive (www.velonews.com), the online version of VeloNews, "the journal of competitive cycling." The site covers professional and amateur road- and mountain-bike races, listings of regional training races, advice on repairing and tuning your bike, and more.
Coordinates: Not available
Team Player: Sports isn't just fun and games. It's also serious business. That's why Marci Grebstein, 35, vice president of media and sports marketing for Staples, turns to the Web as part of her job. What events should Staples sponsor? What sports personalities should the office-supply giant work with to develop promotions? What new sports should the company consider sponsoring? For Grebstein, answering those questions means visiting the Web.
Game Plan: The reason why Staples -- and Grebstein -- got into sports marketing was to find a new vehicle for reaching its target customers: time-starved small-business owners. "If you've started a business and you've poured your time, effort, and hard-earned cash into it, you're very careful about how you spend your free time," she explains. Lots of small-business people spend their free time on sports. "Getting involved in sports was a way for us to reach our customers -- who don't do much TV watching or newspaper reading -- in a relaxed environment."
But Grebstein couldn't relax. A casual sports fan, she had to get educated quickly. "Before I came to Staples," she says, "I would look at the front page of the sports section and maybe scan a few other articles. Now I go online. It's a fast and easy way to get the information I need."
Keep Your Head in the Game: First thing every morning, when Grebstein gets into work, she checks the major sports sites, including ESPN.com (www.espn.com) and CBS SportsLine (www.cbssportsline.com), for the scores of the previous night's games. Grebstein also uses the Net to research sports personalities. Recently, for example, she used the Web to learn about the major sports figures in Detroit. And it turns out that Detroit loves Steve Yzerman, the star of the Stanley Cup-winning Detroit Red Wings. So Grebstein put together a promotion called "This Is My Office." The premise: "Take your office to Steve Yzerman's office." Companies competed to win game tickets, limousine transportation to the game, and a visit from Yzerman.
The Web also helps Grebstein get up to speed on sports that she knows little about. Her latest interest: auto racing. She uses the Web to learn about the hot teams and the hot drivers -- and about who's advertising and who's watching. "The Web," says Grebstein, "is a great tool for educating myself quickly."
Coordinates: Marci Grebstein, marci.grebstein@staples.com
Charles Davis (cdavis@fastcomompany.c) is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. He's also Fast Company's research editor. Gina Imperato (gimperato@fastcompany.com) is a New York Giants fan. She's also an associate editor at Fast Company.
Most sports coverage on the Net takes the form of drab box scores and game summaries. Praja Inc. has devised a service that breathes new life into an old format -- by allowing users to create their own highlight shows. ActionSnaps! offers play-by-play video, up-to-the-minute statistics, and game summaries. Want to revel in a winning touchdown drive?
Replay it as many times as you'd like. Want to second-guess a coach's play calling? Check out the site's interactive drive charts. To date, ActionSnaps! has covered only college football. But it plans to expand its coverage to include basketball, soccer, and cricket. Let's go to the (virtual) videotape!
Coordinates: www.praja.com
The Web is a window onto a wide world of sports. But if you really want to understand a particular team, nothing beats the sports pages of that team's local newspaper. Sportspages.com links to hundreds of newspaper sports pages, arranged by region. The niftiest feature is the "Daily Link Service." For $35 per year, you get access to the best journalism on the biggest sports stories from around the country.
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