Well, OK, it wasn’t on my TV, but the HBL.TV broadcast I watched last night between Flensburg and Hamburg on my computer monitor was indeed of TV quality. HBL.TV www.hbl.tv is the video streaming platform of the German Bundesliga and it’s definitely an improvement over previous video I’ve watched on my computer.

Using my own personal 1-10 scale, with a 1 being a 1970ish over air reception on a small Black and White TV and a 10 being an HDTV transmission on a big screen plasma set, I grade the experience as a 7. The picture was clear with no pixilation- By no means HD quality, but just as good as your standard TV set. The audio was clear, with an occasional dropout that didn’t effect the video. As I don’t know any German, this wasn’t a problem, however. Crowd atmosphere and whistles still could be heard. Bottom line: a “7” score is pretty good and is a significant upgrade from earlier experiences which were closer to a “3” for free EHF video in 2006 and a “5” for the World Championships video this past January.

As for why the quality has improved I would guess that it’s a combination of improved streaming technology as well as my willingness to pay for the maximum high speed line (10MB), which is a little more expensive, but worth it if you think that Internet TV is going to be your only handball viewing option for the near future. A few notes:

[b]How to setup your account[/b]: Well if you know a little German it’s going to be easier for you then it was for me. The site is entirely void of English and you’ll be sure to give the babelfish translator a workout: http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr. You first have to register on the site by entering the standard name, address and date of birth information. One tip on something that stumped me for several minutes: In the country drop down menu the United States is Vereinigte Staaten. Once you have your account registered you then have to purchase credits. You can buy the whole season for 54.99 Euros, but you might want to just purchase 1 game first to see if it works for you. The lowest credit that you can purchase is 5 Euros and a match costs 3 Euros. Another tip: you’ve got to buy the credit before you can actually buy a match.

[b]What to purchase:[/b] I recommend that you look for matches which feature 2 of the following 6 teams: Kiel, Flensburg, Hamburg, Gummersbach, Nordhorn, and Madgeburg. The rosters for these teams are loaded with top international players from around the world. That’s not to say that a team from the bottom half of the league won’t challenge these teams from time to time, but with limited time you might as well see the best teams play each other.

[b]The future: [/b] Well as I cracked open a beer and watched high level handball in the peace and quiet of the computer room I couldn’t help but think how this could be so much better. For starters, it would be nice to watch it on the big TV in the living room. English language commentary would be nice as well. How about a Champions League package for purchase? The good news is all of these things are coming and sooner that we all might think.

[b]Earlier Reviews of Handball Video Streaming:[/b]

EHF Champions League Video Review (March 2006): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.37
World Championship’s VideoSport Broadcast Review (Is it Worth the 19.99 Euros?)(January 2007): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.242
World Championship’s VideoSport Broadcast Review (Part 2): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.251

From my perspective, the USOC Open Hearing went pretty much as expected. Both sides were given ample opportunity to state their cases and take questions from the USOC and callers. I think it is safe to say that anyone listening in should have a pretty good sense as to each sides general philosophy.

The most revealing exchange to me, were the responses to the USOC’s question as to what happens if your organization is not selected. The UTHF said that they would fold up their tents and go away and the ATHA said that this was their passion and that they weren’t going anywhere. It’s safe to say that anyone who has put in time, money and sweat to try and build handball in the USA is going to be turned off by the UTHF response and sympathetic to the ATHA. I will give credit, however, to the UTHF’s honest answer as they could have sugar coated their response. Perhaps, the calculation though was to make sure the USOC understood that it was “now or never” if they wanted to get their funding and marketing expertise on board.

Also of note, I was somewhat surprised with the USOC’s assertion towards the end of the meeting that the ATHA staff management was not in place, implying that the UTHF management was well organized. While the UTHF has someone identified (Amir Haskic), I think that the ATHA could also find someone as capable to run day to day handball operations. Additionally, while a strong case can be made that Mr Krassner and Mr Esch could very well be a tremendous boon to USA Handball with their willingness to self-finance and use their existing business connections to find sponsors, I’m not sold at all on their expertise to run a non-profit sports federation. Business is business to a certain extent, but running Wilhemina modeling is one thing and being involved with team selections, anti-doping issues and organizing competitions is another thing entirely. And, in their own words, these guys are busy people doing a lot of different things. That being said, while I think the ATHA has made a strong case that they are ready to develop a strong grass roots program, I’m less convinced in their ability to step right in and run national team programs. In other words, either side will have a steep learning curve in that part of operations.

[b]What will the USOC decide? [/b]

The questions the USOC asked and their final closing remarks gives some hints. It’s pretty clear to me that the USOC sees complimentary strengths and weaknesses in both proposals and is practically telling both sides that they need to work together. Heck, they even forced them into a “Let’s Do Lunch” date at the USOC Training Center Cafeteria. What they would like to see is the potential marketing skill and financing of the UTHF proposal combined with the more coherent grassroots plan of the ATHA.

One compromise would be to adopt most of the better thought out ATHA plan and turn over the entire grassroots development (with the necessary funding fenced off) to the ATHA contingent. The badly needed marketing efforts would then be principally led by the UTHF contingent. The board structure would be comprised of the UTHF ($50,000) club plus some at-large members (ATHA Grassroots). National Team operations would need engagement from both contingents and some agreement would need to be brokered in this area. Of course, some will argue that this is simply heading down the road that been traveled before: trying to do to many things with limited resources. When push comes to shove a BoD is going to have decide where the money gets spent. And whoever’s in control will make that decision. Maybe the fundamental differences are too great and the desire for a controlling stake too strong for these sides to compromise and work together. Who knows? But a good faith effort should be made. Why, because as I see it, the USOC might select one of the two proposals, but only with a lot of hesitation. If the two proposals were somehow to merge, however, they would endorse that merged effort with enthusiasm.

Side point: Incidentally, there’s been some speculation that the USOC is biased towards the UTHF proposal. (And with the DITC deal already being signed and the DITC on board with the UTHF proposal there’s some legitimacy to that speculation.) While, I’m sure the USOC sees the dollar signs, many of the folks who work at the USOC are former athletes, some of them from lower profile sports. They know that the work that goes on at the grassroots level is vitally important and they also know how hard that work is. As such, when they see the UTHF proposal they undoubtedly remember the dedicated coach who taught them in some nondescript gym many years ago. Also, while they pay decent wages at the USOC, they don’t likely have $50K to throw around. So, bottom line: don’t necessarily infer which way the bias factor might play out.