Blog
Is ESPN+ worth it for sports? Where this fall's good games aired
We sorted 4,247 finished games from September to mid-November by the network they were listed on and counted how many were worth watching on each.
When to turn the game on: the last 5 minutes, sport by sport
We checked when 789 of this fall's best games peaked. In most sports it was the last five minutes. Here's when to turn each one on if you only want the end.
The October games you'd have skipped
Twelve October games that looked forgettable before they started and became some of the best of the month, from a Penguins collapse to Fleetwood beating Arsenal.
The most watchable NFL teams so far this season
All 32 NFL teams ranked by how often their games were worth watching, from the Sept. 9 opener through Nov. 9. The Giants lead; the Dolphins are last.
The most watchable NBA teams so far this season
All 30 NBA teams ranked by how often their games were worth watching, from opening night on Oct. 20 through Nov. 10. The 76ers and Hawks share the lead; the Kings, Wizards and Bulls have yet to put one on the list.
The most watchable college football teams so far this season
The college football teams whose games were most often worth watching, Aug. 29 through Nov. 10. Oregon and Texas lead; 31 teams have none.
How to watch the Premier League without spoilers
Premier League matches kick off while most of the US is asleep or busy. Where results leak before you hit play, and how to switch off each one.
How to watch the NBA without spoilers
West Coast tips at 10pm ET mean a lot of NBA gets watched the next morning. Where NBA results leak before you press play, and how to turn each leak off.
How to watch NFL games without spoilers
Sunday has three NFL windows and your fantasy app knows every touchdown. Where NFL results leak before you press play, and how to switch each one off.
How to watch F1 without spoilers
Las Vegas starts at 11pm ET on a Saturday, so most US fans watch the next day. Where F1 results leak on your phone and TV, and how to shut each one off.
How the NHL playoff format works: divisions, wild cards, tiebreakers
Sixteen teams, a division-based bracket, two wild cards per conference and four best-of-seven rounds. How the NHL playoffs work and how ties are broken.
How the NFL playoff picture works: seeding, tiebreakers, clinching
How 14 teams make the NFL playoffs, why only the 1 seed gets a bye, the official tiebreaker order, and what clinched, eliminated and in the hunt mean.
How the 2026 NBA Cup works, and which group games decide it
The NBA Cup in plain terms: groups, Cup Nights, wild cards, why point differential makes late blowout minutes count, and the group games worth watching.
How the NASCAR playoffs work: the Chase format explained
How the NASCAR Cup Series Chase works: 16 drivers, a points reset, 10 races with no eliminations, and a champion decided on points at Homestead.
How the 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs work, and which games to watch
Eighteen teams, a best-of-three first round, then single games to a Friday final on Dec. 18. How the 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs work and where the drama sits.
How the MLB postseason works: 12 teams, byes and tiebreakers
Baseball's 12-team postseason explained: seeding, first-round byes, the Wild Card Series, home field, tiebreakers, and the best games of October 2026.
How the F1 championship is decided: points, ties and clinching
How Formula 1 points work, the drivers' and constructors' titles, the countback tie-break, and how a title gets clinched with races still left to run.
How the 2026-27 College Football Playoff works
The 12-team College Football Playoff for 2026-27: who gets in, how seeds and byes work, every date, and which late-season games move the bracket.
How the Champions League league phase works in 2026-27
One 36-team table, eight games each, three ways out. Who goes to the last 16, who plays the February play-off, who's out, and why January matters most.
How the 2026 ATP Finals work, and why "dead" matches still matter
Eight players, two groups, one week in Turin. How the 2026 ATP Finals round robin works, who advances, and why a match with nothing on it can still matter.
How March Madness teams are picked, and what changes in 2027
The 2027 NCAA tournament grows to 76 teams. How automatic bids, at-large picks, the NET and seeding work, and which games matter before Selection Sunday.
Do national TV games deliver? What 1,600 games say
We checked every NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and college football game since September 1 to see how often the national TV game was actually the best one.
The best night of the week for sports, by the numbers
We sorted every finished game since September 1 by weekday. Sunday has the best hit rate, Saturday has the most good games, and Monday trails both.
The best games of October 2026
The ten most watchable games of October 2026 across every sport, from a 12-inning World Series walk-off to a WNBA Finals Game 7, plus the best of the rest.
Xcode 27 silently drops your camera usage string
Xcode 27 rewrote my Info.plist and deleted NSCameraUsageDescription. Nothing failed. Here is how to check the built plist and make the key stick.
One mistyped field hid a third of the games
A server sent a number where my Swift model expected a string. Codable threw, rows vanished without an error, and whole sports disappeared from the app.
A Live Activity that switches itself to the best game
Making push-to-start Live Activities work in production: a missing alert, a burned budget, a stale-date trap, lost tokens, and a card that switches games.
Keeping the score off every screen: building Hide Scores
A spoiler mode only works if it holds on every screen. How I built Hide Scores for the app, lock screen, alerts, widgets and Siri, and the leaks I closed.
How a one-person app gets found by AI assistants
Each AI assistant searches a different index. What I learned trying to get a solo iPhone app named by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
Rebuilding my sports alerts to read like a friend texting you
My game alerts arrived in bursts and read like a scoreboard. Here is how I rebuilt them to be few, well-timed and written like a person telling you why.