OT: T-Mobile users can sign up for MLBTV and 1 year of the Athletic for free starting today
Title pretty much says it all. If you are a T-Mobile customer (and Sprint, though I think everyone has officially been merged by now), you can sign up for MLBTV and get a 1-year subscription to The Athletic, all for free.
You will need the T-Mobile Tuesdays app on your phone to get redemption codes, but it's pretty straightforward once you have that.
The MLBTV promotion is one that T-Mobile has run for a number of years now. The free Athletic subscription is new though, and I am excited to try that out for the first time.
Signed up first thing this morning! I'm excited to give the Athletic a shot. Any suggestions from others out there on who the best reads are would be appreciated!
Writer recommendations are probably going to vary widely by the teams and sports that most interest you, but some of the best are Ken Rosenthal for MLB, Michael Russo for hockey (MN Wild), Faux Pelini and Seth Emerson (UGA) for college football, Shams Charania for the NBA.
There's also the usual suspects for UM, like Quinn and Baumgardner, and a few stellar Michigan Daily alumnae, like Joe Smith (TB Lightning) and Nicole Auerbach.
Cody Stavenhagen has gotten a lot better on the Tigers beat since switching from UM football. (i'm not really a fan of the current guy on the latter, Austin Meek). Max Bultman for the Red Wings and James Edwards for the Pistons are both above average. Chris Burke for the Lions is really good.
There are also some general assignment feature writers out there that do some great work, like Katie Strang, who tackles abuse in sports better than anyone I've ever read.
My suggestion is just to sample a cross section for a few weeks, starting with the most popular features (that are highlighted and updated regularly). Generally speaking, I feel the subscription is well worth the money, because 1) no ads, and 2) some of the oral history stuff is really, really good. There was one about the time the San Diego Chargers formed a beer league softball team that was easily the most entertaining story I've read since signing up.
Thanks for the overview!
to add, Chantel Jennings just announced today she's back with The Athletic covering Women's Hoops, WNBA.
Oh, and both promotions expire on August 4th.
Be careful for the auto-renewal of The Athletic once your free year is over.
Yeah, don't want to accidentally pay for a high-quality service that's been provided to you for a year for free...
You are exactly right... I don't want to PAY for this service once my FREE membership is up. But I'll gladly enjoy my FREE year.
I think what the little bug said had a silent "/s"...
lol, relax... you made it sound like they were trying to swindle people by secretly charging them for a service after their free trial had expired. I recall The Athletic sending me a very clear notification that my trial was about to expire and letting me know I was about to be charged.
Sorry dude. All good.
LPT for that, if you have one, use a pre-paid debit card (like one you get as a refund/reward) to sign up. Even if it's empty, as long as it isn't expired it works and the transaction will just be denied.
The MLB.tv promotion has been my favorite one of the year. I don't have T-Mobile, but I can usually find people who set up accounts, then sell them off on eBay for $15.
So if there is anyone who is not going to use their MLB.tv perk, HMU.
T-Mobile has done this the last 4 or 5 years (free MLB.tv). It's glorious!
I wished they would do that with European soccer.
Anyway, if you want my code...
Thanks for this. T-mobile usually only offers free Whoppers.
Thanks for the info. I wonder how strict/wide the "in-market" regional blackouts are. Although I think you get around those with cable TV log-ins?
I think they have the blackout regions posted online somewhere. It's been a while since I looked. If you are seriously concerned about it, then you should look into it as the zones don't always make sense.
I can remember one time visiting family in NC, and wanting to watch the Tigers play the Orioles. Ended up not being able to, because Baltimore was considered in the blackout region for NC.
Thanks for the heads up! This makes an otherwise shitty day slightly less shitty. Can't wait to watch the Tigers tank their way to selecting Kumar Rocker!
I have to say, the future is bright for the Tigers. I like the decisions Avila has been making. Probably still another 2-3 years before these top prospects are MLB ready and contributing, but watch out once that happens. Best case is that the current roadmap puts on a similar trajectory to the Astros over the past 6-7 years.
Completely agree that the future is bright for the Tigers. Even with the Tigers being terrible, I enjoy watching the young players. The rotation should be fun to watch this season and it seems likely the Mize will get some time in the majors this year.
It would also be nice to see Miggy have a rebound season. We always hear about how much better shape he’s in every offseason but he legit looks way healthier now than I can remember him ever looking in his days with the Tigers.