MSN / Fox Sports Fox News and Microsoft are collaborating on a sports offering in the Windows Media Center inclluded with Windows Vista.

Just what do sports writers do in the pressbox? What secret, inside information -- sports writing legends like Hughie Fullerton, who exposed baseball's 1919 World Series fix, called it "the dope" -- do sports writers possess that permits them to provide the brilliant insight that differentiates them from... well, from sports radio talk show callers?

Well, as it turns out, the secrets -- the scoop -- will always be the product of good reporting (Dave Smith of the Dallas Morning News said that the best reporters, not writers, made the best columnists). But when it comes down to background information, the same games notes and five-pound media guides are available online to anyone these days by simply accessing the team-of-choice's Web site. Maybe that's why sports talk is so ...enlightening?

The greatest toy show on earth, the Consumer Electronics Show is going on right now without most of us in Las Vegas. So far be it for me to make light of this sports nugget from Microsoft's Bill Gates and FOXSports. Among the extras to be included in the Microsoft Vista operating system's Windows Media Center will be SportLounge, a partnership with FOXSports.com that seamlessly combines live television coverage of games with real-time scores and online sports media.

As mainstream media and citizen journalism continue to overlap, anyone can be a sports writer, operating from the same visuals and set of facts. That's nothing new to me; my news editors always thought readers were equally capable and qualified sports editors!

SportLounge isn't the only feature in Vista that will create a level playing field, of course. Other Vista extras include DreamScene, a utility that allows users to play full-motion video -- all the better if you can make it up when your team is losing or simply playing poorly. (DreamScene demo via YouTube) Also, GroupShot is a photo-editing tool that enables you to combine the best aspects of two distinct photographs into one perfect shot. (GroupShot demo via YouTube) If you thought the picture of that touchdown catch was fantastic, then wait til you see ... MY SHOT!

It all seems like a perfect complement for a fantasy sports experience -- if you can differentiate it from the real thing. So who needs sports writers anyway!