Presenting ... T h e S p o r t s M A C h i n e America's Premier Sports Bulletin Board Service! The SportsMAChine is a new, public bulletin board system for sports fans all over America. It's a forum for you, the sports fan, to exchange information, opinions, and public domain software/shareware with fans everywhere (and maybe some stars too). And it's so easy to join. The SportsMAChine is hosting an open house beginning Tuesday, November 25th at 10 a.m. CST and running continuously until midnight Sunday, November 30th. Call in anytime during our open house and enjoy full Partnership privileges for free! (Because of the anticipated competition for connect time, guests will be limited to 30 minutes access per call during the open house.) At 10 a.m. CST on Monday, December 1st, The SportsMAChine begins normal operation. Visitors are welcome! For 30 minutes, visitors may tour the system, browse through our Message Centers, read important information on our Bulletin Board, and examine our data and software libraries on-line, including complete information on GTE Telenet's money-saving PC Pursuit program! For the serious sports fan who wants to become a member ("Partner"), a nominal monthly fee allows you to have full, unrestricted access to all areas of the system. Partners may post messages at our Message Centers, send and receive mail through The SportsMAChine Post Office, and upload and download articles and public domain/shareware programs and utilities for the use of their fellow Partners! (Partnership information is available on-line.) Plans are already being made for expansion of the system. But the only way you'll find out what The SportsMAChine is like is to visit us during our open house! Converse with other guests and upload and download files to your heart's content for six full days. Then decide for yourself. If you're serious about sports, The SportsMAChine's for you! Here are things you'll need to know: The SportsMAChine's telephone number is (713)847-2121. The SportsMAChine's terminal settings are 300 or 1200 baud, eight bits, no parity, one stop bit. Set your terminal to full duplex. The SportsMAChine will operate continuously during the Open House hours stated above, and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, during normal operation (excepting normal maintenance down-time). The SportsMAChine is compatible with all terminals using a simple TTY mode. Control commands and backspace are recognized. Also, software for all major types of computer should be transferable to and from the system. XMODEM is used, and MacBinary is supported. At log-on, The SportsMAChine will ask you for your first and last name, your city and state, and a password between 5 and 8 letters long. You will then be asked some questions to set the system up for your terminal. The password and the terminal configuration may be changed on-line. During the open house, please feel free to post all the messages and upload all the files (for any make of computer) you wish. (If not public domain or shareware, please leave information on how to contact the program's author through The SportsMAChine Post Office.) Membership fees may be waived if, in the SysOp's opinion, the user is making a significant contribution to the system. Present or former professional athletes, sports executives, and sports broadcasters may be entitled to free membership. Please write to the SysOp through The SportsMAChine Post Office for details, and tell us how we may contact you.