Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) today notified my friends and I that the time we spent last night on our fantasy football draft was wasted because of server problems. Excuse me?

How can Yahoo not have enough server capacity to accommodate the scores of fantasty drafts that happened last night? It's not like Yahoo hasn't done this before or that this weekend's start of the football season is a closely guarded secret.

"We have fixed the issues that caused the problems and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused you," the company said in an email. It set up a new draft for my league for this evening. I'm not sure my friends and I are going to bother.

This could have serious problems for the Internet portal. People who play fantasy football are desireable to advertisers since they stay on Web sites for long stretches of times while they live out their NFL dreams. That means that they are more likely to notice advertisements.

As it faces growing competition from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and everyone else under the sun, Yahoo can't afford to anger its loyal users particularly for popular features such as fantasy football users. Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) ESPN, Time Warner Inc's (NYSE: TWX) AOL and News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox Sports are bound to benefit from Yahoo's misstep.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell along with ad sales executives who sell TV commercial time on football games must be rejoicing that disgraced Atlanta Falcolns quarterback Michael Vick is pleading guilty to federal dogfighting charges.

A protracted legal battle would have done almost as much damage to the league's reputation as Vick's. Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) dropped Vick as soon as the detals of the charges emerged. The NFL, which told him to stay away from training camp, no doubt will suspend him for at least the rest of the season.

There's no excusing or explaining Vick's actions. It just goes to show you that just because you're rich -- he got a $62 million contract in 2001 -- doesn't mean you're smart.. Maybe he should ring up O.J. Simpson to get coping tips on how to be a societal pariah.

Vick apologized through his lawyer to "everyone who has been hurt by this matter." This sounds like a person who is "sorry" they got caught.

Good thing that Godell insituted a strict behavior policy in reaction to the off the field shenanigans of players such as Adam "Pacman" Jones. This isn't just the right thing to do, it's smart business.

If people think that NFL players are all moral degenerates, advertisers won't pay through the nose to buy 30-second Super Bowl spots. Moreover, parents won't shell out big bucks for jersies and other official team merchandise representing a player whose values they abhor.

Vick will soon realize why players joke that NFL stands for Not For Long.

Back in December, I wrote about the difficulty that the NFL Network was having in getting off the ground. Last season, the network made 8 games available exclusively on the network hoping that it would spur fans to call their cable operators and demand the network. But it didn't happen.

According (subscription required) to The Wall Street Journal, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and Cablevision are refusing to carry the network. Comcast (NYSE: CMCSA) has pulled the NFL Network from millions of homes and the NFL sued, lost, and is appealing. The league has even set up a nice astroturfish website to make its case to the public.

The NFL has had a difficulty relationship with networks, who feel that they are being gouged. Many industry observers view the NFL Network as an effort to say to ABC, ESPN, FOX, etc. "We don't need you. We can do this ourselves if we want." This may be more about leverage in contract negotiations than actually establishing the NFL Network as a viable station.

Of course, that will plan will backfire wonderfully if they can't get cable operators to carry it.

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) is a creepy company in a lot of ways: extremely violent video games, scandals over hidden nudity, accounting and options investigations, and constant management turnover.

Now we can add another item to the list. Take-Two's All-Pro Football 2K8 features O.J. Simpson as one of 240 former NFL legends. A judge has ordered Simpson to hand over any money that he makes from the licensing deal to the Goldman family to satisfy the civil judgment they received in a wrongful death suit.

It's obvious that the judge did the right thing, although it seems unlikely that there was that much money involved. Simpson is hopefully not enough of a selling point to draw a huge amount of money for his likeness in a video game.

But why would Take-Two management want as putrid a person as O.J. in a game? Can a game featuring someone who was found liable for 2 deaths really be rated "E for Everyone"?

Take-Two has never had any problem with acting in poor taste, and that trend continues.

Maybe it was the smugness Christian Laettner displayed during my formative years, or the subtle differences between NBA and NCAA Basketball rules, but professional basketball has always been my least favorite of the major sports.

I am impressed, however, with the National Basketball Association's acknowledgment of the digital age. Today, the league announced that it has rolled out a video-download store, at which fans can purchase digital copies of playoff games for $3 a pop. Entire series are available for $13 each, with a full playoff season available for $80.

The league's vice president of interactive services was quoted by the New York Times as saying "great games and surprising results have driven the most popular downloads." Among the heaviest downloads have been the series between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks, as well as last year's final championship-series match-up between the Mavericks and the Miami Heat.

The NBA is the first of the major sports organizations to offer such a service, though other leagues are reportedly converting game footage into digital clips in order to satiate fan demand. An executive with Major League Baseball reveals the league's plans to introduce a video-search product later this year, allowing fans to search through hundreds of clips to find specific highlights (which will likely be available for free). The National Football League is introducing a video-heavy version of its web site this summer and exploring the ramifications of offering historical video footage.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.