Theres another navigation option, but its not terribly intuitive: You can tap on any of the dots at the bottom of the screen to jump directly to a particular sports scoreboard.

We know what we like and what we dontsometimes within the very same app.

Each week in Fix This App, well take a mobile offering thats not without its share of flaws and try to nudge it a little closer to perfection.

ESPN has dubbed itself the Worldwide Leader in Sports, and just a glance at its vast cable empire confirms thats more than just an idle boast.

But thats just TVwhen it comes to the mobile world, ESPN is more follower than leader.

And its promising-but-flawed ScoreCenter app for smartphones illustrates just how much ESPN needs to step up its game.

What it works on: After debuting on the iPhone back in 2009, ScoreCenter arrived for Android phones a year later.

The iPhone version requires iOS 3.1.1 or later, while Android users need at least version 2.1 of that mobile OS.

The app also is available for Windows Phone 7 but with a decidedly different feel than what iOS and Android users may be familiar with.

Were concentrating on the iOSAndroid iterations of ScoreCenter in this post.) And theres even a ScoreCenter for HPs webOS, which must make dozens of people very happy.

What it does: ScoreCenter is a basic scoreboard applaunch it to find out the score in the big gamestamped with ESPNs imprimatur.

The app features some headlines, video, and alert capabilities, but by and large, this is an app you use to get the latest scores.

You have the ability to designate favorite teams, which floats their games up to the top of any sports scoreboard page and creates a separate myTeams page with news and scores.

What it gets right: ESPN correctly recognizes that just because youre a sports fan, that doesnt mean you like each and every sport.

Hoop fans may not care for hockey, and soccer devotees who want to know every score to come out of Englands Premiere League may not necessarily give a hoot about whos in the pole position for the next NASCAR race.

Thus, ScoreCenter gives you the very welcome ability to customize which sports appear in the app and in what order.

That customization trickles down to the kind of alerts you can elect to receive.

If you have a favorite baseball team, you can set ScoreCenter to alert you whenever theres team news, a game starts, a run is scored, the score is close, or the game goes final; you can also set alerts at three-inning intervals.

The app also lets you set alerts for individual games and breaking news in any selected sport.

ScoreCenter also leverages one of ESPNs greatest assetsaccess to lots of videoby including a video tab for most of the major U.S.

Tap the Video tab on the hockey scoreboard, for example, and you can watch a three-minute highlight package of the New Jersey Devils advancing to the Eastern Conference finals.

The videos are pretty topical, usually reflecting the top plays from the previous days action.

Favorite teams may appear in a single column of the Baseball score screen, but other games are stacked in two-column layout that makes scrolling difficult.

What it gets wrong: For an app thats been around for three years, ScoreCenter has been remarkably resistant to change, particularly in terms of its interface.

Take the Baseball page, in which scores are stacked in two columns that fill up your smartphones screen.

You jump from one sports scoreboard to another primarily by swiping to the right or left.

Scorecenter App For Mac