The Skype Stories forum contains some real gems of Skype-based creativity, and it’s well worth a look when you’re after innovative ways to stay in touch with loved ones… or loved football teams.

A Californian forumite named ‘NDgamefan’ shares his smart tip for catching the latest American Football games while you’re 7,000 miles away in Paris. Forget pay-per-view web TV, forget shiny new internet broadcasting portals with “Venice” in their names – all NDgamefan did was get his folks to stick a webcam in front of the telly at home in LA.

Thanks to the magic of Skype Video, NDgamefan caught the last 10 minutes of this week’s Notre Dame-USC game in LA without paying a penny. He was thoroughly impressed by the experience. “The video quality was actually decent,” he says. “It was great to also hear my family’s reactions, as if I was right there with them on the sofa watching the game.”