Resolve or eliminate direct cwd-relative font loads in the scoreboard family

[coderabbitai]

Summary

Resolve or eliminate direct cwd-relative font loads in the scoreboard family.

Context

The supported systemd deployment sets WorkingDirectory=/home/devpi/LEDMatrix, so existing direct paths such as assets/fonts/4x6-font.ttf resolve today. Do not apply a one-line or one-plugin path rewrite.

ChuckBuilds/LEDMatrix#425 makes the core FontManager resolve assets/fonts against the install root. After that change merges, family-based font resolution is covered. The remaining scope is direct ImageFont.truetype("assets/fonts/...") calls in the scoreboard family.

The planned shared-sports-code unification in docs/plugin-development/08-shared-sports-code.md intends to retire these direct call sites by routing through core helpers. Prefer that resolution when it is available.

Scope

• Audit direct cwd-relative ImageFont.truetype("assets/fonts/...") calls in scoreboard sports.py modules.
• Audit equivalent direct calls in scoreboard game_renderer.py sibling modules.
• Resolve the direct paths through an install-root-aware/core helper, or remove them through the planned shared-sports-code unification.
• Keep current font fallback behavior.
• Do not make an isolated migration that leaves related scoreboard font-loading paths inconsistent.

Current estimate: approximately seven direct loads per sports.py across nine scoreboard plugins, plus game_renderer.py siblings.

Acceptance criteria

• No retained scoreboard direct font load depends on the process working directory.
• The implementation uses the core font-resolution approach when practical, or removes the direct load during shared-code convergence.
• Existing font aliases, configured fonts, and fallback fonts retain their current behavior.
• The affected scoreboard plugins pass the relevant safety harness validation across supported panel sizes.

References

• Requested by @ChuckBuilds.
• PR: Performance, accessibility, and test-coverage improvements across the plugin fleet #239
• Review discussion: Performance, accessibility, and test-coverage improvements across the plugin fleet #239 (comment)
• Core dependency: Sports unification phase 0: safety net, cwd-independent fonts, element_style LEDMatrix#425
• Shared-code plan: docs/plugin-development/08-shared-sports-code.md

[coderabbitai]

🔗 Related PRs

#62 - fix(baseball): add custom font support and fix odds font mismatch [merged]
#152 - fix(baseball): cap MiLB logo width to prevent center text overlap [closed]
#160 - fix(baseball-scoreboard): resolve font family aliases to real files [closed]
#171 - feat(baseball-scoreboard): pitcher/batter, last-play, and traditional scoreboard (v1.17.1) [merged]
#239 - Performance, accessibility, and test-coverage improvements across the plugin fleet [open]

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