Technology in SPorts Today
...raditional basketball. “When SlamBall made its groundbreaking debut last summer on The New TNN, the sports world got its first glimpse of the future; a non-stop, live-action human video game that broke all the rules of traditional sport and defined a new generation.” (http://slamball.warnerbros.com/) Whether not this sport defined a generation is up to you but it’s simply an example of how technology is impacting how we play games and even inventing new ones. Also the advancement of our equipment in the sports world seems to have given us a sense of being able to jump higher, run further, kick harder, and so on. For instance, Nike and Adidas have developed shoes claiming they will actually make you better at the sport you play. Just to name a few like the Nike shocks or Adidas Preditor’s (soccer shoe). (www.adidas.com/www.nike.com) Not to mention every year each major sports shoe company claims they have the newest on the market, the lightest the best and most improved model over their competitors. A recent poll concluded that Almost 70% of people questioned believed that athletes with access to the latest technology did have an advantage over those who did not. There is a growing argument with athlete’s success and how it is gained weather technology or correct coaching methods. Which really benefits the player in my point of view is entirely up to the individual weather not the person is coach-able or not. UK Sport technical advisor Scott Drawer feels too much emphasis is placed on technology's ability to deliver medals. For him, the key factor is talent. "No matter what you do with technology, it is still in the hands of the coach," he told BBC News Online. (www.bbcnews.uk) Another improvement in the sports world as far as technology in concerned is how we watch games of our choice. From Satellite TV, Digital on demand games, Tevo, high definition, and the use of the internet to watch games to even going to watch sports in person. One clear impact of technology is that more sports programming will be available more broadly than ever before. Through the Internet and satellite television packages like Direct TV's NFL Sunday Ticket, for example, subscribers can easily follow their favorite team at a distance, so a displaced New England Patriots fan in Dallas can still watch his team play or read all about it online. Also ESPN now offers their programming in high definition which has become extremely popular. This simply makes me even want to watch games I wouldn’t particularly care about but just because it’s on a plasma high definition television, hell I’ll tune in. More and more technological advancements in video cameras above the actual players during a game and the option on the instant reply have all have influences on the game itself and how it is played and watched. Things such as tevo have also drawn the attention of sports fans, this feature available almost anywhere allows viewers at home to record and play back live television at their connivance. This makes the whole view pleasure of watch a game even more exciting now the fan has this option it will simply have a certain attraction the anal retentive sports viewer. I also remember hearing in class about sports arenas that might be installing TV screens on the back of chairs for the vans to watch while they are at the game. This is quit possible the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THE GAME ON TV STAY AT HOME AND DO IT. This is one example of how technology can have a negative impact on how the game is viewed. Another option fans have, if they are capable enough, is to watch sporting events on the internet on live web cast. These are some what hard to locate and you must have high speed internet. For example, when I want to watch a DC United soccer game sometimes I can’t because it’s on local stations only but off their website I can tune it and watch the game live on my computer for no charge. I can only assume that at some point franchises are going to start cashing in on the internet viewing of games if they already haven’t. More technology that has been developed in the past few years has been the surfaces and arenas sports are played on and in. First, the super arenas that have capacity of holding over a hundred though sand viewers and have retractable roofs. This is a prime example of technology influencing the game. We can now simply control the climate in which usually professional sports is played and watched. Another example of this would be Stadiums sharing different sports like in our nation’s capital RFK Stadium which was formally used by the Washington redskin’s before the creation of Fed Ex field. The Washington Nationals and DC United (Major League Soccer) share the same arena and virtually share the same season. The reason they can do this is the advancement of technology. The pitcher mound is on a hydraulic system that can move up for baseball games and down in order to be flat to play soccer on. Also the surfaces of many newer sports complexes have turned to the use of artificial grass called sport turf. This is similar to turf but much more giving and less likely to cause any painful burns. This option of surfaces is rather expensive but in the long run will save money due to high maintenance cost of traditional natural grass fields. Not only is this new surface phenomenon a new technology that has surly taken off around the globe including our own John C. Edwards Stadium is now equipped with it. I personally like playing soccer on it because its like playing on a perfect cut natural grass field and the ball rolls so smooth and it easier to control. A better example of applied technology in sports is the use of "smart" equipment that incorporates sensors and computers as a part of their function. Like take time keeping, it is absolutely a factor when talking about impacting competitive sports. In the sport of formula 1 racing the time is kept by a contracting company and who other then Tag Huer. They have a small computer chip aboard each of the race cars and at any given moment during...