Each year, Special Olympics International and its 220 chapters worldwide organize some 108,000 events. The games give athletes with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to compete in everything from basketball to bocce, gymnastics to judo. The group’s lofty goal is to “transform lives through the joy of sport,” which has the added benefit of helping erode misconceptions about its athletes. But until recently, one of the heaviest lifts for the nonprofit came from the basic mechanics of running their signature sporting events. There was the job of registering athletes, setting up the matches and competitions and scrambling to tally scores. People… Read More
Amazon’s popular behind-the-scenes NFL series is getting another season. The tech giant announced today that it has greenlit season two of All or Nothing, an Amazon original show that debuted last year with eight one-hour long episodes featuring the Arizona Cardinals during its run to the NFC Championship game in 2015. The new season will spotlight the Los Angeles Rams and its relocation from St. Louis last season when the team went 4-12 and missed the playoffs. “All or Nothing brings Amazon Prime members a deep dive into the lives of professional athletes,” Conrad Riggs, Head of Unscripted, Amazon Originals,… Read More
Can a computer fill out a March Madness bracket better than humans? So far this year, it doesn’t look like it. As the Sweet 16 kicks off Thursday with four NCAA men’s basketball tournament games, we took a look at Microsoft Bing’s bracket performance thus far. Bing, which used “intelligent machine-learning technology to analyze social and search signals” to make its bracket predictions, is 34-14 so far through 48 games played. It missed eight picks in the first round, and another six in the second round. Bing also only has two Final Four teams remaining — it picked Louisville and Villanova (its… Read More
Intel is upping its virtual reality game. The tech giant today announced a multi-year deal with Turner Sports and the NCAA to stream March Madness college basketball games in virtual reality, starting with this month’s NCAA men’s national tournament. Intel is building off its acquisition of virtual reality startup Voke last year. Before that deal, Voke partnered with Turner and the NCAA to broadcast the 2016 Final Four and National Championship in virtual reality for the first time. Now Intel, with help from Turner Sports, is doubling down. Starting with this weekend’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 matchups, the company will stream six games — including… Read More
For the Seattle Sounders, sports analytics remains an important part of winning matches and keeping players healthy. The defending MLS Cup champions will make their 2017 home debut today at 4 p.m. in Seattle as they take on the New York Red Bulls at CenturyLink Field. The team held its annual Media Day on Friday and GeekWire caught up with Sounders GM Garth Lagerwey to get his perspective on sports science. The Sounders have long been pioneers, at least among MLS teams, in using sports science to help make on-field improvements. The club, which won its first MLS Cup last year,… Read More
