As millions of Americans enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday today and share what they are thankful for, we also wanted to take part in the proceedings in our own way. Each of our team members has shared one use of technology in sports from 2016 for which they are thankful. As you will see, there is a wide variety of thoughts and we encourage you to chime in on Twitter and let us know what technological addition to sports that you are thankful for this year.
1. Taylor Bloom – Uncharted Play
Uncharted Play has always been a company I admire because it beautifully blends technology with people’s passion for playing sports in order to help communities around the world create energy. They have a product for soccer lovers called the Soccket that harnesses energy through built-in micro-generators when kicked and they also have the Pulse which is a jump rope that captures energy as well. Both products are able to give off-grid communities around the world power in order to do simple things that a lot of people take for granted such as illuminate lamps and phones so kids in developing countries can do their homework at night.
Going forward, Uncharted Play is working to put their micro-generator systems into any products that move in order to help more people create energy simply by playing sports and exercising. In my opinion, what they are doing is truly inspiring. We cover a lot of “cool” products on SportTechie but there are few inspirational innovations that use sports to have such a positive impact on the world. I am truly thankful for their work.
2. Eric Bohm – Fitness Trackers
I am thankful for wearable technology, specifically fitness trackers. When I first slapped one of these on my wrist I was skeptical about the impact it would have on my daily routine. I’m not sure if it was the notifications telling me to pick it up on lazy days or the goal reached alerts congratulating me on the active ones, but I quickly found out that this device was motivating me to get out of the house and exercise. Layer on the mobile apps where you can monitor your diet, track sleep patterns, and compete with friends, and fitness trackers have become a healthy living social experience that can be truly rewarding.
There are now more products than ever vying to be the latest and greatest in wearables and I for one can’t wait to see what comes next. We all know it’s easy to sit on the couch and watch football all day at this time of year, so come Thanksgiving remember to wear your fitness tracker and you may just find yourself taking a jog around the block after dinner.
3. Mark Burns – Twitter
Despite all of the innovations across wearables, virtual reality, ‘smart’ stadiums and other technology-related areas in sports, I’m still most thankful for Twitter as a platform. Where information is as coveted as the air we breathe (OK, not quite), Twitter is that social medium that provides users with everything they need across sports.
Simple scores and statistics? Check. Streaming an actual NFL or college basketball game? You bet. Getting an inside-look at a post-game press conference? It’s becoming more common.
It’s the never-ending SportsCenter highlight show that weaves in commentary and reactions from fans and media, alike.
From a personal standpoint, it’s allowed me to take conversations and chance-encounters with other industry professionals offline. As weird as it sounds, I’ve developed life-long friendships through Twitter. It’s the social channel that gives me the ability to stay most connected to what’s happening on and off the field or hardwood. For that, I am thankful.
4. Dan Kaufman – Live Streaming
You mean for $200 month I get 195 channels I will never watch and you’ll throw in the live sports channels? No way, cable! I’ll sit right here and refresh box scores all night if I have to! [Pause]. I’m fooling no one: here cable, take my money and my freedom. I’m bound to you and your 200+ channels for life. That is, until the NFL and Twitter decided to partner!
I partially cut the cable cord years back when I bought a Roku, streamed Netflix, and stole borrowed my parents’ HBO GO account. But live sports kept me begrudgingly tethered to cable TV by a loose thread of deteriorating coaxial. So thank you Twitter and thank you NFL. Not only can I begin to break the cable TV bindings, but I can watch comfortably on a phone, a tablet, and a television, wherever I may be. Plus I can see a Twitter feed if I want to – one day maybe Twitter will figure it out and allow us to see our own feed, as many have noted, but I’m happy enough for now.
On a personal level, no technology has changed my life more than the Twitter-NFL deal and live sports streaming in general. I’ll comfortably speculate that on a global level it has, and will continue to have, a widespread impact. Other large media players like Amazon are getting in the game, and teams are now streaming behind-the-scenes premium content tied to live sports. I’ll gladly tether myself to this trend (for now).
5. Diamond Leung – NBA League Pass
Having recently moved to New York City and become a cord-cutter, NBA LEAGUE PASS has really helped me in the transition. I can follow the Golden State Warriors’ super team using the NBA channel on Roku, enabling me to watch on television without a cable subscription.
NBA LEAGUE PASS has enabled basketball fans to follow the league in so many new and different ways. Those who use their phones to watch, NBA Mobile View allows for zoomed-in shots on a small screen. Some Verizon customers can even stream it for free. Subscribers to NBA LEAGUE PASS can watch weekly games in virtual reality if they have the right equipment. And this season, games are available to fans in China so that people there can binge watch the Warriors or other meaningful games out there.
6. Simon Ogus
Growing up in the Bay Area during the early 2000’s, it was impossible to not be enthralled with the “Moneyball” Oakland A’s. While the on-field winning was exciting to watch, I think it’s greater interest to me as a sports fan was it being one of the first high-profile ways to challenge traditional notions of evaluation in sports and pushing it to a more analytical approach over the traditional approach of talent evaluation which was much more intuitive.
As baseball fans and those who work in the business continue this embrace of using modern analytics and technology to achieve an edge, the bar has continued to raise. The search for what data and information remains undiscovered remains especially competitive in a day and age where eight and nine figure contracts becoming commonplace.
That is why as a sports technology fan, I am thankful for the Statcast technology that has once again completely changed how I and millions of others view and analyze baseball. What used to be a cool home run, now is a home run that can be tracked by exit velocity, trajectory and distance.
What used to be a nice catch in the outfield now can be analyzed by the distance covered and how fast and efficiently the outfielder ran to make the play. With this data starting to accumulate, fans and front offices from across the country can once again enjoy seeing baseball in a new way.
So thank you Statcast, for showing that there are still news ways to completely change the way we view the 125 year old sport of baseball.