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Technology and Sports

With the NCAA tournament in full motion there is not a better time to discuss the way sports and technology merge to create some of the greatest spectacles in the world to be viewed at this point anywhere at anytime.  After the first day it was reported over 3.4 million hours of video/audio were streamed to watch parts of this event. And with an incredible first day, the numbers for the rest of the weekend can only be assumed to at least match that for the next three days.  Obviously on Thursday more people were working and sneaking in some viewing time, opposed to the weekend at home to enjoy the action on TV.  Coming into the tournament CBS projected over 10 million hours streamed, after the first day’s pace, I’m going to assume they won’t have much of a problem especially with this year’s tournament being a lot more exciting than last year’s tournament.  When NBC streamed winter olympics they only managed 3.5 million hours of streaming through the three weeks of coverage. In addition to streaming on computers, a $10 iphone app allows people to stream the games and companies like FLO TV were right in the mix both with heavy advertising and showing of the games on their portable digital TVs.

Gotta love seeing sports anywhere, anytime. Photo via Ron Sanford, LSJ

Within these events though, even more hidden nuances exist. While watching the NCAA tournament the Michigan State Spartans hit an incredible game winning shot, but the after analysis on ESPN helped show how far breaking down plays had become too. At the 1:20 point in the video here a feature known as ESPN Axis breaks down how close a ball is to hitting a players head on a pass by turning the view and zooming in.  These are just some techniques used that is helping sports evolve with changing times. Another analysis technique in the sport of basketball helps combine video games and styles of play to show what may happen or what previously happened on the basketball court with an analyst right in the thick of the virtual action.

Although sometimes sports can become overkill at times with the stories they choose to constantly harp on, at least advancing technology helps make the moments you just can’t get enough of a little more interesting into the 72nd time viewing the same thing.