These days, sports fans know the best seat in the house for a game is actually in their houses, in front of the television. Today’s sports are so big and the fans so demanding they challenge modern technology to keep up with them. Fans are hungry for the next new experience in their beloved sports. Modern technology is giving them that opportunity.
Looking at Sports From a Different Angle
If you watched this year’s Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, you’d notice a lot of camera action around the hitters. One in particular is the small camera mounted on top of the catcher’s helmet. When Nick Woodman designed the GoPro mobile camera, it gave sports fans the opportunity to view their favorite sports in a whole new and unique way, from the athletes’ point of view. With the popularity of social media use among professional and amateur athletes, these nifty little cameras have given athletes the ability to show their points of view more and also show a little of their personalities, too, often recording themselves and teammates where television cameras can’t access.
Social media and the athletes’ growing urge to have their own personal voice has given modern technology the ideas to create “selfie” personas, both in the sports fan base and with sports figures of all kinds. Since GoPro was introduced in 2004, these wearable video cameras have been mounted everywhere in sports, from motocross helmets to to race car dashboards even on daredevils participating in the running of the bulls at Pamplona.
Actually, the local authorities in the city of Pamplona are trying to prevent the use of devices like GoPro as they feel it generates irresponsible behaviors as people try to get a dramatic shot as the bulls are coming at them. But no doubt this convenient device has allowed fans and athletes the chance to show a fresh perspective of sports.
Similar to GoPro is the lightweight monopod XShot device, which allows a user to take video or photos. Its handheld telescopic pole also gives fans an advantage when videotaping action on the field, as it allows you to extend it a few feet to get that great shot of a home run in the stands over the crowd, for example. Perfect for all the action shots and videos: snowboarding, paragliding, hiking, surfing and more.
Photo @Giufo Soulboarder
Send in the Drones
National League Football fans and fantasy football fanatics can’t get enough of the sport, with the off-season being most grueling. So when football camps start, anything and everything is absorbed and dissected. Hence the reason drones are being used to cover action at football camps. Where drones were once specifically thought of as a military spy weapon or a neat air mailing device, it has now become the modern version of the Goodyear Blimp. Not only can these devices provide a birds-eye view of practice of your beloved team, they can also be used to dole out gifts, like T-shirts, to the crowd. Drones will be a featured tool in the production of the NFL Network’s “Inside Training Camp” television series, too.
Feeling the Game
Every fan feels the exhilarating rush of triumph and the crushing blow of defeat. But advanced technology has found a way to actually feel the game even more. Using Bluetooth technology, creators of the Alert Shirt have managed to make a shirt with built-in sensors that enable fans to literally feel a player being tackled or feel the jitters a player is having as a big play develops. The Alert Shirt is only available for Australian Rules Football at the moment, but it can’t be too long before big-time sports industries like the NFL pick it up. It is yet another example of how the curiosity in sports fans and players alike are driving modern technology to deliver a cutting edge experience.