OPENING DAY: How Baseballs Are Made

In honor of the MLB's Opening Day, I thought it would fun to take a look at a basic but fascinating technology critical to the game: manufacturing baseballs. This awesome video shows from start to finish how professional baseballs are created. It is a mix of technology and human touch that bring to life this all important piece of equipment. http://youtu.be/mfPuRoStEdw Ref. Science Channel

Cloudy in Qatar?

The surprise (to say the least) decision of FIFA awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar raised many questions. One of the hottest issues of the Middle Eastern country hosting the games is the average summer temperature in Qatar. In June and July (the typical months of the World Cup) Qatar averages high temps at 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius). Clearly athletes and spectators alike find those types of temperatures less than pleasant…well downright intolerable.

Two possible solutions for to the predicament Qatar has now found itself in have been explored: 1) move the games to a more temperate month or 2) leverage technology to combat the high heat. Option 1 appeared a likely possibility when both FIFA President Sepp Blatter and FIFA Vice-President Michel Platini expressed that the Cup would likely be moved to the winter months. However recent reports from AFC chief Mohamed bin Hammam, who led the Qatar bid, say that they (Qatar) did not intend to move the games. Additional Hammam said, “"If it is up to us then I believe it should be discussed after 2018,” and also said, “Our bid was for the World Cup to be played in the summer and this is our opinion.” So for the time being anyway, option 1 appears to be off the table.

Therefore Qatar and FIFA remain left with one very hot problem. This is where option 2, leveraging technology, offers some possible relief. The concept of using an artificial cloud system has been proposed and invented by a team led by Dr. Saul Abdul Ghani, Head of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at Qatar University. The cloud is, “made from a lightweight carbon structure carrying a giant envelope of material containing helium gas. The "cloud" would also feature solar panels on its upper surface to power engines that allow the cloud to be moved via remote control.” This technology is right now in a conceptual phase and has not actually been constructed yet. Early cost estimates for this cooling cloud are approximately half a million USD. But the cloud could potentially offer cooling of the arena by ~36 degrees Fahrenheit (or 20 degrees Celsius). While right now no decisions have been made to go forward on cloud construction, this concept offers some promise to concerned athletes and fans. REF. espn.com, gizmag.com

Marquette’s Odds for Making the Final 4 (and the other 15 teams’ odds too)

Today is the first day of the Sweet 16 round. So far the tourney has been full of upsets and surprises. However PredictionMachine.com claims they have mathematically broken down the odds of major sporting events and translated those odds to a simple percentage probability. PredictionMachine.com leverages advanced forecasting software that takes into account a number of statistics including (but not limited to) strength of schedule, review of the players expected to play-including injuries, coaching style etc. Additionally the software then replays 50,000 different scenarios of a game (did a team run or pass the ball) to determine the probability each team may win. From there it crunches all of this information together with team/player statistics to produce the odds of success.

The principle of leveraging math to determine odds makes logical sense; after all, past performance tends to be a reasonably consistent predictor of future success. Naysayers may call into question the whole human element of a clutch performer or the David over Goliath teams. In response, the site claims that even in “upsets” there are hard reasons a team wins and those reasons reside in the numbers based on past performance. Obviously this is not foolproof, but the list of accurate predictions is rather impressive. The creator of this software, statistician and sports journalist Paul Bessire, claims to have accurately picked “six of the last eight Super Bowls (eight of eight against-the-spread); five of the last seven World Series, including the Yankees' 2009 win in six and the 2006 Cardinals win in five (both to the game); and five of the last seven NCAA Tournament champions (as of Selection Sunday).”

I have taken my position on human verses computer selection for post-season games, however this software intrigues me. While I believe that no software can truly quantify the complexities of physical performance under pressure, I will concede that proper interpretation of past performance will more times than not correctly project the winner.

So what are the odds of your favorite team making the Elite 8 or Final Four? Check out the below table and tune into the games tonight through Sunday to check its accuracy. Ref. predictionmachine.com

Athletes Have Bigger Brains

A new study reveals that athlete’s brains are actually bigger than non-athletes’ brains in some areas. A study conducted at the Chinese Academy of Sciences led by Jing Luo was published last month in PLoS ONE. The study took MRI scans of 12 divers and 12 non-athletic subjects. The results showed the athletic group “had significantly increased cortical thickness.” They found this increased thickness in the left superior temporal sulcus, the right orbitofrontal cortex and the right parahippocampal gyrus regions.

PLoS ONE describes the MRI scanning process as the following: “High-resolution anatomical images of the whole brain were acquired on a 3-tesla Trio system (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) with 12-channel head matrix coil using a magnetisation-prepared rapid-acquisition gradient echo sequence.” That technical process boiled down to high resolution pictures that were analyzed for thickness. That measurement was compared to the same scans for non-athletes.

The athletic group comprised of 6 male and 6 female professional divers. As a control group comparison, the study also took MRIs of non-athletic subjects who were of comparable age, gender, and education level to the athletic group. Divers were chosen as the athletic group because the nature of their sport requires performing difficult and continually challenging activities.

This study is one of many that look at the impact of sports on the human body. The results were on a small sample group, but indicate significant information relating to the brain. Studies like this which analyze an extreme group (in this case professional divers) help shed light on what activities may impact the brain in different ways. Therefore while this study is only scratching the surface of the cause-effect complexities of rigorous conditioning, it exposes a fascinating piece of the puzzle. Ref. PLoS ONE, Wired.com

Ireland's Gaelic Sport Tech

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This blog focuses on all sports around the world…but in honor of this special day, today’s post will focus on Ireland. A hot topic in the Irish news for the past few months is goal-line technology in Gaelic football. The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) is taking a closer look at the challenges and concerns of a nation-wide implementation of such technology.

From a technical perspective the goal-line technology would be Hawk-Eye. Hawk-Eye has been employed by several different sports, but the technology is similar throughout. Several cameras are strategically placed on the pitch or field. Then, “The images captured by the camera are then turned into a 3D image by a special computer to show how the ball will travel…it's about 99.99% accurate.”

The FIFA debate over goal-line tech predominately was focused on respecting the traditional rules of the sport. However in Ireland the major concern appears to be around cost. Last month, GAA President Christy Cooney was quoted saying, "It won’t be in use in this year but it is something for the future and something we will look very seriously at. It has to be right and to be effective and we have to be able to do it at all of our county games." Separately, GAA Director General Paraic Duffy said that even if it is tested at Croke Park, the GAA will not institute technology at one location alone. Instead, they need to find a solution that is fiscally feasible to be implemented all over the country.

Last December it was decided that a feasibility study of Hawk-Eye would be conducted. Many speculate the test pilot of the technology will be in Round 5 or 6 of the Allianz Football League games at Croke Park. After testing the technology, the GAA will analyze the results and meet in May to further discuss the cost and feasibility of an implantation at all grounds. It is really interesting to see Ireland’s response to the pressure to try out new technologies. Both the GAA and FIFA appear to have in common similar concerns from different perspectives. First and foremost they need to feel confident in whatever technology they choose. However beyond that, the technology must only act as an aid for officiating and not a literal game-changer. Ref: bbc.co.uk, Independent.ie, IrishExaminer.com, IrishTimes.com,

NCAA Tourney Hot Topic on Quickish

The NCAA bracket is the hot topic discussed on Quickish today. What is Quickish? Quickish “publishes real-time news recommendations to help you keep up quickly with the big things that are happening.” It is a site that publishes editor-vetted news recommendations. Everything from breaking news to expert reactions are reviewed by Quickish editors and published to specific categories.

Quickish was founded by Dan Shanoff earlier this year. Shanoff is a former ESPN writer who authored the column the “Daily Quickie” from 2003-2006. He launched Quickish in January of 2011 with his first topic being sports. Quickish plans to expand to other categories later this year. The source of news comes from many different media outlets; everything from TV/radio to the internet to ‘tips’ that people share via Twitter (@quickish) or email (tips@quickish).

The concept is a site with vetted news/reactions in almost real-time. This site reminds me of a really organized Twitter. Instead of seeing thoughts/reactions by person or by timestamp, they are all related to a specific category/topic. This site represents a marriage of technology and sports in a unique way. Although ‘sports’ was likely the first category chosen because of Shanoff’s background, it actually is the perfect genre for this type of media platform. Sports tend to bring out many varying perspectives and opinions (so there is always something new), but are relatively easy to organize. What better topic to kick off a site that mashes news and opinions in a structured manner? REF. quickish.com, techcrunch.com, wikipedia.org

ESPN Scooped By Emerging Tech...nical Foul

Looks like I scooped ESPN:

And it appears the majority agree with my view:

Why the NCAA Bracket Selection Trumps BCS Selection Software

March Madness is heating up and everyone is debating and speculating which teams are in and where they will be ranked. In case you are not familiar with the complicated NCAA bracket selection process, ESPN recently published an outstanding article explaining it in great detail. The process is heavily set in the committee members’ opinions, views and personal philosophy on what makes one team superior to another.

On the contrary, the college football BCS rankings (which ultimately decide who goes to the bowl games) is just as complicated but instead of relying on a committee, the BCS Standings, “include three components: USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll and an average of six computer rankings. Each component will count one-third of a team's overall BCS score in the BCS Standings.”

So why does a human committee defeat a human/computer selection process?

1. Late season injuries may not be properly interpreted. In the BCS, the computer portion takes into consideration various ranking systems most of which are based on statistics. If a team-altering injury occurs in the final game or late in the season, the computer statics cannot adequately interpret the implications. Granted, the human ranking element of the BCS can help off-set this, it cannot fully compensate for this shortcoming. Plus in a sport like basketball, (where only 5 men are on the court at a time, a superstar player could carry a team) an injury is potentially devastating for a team and should be fully considered. For example take Georgetown this year. The injury of Chris Wright during their game against Cincinnati on 2/23 led to 4 straight losses in a row ending their season. Georgetown claims Wright will be back for the NCAA tournament, but who really knows? The point is a committee can weigh that; a computer program cannot.

2. Coaches polls are not a valid decision maker. Why does it matter what the coaches (or as speculated not the head coach but perhaps assistant coach or worse) think? Let’s for a second assume the head coach is the one filling out the poll. Even so, they were selected as a coach because they can coach. Not because they can properly evaluate every college football teams’ worthiness for post-season play. The unreliable and frankly biased opinions of the coaches really do not have a place in this process, let alone one with such huge swaying power. The NCAA does provide the committee with 3 different polls (the AP poll, the coaches' poll, and a poll run by the National Association of Basketball Coaches), so if they are so inclined, they can weight those opinions as they see fit. Computers do not have that power and automatically assign the coaches poll 33% of the final decision.

3. Finally, a committee is more unpredictable, and therefore more fun. I am a fan of technology, however the human element of sports is what makes it unpredictable and fun to watch. I have written several articles about technology and sports and how there is a delicate balance between helpful and intrusive. While I have come around on soccer goal-line technology and even enjoyed watching Watson (the IBM computer) play my favorite Jeopardy! player Ken Jennings…I like the element of surprise that comes with a human selection committee. A team that gets hot late in the season or one who’s lost close games due to an insane strength of schedule should be thrown the proverbial bone and bubble into the tourney (even if the math does not support it). Technology has its place, and the wonderful computing power of statics should definitely be referenced by the committee. However at the end of the day people not computers should determine the post season. Ref. espn.com, collegefootballpoll.com, bcsknowhow.com

Music Rocking the Sports Industry

If you were a professional baseball player, what would be your at-bat song? This is a popular question of fans in bleachers at baseball games. However, the influence of sports and music goes way beyond selection of theme music, and thanks to technology has huge capital potential for artists. Many teams like to align a song to a particular season (2005 White Sox, “Don’t Stop Believing”), or even a major event, (The World Cup 2010 requested Akon to record an anthem song and be the musical director). And thanks to iTunes enabling easy access for fans to download their favorite sports songs, there is a lot of money to be potentially made.

Similar to the influence of when Glee performs a song (creating three #1 singles on the US Billboard Digital Songs Chart), when a championship team adopts a ‘theme’ song, iTunes downloads go through the roof. One prime example is the song “Chelsea Dagger” by the Fratellis. Originally played after the Chicago Blackhawks scored, the song quickly became the anthem of the Stanley Cup-winning 2010 season. Upon winning the Cup, “Chelsea Dagger” reached #7 in the Alternative section of the iTunes chart.

However, home-grown songs created strictly for (and in some cases by) a team can prove runaway successes. Perhaps the most famous example is the ’85 Chicago Bears “Super Bowl Shuffle,” which hit No. 41 on the music charts and sold half-million singles. More recently, the song was called “Shout (for England song)” was an unofficial anthem for England for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. “Shout” debuted at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, despite sales coming from downloads alone. The single sold over 100,000 copies in only 4 days.

The excitement of an upcoming major tournament or utopia of winning a championship is sometimes marketed and aligned closely to certain songs. Music sharing web sites like iTunes enable fans to download, and in turn make instant hits of these songs. Ref. about.com, nme.com, Puck The Media, wiki.answers.com, wikia.com, wikipedia.org, wikipedia.org

Cyberathletes Have Their Day

In an exciting announcement for gamers everywhere, Major League Gaming (MLG) announced that IMG Worldwide will be working together to raise awareness and popularity of competitive gaming. According to VentureBeat, “IMG distributes more than 19,000 hours of TV sports programming to major broadcasters around the world every year.” This means that alongside their conventional sports programs they will be showing competitive gaming broadcasts.

From a business perspective, this could potentially mean better visibility into the young male market, in which gaming is the #1 activity of choice. Additionally, this exposure for individual competitors could mean larger competitions (bigger prize money) and even endorsement opportunities.

I am decidedly opposed to the notion that gaming is a sport. According to Dictionary.com the actual definition of sport is, “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature…” However this article is relevant to this sports technology blog because it illustrates once again an example of leveraging technology to improve the business of sports via marketing.

Why would IMG (a sports-fashion-media) company select gaming as a complement to their sports broadcasting? Some key demographics come into play, with marketing potential sitting at the center of the decision. Young males make up the overwhelming majority of gaming fans, and make up a fair share of sports fans as well. Therefore marketing gaming during sporting event broadcasts and vice versa targets a similar demographic market. No doubt there are gaming and sports fans that are not in that 18-24 male profile…but since so many are, the marriage of the two has great potential to maximize profits and popularity for each (with gaming having the bigger potential for growth).

Therefore while gaming is in no stretch a sport, the aspect of using the popularity of sports to market events that leverage this technology (gaming is after all some of the most popular technology out there) all in the name of capital fits this blog theme quite well. Ref. dictionary.com and venturebeat.com