“O-Technology” Shared Cross-Sports

The great thing about technology is that it usually is multidimensional. Last September Reebok licensed innovative O-Technology from Prince. O-Technology is relatively low-tech, essentially it involves cutting holes in the shaft of equipment to increase speed and reduce drag. This was originally applied to Prince’s tennis rackets.


Reebok chose to adapt this O-Technology for other sporting equipment including hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and baseball bats. This new technology applied to rackets and bats helps athletes have a more aerodynamic swing with an increase speed of up to 3 mph.


Below is a video of how Reebok adopted this O-Technology to their equipment. http://blip.tv/nesn/reebok-o-technology-revolutionizing-bat-and-stick-speed-4154027

Ref. lacrosseplayground.com

Who Drinks Milk This Weekend Could be Decided By 1/50 of an Inch

The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, which will be held this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will mark a 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500 (1911). Even casual fans know to win the prestigious Indy 500 racers need a fast car, strong team and nerves of steel. However having a fast car is not enough, precision adjustments to the height of the car combined with a keen insight into physics play an enormous role in deciding whether a driver leads the pack or is left in the dust.

Saying the height of the car is important is a huge understatement. Beyond the distance from the ground to the car, also a careful balance needs to be struck between the height of the front of the car verse the height of the back. To add another layer of complexity, these distances are adjusted in terms of fractions of an inch. An adjustment of just 1/50 of an inch (which equates to the width of 5 sheets of paper) could make a world of difference. Furthermore, the sensitivity of this height needs to be constantly monitored. According to Popular Mechanics.com, “Lasers mounted front and rear of the car measure the distance to the ground 1000 times per second, and potentiometers on each shock absorber capture the minutia of how the car sits at all times.” Teams must then balance the driver’s expertise with that data and make adjustments accordingly.

Who knew, after 500 miles of racing, the person that gets to hoist the Borg-Warner Trophy could be determined by the width of 5 measly pieces of paper? Ref. popularmechanics.com, wikipedia.org

Do The Clothes Make The Athlete?

New technology in sportswear is fascinating. Everything from uniforms for the pros to basic active wear for regular folks, it seems there is always something new and improved. Most all clothing technology has 1 main goal, to improve the athlete's performance.

This is an especially current topic since AC Milan unveiled their new jerseys earlier this month. It is claimed the jerseys pack a technical punch that raises the uniform to a new level of greatness. Next season players will be wearing the uniform as either a single layer TECHFIT™ PowerWEB uniform or with base layers under a FORMOTION™ tradition fit uniform. The TECHFIT™ PowerWEB uses compression fabrics and TPU strips on precise parts of the body to concentrate muscular energy. According to a recent espn.com article, this concentrated muscular energy will give the players, “explosive power, acceleration and resistance, whilst reducing muscle vibration, improving the athlete's posture, the feel of their body and level of core stability." The ForMotion™ strip use three-dimensional, elastic fabrics to adapt to the “body of the player and subsequently improve the fit of the strip in order to optimize movement, comfort and increase freedom of action.” That seems like a hefty delivery for such a lightweight fabric.


History shows us technology in clothing can either raise the bar or just falsely raise expectations. In the raising the bar category I am reminded of the Fastskin LZR Racer Speedo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Athletes who wore this high end woven elastane-nylon and polyurethane suit outperformed at the games to such an extent, some called the suit “Technology Doping.” World records were shattered and every winner in every men's event in the Beijing Olympics was wearing this swimsuit.


On the false expectations side of the spectrum is the newly popular toning clothing. From brands like Reebok and Fila, this clothing contains sewn in resistance bands which the companies tout will optimize a workout. Much speculation has been cast about the actual benefit of wearing such toning clothing. Some studies show little or no benefit, while others show as much as 30% more calories are burned during certain physical actives in the clothing. It must be noted, however, this type of clothing is rather new so there have not been many studies on the topic.


I cannot comment on which camp these new AC Milan uniforms will fall, that has yet to be seen next season. However I am looking forward to see if other leagues follow suit. Ref. bsponiatowa.pl, espn.com, ioffer.com, michifus.com, thatsfit.com, wikipedia.org

Green Technology Meets Professional Sports Leagues

Six US professional sports leagues have teamed with the Environmental Protection Agency to endorse an effort by the newly formed Green Sports Alliance. This alliance “will promote eco-friendly practices for professional sports teams and their stadiums.” The professional leagues supporting this alliance include: Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL).


The alliance was created by Microsoft co-founder and Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazer owner Paul Allen in conjunction with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The movement’s objective is to encourage environmentalism, independent from political agendas.


Some teams have already begun embracing this movement and many have leaned on new green technologies in the process. A few examples from CNET News include the Philadelphia Eagles updating Lincoln Financial Field with “80 spiral small-wind turbines, 2,500 solar panels, and a 7.6-megawatt dual-fuel co-generation plant running on biodiesel fuel and natural gas.” Additionally Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, is discouraging fans from using plastic water bottles and instead employing a rain water recycling system that filters tap water.


The hope is that this alliance will persuade sports stadiums to act in more environmentally responsible ways while encouraging fans and other businesses to take up their own effort toward sustainable eco solutions. Sports teams and athletes play such an important role in influencing the world. It is great they are leading by example through implementing eco-friendly technology solutions. Ref. cnet.com

Coolest User Acceptance Testing In The World

In most technical-based professions, the worst part of creating new software or programs is testing. The effort of working through bugs, documenting known issues and (worst of all) completing test scripts is nothing short of miserable. However, when the deliverable is for an elite brand like Nike and the products are athletic equipment, the testing process is far less painful...even fun. Below is a video highlighting how Nike recently invited a few lucky players from the Nike Academy to test out some products/technology at Nike Headquarters. Link to video: http://youtu.be/OhaBcNZbzv4






I think it is cool to see this technology in action and to learn that professional athletes actually test this equipment, provide feedback and make suggestions for improvement. As Erez Morag, of the Nike Sports Research Lab states in the video, “in order to deliver high quality innovations, we need to work with high quality athletes.” For some reason this fact, which is perfectly logical, never crossed my mind. How can you really know how good equipment is unless it is tested by the best athletes in the world? Just goes to show that no matter what technology is being developed for: NASA, Premier League Athletes or the marketing department down the hall, UAT (User Acceptance Testing) will always play a key role to determine success or failure.

Polara Straight Ball Banned by USGA

Polara has engineered a new golf ball that is designed to not slice. When aligned properly with the easy to read arrow pointing toward the target, the ball will fly straight. The ball is manufactured with an irregular dimple pattern which (thanks to physics) causes the ball to fly straight, and (thanks to the United States Golf Association) causes the ball to be illegal in USGA sanctioned competition. So what makes this ball so special? The New York Times explains below:


“The performance of the Polara ball differs from that of a conventional ball largely because it has two distinct regions of dimples. Along the ball’s equator, shallow, truncated dimples lower its lift and create a more horizontal spin axis. Lower lift means less force is directed toward keeping a mis-hit ball moving left or right of the target. More horizontal spin axis, meanwhile, lessens side spin, a root cause of a hook or a slice.


On the two poles of the ball, the dimples are deeper and more concentrated and reinforce the horizontal spin axis. They work in tandem with the shallow dimples to generate lower drag, which combined with the lower lift creates a straighter and slightly lower trajectory. “



I fully support the ruling by the USGA for restricting equipment that gives, what some may consider, an unfair advantage. However it is hard to say if Pro Golfers would even be interested in this type of ball. It cannot correct misalignment of the golfer, and the easy to use arrow can only be lined-up on the tee shot (golfers may not readjust the ball in the fairway---even if it is the center of the fairway). Either way, I will leave it up to you, the golfer, to decide if it is acceptable to use this ball in non-competitive play. Golf is a sport of honor, integrity and self-improvement. While a straight ball may be impressive to your friends, it defeats the purpose of the game. Regardless, I found it interesting because physics and technology married to create a pretty cool (though illegal) product. Ref. nytimes.com, wired.com

How A Photo Finish Goes Beyond Point and Click

Animal Kingdom might have won the 2011 Kentucky Derby by more than a nose, but horse racing has a history of close calls. Before 1946, close races would actually be rerun to decide the winner. In fact the Victorian Racing Club’s Australian Cup in 1872 was run three times before a clear winner was determined. Obviously situations like this proved the necessity of photo finish camera technology.


Photo finish technology involves a combination of high speed cameras integrated with software and tight security to determine with confidence the true winner. For photo finish accuracy, many tracks utilize CCD-line scanning sensor technology that has the ability to record up to 3000 lines per second with 1360 pixel high resolution. Additionally the, “color line scanning camera scans every movement at the finish line in true color (24 bit, 16.8 million colors) and stores the data on the hard disk of the computer.” For added convenience, finish line images can be viewed on the monitor or directly printed for closer review.


Beyond capturing the images, another major aspect of photo finishes is security. Ensuring unadulterated end of race images is a critical part of race integrity. Some photo systems go as far as tamperproof security that encodes, time-stamps and automatically writes to an archived disk. These measures are taken so no person can alter an image and potentially change who wins the race. Top security and photo accuracy is critical to maintain the integrity of the sport for all athletes and other “interested” parties. Ref. finishlynx.com, racingvictoria.net.au, timingireland.ie

Looking For a New Court or Tennis Partner? TennisRound.com Has the Answer

Most sports are primitively rooted (like neighborhood stickball) and not much has changed in unorganized recreational sports over the years. Of course there are fancy leagues that require registration and an 8-week commitment, but what about informal games? TennisRound.com offers a great resource for recreation players looking for a new court or competitor.

TennisRound.com offers athletes an impressive directory of tennis courts across the United States. Anyone can type in their zip code and immediately a list with accompanying map appears with locations of courts nearby. You can select a court facility and view the address, number of courts available, whether the courts are public/private, indoor/outdoor and even if they are lighted. The platform runs with Google Maps, so you can zoom in on the map and find the exact street view location (which is perfect for anyone like me who has aimlessly driven around a 100 acres park futilely searching for the courts).

The site also has a social networking feature where tennis players can register for free giving their age, skill level and home court. Once registered, other users can connect to tennis players in their area and send them a message inviting them to meet up for a match. All communications are done through the site, but when a player is messaged they are alerted via their personal email.

I absolutely love how this site is so clean and easy to use. The court locator alone is brilliant, but the added layer of social networking raises it to another level. I would like to see an equivalent for golf. I even searched GolfRound.com to see if there is a comparable site out there. Unfortunately my search just returned a product site for a mini golf towel that fits in your pocket and stays moist throughout the whole round. While not exactly what I was looking for, as a former caddy I find this product pretty interesting….however that is an article for another day. Ref. sports.tmcnet.com, tennisround.com, youtube.com

"USA USA USA" Heard at Mets-Phillies Game

When fans at the Mets-Phillies game last night learned that Osama Bin Laden was killed, they erupted in a chant of 'USA, USA, USA." Most learned about Bin Laden's death from text messages or by surfing their smartphones. News travels fast and it appears the 'unplugged' players were the last to know.

Below is a video of the chant: http://youtu.be/ZkJNjX1LsTI