Tyler McGee / Roundup
As time progresses and society moves forwards so does technology.
Technology in sports is no different.
There have been many innovations in sports through technology. There has been the addition of the shot clock, electronic signs (sorry Wrigley and Fenway) in stadiums, video screens (sorry Wrigley), equipment and even surgery.
The addition of the shot clock revolutionized the game of basketball. Speeding up contests and forcing teams to act fast instead of slowing the pace to a crawl and keeping scores low. Teams even now often try to get shots off as fast as possible running up and down the court in a frantic pace trying to get the shot off, quicker and quicker.
Electronic signs even scoreboards have changed the game. Well not the game itself but the atmosphere around the game. The ease and quickness of instead manually putting up a number and doing it electronically made fans around the league rejoice.
Also changing the atmosphere around the game was the addition of video boards. Letting fans see replays of plays that just happened allowed fans to feel closer to the game as it happened. Not to mention the fact you can bring the crowd closer to the action even more with the use of bloopers and crowd videos these days.
The addition of video boards took another jump last year when the new Cowboys stadium opened up. The screen was a 160 feet wide and 72 feet high.
The equipment change has also been great. From not using any gloves, helmets or safety devices to today having millions invested in all three. Sports have become a leading a frontier in the medicine world. From early gloves in baseball to today’s gloves there has been great improvements. From just barely having a mitt to now having scientifically engineered gloves designed to perform at peak performance.
Helmets saw maybe even a greater advance. Players did not even wear helmets for decades before they became mandatory in the 40’s. Now today with concussions being all over the news every week helmets are designed to prevent more and more. Now you can buy helmets that keep track of the impacts your head goes through.
Even in Nascar there have been great improvements. From safer walls for crashes and neck devices to fire proof suits Nascar has been trying to keep up with the changes in technology. Even the cars have changed. The car of tomorrow that every team now uses bump drafted past the old iconic cars of the past.
Finally medicine itself has improved the game. From Tommy John surgery saving a pitchers career to knee surgery extending a player’s usefulness. In the old days of sports players would either just play through the pain or just take cortisone shots to dull it away. Today there is a procedure for everything you may injure. But of course you can also pay homage to the medical practices of old and do what Ronnie Lott did and just remove the injured part.
Even now when we are not at the stadium the coverage has changed. With 3-D technology starting to be implemented into game coverage, sports continue to change the way we watch them.
So in all the jumps in technology have been great. It is going to be more entertaining than a Pirates vs Nationals double header to see where technology in sports goes to next.
