COOL! WOO! New Underarmor E-39 Shirt! WOO!

COOL! I was just watching the NFL combine and I heard that some of the prospects for this years drafts will be testing out new E-39 shirts from UnderArmor. Dubbed "the Tony Stark shirt" by Rich Eisen of the NFL Network referring to its "Iron Man" look, the E-39 is a shirt similar to all other under armor material shirts except this is equipped with an accelererometer as well as heart and breathing monitors. This is all contained in a small "puck" shaped device that's virtually weightless in the front middle of the shirt. The sensor pack contains a processor and and 2 gigs of storage. It can share the information it gathers via Bluetooth helping NFL personell determine the best draft picks for their team. The technology can also find small inefficiencies in body movements and help the athletes correct them. Eventually this product will be available to everyday people to help us scientifically see how out of shape we are and help us fix this problem. WOO!

COOL! WOO! Pitch F/X systems being used?! WOO!

What the hey!? I just heard the coolest thing about pitching effects systems being used to help train pitchers...it's bonkers! This is neat, there are computers that can gauge the movements of pitches and help ppitchers to see if new release points, new grips, or different arm slots will help their pitches work better (for example curveballs move more). Ex-Royals pitcher Brian bannister among others use this type of technology. Brian Bannister is the type of pitcher who relies on th movement of his pitches to get people out due to his lack of power and speed. Below is a quote from him:

"I'll throw pitches in a low-key situation in a different way, check after the game to see how it measured on the pitch fx, see if it was better or worse and go from there"

Below is a graph containing important information from of a similar type pitcher named RJ Swindle uploaded from "erik" on Beyond the Boxscore.com

COOL! WOO! RFID and Sports Memorbilia! WOO!

RFID is poised to become the latest weapon for retailers to deploy in the arms race against shoplifting. A company called Prova Group is leading the way in this department. Prova decided early on to create a system that works at the moment of the signing of sports memorbilia that would put authentication in a database and lock that information onto an RFID tag. How it works is that the tag is applied to the item prior to signing, and then, at the point of signing, the tag is read by and entered into the Prova database, recording who, when, and where the autograph took place. Once an item is registered in Prova's Online Registry, the registered owner is able to print a certificate of authenticity on demand and to share the tagged item’s complete history, its chain of custody, with interested buyers or other collectors. In addition if a collector wishes to add additional signatures to an item the Prova RFID tag can record each separately and provide proof of authenticity for each autograph. This RFID solution could really benefit the sports memorbilia industry.

http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/real-lebron-ball-rfid-and-sports-memorabilia

RFID in Professional sports business...COOL! WOO!

I'm excited! Want to know why? Well I just learned The Seattle Seahawks Qwest Field and the Philadelphia Eagles Linoln Financial Stadium deploy an RFID payment system called PowerPay. They were created by Smart Systems Technologies and they work by linking the readers to POS (point of sale) terminals. Fans can register online to obtain the readers and tags and studies have shown it speeds up sales transactions to two times faster than cash and 6 times faster than credit/debit cards. It can also be used as a promotional tool linking special savings and rewards programs based on usage. SST Cheif technological officer Michael Richardson believes RFID technology can do the same for consumers as it does for inventory and product ID. The Seahawks and Eagles obviously buy into it, and other teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA are too as this type of payment system is being implemented at many homes of our favorite profesional sports teams

RFID in Racing

My girlfriends brother is a collegian runner at Lesalle in Pennsylvania and used to run at QU before the program was cut, so I thought I would look into some running technology today. It turns out every runner wore a ChronoTrack D-tag which included an Impinj RFID chip at a recent marathon in Seattle. The tags were weather resistant and the consensus was that they more dependable than other race technologies. They were useful because they tracked start, split and finish times. It enabled data to be collected not just at the start or finish but also midway through the race in order to eliminate any chances of cheating, this is the beuty of rfid technology, and one of its many uses. The tags used were disposable so they were just hooked up to the shoe and shirt number It seems RFID technology has started to become a common feature at races being held across the world and it not only makes the races fun and exciting but also enables the deserving winner to be awarded for his or her efforts.


http://www.rfid-weblog.com/50226711/sports.php

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi everyone, and welcome to my sports technology blog...

Throughout time we have seen how technology has evolved and how it is impacted all our lives. From ancient hieroglyphics written on stone tablets, to the telegraph, to the telephone, to the cellphone, to Twitter, technology has evolved and improved communication...while not as historically important as that, sports technology has evolved too, and today it is being used and experimented with more then ever. This is why I am writing this blog, because sports technology is at its highest point ever, major technological breakthroughs are paving the way for the future of sports playing, viewing, and studying. New technology is being harnessed and worked on to improve and futurize the games we love, and that which have become so integrated into our society. Things like Hawk-eye technology and smartballs loaded with tracking chips to provide real time data to officials are emerging, Computer systems that help with athlets' training and nutrition are being used, instant replay technology and other high tech elements are already widely used to take the human element out of officiating a game and improve it. What technology in sports will we see next? If it really good for the sports? These are some of the the things that will be discussed over the following 12 weeks as I blog about the technology in sports both today and tommorow. I hope you enjoy!