NFL Draft Finally Goes International

There has never been an NFL player to be drafted to not come from an American college, until this year at least. Moritz Boehringer is a Wide Receiver drafted by the Minnesota Vikings out of Germany. Moritz has only been playing football for 5 years but has stood out among his competition in the German professional league. He has a lot of raw talent and it will take him a while to adjust from competing against close to Division 3 level talent in Germany, to facing the best in the world, but the vikings believed in his potential enough to spend a draft pick on him. It will be interesting to see how his career plays out and how it will affect the popularity of American football in Europe.

Tom Brady's Suspension Upheld

Right when the deflate gate scandal seemed over and done with, it pops back up into the news. This time the U.S. appeals court was at the forefront of the drama by siding with the NFL and upholding Tom Brady's original suspension of 4 games to start the season. I do not agree with the decision and I believe it is unfair to Tom, Patriot fans, and Patriot staff. For one, I feel that 4 games is entirely too long. Four games is the base suspension for players that break the actual law, not for players that are accused of cheating with no solid evidence to prove it. Greg Hardy assaulted and almost killed his girlfriend and he got a 4 game suspension, so basically domestic abuse and deflating balls is the same crime, right?. Secondly, this incident happened two seasons ago, it's time to just let it go. The slightly deflated balls didn't make any difference in that game or on the outcome of the season and people now really don't care about it. At this point it's just beating a dead horse. The NFL has the power to just end this and let one of their best players play and if they were smart they'd do just that.

Jordy Mercer Finds His Stroke

The Pirates shortstop, Jordy Mercer, hit a league leading 466ft. home run Friday during their game with the Astros. I'll admit I'm not the biggest Jordy Mercer fan, actually he might be my least favorite Pirate, but I can't say I hate any Pirate. Now, before anyone starts hating, let me explain myself. Jordy, throughout his career, has been a player that got playing time for defense, that's why I'm not a fan of his. My view on baseball is if you can't hit a ball, which until this season Mercer was sub-par at, you shouldn't be on the field. I'd rather have a player that commits 30 errors and hit 30 home runs (Hello Pedro) than a player that is a defense only player. My reason being is that a home run will always lead directly to a run, however, an error hardly ever leads directly to a run being scored so therefore the advantage goes to the offense. Now to go back on topic, I hope Jordy can keep up this kind of hitting all year and then give me an actual reason to root for him, instead of hoping he doesn't pop out on a scoring opportunity.

Safety Comes at a Cost

Football is the most popular sport in America, but it is notoriously considered dangerous. In the effort to reduce the risk of playing many helmet companies have worked to make the safest helmets possible. Currently, the Visis "Zero1'" helmets are considered to be the safest to protect players from concussions. The problem is that to make such a helmet, it costs money. Through grants and other investments Visis has earned the funding to produce the Zero1 helmets, but those investments don't help bring the actual cost down. If any school wanted to buy this helmet they would have to drop $1,500 for just one. This puts pressure on football organizations to decide what is more important, player safety or money. Ultimately small organizations don't have a hope of dishing out $1,500 per athlete to equip them with the safest equipment, so once again, it shows just how much money runs everything and takes precedence over the betterment of the game.

Kobe Brings out the Nostalgia

Kobe said goodbye to basketball the only way he knows how on Wednesday night. He capped his career with a 60 point outing and gave fans exactly what they wanted. I've been a long time Kobe fan through all the ups and downs of his career and now that he is gone I'm afraid it is the end of and era in basketball. The reason I rooted for him was that he wasn't afraid to speak his mind, he wouldn't hesitate to call out coaches or teammates, he never wanted to team up with all-stars to get a ring, he wanted to do it his way and be on top. I feel in today's NBA that competitiveness is lost. Everybody is best friends with everyone now and there's no real rivalries and trash talk that went on between players in years past. I'm an old school basketball fan and I will miss how the NBA used to be when it took more than throwing up deep range three's to win games, but that's the direction its headed and there's nothing that can be done at this point but just enjoy the players that still play the game way it should.

NCAA Reverses Bans on Social Media Recruiting

The NCAA has recently revoked it's ban on coaches using social media and text messaging to contact their recruits. This ban will be something coaches across the country will be relieved about because it is one less violation they need to worry about getting caught over. Athletes on the other hand probably won't find the same enjoyment in it. With no restrictions coaches will be able to constantly text and be in communication with their recruits as much as they want and I feel as a recruit that would get annoying. I know when I went through the process in high school, at a much smaller scale however, I was only contacted through phone, letters and in person. I can't imagine how much some of these big time recruits phone's blow up with messages they probably won't care about half the time. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out and if the NCAA reacts when athletes start complaining about the harassment of texts coming through their phones.

Adidas Fights Child Obesity

Child obesity has become a huge concern in schools all across the US and gym classes are obviously a big part of trying to combat obesity. The problem is that gym teachers aren't always able to properly monitor all students in class to make sure they are all participating. Adidas is releasing a new product that students can wear around their wrist during class and have their heart rate monitored. All information from the watches can then be sent to the teachers computer where they can look over all the data and decide who they need to push harder in class. I believe today there are too many kids that sit inside and play video games all day and I'd like to see that change. I hope this new technology will make it possible for teachers to better help those young students that are at risk of becoming obese.

New Las Vegas Arena

Las Vegas is one of many cities that is awaiting a professional sports team, but due to it's natural relation to gambling many leagues are hesitant to locate a team there. The city is being pro-active though in trying to get either the NBA or NHL to bite. Yesterday the T-Mobile arena officially opened with The Killers performing a concert. The first sporting event the arena is set to host will be a highly anticipated boxing match between Canelo Alvarez, who I'm a huge fan of, and Amir Khan May 7th. The arena will serve as just an entertainment venue for now but it is ready to take on any basketball or hockey teams immediately.

New Court Projections at Final Four

While watching the Final Four basketball games tonight I noticed something very impressive. During the announcements of the starting 5 the lights dimmed and there were projections on the court as normal. As each starter was announced though, the players picture appeared on the court as a projection. The projections looked a lot cleaner than what I've seen in person and they looked high-def. I'm not totally familiar with this new way of projecting as I haven't watched many starting lineup announcements this year, nor do I attend many college or NBA games. As a one time viewer though, that court presentation was very impressive and I'll for sure be watching for more use of it in the future.

The Wi-Fi Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is well behind us now but I just came across some data that seemed very interesting to me. Levi Stadium, host of Super Bowl 50, provides free wi-fi to the fans in attendance. While that's not unusual, how much data traveled through the wi-fi is. 10.1 terabytes of data were used over the course of the game. That's enough for over 6,000 hours of HD video. Also, it crushed the previous record that was set last season at 6.23 terabytes. This just goes to show how rapidly technology is spreading throughout world and how much the fans are invested in it.

http://www.sporttechie.com/2016/02/12/super-bowl-50-set-data-record-by-halftime/

Purdue's new Fund Raising

Usually when college athletic departments require money they seek donations from alumni. Purdue is trying a new technique however. Purdue University is using CrowdFund to try and fund renovations to their basketball arena. CrowdFund is an online service that allows anyone to start their own fund or donate to a fund they see fit. Purdue is hoping that by using CrowdFund they will be able to receive money from fans that are less willing to donate than alumni due to not knowing exactly where the money is going. This site allows donors to see where their money is directly going to and they can feel more comfortable about pledging money to their school's athletics. If this is successful it could become a new trend around the NCAA to raise money.

http://www.sporttechie.com/2016/03/07/purdue-athletics-department-may-have-just-started-an-interesting-crowdfunding-trend-in-college-sports/

NHL Tries an Old School Test

Concussions are a serious concern for any athlete involved in contact sports. With all the new technology available testing for concussions has become more regulated and provides more care for the athletes involved. The NHL though isn't looking ahead for new tests, they actually took a page from the past. The King-Devick test is a test that has been around for 40 years and was typically used to test for reading disabilities in children. The NHL is planning to use the test as a way to quickly evaluate players for concussion like symptoms. Though the test is may years old there will be a new school twist thrown into it. While the test is being taken, eye tracking technology will follow the players eye movements and will red flag when there is something out of the ordinary. The use of this test shows that, while all this new technology is great, there are sometimes much simpler ways to accomplish a goal.

New Technologies at the NFL Combine

The NFL combine is often mocked by some as having no direct relation to how a player will compete at the professional level. While some parts of the combine could still be argued to be useless, there is still some value to be found and with new technologies being integrated I believe the effectiveness of combine scouting will increase significantly. One new invention being used is virtual reality. STRIVR is a virtual reality program that tracks the wearers eye movements and is most commonly used to track a QB's football IQ and see how they react to different situations. This will be a key scouting feature that can help determine a QB's NFL readiness and determine how likely they are to be able to make an immediate impact. Another new piece of equipment that's under evaluation is a Kitman Labs creation. It is a specialized camera that tracks players movements through drills and determines if any body part is at risk of possible injury. That is information every team will be able to use so they don't draft a player that will later suffer any season or career ending injuries. There's many new technologies being used by teams to determine the draftablilty of players, so expect the world of scouting players to change drastically as the evolution continues.

http://www.sporttechie.com/2016/02/23/nfl-combine-to-get-a-much-needed-high-tech-facelift/

Line Shortening Technology in Detroit

WaitTime is a new up and coming app that has a sole purpose of letting fans know how long lines for concessions or rest rooms around an arena or stadium are. The Detroit Pistons are the first major sports team to fully embrace this new technology. Not only can fans view the wait times through the phone app, but there are also 30 signs located around the seating sections that get updated in real time. The app is one of a kind based on how in depth it is and the fact that it is not limited to only mobile phone users. I believe WaitTime will become very popular after this trial run with the Pistons and will eventually become a staple at events across the country.

http://www.sporttechie.com/2016/03/16/detroit-pistons-become-first-team-to-implement-line-shortening-technology/

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Aaron Batzel and I am a freshman sport management major at Slippery Rock University. I am doing this blog as part of a class project in our sport communication and technology class. In this blog i will be discussing various sport related topics as well as some things about my organization, Batzel Men's Basketball League.