This will be the first of three discussions regarding technology and sports, as part of a new campaign. I'm really excited to be a part of it, and hope we can discuss how technology has changed your lives as well in regards to how you follow sports. Look for these the next two Fridays.
I'm one of the few people my age who have had a computer nearly their entire lives. I was going on the internet when it was all command lines, and there were no web browsers! I've had a yahoo account since 1998, and I was born in 1984! Say whaaaaaaaaat? Yeah!
Because of my dad's profession we had computers and internet and things like that. I remember the early days back when web browsers were getting big and the internet was getting more widespread. I thought it was so awesome how I could search for Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan, and have the ability to print off pictures of them... If you'd even call them pictures relative to today's technological world. More like black and white dot-matrix style pics, but I think you get it. I'd print those off, which was literally take minutes (minutes!) and drain all the ink (ink! not toner!).
Anyhow what I'm getting at, is I've seen the explosion of media particuarly with sports. It went from being cool to have the ability to see pictures and maybe look up scores, to having an entire experience through various forms of media.
I remember when seeing live scores was a big deal. Just having the ability to go online, and see the scores of the games in progress, I was like "woah". It was amazing to me. Now, depending on where you go and what you do, not only can I get scores of games in progress, but I can get those scores sent to me periodically on the phone. Moreso, I can view the games online (both through legal and frowned upon measures), and can even watch highlights on my phone! Even if you can't get a TV feed or decent broadcast, if you use Twitter like me, you can follow your favorite beat writer, where they often provide commentary or some color behind what is going on.
It is so easy to feel connected to not only your teams, but the entire sports world. All these apps on phones, the ability to watch multiple games on our computers, it really is amazing. Literally, everywhere I go, the NCAA, NFL, NBA, MLB, is going with me too. When I go somewhere, Iowa State is coming with me, which says a lot, as we all know Iowa State doesn't get much media coverage. Back in the day, you had to come to them. Now the content is coming to us, thankfully to all of the innovations we have seen with software engineering, and the widespread affordibility and use of smartphones.
We as people tend to get caught in the moment, and it is sometimes hard to step back and see just how much more enchanced technology, and technology as it relates to sports, has come. 5-10 years ago we wouldn't have imagined some of the features and content we are able to get today. 5-10 years from now, there will probably be a whole new paradigm that will be blowing the mind of my 2010-self. I can't wait!
Next time, I'm going to talk about quality, specifically HD.
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