Living in the future: Sports version

As I type this I am watching Rolland-Garros (the French Open tennis tournament) live on television. Play started at 11 am Paris time and, unlike the plight of the sports fan of yesteryear, I could watch it live in the comfort of my home in Ontario, Canada. If I did not want to get up early (starting time in Paris translated to 5 am where I live) I could program my DVR to record it. If, as happened this weekend, the vagaries of of American broadcast television leads to the tennis coverage ending before the end of the exciting match I was watching, it takes me less than 30 seconds to locate an internet feed of that match.

There is much discussion (on the internet, in print publications and on television) of the impact that the internet has had on politics, book publishing and the film industry but comparatively little discussion of the impact it has had on sports.

So, in what ways do you think the development of the internet has changed the relationship between professional sports and sports fans? In what ways do you think the development of the internet has fundamentally changed what it is to be the fan of a sport or the nature of particular sports?

--mmy

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Comments

[cjmr]

Theoretically, because of the internet, I should be able to watch ANY athlete at the Olympics compete whichever events they are competing at in the Olympics, not just the ones the American networks have decided they want to show me.

Unfortunately, I'll have to watch it in a little window in my browser instead of on the nice big TV. (Mind you, this is totally a perspective problem on my part, since the monitor on my computer is BIGGER than the screen on the TV my parents had when I was growing up....)

[Steele]

It gives more communication between the athletes and the fans. Previously, there was a wall of the Team or the Reporters. Now there is a much better chance that an athlete could read a tweet you make at them.

Another is that it will accelerate the rate at which sports change. Because if there's a problem in the rules (for example, that World Cup goal a few years ago) that we can see a problem with enforcement... We'll talk for a bit. Then drop it.

But now we can keep talking. And keep showing everyone else.

Things like "That should have been a perfect game" "That should/shouldn't have been a goal" can and will be caught and a bigger stink raised.

[Mike Timonin]

To amplify what cjmr said, I heard a report on NPR about a month ago - NBC will be broadcasting the Olympics live online instead of only with a time delay on TV. This is to avoid the whole "why wait for NBC to show me the race/diving/skiing/curling when I can find a bootleg copy online" phenomenon. Now, if only I could watch the curling championships from CBC online...

also, cjmr - take a look at playon.com - it will allow you to "broadcast" stuff from your computer to a set-top box on your TV. We have a Roku, for Netflix, but any of a myriad of devices will work. There is a pay option, but the free service should allow you to watch anything you can download onto your computer, or anything via youtube.
I use playon to watch the geek and sundry youtube channel, because Wil Wheaton's half-hour boardgame show is too much to watch on my computer screen.

[cjmr]

Mike,

Thanks. I wonder if it will work with my already on the internet TiVo...

[Mike Timonin]

cjmr: yes, apparently. There may be hoops to jump through. and the url should be playon.tv.

Here are instructions for TiVo - there are, indeed, hoops: http://code.google.com/p/pytivo-jkasyan-fork/

[Mmy]

Talking about living in future--am sitting here in front of my computer totally stoked that I can watch the Transit of Venus.

[Amaryllis]

@Mmy: yes, I've got my Astronomy Picture of the Day on refresh-- hey, it moved!

Not watching an actual live stream as spouse is listening to a live Choral Evensong (gorgeous music) and there's only so much bandwidth around here.

... or no, wait a minute, I think that's a prerecorded download.
*wanders off to investigate*

[Amaryllis]

Also, "Transit of Venus" is a great title for a novel. Has anybody read it? Is it good?

[hapax]

Spouse brought home some welder's glass, so we've been staring at the sky through binoculars.

Yep, black spot moving across the sun.

The concept is cool, but the visuals are a bit underwhelming.

[Mike Timonin]

Yep, black spot moving across the sun.

When it doesn't involve travelling half-way around the world with an untested clock to prove a scientific theory, it's all a little underwhelming.

[chris the cynic]

My sister and I were able to see a bit of it, I tried to take a picture but my camera wouldn't focus right (as near as I can tell my camera has no manual focus) so instead I have pictures of my sister and I around the time we were looking at it and what the sun looks like in out of focus green.

[Lonespark]

I propose an open-ish thread about labor and related things. US progressives and labor put in a big effort to recall the governor of Wisconsin and were ultimately unsuccessful. Huge money was poured in on the other side, and the presidential election looms. I'm curious if anyone has any knowledge or links about what went wrong and right, what the outlook is for labor around the US and the world, what history can teach us about what works, and how society is changing and how labor movements need to change to be relevant and powerful.

[sarah]

When I was a kid, my dad would put the football game on our (very fuzzy, as we didn't have cable) TV and fall asleep on Sunday afternoons. Now, my parents have gotten rid of their TV, but my dad can do the same thing with his computer.

Living in the future, indeed.