Where Amazing Happens

April 15th, 2010

3

Being a vocal NBA fan can cause some eyes to roll when working at a tech company. That’s fine, I don’t take it personally. I know there are “better things” that I could be doing with my Monday night than going to the Staples Center to see the Clippers bench players phone it in on their way to a 23 point loss. I still find myself being extremely entertained on a number of levels- and besides, 70% off End of Season Sale on all merchandise!!

With the NBA playoffs starting this weekend, I figured now was as appropriate of a time as ever to shine a light on different ways in which some NBA players and the league itself are embracing the web and integrating new technology.

Start-Ups:

While his team is number 12 in the Western Conference, he’s still number 1 in our hearts. Think his team would play better if all of their games were broadcast as ibeatyou.com competitions?

The LA Clippers very own Baron Davis launched a video portal competition website a couple of years ago. His site, ibeatyou.com, is a platform allowing users to engage in friendly competitions ranging from staring, push-ups, milk-chugging and movie trailer spoofs.

Blogging:

Agent 0 really is a happy man

Gilbert Arenas will forever be known as the guy that brought guns into his team locker room. That’s right, he is currently spending one month in a halfway house for his actions. One thing is certain about the Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas: he has always been known as one of the biggest personalities in the NBA. In fact, he was voted the “Best Celebrity Blogger of 2007” by webblogawards.org and has been called the “first blog superstar.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the judge that opted to send Arenas to a halfway house instead of prison spent some time reading his blog before sentencing. Arenas claimed that he brought the guns to the locker room as a joke and that it all turned into a big misunderstanding. Those that were regular readers of his blog probably have a higher likelihood of believing him.

It’s all gold, but “Relationships 101” is definitely one of my favorites.

NBA Getting in on the Action:

A recent Sports Illustrated article entitled “Countdown: NBA Going Techie?” highlighted all of the ways in which the NBA will be going techie in the future. According to the NBA’s Executive Vice President of Operations and Technology, Steve Hellmuth, the NBA will someday start using similar technology to what James Cameron used in Avatar to track each of its players’ movements during games. They hope to do this by attaching sensors to the uniforms and shoes of the players. NBA execs like Mark Cuban believe that this technology could improve players’ shooting forms by looking at release-points, similar to what is being done with pitchers in baseball.

Pictured Above: Future version of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah watching as their coach and GM get into a physical altercation with one another using bows and arrows

Hellmuth also envisions practical uses by the NBA for 3-D video down the road. Teams may create clubs where fans are seated and watch the game from a single camera angle in 3-D, replicating the whole courtside experience. This way, fans would be able to sit off-location and watch the game from what feels like Jack Nicholson’s courtside seat next to the bench.

Hopefully your eyes have stopped rolling at this point and they’re now fixed on the future of technology in the NBA. For those of you that care, I’m picking the Dallas Mavericks to win it all over the Atlanta Hawks this year. I understand it if your eyes are rolling again, but you just wait!

Tagged with: NBA, social media

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