Technology in Sports

By abhishek at 4 October, 2007, 2:30 pm

Sachin Tendulkar has a million records to his name. But, he has one dubious record of having the most number of ducks in one day internationals (15 times has he been dismissed without scoring. He equalled Srinath�s record) and Sachin was the first player in One Day International Cricket to have been given run out by the third umpire! Technology has definitely helped the game and it is a debated issue whether all close calls should be referred to the third umpire since it is only fair that justice is done.

How is technology helping people to understand a sport better?
Let’s take the case of cricket. You guys must have seen or heard of the software called, ‘Hawk Eye’ which is used by the commentators to show to the television viewers whenever an LBW (Leg Before Wicket) appeal is made. An LBW is particularly a difficult concept for an average viewer or a cricket lover to understand. Read on…

For an LBW, there are a few basic rules; if the ball pitches outside the leg stump, it doesn’t matter whether it goes on to hit the pads, the verdict will always be not out. But, if the ball is pitched outside the off stump and if the ball hits the pads in line with the stumps then the umpire can raise his finger! During all this time the umpire also has to see whether the ball bounced too much and whether it would have gone on to hit the stumps or did it hit too high on the pads, But, if the batsman does not offer to play the ball with his bat and just plonks his pads to knock the ball off, the first rule (of the ball pitching outside the leg stump) doesn’t apply still applies. But, if the ball hits the pads outside the line of off stump, he will be given out if he not offering a shot. Confused? I will not blame you. But, if all of this were to be explained to you on a TV screen with a simple flash animated software, it suddenly becomes very easy and comprehendable. The software shows you the trajectory of the ball and will simulate exactly what happenned on the field. That’s an example of how everyone can easily understand the sport better. The hawk may not always be right in its version of what happened on the field, but, the idea is to help everyone get as close to the game as possible. Please note that I am NOT a fan of hawk eye and that the third umpire (who shall use hawk eye) should never be referred for an LBW decision. It is just a tool which provides a good visual discription of what transpired on the field.

Overkill
The threat of technology is that when you use too much of it, you run the risk of overdoing it. Sometimes it gets really boring to watch the analysts (Gavaskar, Shastri, etc) explaining to us reading from their computer screen (visible to us as well) about how Shreesant bowled in different areas of the pitch throughout the match, etc. We don’t need to know what happened on each ball. We would love to know whether the bowler was disciplined enough to bowl an off side and not stray on the leg side. A simple pie chart showing us the percentage should help. However, these experts show us a very clogged screen which has graphic details of the 60 balls that bowler would have bowled. It doesn’t tell us much. Apart from it being boring, it is a piece of information that we can do without.

Use technology to amuse people and as an entertainment tool (Hawk eye) and don�t over do it.

Have been often my blog, Why don't you subscribe to our RSS feed.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! Hope to see you again