11/21/24
April 29, 2004
Wired has a story about the Wi-Fi installation at San Francisco's SBC Park. The Giants' Chief Information Officer Bill Schlough discusses the technology changes. For you baseball crazies on SpoFi (and arguably many of you are tech crazies as well), how do you feel about this dawning of a new age in the baseball fan experience?
I was reminded of was LA Dodger games in the mid-80s when all the fans had radios and portable Tee Vees so they could watch the Lakers games. There would be nothing happening on the diamond when suddenly the fans would cheer. I You ever see a baseball game at the Skydome when the Leafs are playing? Exact same thing.
posted by jerseygirl at 08:41 AM on April 29, 2004
I used to get confused watching the snooker World Championships as a child - no one had ever explained to me that, in the early stages of the tournament, there were two matches played at once on either side of a large screen - as such, every so often, from the TV viewer's point of view, a player seems to get an enthusiastic round of applause seemingly for doing nothing more exciting than scratching his head while he tries to decide what shot to play next.
posted by JJ at 08:57 AM on April 29, 2004
I think that might have been my first ever post to a baseball thread. Granted, it was a complete derailment, but still...
posted by JJ at 08:59 AM on April 29, 2004
At first I thought this was a pretty cool idea mostly because I like to have my laptop open when I watch games at home -- it makes the experience more interactive. But after I thought about it a little, I realized that SBC park is too nice of a ballpark to waste it with your head in your laptop. Heck, I felt like I was missing something just when I kept score at a game there. Now, if they had WiFi at the Oakland Coliseum, that might be worth it (especially since the drummers are gone). Also, I feel really bad for the first person who gets their laptop smashed by a hard-hit foul ball.
posted by Jugwine at 09:11 AM on April 29, 2004
Also, I feel really bad for the first person who gets their laptop smashed by a hard-hit foul ball. Or by a fan diving for the same, or spilling his beer, or etc... There's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:27 AM on April 29, 2004
Geez, what's taking you guys so long out there?* Here in the Triangle, we have wireless broadband that would allow a sport fan to 'blog their Tar Holes, Dook, Wolf Puppies, Bulls, Mudcats, or Hurricanes game right there at the stadium. * - OK, so we just got it about a month ago.
posted by NoMich at 10:33 AM on April 29, 2004
I would think this would be more useful to the PDA crowd, and not so much the laptop users. Being able to quickly check e-mail and such on your PDA with the wireless access while watching Barry hit another one into the water sounds like a pretty nice deal.
posted by bcb2k2 at 10:35 AM on April 29, 2004
The drummers are gone from A's games? What a rip. They rock.
posted by YukonGold at 11:05 AM on April 29, 2004
Maybe it's because I don't get to go to enough live pro events so they are still novel to me, but doesn't this somewhat cheapen the live event experience? I mean, it sounds like this Digital Dugout is trying to make the live experience more like TV.....so what is the point of the live experience then?
posted by smithers at 02:25 PM on April 29, 2004
Funny, but the first thing that I was reminded of was LA Dodger games in the mid-80s when all the fans had radios and portable Tee Vees so they could watch the Lakers games. There would be nothing happening on the diamond when suddenly the fans would cheer. I laughed, and honestly found it a bit pathetic. If the other game is that important then stay home and watch it and let someone else have the tickets. In other WiFi news, it was announced that there will be free WiFi access on the Washington Mall soon.