Why technology is ruining sport

[Kevin Lancaster]

Why technology is ruining sport

The history of technology in sport is a long and sordid love affair. It has thrilled, broken hearts, and either built success or elicited cries of fraud.

 

[Chris.Geerdts]

That's an excellent article.

It bugs me that even beginners can't enter a new sport without facing the same temptation to spend thousands extra on composites and features that "you can't do without"

 

[km2]

It bugs me that even beginners can't enter a new sport without facing the same temptation to spend thousands extra on composites and features that "you can't do without"

Has that ever not been the case? There are and have always been people trying to sell you ways to improve your play. I think the bigger problem is that people are more tempted to pay for these kinds of things, and if there's anything to blame technology for it's the increase in progress tracking in sports.

I feel with something like cycling, having everything recorded including cadence, heart rate, speed, time makes you much more tempted to play the numbers game than when you don't think about them. That leads to looking for products that will help you shave off 5% here and there.

 

[MickeyD]

My favourite sport has also succumbed to the evils of technology as well as the modern calls for "personal protection".

When cricket was first played they had very rudimentary equipment. This progressed a bit and by the mid 1800's a batsman basically wore a pair of pads to protect his lower leg area, a groin protector and some form of gloves to protect his hands. And a cap...

This progressed a bit over the ensuing years and batsmen used to stuff a towel around their thighs to protect the soft meaty thigh area!

Watch this clip from 1976 when Brian Close and John Edrich (England) were bombarded by Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Wayne Daniel (West Indies) in a Test.

This is Holding to Edrich:

[video=youtube;60GAhXvU90k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=14&v=60GAhXvU90k[/video]

This is what Close looked like afterwards!!

Roll on to the Kerry Packer World Series of Cricket...

They were not allowed to play on the main cricket fields and some of the pitches were not up to standard.

Tony Greig's infamous advert shows off the protection... before the WSC started!!



The quicks were smacking their lips and absolutely nailed the batsmen, some who quickly feared for their lives. This prompted Dennis Amiss and Tony Greig to bat with a motorbike helmet!!

A few weeks later and some WSC batsmen were wearing this:

This has progressed to where we are today.

The modern batsman's kitbag would typically contain the following:

Bats, leg pads, outer thigh pad, inner thigh pad, chest guard, forearm/elbow guard, groin protector, batting gloves, inner gloves and a helmet.

While some of these are essential and cannot be argued, it is giving the batsman an unfair advantage.

Now comes my technology rant!!

The old bat...

The new bat:

The latest bats are chalk and cheese compared to the bats of yesteryear. As a batsman you had to have a combination of skill, timing and power to fare well and score runs, especially to hit boundaries (4s and 6s).

Modern bats make average batsmen look like superstars. A well timed forward defensive stroke can get you a boundary!! Edged shots rocket to the fence. A flick gets you a six. Take that bat away and give him a well oiled, "hit in" bat from the 70s and see if he can do the same... No way. Modern bats might last you a season, old bats lasted for a few seasons...

So what does that tell you? Are today's batsmen really better players or is their equipment giving them the advantage? I say the latter.

 

[MickeyD]

Continuing on the cricket front...

With all this protection, youngsters are becoming less dependent on honing their skills and more dependent on their equipment.

Every kid is trying to hook every short pitched delivery for a six. That never happened before the advent of helmets... You ducked and dived and only when you were comfortable would you attempt the hook shot.

 

[Thor]

I'm with MickeyD on this one. In regards to cricket.

I myself enjoy the good ol round of golf every now and again and I see the same trend new kids becoming more dependant on having the latest drivers and putters etc, but still can't read a green for shiatsu.

 

[km2]

So what's the tail and what's the dog?

I think there's been a shift in the attitude towards sports over time, on the back of increased commercialism and advertising and the technology has just responded to demand from that. I don't think that an expensive Nike branded jersey is selling based on superior technology that would have been impossible before, but rather the people playing sports have been advertised to to the point that they feel they're missing out without the latest and greatest. Large sport equipment manufacturers have turned technology into just one more bullet point.

I think it's similar to the question of why people are drinking more bottled water these days. It's not superior water purification technology, but rather firms have discovered a way to extract money from a willing target market through aggressive marketing.

 

[Knyro]

Just wait until bionic implants/advanced prosthetics become the norm :twisted: