EQUIPMENT


Suh Takes A Hit (And Measures It) For Player Safety

Posted by Anthony Mowl in ALL, EQUIPMENT on 06-30-11    No Comments


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Let's hope player safety doesn't mean more weird helmets like this one.

Ndamukong Suh is a physical freak of nature. He packs 307 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame and runs the 40 in 4.9 seconds. As the No. 2 pick in the 2010 draft, Suh racked up the stats. He led the league with 10 sacks in his rookie season, amassed 66 tackles, and threw in an interception and a forced fumble. Let’s not forget he even attempted an extra point. That kick went wide right and hit the upright. No doubt the offensive players who face Suh wish he would miss more often, because the combination of his size and speed leads to highlight-reel pancake hits.

With more players like Suh entering the league, the NFL has faced increasing issues with player safety, especially when it comes to head injuries. Concussions during the 2010 season were up 21 percent over the previous season. Players with body types like Suh’s are steamrolling over players in head-on collisions, which plays a major role in the increase in player injuries.

Player safety is one of the issues on the long list of items at the center of the NFL lockout battle, with players wanting better insurance coverage while the owners hope to increase the schedule — and the potential for injury — from 16 to 18 games.

Amid the dispute, Battle Sports Science may have come up with an intelligent solution that could contribute to player safety. They developed the Impact Indicator, a chinstrap that attaches to any helmet and measures the length of impacts and G-forces that a player endures during a game. While the chinstrap itself doesn’t offer any protection, it does signal to a team’s training staff, coaches, and referees whether a player needs to be pulled off the field for assessment after a particularly brutal hit.

I question whether simply measuring the impact of hit will give a false illusion of security. Preventing concussions should take precedence over simply identifying concussions. Even with measurements from this device, each player will have his own unique physical response to a hit. Some may bounce up off the ground from a particularly brutal hit that measures off the charts, while others may suffer a concussion from a less-severe but well-placed hit. But even with these issues, Battle Sports Science’s system at least gives some indicator and emphasis about safety where there was previously little attention paid.

Having a reputable player like Ndamukong Suh as the first NFL player to wear the Impact Indicator is an excellent start. A player involved in as many violent collisions as Suh should give the system a good test and provide some indication whether it can make the game safer. Soon enough we may see these chinstraps become the standard for every football player. I look forward to seeing players combine the Impact Indicator chinstrap with new helmets that better absorb hits and offer more protection. That would be a formidable one-two punch against getting knocked out.




Dude, That’s One Hairy Surfboard

Posted by Anthony Mowl in EQUIPMENT, Uncategorized on 06-20-11    1 Comment


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I think I should start investing in companies that make accelerometers. They’re finding their way in just about anything that moves, even where you’d least expect it. Surfing is one of the purest sports you can find, just a surfer on a board feeling the waves beneath them. It used to be the only thing a surfer needed was a wet suit and bare feet. Now, surfers might have to bring an extension cord and a power outlet to to the beach so they can charge their surfboard.

The dudes over at Pukas surf must have broken their boards on a nasty wave, because they tossed their old surfboard. They teamed up with tech company Tecnalia in an effort to gadgetize surfing and came up with a whole new surfboard, the Surfsens. The Surfsens project packs a surfboard with what seems to be the standard cache of toys for any new invention; GPS, accelerometer, and a hard drive that wirelessly sends data to Tecnalia’s proprietary interface in an effort to “change feelings into facts and figures.” Facts and figures? While surfing?

The Surfsens project is initially being used to build better surfboards by measuring torque and flexibility and gauging surfers’ performances on different types of boards and seeing which settings work best. I’m certain there will be major improvements in surfboard design thanks to the data from the Surfsens. Using an electronic surfboard to build better boards sounds logical, but it may not end there. As if surfboards weren’t expensive enough already, developers want the juiced up board to become the standard. They hope a version of the Surfsens will eventually be used in competition. Now, I’m all for innovation, but I don’t want to see judges base their scores on data sets that measure a surfer’s performance. This is where the line between improving a sport and overdoing something gets crossed.

Surfing used to be cool, tanned dudes taking a drop down the face of a wave and hanging 10. For the sport to be reduced to bits of code is one thing. But the idea of having pale nerds at the beach with their laptops potentially chasing the bikini beauties away? Now this, I take offense to. Let’s keep the computers off the beach, and keep surfing as natural and gnarly as possible.




Funny Car Speed Record Hits 316.45 MPH

Posted by Dan in EQUIPMENT on 06-20-11    No Comments


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Evan's Completely Unrelated Photo Of a Car Wreck

Now I know autoracing is usually more of a Blum thing, but I felt I had to shout out to Robert Hight, who set a funny car drag racing speed record in Bristol at the Thunder Valley Nationals.

He ran a record 316.45 mph and he didn’t die or wreck in his Ford Mustang.

“We made eight great runs, and when we needed it the most, Jimmy (Prock, crew chief) pulled it off. I’ve never set any kind of a record before so that’s pretty cool, too,” Hight said. ”I know there are no points for a speed record, but it’s still cool to have”

Which is what makes drag racing the fabulous near pointless techno-exercise it is.

I’m getting the specifics on his engine setup right now and will have more info the podcast returns this week! (No that is not his car, but it is a pretty badass picture taken at the same event.)




The UA E39: Making Clothes Statistically Relevant

Posted by Anthony Mowl in EQUIPMENT, Uncategorized on 06-15-11    3 Comments


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Mark Twain said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little to no influence on society.” But Mark Twain had no idea that Under Armour clothes would someday make the athlete.

Innovators at UA came up with what they call “the Bug,” a circular device about half the size of a hockey puck and houses a computer, hard drive and accelerometer that goes into a UA compression shirt. Together they make up the UA E39.

What the UA E39 does, according to one of the people who developed the device, is “measure your potential.” But I think it does more than that. It adds a whole other coolness factor that will make even guys like Allen Iverson excited to go to practice. The Bug will measure and instantly send to your computer or mobile device data such as your heart rate, breathing rate, skin surface temperature and accelerometry. The UA E39 was recently unveiled at the NFL Combine where scouts raved about the technology. It clocked 40-times with pinpoint precision and measured the G-Force power of athletes as they burst during drills.

There are still some bugs to be worked out (pun intended). For instance, a player’s speed is measured using GPS, but isn’t as accurate indoors. While Under Armour works on these kinks before its 2012 release, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t going to change how athletes will train. It makes even the most informal practice session packed with data for athletes and coaches to review and analyze. Even team doctors and trainers can monitor an athlete’s body in real-time to make intense sessions safer. More importantly, it levels the playing field.

Previously only professional athletes or major college programs had access to this type of data, and it was only made possible by covering the athlete in wires and putting them on a treadmill in a lab. Now anybody can generate this data and use the UA E39 regularly whether they are doing sprints, shootarounds and drills by themselves or during a formal practice session.

For the more recreational athlete, the applications are endless. I can imagine my flag football league awarding prizes for the fastest player in the tournament, or television networks reporting on G-forces during a game should the UA E39 find its way into shoulder pads. It would add another dimension to watching games. I can’t wait to see how nervous a rookie is before their first playoff game, how a kicker’s heart rate measures up when he’s about to attempt a game-winning kick, or which quarterbacks really do have ice in their veins when leading a fourth-quarter comeback down the field.

As for the second half of Mark Twain’s quote, some things never do change. Thankfully, naked people still have little to no influence on society.

What do you think? What other cool uses can you think of for the UA E39?




Love To Run? Let Me Count The Ways

Posted by Anthony Mowl in EQUIPMENT, MOBILE, Uncategorized on 06-13-11    2 Comments


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Not only are Americans getting fatter, but we’re also getting slower.

The last time an American won the Boston Marathon was Greg Meyer in 1983, and it doesn’t seem like we can win a Tour de France without some type of doping scandal. App makers are coming up with ways for us to use our iPhones to motivate us to get off the couches and start running and cycling. Let’s face it, we can’t do anything without an app these days, can we?  Fortunately, there are plenty of free apps that’ll help you find inspiration to hit those trails.

The Nike+ iPod app works with sensors in Nike+ shoes and tracks your speed and distance while running. It lets you set workout times or distances and has words of inspiration from athletes like Lance Armstrong, who tells you when you’ve had a great workout at the end. Sensors cost about as much as dinner for two at Chipotle and a six-pack of beer, which likely explains why other shoemakers haven’t caught on yet.

RunKeeper was the first free GPS tracking app for runners and cyclists. It lets you keep track of your route, time and average speed and post your workout on social networking sites. It uses the GPS feature on your phone so you don’t have to buy any hardware, and can save your money for snacks. Long distance runners and cyclists couldn’t use RunKeeper because it would drain the battery by the time they’re halfway through a marathon. I wasn’t able to reproduce this issue and haven’t experienced this problem myself because I’m not able to run long enough, not by a long mile. I’ll try again without the beer next time.

Map My Tracks markets itself as a solution for the battery-draining apps. It calls itself a “light-weight, low-power app that is designed to make live tracking at long distance events a viable option.” It only saves on the battery because it turns the GPS on periodically and fills in the blanks, as opposed to RunKeeper which hums throughout your entire workout. While Map My Tracks targets the hardcore runners and cyclists, it’s also designed to be a social tool for supporters and organizers to track event participants.

All this innovation is fine, but it probably isn’t going to help us get off the sofa or take back the Boston Marathon. People who can’t run don’t need another app to tell them how quickly it takes them to get out of breath. And the last time I checked, there was no GPS coverage in the Kenyan desert. There’s some other trick up Kenyans’ sleeves. Maybe it’s that they don’t have Chipotle’s “burritos as big as your head.” What we truly need is an app that’ll let me write safely while I run or bike. Now that would get me moving.




Golf Glove Gets Smart

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 05-23-11    No Comments


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via SensoGlove

Check this out: A golf glove that gives you feedback on your stroke.

Honestly, I have no idea if this is complete nonsense or not, but if it’s for real, what’s not to love?

Called SensoGlove ($99), the thing basically is a golf glove that measures the hand pressure as you swing. Squeeze too hard and the thing beeps, essentially warning you when you are strangling the club and confusing grip strength with stroke strength.

Personally, I would be interested to try it.  I have always found these sorts of feedback tools to be useful, at least for a while. And anything that improves your game is worth a shot.

Now, as to whether it is worth $100? That’s another thing.




NBA-Banned Shoe Turns its Swag On

Posted by John Hamlin in EQUIPMENT on 05-20-11    No Comments


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I guess if players can’t wear your high-tech shoe on the court then it’s time to convince them to wear it to the club.

Athletic Propulsion Labs‘s new Concours shoe is essentially a dressy remake of the Concept 1, which the NBA banned last October, just seven months after its introduction, for providing “undue competitive advantage.” APL has since tried to make lemonade out of  the decision, selling “banned by the NBA” t-shirts and special edition Concept 1′s with “banned” printed on the insole.

With the Concours, APL turned to sports cars for inspiration and, it seems, a nifty sales pitch. The design and the name come from Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, an uber-luxury car show in Pebble Beach, Calif., co-founder Ryan Goldston said. “The shoe’s upper takes inspiration directly from the interior of the Bentley Brooklands, while the visible Load ‘N Launch outsole technology was inspired by the exposed engine compartment of the Bugatti Veyron,” he said.

It’s that Load ‘N Launch technology that got APL into trouble in the first place. Essentially, the system places a pad in the toe of the that shoe that compresses and expands, making you jump higher.

Think of it as a spring.

And, according to research APL did “at a leading United States university’s biomechanics lab with two biomechanics Ph.Ds who specialize in vertical leap,” it’s an effective spring. Of the 12 participants tested, 11 jumped higher with the APL shoes, gaining up to 3 1/2 inches of vertical leap. The researchers deemed this statistically significant, and a few months later the NBA seemed to agree.

Co-founder Adam Goldston emphasized that the Concours doesn’t sacrifice that performance for its newfound style. “The great super cars are equally at home on the boulevard as they are on the race track,” he said. “In a similar manner, the APL Concours is equally at home on and off the basketball court.”

A pair of Concours runs $195 on APL’s website, the same price as Concept 1′s, but they also throw in a six-pack of “supercar-inspired colored laces,” each of which “dramatically change the look of the Concours.” Personally, I don’t see myself color-coordinating my outfits by re-lacing my shoes too often, but I can’t complain about not having to buy replacement laces.




Knock-Off Kinect Inches Toward Market

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT, GAMING on 05-19-11    No Comments


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via Omek

 

Sports gamers looking for the cool Kinect vibe, but without the $150 sticker shock, will almost certainly be getting some good news soon.

A company called Omek Interactive said its software will be used by the newly announced iSec Sports & Entertainment Center — which is turning out to be a LOT like the Kinect. No word on the pricing and other stats for the iSec.

But clearly it’ won’t be long before a game shows up in a Walmart near you.

Here is the press release.




Racing Tech Company Keeps Pace

Posted by Alex Dalenberg in EQUIPMENT on 05-17-11    No Comments


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We spend a lot of time talking on the latest sports tech start-ups that offer everything from top-of-the-line gear to advanced stats, but it’s worth noting that some of these guys have been around a long time now.

Here’s one of the older sports tech companies I’ve come across, Lin-Mark Computer Sports, a computer sports timing company which has been around since 1988. Owner Mark Toretsky wrote his first race scoring program on the Apple 2E with 10K of memory. Of course, race timing has come a long way since then, but Toretsky has stayed on top of it, now the company uses ChronoTrack‘s  B-Tags which debuted last year — basically just a racing bib with a microchip in it that transmits your results.

Talk about staying ahead of the pack.




Lenovo Getting Close With iSec Sport Console

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 05-11-11    No Comments


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Lenovo iSec sports console to make it out alive by mid 2011, via Shanghaiist

Some reasonable reports are filtering out of the Asian production rim, that Lenovo’s sports game console will finally get to market by the second half of 2011.

Called the eBox, the tool is aimed at China’s still tiny interactive sports media gaming market.  The Microsoft xBox Kinect is pretty much still an American invention.

The hilarious part is, sports game consoles are banned in China, according the technology site Shangaiist. But that did not stop several other small sport console makers for making such systems in Asia. Units like Vii, and i-Dong are for sale there now

Either way, the fact is, the Microsoft Kinect will not have the interactive gaming market to itself for long.  Low cost interactive sports tools should be showing up at a Walmart near you soon.