From the shoes we wear on our feet to the high definition televisions in our living room, wearable devices, the sports universe is a breeding ground for technology. Writer and Photographer Rick Limpert will examine this each week on The Tech of Sports – With guests which include athletes, inventors and journalists that cover the intersection of sports and technology.
Will Allen, a college football star for Ohio State University, received All-American honors. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and also played DB for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers.
He was a panelist at the recent Green Sports Alliance Summit, in Atlanta. The theme for the 2018 Summit was “PLAY GREENER™ : Get in the Game” and focused on taking action that encouraged collaborative problem-solving to achieve sustainable change across the sports spectrum. Attendees engaged in multiple skill-building and problem-solving workshops to develop solutions that encourage environmental and social responsibility across operations, supply chains, and fan bases.
Rick talks to Allen about how athletes can use their name to promote change and eco-awareness.
A great deal of talk at the Summit about sustainability of sports facilities.
Great talking to Will Allen.
Keep the conversation going on social media! Green Sports Alliance handles:
Samsung has announced the installation of their displays at Vivint Smart Home Arena, home of the Utah Jazz. The Utah Jazz teamed up with software integrator RevelTV and Samsung to create a fan experience unlike any other.
More than 600 Samsung screens and videowalls are installed throughout the arena, from the concourse to concession stands to club seating areas. The displays and videowalls helped the arena reopen with a reimagined, fan-focused venue that excites guests and enhances the amenities. Specifically, the 82-inch flat HD displays are equipped with content management tools that make it easy to change the content, messaging and overall look as often as needed. If a client asks for specific advertising, based on time and location, venue management can accomplish that very easily, using the hardware and software installed on the display. Here is a video case study on the integration to provide visuals and additional information.
Rick talks with all three and found out how this all came about and what it means for the future of fan engagement at sporting events. Have a listen.
This week, Rick is joined by entrepreneur, the founder of Adams Golf, inventor of the Tight Lies fairway wood, holder of several patents on golf products, author of The WOW Factor! – Barney Adams! And he has something new.
Adams was selected as Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 1999.[1] The 2010 Ernie Sabayrac Award for lifetime contribution to the golf industry was presented to Adams by the PGA of America. Adams has also been named an Honorary Member for Life by the PGA Southern California Section, Desert Chapter. Adams served as Chairman of the Board of Adams Golf until June 2012 when the company was purchased by TaylorMade-Adidas.
Introducing the Stability Shaft from Breakthrough Golf Technology. Breakthrough Golf uses scientifically advanced multi-material design with geometries never before used in a putter shafts. The Stability shaft has a unique look and a more solid feel than a traditional steel putter shaft.
CEO, Barney Adams states, “When I first learned about the product I knew that it could be significant. It’s a step forward in golf equipment technology. What has been rewarding for me is that the Stability Shaft works better for amateurs. Pros are great putters and while the shaft does help them, it’s the inconsistency of the amateur that it corrects most”.
The performance of the shaft was exhaustively tested with hundreds of putters using state-of-the-art high-speed cameras, robots, SAM Putt Lab, Quintic Ball Roll software and Trackman4. The result was to re-invent the putter shaft from the ground up.
There are four parts of the Stability shaft that work in concert to greatly improve putting performance. BGT calls this ‘Advanced Materials Integration’™:
Eight layers of high modulus carbon fiber specifically layered, wrapped and widened, with a no-taper design to greatly reduce torque.
Through ‘Finite Element Analysis’ a lightweight 22g aluminum insert was developed and precisely located to reinforce flexural rigidity.
A 7075-aluminum connector that helps to stiffen and reinforce. This versatility allows attachment to virtually any tip diameter of any putter, regardless of the bend profile.
The stainless-steel tips have extremely consistent wall thicknesses for superior strength and are coated with a smoke PVD finish to add protection from corrosion and rusting.
Designed to improve any golfer’s game. The Stability Shaft delivers the face more squarely at impact for improved accuracy, solid feel and has a lower launch for a predictable roll, resulting in better distance control.
You’ll get a higher ‘Smash Factor’, hit the clubface more consistently and ultimately make more putts. It’s a perfect synergy of technology and materials to improve putting performance.
The Stability Shaft has a MAP price of $199.99 and is available from golf retailers in the US and Canada.
Founder Barney Adams, who has always had the unique ability to see what is truly missing in Golf equipment decided to focus on the putter shafts since there had been no significant innovation for decades.
A team of award winning engineers was assembled and no shaft company on the planet delivers innovation in golf shafts like Breakthrough Golf Technology.
For more than 50 years, the putter shaft hasn’t changed — it essentially has remained a steel pipe. Yet putter head designs have evolved and gotten dramatically heavier. The result; Shafts that are neither stable nor strong enough to keep these advanced putter heads from oscillating, twisting and turning during the stroke. In fact, the strongest part of the putter shaft is right underneath the hands, where it does the least good; the weakest part is near the head. So why would any golfer having a better option trust their putter to a cheap steel shaft? After all, they use their putter nearly twice as much as any other club.
Rick is joined this week by Catherine Rotman, the marketing and golf director at the Inlet Sports Lodge in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.
Located in the heart of Murrells Inlet, The Inlet Sports Lodge is a boutique hotel catering to golf lovers, fishing, boating and outdoor enthusiasts, or anyone simply looking to relax. Just 1 mile north at the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk and Marina, enjoy a variety of award winning fresh Lowcountry dining and a variety of watersports. Minutes away from many of the area’s most recognized golf courses – including our very own affiliated courses – Caledonia Golf and Fish Club and True Blue Plantation and all the courses of the Waccamaw Golf Trail, plus dozens of boutique shops, beaches and historical area attractions.
If you are into sports and heading to the South Carolina coast, there is no better place to base your travels than the Inlet Sports Lodge. Catherine gives us a in depth view… Thanks to Catherine for coming on and in my opinion, the Inlet Sports Lodge is the only choice to stay when in the Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet, Pawley’s Island area.
It is according to Rick’s guest this week, Brent Huigens, CEO of PWCC. Since 1998, PWCC has provided buyers and sellers of investment-caliber trading cards with an efficient, honest, and predictable marketplace. And we’re just getting started. Trading cards are an emerging real asset class poised for growth as the market better recognizes the inherent supply/demand mismatch inherent to the industry. Compared to traditional brick-and-mortar auction environments, PWCC offers buyers and sellers a superior marketplace, principled in reduced transaction costs, faster turn- times, increased liquidity, and greater transparency. This isn’t just a hobby. It’s an investment.
Does your dad really need another tie? This Father’s Day, what if you could get your father a gift that not only represents a timeless slice of Americana art but also one that has above-average investment returns?
Sports trading cards are giving other asset classes a run for their money as alternative investments. Recently, there have been headlines of high-end cards selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but you can buy historic cards from well-known players that will provide a nice return on investment for a few hundred dollars.
PWCC Marketplace is the largest seller of investment-caliber trading cards with thousands of available cards on auction. A great show this week as Rick is speaking with PWCC’s CEO, Brent Huigens, to talk about great card options for Father’s Day and the hobby/industry in general.
PWCC auctions hundreds of new cards every month from all different types of sports and genres. Have a listen to Rick and Brent and see their site at www.pwccmarketplace.com.
Rick is joined by Jason Rose, founder of the Scottsdale Beat the Heat 10/5 K Race – The Hottest Race on Earth
After a five year hiatus, the hottest race on earth, Scottsdale’s Beat the Heat is returning to WestWorld of Scottsdale as part of the new Scottsdale Fahrenheit Festival: Arms, Legs and Kegs event on June 16th. Runners will traverse a combination of hard-packed dirt, asphalt, off-road and concrete paths, polo field and grass. Runners will end inside the air conditioning in the North Hall of the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction site. A true test for runners in the 100 degree+ heat of Arizona.
Jason talks about the origin of the race, what’s new this time around and the true endurance test that it is for competitors.
The race is taking place proximate to the hottest day ever recorded in the Phoenix metro area (June 26, 1990), with total prize money of over $8,000.
The amounts for the Scottsdale Beat the Heat are also steeped in symbolism. It will be available for the Top 5 finishers in the 10.22 kilometer for both male and female categories, as follows:
First Place: $1990: To celebrate the year of the hottest day ever recorded in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Second Place: $1022: In honor of the distance of the race to beat the heat.
Third Place: $626: In recognition of the hottest day recorded in Phoenix.
Fourth Place: $247: The time when it hit the record heat and when runners launch.
Fifth Place: $122: The highest temperature ever recorded in Phoenix.
The entry fee for the 10.22 kilometer is $62.60 per person and includes a souvenir t-shirt and commemorative medal. The entry fee for the shorter 5K distance is 51.00 and also includes a souvenir t-shirt and medal.
To register for Beat the Heat and to read more details on the race, visit http://scottsdalefahrenheitfestival.com/scottsdale-beat-the-heat/.
About:
Streets of Scottsdale
Scottsdale, AZ
June 16, 2018
