In the past two weeks, as I've looked at the effect technology has had on sports, and how it has changed the fan experience, I find myself wondering now what the future of technology holds, and what that will mean for sports. In an age where we can get HD cameras and projectors that give an image so vivid, a coach can see what finger a lineman has down on which blade of grass on the field, it would seem we are topping out in the realm of what we can do with technology. However, I think the future of technology will mesh with sports to enhance the fan experience even more.

I envision recliners equipped with HD television screens on each arm, so a fan can relax while having two different views of the same game there for his perusal and pleasure. Imagine having the end zone and sideline view of a football game going on at arm's length, running simultaneously. I envision Tivo/DVR becoming a standard feature on televisions, so not only are we able to watch sports whlile reclining in comfort, we'll be able to pause and rewind, to make our own replays. The video capabilities will be advanced such that we will be able to cut out video of highlights (and lowlights) and download them to YouTube, Twitter, or our blogs as we're sitting there watching the game. Real-time coverage of sports and sports media will take on a whole new meaning. I envision fans being able to use their own telestrator right on their television to diagram what they're seeing as a play is executed in football or basketball, and the term 'armchair QB/coach' will take on a whole new meaning. A few games like Jerrod  Johnson experienced earlier this year will result in an avalanche of film being emailed and tweeted to the coaches on what is wrong with our star QB. I envision every school having some type of reality show featuring one or more of their sports teams every year, as local sports celebrities on campus become national celebrities, as schools try to think out-of-the-box when looking for new ways to market themselves to future students and alumni,  and looking good on camera will become almost as important as your ability to play a sport.

I see many great things in the future of technology and sports, some of them will improve the way we experience sports as fans, some of them will change the way we view sports and ourselves. My only hope is that as technology improves, sports will continue to keep up with it, and we will embrace changes and let our experience be enhanced by new technologies, not resist their addition to the sports experience.

Looking back, it seems pretty obvious to that the moment technology and sports meshed to change the face of sports forever was when Mark Cuban and friends launched Broadcast.com, and made it possible for any fan of any team anywhere to listen to his or her favorite sports team play. Originally formed over the idea of giving fans access to radio broadcasts inside a sports venue using shortwave radios, Broadcast.com (originally known as AudioNet.com) brought broadcasting radio to the Internet, which meant sports fans everywhere could listen to their favorite teams. No longer forced to drive around in cars looking for a signal or to desperately hope their teams games would be broadcast on national television, fans could now listen to games from locations across the globe. It seems hard for some people to imagine it now, but I remember stories of college football fans in Asia meeting in the wee hours of the morning and holding listening parties to listen to their favorite college football teams. Today, we have video streaming over the Internet, and we can watch a full-length game live even if we can't see it on cable, thanks to ESPN3. If it wasn't for Mark Cuban and his friends at AudioNet.com, who pioneered the concept of listening to sports broadcasts over the Internet, we'd never be where we are today.

Where are we today? Today, you can go watch the Texas A&M-Texas Tech football game on your laptop 24 hours after the last howitzer blast signaling the end of the game. Today, thanks to youtube, you don't have to listen to your friend describing a ridiculous catch Jeff Fuller made to score a TD, you can go to youtube and watch the video over and over and over again on the internet. Today, every fan can upload a game DVD to his computer, break down the film, and even go over plays frame-by-frame to see what is happening on each play. Thanks to high definition television, you can see details so clearly, you can see how a lineman aligns his fingertips down on the ground when he lines up in short yardage on plays in the 4th quarter of all games played in September. Today video crews for various DI-A athletic departments don't need to meet to exchange video tapes (or hope they have a friend who knows someone who knows someone who has extra game film on a team), they just go online and pull the video off a conference site that stores all of the video. Some conferences even have rules written into their conference bylaws stating the due date of video uploads, and controlling what software formats their teams use. AudioNet.com was founded in September of 1995, and renamed Broadcast.com in 1998, when it had its IPO. A mere twelve years later, the founders of Broadcast.com wouldn't recognize the world of technology and the role it plays in sports today, and they were the ones who got this whole ball rolling.

Simply putting radio broadcasts on the Internet made fans accustomed to hearing their favorite teams play online, and led to a desire for a format to watch video online. When streaming video was introduced, it then became fashionable for people to be able to watch their favorite team play online, and now I can watch A&M play an exhibition basketball game online that isn't even available on television, and do it despite the fact that I am well over three hours away from Reed Arena. Technology and sports have meshed for us in crucial ways, but nowhere has the fan experience changed more than with the ability for fans to now watch and listen to their favorite teams online, regardless of location.

What do you think is a critical moment where sports and technology joined together to change sports forever?

I can remember my first trips to Kyle Field as a former student when I got together with a group of friends, and we decided to hold our own tailgate parties. We'd arrive hours early before a game, sometimes as early as 6 AM for a night game, and begin setting up out tailgate. We would have a grill out early to cook brats for breakfast, get the fire going in the smoker, and put out the chairs and tent to lounge around. If we were lucky, someone brought along a battery-powered radio, and we'd be able to listen to other games while we sat around and partied with friends. Missing out on the other games on television that day was a small price to pay for a good party with my fellow Aggie fans as we prepared a feast while waiting to watch another Aggie football game, and fed everyone again after the game was over.

With the advent of portable satellite dishes, we were actually able to have someone run an extension from their party bus (the first time we had a satellite connection, it was off of a very nice maroon Aggie party bus) or a power outlet, and put their big-screen television out at the tailgate site, so we could all gather around and watch the games. It was no longer encessary to make the trek from the Heep Lot, where we tailgated, over to the MSC just to go into one of their television rooms and turn on ESPN to see who was playing in the early games that day. We now had every game we wanted available right outside at our tailgate, control a mere remote control click away.

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