The San Jose Sharks has an entirely new experience for viewers at home. For games played at the SAP Center that are also broadcasted by Comcast SportsNet California, Sharks fans can now feel the game while watching and listening to it. The Sharks have partnered with the entertainment technology specialists at Guitammer and have allowed their product called “The Buttkicker” to feel the hits of the game in real time.

The Buttkicker attaches to the viewer’s couch and is essentially an over-sized rumble pack, harkening back to the days of the Nintendo-64. The Buttkicker utilizes sensors in the boards to directly send signal to the in-home sensor. Each hit will literally be felt at home as the rumble can be felt with every board collision. The system is trumpeted by Guitammer as “4D” sports. The partnership is ready to begin on November 20 with a game against the visiting Florida Panthers.

Per David Koppet, Senior Executive Producer, Live Events for Comcast SportsNet California:

“Our goal is always to bring fans closer to the action, and what better way than to allow them to actually feel what’s happening on the ice. Guitammer’s 4D technology helps us transmit the electric energy of a Sharks hockey game right into your living room.”

The Sharks utilization of the Guitammer system is being considered a pilot program, however in the quest to bring the stadium experience to at-home viewers, the system could become a league-wide option. Big partnerships is nothing new to Guitammer as last year the company teamed up with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to give a similar feel of excitement to at-home ESPN2 viewers.

While the Buttkicker offers plenty of action of the sports angle, it can also be used with movies and video games as well. The unit isn’t cheap, $299.95, but for the home theatre enthusiast or Sharks fan, it isn’t unreasonable. If Guitammer can continue to expand their role in entertainment, expect more and more leagues and associations to jump on board.

(Photo via caguard)

The professional services network PricewaterhouseCoopers, or more commonly known as PwC, recently had a webcast on the future of wearable technology and its market. All PwC CISs are free to register for and view, with the only requirement being a valid email address. They offer a wide range of webcasts and data ranging from automotive news to technology to health services.

Things kicked off with data from a 1,000-person poll showing 314 of them owned something defined as wearable tech. Thus the question of “what is considered wearable tech” is presented and answered. Ranging from literally the head to the feet, devices from headphones that monitor heart and steps (such as Dash Headphones, warning: auto-playing ad) to chips inserted and paired with shoes, plus smart clothing, wrist bands, watches and of course smart glasses were all considered wearable technology.

With a clear market for the fitness minded person as well as the tech-savant people, the webcast cites an interested trend. Another study showed one in five (of voting age) Americans own some sort of wearable tech. That 20% ownership rate mirrors the same rate of people who owned a tablet in 2012. Now approaching 2015, American tablet ownership is up to 40% — even when considering the slow sales of tablets for some retailers and particularly Apple iPad sales dropping for the third straight quarter.

The same study included a poll, with speculative questions, arguably the most interesting answers were 46% thought obesity rates would drop and 42% believe the average person’s athletic ability will improve dramatically. While there is no data yet back up these figures, it is easy to see why PwC expects the wearable market to double within two years in the same manner as tablets did. In 2013 two million wearable devices were sold in the United States. If estimates for the holiday season prove accurate, that number will jump to 19 million this year.

This age group is of particular interest to wearable tech companies. Millennials are defined as ages 18-34 by PwC represent a massive market to cater to. A study by Barkley — who differed and defined a millennial as someone aged 19-37 — claimed the millennial generation are responsible for more than $200 billion in buying power annually. Entertainment is important to them and they are the cord cutting generation. If wearables can help bring them their sports, health information or productivity in a better and more streamlined fashion, then everyone wins.

For a concise breakdown of most of the covered topics, check out PwC’s video.

(Thanks to PwC.com for the screengrabs of slides and TecSplash for the header image.)

A Rating Percentage Index (RPI) can be a powerful tool in assessing a team’s quality when a team’s schedule may differ wildly from its peers. RPI calculations are critically important in collegiate athletics, when the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation have few or no shared opponents. RPI helps adjust for that curiosity.

Simply put, RPI is this:

The formula, in formula mode, is:

RPI = (WP * 0.25) + (OWP * 0.50) + (OOWP * 0.25)

Where:

• WP = winning percentage
• OWP = opponent’s winning percentage
• OOWP = opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage

What’s great about RPI is its intuitiveness and its simplicity. Though it might benefit from information like margin of victory or home field advantage (something it can account for and does in the the NCAA basketball calculations), RPI is simply an attempt to adjust for quality of opponent. It does a decent job of answering the question: “What if everyone played each other?” in a league setting where that’s impossible.

We can then use RPI for:

• rec rugby teams with unbalanced schedules
• ongoing office ping pong tournaments
• high school, middle school, and rec league teams of all sports
• Madden records with friends
• any environment where two parties battle and one wins

Here’s the file:

NOTE: Don’t download this if you don’t trust me. The file is an Excel file with macros; these can be powerful. I encourage you to trust me, but in general, practice caution when opening an macro-enabled Excel file from a stranger on the Internet.

RPI Tool Download

When you open the file, it should look something like this:

If you want to jam in the results from your weekend of one-on-one basketball games, just click the “Add Game Scores” button. This will produce a list popup where you can add and remove game results:

You can speed this process up by unhiding the “Raw Data” tab and deleting the unwanted rows of data. But be sure to preserve at least one row so that the final four columns retain their formulas.

To add a new score, you’ll want to click “New” immediately, then fill in the blank spots. NOTE: You don’t need to put in the scores, but since nothing is password locked in this doc, you may want to save those in case later on you feel frisky and want to add some margin of victory inputs somewhere. Once you have input the records you desire, click “Close.” We will now need to refresh the calculations, so press the big, appropriately-titled “Refresh” button. ALSO NOTE: You will likely need to adjust the row filters.

The end result should be something like this:

If we want to drill deeper on the data, we can unhide the “Prep” worksheet, which will show each RPI and the three components that go into it.

Analysis:

• Chekov may have the largest RPI, but he played only one game of Tri-Dimensional Chess — a game which he won, obviously. That’s why it’s important to note the Game Played when looking at RPI (or WP, for that matter). His one victory game against me, which is ultimately neither a big help nor hindrance because my RPI was merely .518 — so his one victory came against a mediocre player.
• Despite winning 2 out of every 3 games, Spock’s weak competition (2 wins against Scotty, 1 against Kirk and myself) and his losses against Scotty and Kirk, undermined his otherwise impressive record.
• The best player was probably Scotty, who lost a ton, but nevertheless beat Spock. Moreover, many of his losses came at the hands of undefeated Sulu, undefeated Uhura, and the formidable Kirk. If Scotty chose his 8 opponents better, he could conceivably have been the best player.

Analysis of the analysis: If you think these results seem skewed to favor the smaller samples, you are right. That is one of the dangers of RPI. Review that very first RPI chart. The lower the orange line (i.e. the fewer games played), the more upwardly skewed the red line (i.e. the more likely for a bias towards high RPIs). The systems settles down around ten games, so I would consider that as good an arbitrary cutoff as any other number.

If we cut off our Tri-Dimensional Chess club rankings at a minimum of 10 games played, we can comfortably assert that I’m marginally better than Kirk — and that Scotty could be possibly better than us both.

Anyway, that’s the RPI Tool. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know in the comments if you encounter any problems. I’ve not password locked anything, so feel free to do whatever with the spreadsheet.

(Header image via Clément Bucco-Lechat)

That sound you heard this morning was Sony Playstation 3 and 4 owners (and cord-cutters) high-fiving each other and cheering. The cause for celebration is Sony’s latest streaming services, Playstation Vue, just sent out the first batch of invites. With a streaming infrastructure already in place with their PS Now, Sony is looking to expand their online content with television. Live television that is, with full on-demand support via cloud storage.

Hands down the key difference between Vue and other services is the fact several major channels have already jumped on board, specifically CBS, Fox (including their local and national sports affiliates), NBC (with Telemundo and other sports stations) plus Viacom, Discovery Communications and Scripps. With so many major content providers ready to roll, this is an impressive undertaking for Sony.

Imagine a Friday evening of watching the Food Network  or Cooking Channel (owned by Scripps) and preparing a meal for the weekend. That meal happens to coincide with watching an English Premiere League game (thanks, NBC!), followed by some Notre Dame or maybe SEC football (kudos to CBS). Perhaps if pro football is more your style, with broadcast rights to both Fox and CBS, local NFL games would be an option on Sunday. Unfortunately we don’t know every detail just yet, so the potential for blackouts — which would be shocking, given the broadcast companies involvement — still loom.

Still, for a monthly subscription (a price is yet to be announced) and no contract a la Netflix, Playstation Vue has a massive potential. With over 34 million sales between the PS3 and PS4 in North America (those numbers include Mexico and Canada), the user base is clearly established. Sony mentioned that sometime in 2015 support for non-Sony products will also be rolled out, specifically iPad support.

Given the status as an invite only, tiered roll out, not everyone will have access to PS Vue right away. The first round of invites went to those living in New York City. Next up will be Chicago, followed by Philadelphia and then Los Angeles. With the full service is expected to go live in the first quarter of 2015, I suspect I won’t be the only one hunting for a good deal on a PS4 this holiday season.

The application deadline has now passed. Thanks to all that applied. All previous applicants will be hearing from us shortly.

We at TechGraphs are looking to bolster our writing staff a bit. We think avid TechGraphs readers would make for perfect candidates. We need part-time people to cover breaking tech news, review new apps and products, and provide tips and tricks for the tech- and sports-inclined.

If that sounds like it’s up your alley, send an email to wanted@fangraphs.com and put TECHGRAPHS WRITER 2014 in the subject line. In the email, tell us why you would be a good fit for us, and include a writing sample in the body of the email. No attachments please.

Prior writing experience is not necessary, but emphasis will be placed on your writing sample. We look forward to hearing from you!

The NBA just agreed to a 4-year deal with fantasy website FanDuel according to both TechCrunch and ESPN. For daily fantasy players, this means FanDuel will be the exclusive website to get your hoops fix at. Already on the NBA Fantasy site you can be linked to FanDuel and expect the association to promote it on their apps as well as their streaming ads and commercials.

Currently FanDuel offers both free and pay-to-win leagues. The prizes for these range from cash to game tickets to merchandise. Now with the association in their pockets, FanDuel and the NBA, along with money from venture groups such as Shamrock Capital Advisors and NBC Sports Ventures, will be able to reach and attract even more customers.The growth in the daily fantasy industry is on a massive rise, as FanDuel has increased by 650,000 paying players in the past three months after never before having even a third of that many in a single quarter. FanDuel claims they project to make approximately $600 million in entry fees this calendar year while handing back $540 million in prizes.

While this is new territory for the NBA as a whole, five teams had prior deals with FanDuel; the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls. The move also includes NBA league executive Sal La Rocca as a FanDuel board member, further strengthening the ties between the two entities.

With competitor DraftKings snapping up the NHL, this deal makes sense for FanDuel. Given the massive interest and ease of use for daily fantasy leagues, it appears as though both FanDuel and DraftKings will the main entities of daily leagues going forward. With both sides throwing around millions of dollars, the money is driving even more attention to fantasy sports.

(Image credit to NBA.com) 

The one-day fantasy site DraftKings already has a partnership with MLB, but now they are expanding out to pro hockey, as well. According to Boston.com, a new agreement has been reached making DraftKings the official one-day fantasy site of the National Hockey League.

NHL-based games were already offered through DraftKings and their ilk, so this amounts to little more than marketing and product placement. Still, it shows just how large of a grasp daily fantasy is beginning to have in the sports world. DraftKings, along with their main competitor FanDuel, have been gaining lots of traction. They have bought out smaller competitors, and their ads can be seen all over sports sites and blogs, as well as during televised games. Their new partnership with the NHL should expand DraftKing’s presence even more, as they are slated to be advertised heavily on NHL-branded online entities such as their official Twitter account, NHL Mobile, and video replay and preview segments, among others.

(Header image via John Biehler)

NBC News has a story centered around how the rise in popularity of e-sports has led to a rise in gambling on e-sports. Writer Keith Wagstaff talks to people from Pinnacle Sports, one of the premiere online gambling sites around. And in 2014, e-sports were the eight most popular subset to bet on, beating out golf.

According to the article:

Since 2011, the year when Pinnacle began accepting bets on e-sports, the volume of trades placed on video game matches has doubled every year, Hudson said. The company has hired a team of eight e-sports traders responsible for setting lines and wagers.

This was, of course, inevitable. We humans never met a contest we didn’t like to wager on. And while side bets and friendly wagers go hand-in-hand with competition, the rise in both popularity and purse of video game tournaments is undoubtedly going to bring along its share of side action. With over 350,000 e-sports bets placed on Pinnacle alone in 2014, it appears the gamblers have officially gotten their dirty little fingers in e-sports.

(Header image via Piotr Drabik)

Robinson Cano has had a big year. He signed a very hefty free agent contract, became a charter client for one of the most talked-about sports agencies, and still managed to be the best-hitting second baseman in the league. Now, to help cement himself as a superstar in sports, he’s signed a partnership with a tech company.

Taiwanese gadget maker HTC has announced a partnership with Cano via a press release. Cano and his smiling face confirmed as much on Twitter:

HTC, a maker of Android and Windows devices, is hoping to break into the sports world much like their competitor Samsung has (though not without some controversy). HTC had previously launched a fairly forgettable campaign with America’s Boyfriend Robert Downey, Jr. to little fanfare. Perhaps their new partnership will help bring their (very well-made, in my opinion) devices to the American mainstream via America’s pastime.

(Header image via Keith Allison)

If you’re jonesing for some baseball — and who isn’t? — then fear not sports citizen, as there will be live professional baseball being played tonight! Technically it will air at 4 am E.T., so it is tomorrow morning, but the point remains. Major League Baseball kicks off the Japan exhibition games with the opening match set for tonight.

The game will consist of MLB All-Stars going against a collection of players from the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants. Following that game, a five-game series pitting the MLB All-Stars against the Japanese national team, Samurai Japan, will begin and the tour will close with a final exhibition game. Rather than squaring off against the Japanese All-Stars again, the MLB players will be thrown up against the national team due to the Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner wanting the national club to gain experience heading into the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Current MLB.TV subscribers will have access to all of the games or one can pay the 24.99 for the off-season package which includes every regular season and playoff game as well. With the off-season package also including over 200 spring training games, if you haven’t subscribed yet, you ought to. If you’re unable to catch the middle-of-the-night games or don’t want to pay extra to view the online stream, MLB Network will re-air the games at 9 pm E.T. the same day.

An interesting note is while the game will be broadcasted on television in Japan, current MLB.TV subscribers in Japan will not deal with any blackout restrictions. There has never been a blackout policy for countries other than the United States and Canada, however given the probable high television ratings these games could bring, it is curious — yet encouraging — to see the league take a more passive stance on blackouts.

Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell and 29 All-Stars will look to repeat the perfect record MLB had in 2006, the only other time a five-game series was played between the two leagues as well as the most recent. Three of those five games were decided by two runs or less and hopefully the games this year will be just as exciting.

(Image credit to MLB.com)