Windmills, wooden shoes and correct calls in football. All three may soon be synonymous with the Netherlands, as the Royal Dutch Football Association (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond or KNVB) is looking to implement a specific video referee next season (warning: you’ll need to translate the page). They would be the first association football league in the world to have a separate referee for replays.

Existing replay services such as FIFA’s GoalControl technology or the English Premier League’s Hawk-Eye system are goal-line specific where 14 different cameras capture every angle. While certainly helpful and undoubtedly needed, the KNVB replay referee would observe things more than just goals. Incidents ranging from whether a foul was a red or just a yellow card or if a penalty should be awarded or not. The replay system will also be able to include dives, hand-balls and headbutts if necessary and any action away from the ball where the on-field referee may not have vision. If Luis Suarez gets loaned to a Dutch League team, perhaps biting will be reviewable as well. No word has been handed down as to whether or not it will be able to also rule on offsides calls, however.

The video referee will be located outside of the stadium in a van with multiple monitors. Each stadium will have their own replay system rather than the NHL or MLB style replay center. Using a headset, the video ref will be able to be in contact with the on-field referee in order to rapidly and accurately call the game.

With a strong concern to maintain the integrity of both the game, especially from retired EPL referees such as Graham Poll. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 live, when asked about replay, Poll said:

“The game has speeded up. Players are more crafty and deceitful than they have ever been. Unfortunately, that is a fact of life, therefore referees do need help. To my mind, there are plenty of good ex-referees who would be happy to sit there and review situations and help the referee. They are completely independent and neutral, not at the whim of a television company providing the angle they choose.”

The KNVB looks to lead the way football fixtures are called and hopefully played. If players know they’ll be blatantly obvious on a foul or a dive, all the better to clean up the game. Getting the call correct in a timely fashion is up to FIFA, as the Dutch League submitted their replay proposal to FIFA’s rule and regulations arm, IFAB. Counting on FIFA to do the right thing is a tough thing to ask of football fans, however with the KNVB ready to set the tone for accurate replay, the correct path is clear.

(Header image via Wikipedia)

In yet another move to bring television to cord cutters, Pluto TV is available to freely stream over 100 channels and now works with Apple TV, Google Chromecast as well as the new Amazon Fire TV. By securing $13 million in funding from recent additions of venture capitalists such as U.S. Venture Partners and UTA — on top of prior investors in Chicago Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital and Luminari Capital — Pluto TV maintains their price point of zero dollars.

Pluto TV is an aggregate of online streams organized into various channels ranging from Sports Highlights, Surfing, Xtreme Sports, Pop Culture TV, a 24/7 Cat channel (because it is the internet afterall), Sketch Comedy and even different video game live streams. Most streams appear to be tied through YouTube as The Sports Highlight channel is directly tied to the ACC YouTube Digital Network channel and NHL YT channel et al and the Fight Channel is routed through UFC. Changing channels is as easy as clicking the mouse due to the different stream (or channel) options are shown in a channel guide format.

Given the YouTube integration, there will be click ads on the bottom of the channel (red outline for emphasis, it doesn’t show up on the actual stream) like many YT videos. It is a very small penalty given the no-cost option of either viewing the channels within your browser or downloaded onto your computer. Along with the ad shown above, one can also see the video-on-demand (VOD) system at work as well. On top of live streams, you can rewind and re-watch specific parts of each stream at will and always have the option to click the “Live” button to zip back to the current moment of the stream.

While there is no live-sports just yet, for someone who doesn’t subscribe to any cable television package or just can’t catch every highlight, Pluto TV is perfect. If you just want to watch an episode of Chopped in the background while you read or need to see the latest college football highlights, this is a free and viable way of receiving quality programming.

We’re still a little bit from the trample-fest known as Black Friday but that’s not stopping Amazon from getting on the deal game a little early. They’re running sales at their site all through this week and next, and the enterprising golfer can take advantage if they act soon. Both the GolfSense 3D Swing Analyzer and the SwingTIP Swing Analysis system can be had for a steal today providing you get in before the deals are gone. I suppose “steal” is a relative term, as the sensor+app systems are still fairly pricey even after the discount. But if you’re looking to use tech to improve your game in the offseason, Amazon’s got your back today.

The mega -retailer is promising a slew of deals over the next coming days, so whether you’re in the market for some wearable tech, a new tablet, or even a new laptop, it might be wise to keep checking back. If we come across any super deals for the sports-loving techie in our travels, we’ll be sure to pass them along.

The idea of using technology and analytics to improve one’s skill set is no longer relegated to the pros. There are already plenty of offerings available to the consumer to help them with their tennis/golf/baseball/etc. And while other companies have tried to breach the basketball market, ShotTracker is touting a new easy and (fairly) affordable way to track your improvements on the court.

The idea behind ShotTracker is fairly simple. A combination of a wearable wrist sensor and a device secured to the net of the basket work together to help track shot attempts, makes, and misses. All that data is then beamed to a smartphone or tablet for further analysis. But the app goes beyond simple counting. Users can create custom drills and workouts, take a look at their shot map, and even follow the progress of  friends and teammates.

ShotTracker also offers functionality for coaches. Custom workouts can be created and assigned to players. Coaches can also see which players have been practicing and which haven’t, and get a breakdown of who is improving in which areas.

ShotTracker provides something that can often go missing in practice sessions: structure. It becomes easy to just kind of mess around without knowing if you’re improving or not. With the ability to create drills around a particular skill or facet, and a way to empirically gauge  improvement, ShotTracker takes the guesswork out of practice.

ShotTracker is available now for $150, which includes a wrist sensor, wrist band, shooting sleeve, and net sensor.

(Header image courtesy of shottracker.com)

If Kirk Goldsberry’s name doesn’t ring a bell, his work should — especially if you’re an NBA fan. Kirk is the guy behind those super-informative NBA shot maps over at Grantland. Goldsberry is a professor at Harvard, and works on utilizing the new SportVU system to track all kinds of shot data from around the NBA.

He’s also a subject in a new book by Wired editor Mark McClusky. McClusky is the author of Faster, Higher, Stronger: How Sports Science Is Creating a New Generation of Superathletes–and What We Can Learn from Them. McClusky profiled Goldsberry in a video short for Wired. It’s a nice look behind the scenes of the ever-growing field of  sports analytics and sports data journalism. Check it out below.

(Header image via Grantland)

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!