One in a series of Best of 2021 posts, this one about Tom Brady who Sports Illustrated magazine has designated its Sportsperson of the Year, a full 16 years after he first won that award from them
Brady, the ageless wonder says:
“I’d say there are parts of me that are 55, and I think there’s parts of me that are 25,”
“What parts? I think I’m wise beyond my years. I think I’ve had a lot of life experience packed into 44 years. When I go through the tunnel and onto the field? Probably mid-30s—and I’ve got to work really hard to feel good. It’s a demolition derby every Sunday. I feel 25 when I’m in the locker room with the guys. Which is probably why I still do it.”
To borrow a phrase from another form of wagering, teams and leagues are all in. Every major league has partnerships with sportsbooks and data companies. To pick one team among dozens, the Chicago Cubs’ deal with DraftKings exceeds $100 million a year. In Washington, D.C., a 20,000-square-foot sportsbook resides inside Capital One Arena. Ted Leonsis—owner of the Wizards, Mystics and Capitals, and a known sports gambling evangelist—told The Washington Post he has only one regret: He wishes the facility were bigger. The athletes, not unreasonably, want a piece of the action, too. Collective bargaining agreements may soon hinge not on salary caps, but on how to split gaming revenues.
Two years ago, DeJesus became the first umpire in a regular-season game anywhere to use something called the Automated Ball-Strike System. Most players refer to it as the “robo-umpire.” Major League Baseball had designed the system and was testing it in the Atlantic League, where DeJesus works. The term “robo-umpire” conjures a little R2-D2 positioned behind the plate, beeping for strikes and booping for balls. But, for aesthetic and practical reasons, M.L.B. wanted human umpires to announce the calls, as if playacting their former roles. So DeJesus had his calls fed to him through an earpiece, connected to a modified missile-tracking system. The contraption looked like a large black pizza box with one glowing green eye; it was mounted above the press box. When the first pitch came in, a recorded voice told DeJesus it was a strike. He announced it, and no one in the ballpark said anything.
Stroll has signed off on an ambitious 400,000 square foot campus plan to be built on the land he has acquired around the current premises.
This will include a factory, wind tunnel, conference centre, auditorium, heritage department and other offices.
As well as being fully sustainable, it will feature state-of-the-art 5G facilities and the latest technology to ensure that Aston Martin can be right at the forefront of the latest advances.
As usual, the NFL continues to evolve with new technology. Here is new stuff for this season.
Hawk-Eye which has helped tennis, cricket, soccer and other sports with replays is now coming to NFL football - to help accelerate instant replay and increase accuracy.
Hawk-Eye is best known for providing visual tracking aids for tennis matches, which help quickly determine whether a ball is in or out of bounds. The company won't be doing something similar for the NFL, but will be providing the league with camera systems that will offer additional angles for more accurate replay review.
AWS was used to help develop the schedule for this season.
The 272-game schedule the NFL released on Wednesday took a completely different journey to completion with computers from Amazon Web Services negotiating the trillions of possibilities on what day, what time and what network to play each game and officials at the league looking at more than 80,000 of them before making a final choice.
More teams are using AI for scouting, training and even during live play
"Some organizations are deploying computer vision to study player movements. These systems chart subtle moves by various body parts in an effort to improve speed, reduce unnecessary or inefficient steps, and improve overall performance. Small imperfections in gait, velocity, or turns may increase susceptibility to injury or reduce one’s time in the 40-yard dash. With player performance measured down to the hundredths of seconds, seemingly minute shifts in timing or movements may mean the difference between being drafted in the openings rounds or not being drafted at all."
For the 2021 preseason, fans of these nine teams can use the Versus XEO Platform to play custom interactive games in team apps on their mobile devices while they watch and cheer for their favorite teams.
NBC Sports shot a new opening for its football broadcast — the nation’s most-watched regular TV series — that puts singer Carrie Underwood at a virtual football tailgate while performing “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night.” The shoot was conducted at an Industrial Light & Magic sound stage using virtual technology recently utilized in “The Mandalorian.”
As part of the Closing Ceremony to the Tokyo Olympics, there was a pretty impressive handoff to the next host city, Paris - from iconic locations across Paris, in the sky over Paris and even from space
On the International Space Shuttle, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide did his personal handoff to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet
The French anthem, La Marseillaise was played live by Orchestre National de France from Radio France studios. Silvia Careddu played notes on her flute from the roof of Stade de France which will host some of the events in 2024. There was a marimba performance at the Louvre, a string ensemble played at the Square du Vert-Galant, a piano performance at La Recyclerie, previously a train station and percussion from the Diderot Skatepark. Astronaut Thomas Pesquet also shows up in this on his sax.
In my favorite part, BMX rider Estelle Majal took us on a ride sequence (to music by Woodkid titled Prologue) across the rooftops of Paris including icons like the Musee D'Orsay, Grand Palais, Place de la Concorde and more. (btw The video ends with a giant (90 x 60 meter) flag flying around the Eiffel Tower - that had to be a CGI version. Due to weather they had to scrap the live version.)
Finally the Patrouille de France flew over the Paris sky and left contrails of blue, white and red smoke – the colors of the French flag
More details of the artists and locales at the Paris 2024 site
While there was so much to like in the Opening Ceremony, to me four things stood out in particular.
The Drone globe
Synchronized 1,824 Intel Premium drones – weighing less than three-quarters of a pound each – "are specifically designed for entertainment purposes and are equipped with four LEDs that emit light that is true to colour and unmatched in brightness and vibrancy. Real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS also enables increased positional accuracy for higher resolution animations, sharper imagery and more dynamic 3D animations."
The Cauldron
Designed by Nendo, it is made up five panels representing the Olympic rings, which bloom to welcome the final torchbearer, Naomi Osaka. It is meant to represent the Sun, and the energy and vitality that can be obtained from it, such as plants sprouting, flowers blooming, and hands opening wide toward the sky. The cauldron weighs 2.7t, and the diameter after transformation is about 3.5m. The exterior panel, which weighs approximately 40 kg per sheet, was made by cutting out a 10 mm thick aluminum plate; molding it with a special hot press machine capable of applying a pressure of 3500 tons, which only a few exist in Japan; and then milling it.
Hydrogen energy - an eye towards sustainability - fueled the flames. Hydrogen burns with a colorless and transparent flame, and is invisible. In order to serve as the Olympic flame, it was necessary to be colored by flame reaction, so sodium carbonate was used for the “yellow” flame.
The fireworks
The video above ends with the fireworks around the top of the roof-less stadium in indigo, blue and white in the shape of a fan, an auspicious symbol in Japan. Here is another view of the fireworks
The human Pictograms
One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was performers "dressed in blue and white, wearing round masks and mittened gloves to mimic the featureless figures, posed in rapid succession to replicate all the pictograms graphic designer Masaaki Hiromura created for the 50 disciplines in 41 sports during this year’s event. "
“The most striking thing of seeing those three aircraft together, is that it represents three different generations of bombers, all at once—and it’s a dramatic difference in capabilities,” reflects Todd Harrison, who directs the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Let's face it - commercials are often the most enjoyable part of the Big Game.
AdAge has been keeping updated all the commercials released ahead of this year's game.
There is plenty of nostalgia - Wayne's World, John Travolta, Michael Jordan, Jason Alexander, Shaggy and many others come back to life
Too bad, missing this year are the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales.
Hey, at $5.5 million for every 30 second spot, it is impressive that more aren't missing it - the national ad inventory "virtually sold out" given we are in the middle of a pandemic and a recession.
BTW - here is a montage of teasers from the commercials
2020 turned most industries upside down. I posted earlier about conversations in four industries here and another four here
Here's another dozen.
Jason Blessing, President and CEO of Model N, describes the intensity when 24 out of 25 of his largest customers like Stryker and Gilead have worked on some life-saving COVID-19 related products or services. The longer interview is here
At 2.52 is Mark Galloway, Chief Commercial Officer at GrandPad which offers a simple and secure tablet computer that digitally connects a senior to their family and friends. Mark describes the speed at which they rolled out the device to nursing homes and elderly care facilities. The average user is 82 years old and technology which most readers of this blog use on a daily basis is a big challenge for these seniors. The longer interview is here
At 5.54 Phiroz Darukhanavala, who goes as "Daru" is the ex-CTO of BP and points out the oil and gas industry has faced other "shocks" before, usually on the supply side. The sector in the past has bounced back and has been more efficient each time. The longer interview where he discusses industry changes is here
At 9.48 is Bill Berutti, CEO of Plex talks about the auto industry. He and CTO Jerry Foster cover global manufacturing trends and the effect of COVID lockdowns in the longer interview here.
At 12.99 is M.R. Rangaswami of Sand Hill Group. He talks about sustainability efforts at the members in the Corporate Eco Forum he runs. He also points how the definition has extended beyond renewables and climate issues to also cover diversity and inclusion. The longer interview including coverage of other communities he runs is here
At 16.00 is Associate Dean Bill Moncrief at the Neeley School of Business at TCU. He describes the complexities of moving from campus to on-line education in under 2 weeks and the challenges of teaching in hybrid mode - some students in-class and some on-line. I am on the school's advisory board and the longer presentation to the board is here
At 19:33 is Bob Ferrari of Supply Chain Matters. He describes how supply chains - PPE, global, food etc - came under a lot of pressure but responded amazingly. In the longer interview here, he talks about adjustments most industries are making to their supply chains.
The sports world had never seen this much disruption since WWII. Yet, it bravely kept us entertained with its bubbles, empty stadiums and shortened seasons, At 22.06, you get a glimpse at the maneuvering from Max Mueller, CEO and Christian Nilson, COO of Daimani, a unique marketplace for VIP experiences in sports, rock concerts and other events. The full interview is here
At 25.52 Vittorio Viarengo of VMware shares how he brought to life COO Sanjay Poonen's desire to record a rendition of "This little light of mine" using a group of musically talented employees around the world. These are amateurs and the result is amazing - you can see how Taylor Swift and others in the music world managed to do even more with their virtual productions. The longer session with Vittorio is here
At 31.21 is Rod Johnson, President of Infor. He points out how the TV and entertainment industry has an opportunity to help refine tech and other events in a virtual format. The longer conversation is here.
Apple, in reverse, promises to reshape physical events and the TV and movie industries with its iPhone 12. At 32.56 is an excerpt of the stunning imagery recorded from the back of a truck and from a drone. The longer coverage of the launch of that device is here.
Sector after sector saw massive changes. Yes, Toto we are not in Kansas anymore.
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