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NFL Teams Considering IPads To Replace Playbooks
bonch writes "Pete Walsh, technology head for the Dallas Cowboys, says he and other teams are considering iPads and other tablets as a replacement for paper playbooks, saving about 5,000 pages of printouts per game. Not only is it a huge savings in paper, but a lost iPad might also be remotely wiped to prevent a team's plays falling into the wrong hands. One concern is security and whether or not a tablet could be wirelessly hacked."
Good luck using it with gloves on
Kindle, on the other hand, makes total sense.
iPad is total overkill, Kindle is way way WAY cheaper and does all the same things that they need to do.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I didn't know they have a different playbook every week. What do they actually do with them? If the 5,000 pages is copies for half a dozen coaches, that's almost 1000 pages each, which I can't imagine they're flipping through between plays. Or is it 50 pages for each of 100 players and coaches? But that doesn't make sense, I can't imagine they're memorizing 50 pages of plays per game.
There are numerous stories just related to my favorite team that involve lost plays or playbooks. One story involved a coach who was talking with a bartender late one night and diagrammed a play on a napkin, which was later scooped up by a fan of the opponent and passed on. Another was a prominent running back who lost his playbook halfway through the season, and it reportedly fell into the hands of a division rival. Remote wipe might be quite useful.
This article reminded me of the classic 1970s Xerox ad. But what would they do in weather like that? Maybe they plan to always play in domed stadiums.
If I were an NFL coach, I would purposely WikiLeak a fake playbook, that the opposing team could download.
Quarterback: "Blue 39, Red 17!
Opposing Team Defense Player: "Hey, isn't that supposed to be a run? Why are they passing? They totally screwed us on that play."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
So 5,000 pages of paper. That's one case (actually 1/2 a case if you assume duplex printing). Buying high-quality paper, that's going to be $50 or less ($25 for half a case).
An entry-level business-grade B&W laser printer costs maybe $500, will handle 100,000 pages in its lifetime, and takes toner cartridges that print between 7500 and 15000 pages each at about $200 each retail. Being a little excessive and buying a new printer per season, a case of paper per game, and a new toner cart every other game, you get 500 (cost of one printer) + 1 (cases of paper per game) * 16 (games) * 50 (cost of one ream) + 0.5 (carts per game) * 16 (games) * 200 (cost of one toner cart) = $2900, or an amortized total cost of $0.36 per page. And that's being very generous on retail costs and consumables. I routinely print conference proceedings (18k total pages) for an amortized total cost for closer to $0.05 per page by shopping around even just a little. If they're printing in color, I'd expect the amortized total cost to be between 2 and 3 times higher, so, with a little work, perhaps $0.15 per page, but still well under the generous estimate of $2900.
Each iPad costs, what $500? And they need what, one per player, coach, assistant coach, owner, etc.? The so-called savings are a slight-of-hand distraction. They just want iPads.
Even if you were to say that the saved paper, not money, was really the issue, and that saving 16 cases of paper (probably 8, since if they're concerned, they'd already be printing duplex) was important, I'd point to the 10-or-so tons of recycled material per game that envionmentally conscious teams like the Ravens are capable of (http://www.mdstad.com/content/view/96/42/) that dwarf one (1/2) case of paper.
Again, they just want iPads.
As the linked article suggests, there are many things you could do with iPads that you can't do with a traditional printed playbook, like review plays, run simulations, etc., but the teams should be upfront with that and not toss the public a propaganda bone like paper savings that can be shown to be irrelevant in the bigger picture.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Is it really the teams themselves or is it just one playbook pitted against another and the players are just there to provide some colour?
It seems as if the NFL could just be replaced by a large D&D session with the refs as the DMs
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