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NBC Thinks Connected Gloves and "Bullet Time" Can Make Boxing Cool
New submitter Lashdots writes with this excerpt from a piece at Fast Company about what may be the future of boxing, at least from the perspective of television audiences. "Right now, millennials turn boxing on and they're like, 'Who's winning? I don't get this,'" said Anthony Bailey. The chief technology officer of NBC's Premier Boxing Champions was watching a pair of fighters spar—each wearing sensor-equipped boxing gloves—in preparation for this weekend's fight, the first to be broadcast on NBC's primetime slot (8:30 pm EST) in 30 years. "These guys are real athletes. It's not just two guys going out in the ring trying to beat the crap out of each other. It's two guys that actually have strategy. They're actually thinking."
In a makeshift television studio here last month, Bailey, a team of engineers, and some of boxing's heaviest hitters were working to make that thinking a little more visible—in HD, with video-game-like graphics and Matrix-like camera angles. It's one part of an ambitious multimillion-dollar effort by NBC and some of boxing's biggest names to gain an edge against popular competitors like mixed martial arts, and to draw in younger, more casual audiences who may never have thought about watching before.
In a makeshift television studio here last month, Bailey, a team of engineers, and some of boxing's heaviest hitters were working to make that thinking a little more visible—in HD, with video-game-like graphics and Matrix-like camera angles. It's one part of an ambitious multimillion-dollar effort by NBC and some of boxing's biggest names to gain an edge against popular competitors like mixed martial arts, and to draw in younger, more casual audiences who may never have thought about watching before.
I'm still not gonna watch until they start using Street Fighter sound effects along with those new graphics... ;-)
...beating people up for entertainment is something I wouldn't mind society moving on from.
It's not even like it's a high risk side effect of the sport - physically harming the other person (temporarily is necessary, but permanently is often the result) is the whole aim. For anyone with half an ounce of empathy, watching two people fight is like feeling you are being beaten up. That's not entertainment, but either sadism or masochism.
"There's nothing wrong with boxing. It's the great working-class escape. Just sport, like any other. Two athletes at the peak of physical perfection trying to outwit each other in a ring of combat. At its best, it's an art form."
"Female topless boxing?"
"It's art to me."
- Chuq
I despise sports. Team sports. One on one sports. Contact sports. Group sports.
It's all paying ridiculous amounts of money to millionaire "athletes" to watch them play a game. I have nothing against playing games -- I have a thing against paying people to watch them do it.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
The bullet time shot in the GIF in the article looks quite bad. Probably only very few cameras. They need more cameras and/or better interpolation yet.
The article says 36 cameras - one every 10 degrees. Is that is enough? Is that what the bad looking GIF is showing - because that seems to need more. Didn't the matrix/other timescale/bullet time effects usually use a lot more than 36?
So in a couple of years, we can look back and tell:
That's the hit that got him Parkinson's.
Make the boxers dip their gloves in ground glass like they do in shitty kickboxer movies. Let's see people slipping on their own blood by the end of a bout.
And if 7 of 9 is in this new show, I'm watching. (ST Voyager, season 6)
Development is programmable; Discovery is not programmable. (Fuller)
Put telelemetry and accelerometers on the boxers and their gloves to see the g forces on heads and brains. Model damage from a physicians perspective in both sports medicineband neurology.
If we can bullet time boxing gloves, we can also collect valuable information to treat future cases of brain trauma.
Real time scoring that is shown as soon as a point is made would be effective. Some honest judges, referees would help too. Agents and managers that did not leave their fighters destitute would also be a improvement.
Passionately Indifferent
They have a strategy? They're actually thinking? It's not just two guys beating the shit out of each other? So?
Take "E-Sports". They have a strategy. They are actually thinking. They're not just two guys playing a computer gam... eh... well... can I get back on this one?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
So, you want to enable the audience to hold a judges card and help choose the winner, instead of the time-honored tradition of allowing Don King to buy the win?
Boy, this really is a shakeup in the industry.
Just like Hockey. Most people who are interested are already watching.
MMA, UItimate Fighting etc. proves that people want to watch people hurt one another. Some graphics might be just the thing to liven up boxing.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
"It's two guys that actually have strategy. They're actually thinking."
""Everybody has a plan until they get hit." -- Mike Tyson
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Even _interesting_ sports are not highly regarded among geeks, I'm not sure how this article was even considered "stuff that matters."
Maybe gladiators would be worth posting about, but boxing is as Neanderthal as it gets.
Disallow hugging. No hugging. If the boxers aren't boxing, then they're outta here.
To measure the force of each impact. At least that way, in addition to the coolness of "connected gloves," some data on brain concussions can be collected.
the only way to watch it is on pay-per-view teevee.
They dont watch teevee in the first place.... let alone pay-per-view.
Way to paywall yourselves into obscurity assholes.
The puck glows blue when they pass it, and when they shoot the puck at the net, it glows RED. This is the future of hockey for a younger generation!
Born to Play
Make the fights to the death. Then americans will watch it more than all the other shows combined.
Make them death row criminals, and Pay per view, become a trillionaire overnight.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
There are indications that concussions lead to much the same changes in the brain, as does Alzheimer's (including all the related symptoms).
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
I despise sports.
Why? Sports are merely a game. A diversion played for entertainment. If it isn't your cup of tea that's fine but why should you give a shit one way or the other about it? In practical terms if you don't care about sports it won't affect you one tiny little bit. Find something productive to dislike like war or disease or political corruption. Sports is without question a net benefit to society so it makes little sense to hate sports even if you don't enjoy them personally.
It's all paying ridiculous amounts of money to millionaire "athletes" to watch them play a game.
Why is that any worse that paying to watch a movie or a TV show or a stage play? People pay to watch this because they find it entertaining and get what they consider a good value for money. And for the majority of the human population, sports ARE entertaining. If you don't like them fine but that doesn't make it ridiculous. A top level athlete is a beautiful thing to watch just like watching a ballet dancer or a talented musician. Plus in sports there is the drama of competition which is tremendous fun. There is economic value in providing entertainment so what is wrong with charging people who are willing to pay to watch sports?
Furthermore what's with the condescending quotations around the word athletes? If you play sports then you are an athlete. That is what the word means. You're an athlete if you play sports even if you aren't very good at it and don't get paid a penny which described 99.9999% of the population of people involved in sports.
I have nothing against playing games -- I have a thing against paying people to watch them do it.
Again why? Why do you give a shit? I understand if it isn't your thing. I don't find watching interpretive dance to be particularly fulfilling myself but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing that others find it entertaining. If you want to spend your money doing something else, no one will care. But stop looking down your nose at people who find pleasure in watching sports.
When the horse has a brain and the damage is like I don't think that's good. Boxing makes the horse. Know'm'sayin'?
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There's nothing you can do to make such a barbaric "sport", that involves beating each other up, "cool"
I must say that your statements are pure BS. Fighting in MMA causes just as much if not more brain injury, as (pure) boxing.
Right now, almost every veteran MMA fighter suffers from symptoms of brain injury. Here's a partial list:
Jens Pulver
Gabriel Gonzaga
Mirko Filipovic
Frank Trigg
Chuck Liddell
Mark Munoz
Antonio Silva
Wanderlei Silva
Alistair Overeem
Phil Baroni
Gary Goodridge
Andrei Arlovski
Josh Koscheck
Cheick Kongo
and the list goes on. And it doesn't even include the journeymen that get punched in the head for a $300 payout on regional circuits, as a matter of fact for their whole careers.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
I use to love going to local Friday night fights and watch boxing with my friends. All of us gave up on it and moved on when crooks turned it into more of a circus than a sport. There's no point in watching rigged hugging matches where someone mysteriously falls over at the beginning or end without even a sweat worked up.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Boxing has been around long before you and will be around long after you. Maybe give it a try one day, you might like it. Who knows...if you have an ounce of talent, a boxing trainer might even accept you. From there, you may even make it to the golden gloves. A nice side effect is that the inside of a glove may actually clean the cheetos stains off your fat fingers.
I can't believe so many of you alleged males are dogging on boxing and other contact sports. None of these fighters/athletes are slaves, they CHOOSE the sport and the potential consequences. Go back to saving the internet now.
Get rid of the point system. Have them keep going till someone gives up or gets KO'd. This simultaneously makes the sport more interesting and will cut back on the corruption.
Imagine how much harder these boxers will try to punch each other once they realise they can get a high score.
Is it possible to win a competitive boxing match without a single clean strike?
Would it help boxing if a 'ten count' was a 'one count'?
Gloves already connect with chin, jaw, chest, belly...
Personally, I'm much more excited watching lesbian porn than watching to guys boxing. I guess I must be gay!
I'm not a sports fan myself, though I might be something of a meta sports fan in that I find myself intrigued by the phenomenon so to speak. I liked the movie Moneyball for instance.
So, I reckon some people probably like the fact that boxers are actually hurting each other (and some of them may be appalled by pure torture, and only like the act when it is between consenting adults), and others merely like the conflict, while still others genuinely appreciate the athleticism and skill of the 'sweet science'.
There's something primal about a fight, a no holds barred struggle to decide who is best, who would triumph in a desparate primitive situation. The problem is the damage of course. In a no holds barred with eye gouging and choke holds even the winner may come out with a permanent injury, so they have to have rules, and then it's a matter of who is best at working within the rules.
Some people like the fantasy version, professional wrestling with all its kayfabe. I'm sort of intrigued by the idea of robot fighting where it's OK if one contestant is totally destroyed, but from what I've seen, the technology is still too primitive for me to stay interested.
Sumo wrestling has a certain appeal because the individual bouts are very short, which makes it a little more viewer friendly than standard western style wrestling (legit wrestling that is), though the ceremony of entering the ring, scattering rice, glowering at each other while waiting for the ref to start the match, can take awhile. Also, as far as I know, serious injuries in Sumo are rare, but Sumo wrestlers tend to have short lives because of their diet. I sometimes think someone should design a form of combat where the matches tended to be very short, like Sumo, but designed to favor people who are all round athletic, but also with little chance of serious injury.
In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice they're different. (Yogi Berra & A. Einstein)
Until the repeated concussions turn their brains to mush.
It's really tragic to see what happened to Ali.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Of course there is, when there's a thousand football players for every MMA fighter. You can find football programs at most colleges and high schools in the U.S. - can you name a school that has one for MMA?
Sort of. It's called wrestling and yes, lots of schools have wrestling programs. A huge percentage (probably the majority) of MMA fighters these days got much of their early training in wrestling and wrestling is a vital skill in MMA. Serious long term injuries are actually rather rare in wrestling and even MMA despite the very physical nature of the sports. I've been a wrestler and coach of wrestling for over 30 years and I can show you the injury statistics for that sport. I've seen similar statistics for MMA. It's far safer than you might guess as a casual observer. Certainly far safer than football on both an absolute and per-capita basis. That's not to imply there are no dangers or that serious injuries cannot result, just that it's much safer than you might think.
The reason there are surprising few long term injuries in MMA (and wrestling) is two-fold. 1) the rules are designed such that techniques likely to result in severe injury are illegal. 2) There is one official for two contestants and he is standing just a few feet away and is empowered to stop the match if an injury seems likely. That makes a HUGE difference. The sports are physical and sure there are plenty of bumps and bruises but stuff like broken limbs or torn ligaments simply don't happen often because the match gets stopped most of the time before that becomes possible. In football that isn't the case. In football the rules are designed such that certain injuries (particularly knee injuries and concussions) are ludicrously routine. Go into any sports medicine clinic and I can almost guarantee the majority of the patients there will be football players with serious knee injuries.
I heard Madison Avenue is about to do a huge marketing push for Jai Alai. It's the next big thing!
That is absolute hogwash. You might want to cite a source, because many of those fighters are still fighting, and if they had an existing known brain injury, they wouldn't be cleared to fight.
Presumably you just grabbed a list of fighters who received automatic post-fight suspensions because of (presumed) mild concussions. If you get knocked out during a fight, there is an automatic "injury suspension" given out by the fight commission. That is based on possibility of injury, not an actual medical diagnosis of brain injury. It is, however, still listed as due to "concussion."
Learn what the words mean, and mention your sources.
In MMA there is no count, the fight continues until the fighter is unable to defend themselves in the present tense. Actual "knockout" situations often happen where the ref is already calling it a KO before the fighter hits the ground. It is generally believed that this reduces brain injury, and that the "standing 8 count" in boxing allows recovery time that encourages additional injury and brain swelling. That is still disputed, though.
As far as the rules of boxing and the actual premise of the article (getting fans interested) it wouldn't help at all, because there are so many controversial knock-downs in boxing. Often the ref calls it a "slip" when it is a knockdown, or a knockdown when it is a slip. With a one count, every other fight would be ended by that particular controversy, so it would just make it more fake-y than it is now.
"Right now, millennials turn boxing on and they're like, 'Who's winning? I don't get this,'"
i guess millennials are dumb as doornails then and all have ADHD and aspergers
As soon as I started viewing this thread, I started seeing ads for Thurman vs Guerrero and Broner vs Molina Jr pop up.
In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice they're different. (Yogi Berra & A. Einstein)
I must say that your statements are pure BS. Fighting in MMA causes just as much if not more brain injury, as (pure) boxing. Right now, almost every veteran MMA fighter suffers from symptoms of brain injury. Here's a partial list: Jens Pulver Gabriel Gonzaga Mirko Filipovic Frank Trigg Chuck Liddell Mark Munoz Antonio Silva Wanderlei Silva Alistair Overeem Phil Baroni Gary Goodridge Andrei Arlovski Josh Koscheck Cheick Kongo
and the list goes on. And it doesn't even include the journeymen that get punched in the head for a $300 payout on regional circuits, as a matter of fact for their whole careers.
And yet I just saw Josh Koshcheck fight in the ring a week ago??
Sorry, but you're going to have to do more than provide a list of fighters whom some are still active in the sport to justify your claim here. Obviously if they're still fighting and able to well, whatever "symptoms" they have are far from even career stopping, much less career ending.
Deaths have occurred in just about every other violent sport, both during the actual event and after the fact, and when comparing apples to apples here, UFC is still by far one of the safest violent sports running today. I emphasize the term violent here because I am not ignorant as to the class of entertainment this is. There is no denying there is risk of permanent damage to the brain and other parts of the body. You're a trained fighter. Take the risk or leave this class of sport altogether.
Why are these people hitting each other? What kind of people would see this as a good thing? What kind of people would want to be considered part of this demographic? Why am I watching TV in the first place... I should be out doing something!
ECW!
ECW!
ECW!
ECW!
ECW!
ECW!
Here you go...
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
NBC also thought Supertrain and Manimal would make for Must See TV.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere