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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.
So in a couple of years, we can look back and tell:
That's the hit that got him Parkinson's.
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.
"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
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.
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.
Maybe if it were something they cared about, they'd pay. But it really is just two guys they don't care about beating each other up.
The "this is a sport, not just two thugs trying to hurt each other" veneer was ripped off the so-called sport when Mike Tyson was allowed to return to the "sport" after being convicted of rape, then bit off Evander Holyfield's ear and was allowed to return (with celebrity status) AGAIN, served time for yet another assault, cheated in another fight...
And was never banned from the so-called sport. Because it's a blood sport where the worst sort of brutality is not just tolerated, but encouraged.
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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.
Apparently you're not the only one who thinks so. I once bought a pair of boxing gloves to spar with friends. The cardboard box had this big bold warning on the side: "WARNING: Boxing is a contact sport"
I wish I were joking.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - 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.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
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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 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.