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Fans Choose A New Football Team's Plays With Their Smartphones (slate.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the quarterback-apps dept.

A new arena-league football team plays on a 50-yard field and uses a mobile app that allows fans to vote on the team's next play. An anonymous reader writes: Slate describes a receiver tackled for a short gain after the audience instructed the quarterback to throw a quick pass -- as "shouts and cheers exploded from the stands, with phones raised triumphantly in the air." The quarterback is informed of the chosen plays through an earphone in his helmet, and after one touchdown, one of the players even thanked a fan in the seats for picking a good play. "Then noses immediately returned to screens...the coach and QB were antsy, peering upward, waiting for the fans' next call as the play clock ticked down again..." The team eventually lost 78-47, but to at least make things more interactive, the players all have their Twitter handles sewn on the backs of their jerseys.
Fans can also be "virtual general managers" for a small fee, dialing in to a weekly phone call to give feedback to the team's president, and fans also selected the team's head coach from online resumes and some YouTube videos of interviews. In fact, the article says the fans even picked the team's name, with the name "Screaming Eagles" finally winning out over "Teamy McTeamface" and "Spaghetti Monsters."

20 of 47 comments (clear)

  1. Don't get on my bad side... by ERJ · · Score: 1

    Fake punt Fake punt Fake punt QB sneak Double reverse Fake punt (Yes, I know there is a limited selection of plays to choose from...really the more amazing thing is they got a first down on 3x fake punts and a QB sneak)

    1. Re: Don't get on my bad side... by bondsbw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is why the ability to direct activities should require users to have a stake in the team or at least in the outcome of the game.

      Invite large numbers of random people with no stake to vote on things, and you will inevitably get Teamy McTeamface.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    2. Re: Don't get on my bad side... by drew_kime · · Score: 1

      Invite large numbers of random people with no stake to vote on things, and you will inevitably get Teamy McTeamface.

      Then let the guys who actually own everything have a veto and you get Screaming Eagles.

      --
      Nope, no sig
    3. Re: Don't get on my bad side... by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      A veto would only really help in extreme cases.

      Or, it wouldn't really be a veto... if the coach vetos a random pass play because he thinks running the ball is the better decision, that's no longer democracy.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    4. Re:Don't get on my bad side... by sjritt00 · · Score: 1

      Hi Jeff Fisher! I wondered where you went after the Rams fired you.

    5. Re: Don't get on my bad side... by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      None of us are as dumb as all of us.

  2. It's a game by tomhath · · Score: 4, Funny

    Kudos for getting the fans involved, but I'm waiting for this in ice hockey -- "Throw your gloves down! Pull his jersey off! Punch him in the shoulder pads!"

  3. Fantastic! by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Somebody found a way to get money from millions of armchair coaches.

    I applaud you, Sir.

  4. Re:Extend technology to eliminate CEOs by NotInHere · · Score: 2

    CEOs aren't really overpaid. The amount they get paid seems large compared to normal employees, but it still pales in comparison to the money the actual owners make on it. I mean the CEO is a hired manager to be a replacement for the leadership of the owner(s) (for convenience reasons and because possibly the ownership is shared between multiple parties, some of whom may not possess the skills to lead the company). As such, the CEO needs many of the skills the founders possessed, and therefore its justified to set the salary closer to that amount. Especially, one has always to consider what happens if the CEO instead of leading the company starts their own. So unless you dislike the very foundations of how capitalism works, which I hope you do not, CEOs are paid fairly.

  5. the mob and betting! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    the mob and betting! seems like a way for games to be fixed.

  6. Finally, something to do by trawg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Something for people watching American football to do in between the vast amounts of waiting to see people actually playing football.

    Apparently the latest Superbowl had only 16 minutes of the ball being in play.

    I used to enjoy watching the game - and I see this as an Australian who never grew up watching it. I am not sure if I just finally lost patience with the downtime or if it actually changed and they started ad-stuffing like crazy.

    1. Re:Finally, something to do by rockout · · Score: 1

      16 minutes of exciting action is still better than 90 minutes of watching guys kick a ball back and forth to earn a 0-0 tie.

      --
      I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
    2. Re:Finally, something to do by trawg · · Score: 1

      Is it though?

      In any case, as I said, I'm Australian and we have a totally different kind of football - Australian Rules - that we [of course] feel is superior in terms of action, physical ability and strategy.

      But then we'll happily kick back for five days to watch cricket so YMMV.

    3. Re: Finally, something to do by trawg · · Score: 1

      Yeh, Aussie Rules and rugby are much more interesting!

      I spent a year in the US when I was a kid - I lived in SF the year the 49ers won the Superbowl. So I had exposure to it at an early age and got caught up in the excitement of our American-living family & friends, which lasted for several years.

      I stopped watching it for a while - mostly because of time differences and difficulty getting access to games. I moved to the US for two years recently and was looking forward to keeping up with it, especially while in a big college football town (Columbus OH). I went to one game and left at 3/4 time because I couldn't stand it any long; we were there for like 3 hours, it was something like 40-0, and just unwatchable. Atmosphere was amazing through with so many people.

    4. Re:Finally, something to do by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      This reminds me of that southpark episode Where they are voting for the Turd Sandwich vs. Giant Douche. I'd love to see where this argument about which is better, Soccer or Football, goes. It seems that even more than sports, the world's greatest pastime is arguing over who's pastime is better.

    5. Re:Finally, something to do by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      Think of it as the difference between turn-based strategy and real-time strategy. Both, when done well, are great. Foreigners who can't get into American football are like Starcraft players who think Europa Universalis is booooooorrrrrrrrrrriiiiinnnnnggg.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  7. Re:Extend technology to eliminate CEOs by Imrik · · Score: 1

    That doesn't necessarily mean that the play calling was bad. A score of 78-47 implies serious problems with both team's defense and the article mentions problems with the Eagles' offensive line.

  8. Re:Extend technology to eliminate CEOs by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    It's not proper football. I mean even if it was proper football it wouldn't be proper football, but I digress.

    Anyway, the field is only the size of a tennis court, it's not hard to score.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  9. Re:This has happened before, and will happen again by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    This post is proof that being a sore loser isn't as bad as being a sore winner.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  10. Re:Bread and Circuses by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    I see your Circus but where is my Bread?

    Thanks for taking a break from finding a cure for cancer to let us plebs know how superior you are.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it