Benny Evangelista writes an interesting article for the SF Chronicle on the recently installed wifi at SBC Park. I read about the new wifi several weeks ago before opening day, but this is the first I’ve seen public mention about it in local media. Note: “SBC Park has been outfitted with 121 high-speed wireless Internet access points, making the ballpark one giant Wi-Fi hot spot.”
Now one can watch the Giants, pull up any kind of stats, replay video, and apparently, even pretend to be working. Some fans are understandably upset. They don’t like the idea of ruining the sport with additional technology brought into the park. When I first saw the news about the wifi, my first reaction was “Why would you ever want to lug a laptop with you to a game?” Wouldn’t it kind of ruin the spontaneity of jumping up to cheer when Bonds cracks his homers into McCovey Cove?
However, I can also see the brilliance in the idea, despite the fact that I’d feel iffy about using it. I mean, baseball isn’t exactly the most non-stop action-packed sport we’ve invented. There are tons of lulls in the game, which make it a great social spectator sport: it’s great for conversation with friends and colleagues. Those lulls would make good opportunities to jump online to check email, or prove your point on who held the record for the most stolen bases in ‘97 (if you’re into that kind of thing). Baseball is one of the only sports I can think of that attracts so many stats-freaks. To them, I can see wifi access is a dream come true.
For the fans who object to bringing technology into the stadium, just look at how many of them already bring in small radios — some even bring televisions — to complement the action with live commentary. Laptops and PDAs are the next logical step. Customized information available on demand. Eventually, fans will even be able to order any of the numerous types of food available at the park without leaving their seats. Imagine the possibilities for real-time sports blogging and personal stats reporting. I can already hear the mass-media reporters downplaying their new competition from amateurs parked in the crowd armed with a laptop or PDA.
Overall, I think wifi at a ballpark a great idea that just needs time to catch on and gain acceptance with the crowd. I think the only issue about laptops at sporting events is they just seem so much geekier than a small radio and pair of headphones. Laptops are certainly a lot more expensive than radios or TVs, so they’ll carry some sort of stigma for a few years. I imagine the reaction by many fans to seeing someone pop open a laptop at the ballpark would be similar to the sight of someone doing the same in a sports bar. Personally, I’d be a little worried about someone spilling beer on my open laptop as they were squeezing by, or passing one over me.
Posted in Entertainment, Locations, Technology
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Necessity is the mother of invention. Expect to see beerproof laptops within months.
“I think the only issue about laptops at sporting events is they just seem so much geekier than a small radio and pair of headphones.”
Come on! This is San Francisco. Since when was anybody in this town afraid to look like a geek? That’s a badge of honor out here.
The athlete and baseball purist in me is as appalled as my inner geek is beside himself. Though neither would be caught dead with a Powerbook at any ballpark - nosebleed section notwithstanding.
I don’t know about laptops for those coming to see the game but I imagine that you’ll see a lot more PDAs in people’s hands.
I think more importantly, though, is that we’re talking about a “small town” completely networked together without the need for expensive wiring. All areas of the park can communicate with the each other without any hassle. Anyone who has been to a ball park knows that it’s a community of 30,000 to 40,000+ people who converge on it almost every day. It’s many businesses under one; I just jealous and wish my office was like theirs.
I think PDAs would probably be much more common and more widely accepted than laptops. Aren’t there several cell phones that do wifi these days, as well?
PS - your tabindex from comment to preview/post is really off :[
Now all we need is a collaborative blog that anyone on the local wifi network can post to, so the crowd can liveblog the game in real time! Take that, Old Journalism!
“Baseball is one of the only sports I can think of that attracts so many stats-freaks.”
Doug, I’d often wondered why, but as I started to become one, I realized why: baseball is a series of discrete events: pitches, at-bats, innings, games, seasons. In hockey, you can’t discern the value of an individual play—the guy who just forced a turnover has passed the puck to his teammate up-ice.
I imagine that SBC will start offering handheld-size machines for rental at games, and that some folks will use them and put the hardware risk onto the renter.
If Giants fans don’t want technology in their ballpark, they should eject Barry Bonds for being a steroid-using fraud. Who gives a crap what people do in the stands? Radios, beer, hot dogs - these are all just distractions from the game.
I agree that this is just the next phase of technology being introduced into the ball park. I’d rather have some geek sitting next to me looking up baseball stats on his PDA or laptop via WiFi than some idiots yapping their heads off about how they are going shopping at Union Square after the game and what stores are having sales. In my book, anything that encourages people to focus on The Game, which is why we’re all at the park in the first place, is good. :.) “Play ball!”
Eric (5) - Aren’t there several cell phones that do wifi these days, as well?
I believe most, like AT&T, don’t use wi-fi as they want you to subscribe to their mLife or whatever else. And speaking of cell phones - I believe cell phones should be banned from use in a ball park, especially those within range of a television camera. There is nothing I despise more than having to watch Susie-talks-alot or Johnny-yap-yap waving to the TV camera with one hand and chatting it up with a friend on their cell phone undoubtedly saying ridiculous things like “Ohmugawd! Am I on TV?! Really?! Do you see me? Am I on TV now? Ohmugawd, that’s so funny - I’m like famous!!” Except nobody knows who you are but you sure are annoying.
It’s still “Pac Bell Park” to me (like Candlestick and 3 Com, it was never the latter). Anyway, I think this is a great addition to an already great ballpark.
Don’t try catching foul balls with your laptop!
If you truly are bringing your laptop to the ballpark, something is wrong. I mean, are you really going to get any work done? PDA’s with internet access maybe. I guess maybe if you want to pretend your at work in the server room, you could be at the game and blast off emails every now and then to make it look like you’re doing work. Hmmm… maybe this isn’t such a bad idea after all!
As for the beer, I can testify that alcohol does not actually destroy a laptop.
I had a friend who, in an inebriated state, spilled most of a bottle of White Russian on his Dell notebook. Next morning (afternoon, really), he turned the computer on and it worked fine. Cool. Then he opened it up to clean it and it stopped working forever.
don’t stop at baseball. what about football?
I was in the bleachers the other night (saw #661 from Barry!!) and a guy a couple of rows up had a laptop. Heard quite a few snide remarks from people behind me. PDAs are more appropriate, IMHO. The laptop didn’t last long though.
WATCH the game!!! However, one of my best friends has a scoring notebook (think paper folks) that he has kept ever since his FIRST ballgame. He recently traded up to a PalmOS program that simplifies the process.
You could have baseball blog, like for each inning you could post something on the blog about how that inning went. That’s sounds like a good idea.
BTW Doug it’s gonna be hot here in San Francisco on the weekend.
Nope, won’t work. What’s next, video monitors in front of every seat so that even if you are at the game you are not really watching it? C’mon!
I’m not sure about the fans, but I’m sure this is a big hit for the press. No longer do they have to sit in designated ‘press’ sections and have to worry about finding a plug for their laptops, etc. Anyone can be a part of the press, actually, relaying scores and events straight to a news source.
Maybe you can buy season tickets and make a website that updates after each pitch twice as fast those live sports sites (like Yahoo! gamechannel). For avid sports fans that couldn’t make the game, a delay of 5 to 6 seconds is not acceptable for a sport as action-packed as baseball!
And don’t forget the pro photographers that have wifi enabled digital cameras, they can upload their rounds of photos before they run out of space on their camera.
I might have been that guy that Matte was talking about…
I whipped out the Thunkpad during the Giants v. Dodgers batting practice and caught the streaming broadcast of the BoSox v. Yankees game… was able to look up who sang the cheesy pre-game hit ‘Tonight’s the Night’ (Rod Stewart)… information overload is not a bad thing at all.
Yes, some sideways looks from surly fans, but to be able to email my friend a webcam picture of Bonds hitting #661 off Gagne was a perfect way to thank him for the seats.
BEAT LA!
Don’t quite get the humor in this one…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/02/BAFARLEY.DTL
nc
DB -
For us photobloggers - this is awesome - we can send photos out right away!
I am a baseball freak/purist. But I have to say this is adding to the experience of going to a ball game. Stats at your fingertips. Being able to keep score digitally on the fly. This is making things better.
Unlike the DH.
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