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How has each of the following forces changed sport? Is it for the better or worse, or is ita double-edged sword? Give specific examples. >>> Technology

Negative impacts1. Over reliance

In the area of sports where the skills of individuals are put on display, technologymight have just changed this emphasis on skills to a competition of who has thebest equipment. Recently, popular swimwear brand Speedo introduced a newline of swimming attire. The new full-body swimsuit has been designed to helpreduce water resistance and promote gliding in water. In the Formula One, twonew inclusions for 2011 are the introduction of the Drag Reduction System (DRS)as well as the re-introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).Such technology might have created an over-reliance on them. Instead ofcompeting on a level based on skill, we are now competing on a level based ontechnology.While some would argue that there is no replacement for raw athletic talent,

many maintain that the technological advances in sporting equipment haveadded significantly to athletic performance. For example, there is disagreementabout whether current-day athletic achievements should be viewed with thesame regard as records established in the pastwhen athletes were performingwithout the benefit of graphite tennis rackets, fiberglass poles, ultra-light runningshoes, and titanium golf clubs. Even the athletes themselves are divided on theissue. Despite the ongoing debate, it is certain that athletes will continue to utilizeadvances in sports technology to enhance and better their performance.

2. Concerns over the health of the athleteThe second objection to new technologies is based primarily upon concerns overthe health of the athlete. For instance, performance drugs, particularly street levelperformance drugs, have already demonstrated that they can cause illness andshorten the life spans of athletes. However, there is no doubt that someperformance drugs can provide a margin of victory. This use of chemicals isperhaps the most difficult technological question that sports faces today. Lookingat the Olympics, we see that there has been a continual struggle to set standardsof fairness and safety, yet there is strong evidence that some athletes continue toseek an edge in this way, and, in fact, may be a step ahead of those trying to testthem.

Positive impacts1. Optimising Athletic Performance

The recent push of athletic associations to standardize rather than outlaw newinnovations points to the growing importance of sports technology for optimizingathletic performance. Although some current changes are more apparent thanotherslike form-fitting body suits that some world-class swimmers and sprintersnow wearthere has been a steady evolution of even seemingly mundanesports equipment for decades.

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One of the best examples is the golf ball. The first generation of golf ballsresembled hacky sacks, covered and leather and filled with feathers. The ball,called a "feathery," could be struck up to 200 yard (182.88 m) but slowed when itbecame damp. Around the same time, ball makers started experimenting with thegutty ball, a golf ball made out of a rubbery substance called "gutta-percha" from

India. When softened in hot water, gutta-percha could be rolled into the shape ofa ball with the hands.

2. Increase Accuracy of CompetitionIn addition to revolutionizing equipment, improved sports technology has alsoshrunk the difference between winners and losers, allowing thousandths of asecond to decide who finishes first and who finishes second. Modern-day timingsystems start with the firing of the starting gun and stop when a light-basedsensor detects the winner across the finish line. Now that there are fewerimprovements that can be made to the equipmentnamely limited to slightadjustments to the surface of the track and weight of the shoesthe difference in

winning times of the 100-meter sprint has shrunk. Improvements are now madein about 0.006 second increments rather than the 0.015 second improvementsseen in the early 1900s. Although improvements in time, at least in the shorterrunning events, will be largely due to the training regime of the athletes, thetechnology that measures their performance will be distinguishing a "win" thatmight have been a "tie" a century ago.Computerized measuring devices might even change the judging of other sportslike the pole vault. Historically, the pole vault has been judged strictly on theheight of the bar that the athlete scaled. Now, poles with light-emitting diode(LEDs) can measure the actual altitude a pole vaulter has achieved.

3. Stadium LightsElectric lighting hasnt been around as long as we assume it has. Until it was,sports could not be played in primetime, and even sports indoors at any time wasa tricky proposition. However, once stadium lights were introduced, not everyonewas quick to adopt the primetime schedule. The authorities in most sports sawnight games as a gimmick and opted to continue the day games, despite theclear scheduling conflicts that they posed. Though the first baseball night gamewas played in 1935, the Chicago Cubs famously held out until 1988. Withoutstadium lights, wed all be cutting work and class to go to baseball games.

4. Increase ConvenienceThe Internet gives sport fans virtual access to sport in real time and on demandand allows them to create personal, specific methods of interaction. By 2009,three out of four Americans had home access to the Internet, while 63% of thosenow have broadband Internet connections at home, a 15% increase from theprevious year (PewInternet.org 2009).Social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and blogshave opened up other possibilities for sport news and discussion. Beyond simplyreporting the news, social networking sites have the ability to link sport fans with

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each other and with professional athletes to share ideas, discussions, opinions,and photos with lightning speed around the world. The Internet can also presenta wide variety of programming by video streaming in real time so that people canwatch their alma mater play a football game in another time zone or follow theirdaughters college volleyball game.

Major League Baseball (MLB) established its Advanced Media (MLBAM) site in2000, and the result has been an entity that generated $380 million in 2007 andcontinues to grow at about 30% a year. MLB.com now boasts up to 8 millionunique visitors per day during the season and offers team news, merchandise,and ticket sales (Jacobson 2007).