Tech of Sports - Sports and Technology Integration

Jesse Harper is CEO of i1 Biometrics, a Kirkland, Wash-based sports technology company working with teams at the NCAA and High School level to detect and report dangerous head impacts on the field of play in real time. He is a UConn grad and has been involved in wearable tech for years. The sports world was shaken this past weekend with news of Kosta Karageorge, the Ohio State University football player who complained of concussions before he disappeared last week. Reports say he was found dead near his apartment of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Great to have writer of everything tech, sports, automobiles and most things guys like… John Scott Lewinsky. John travels the world to cover events like auto shows, the NFL in London, resort openings and whatever else cool he comes across.

ClubCrown launched their original professionally installed customization product, ClubCrown.com. ClubCrown STRIPE looks to capitalize on the mass market demand with it’s innovative self-install feature. We look forward to paving the path with you in the golf industry. Bear Miller is Exec. V.P. of ClubCrown. Columbia South Carolina, Graduate of Washington State University, Retired U.S Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel, Disabled Vet. Highest caliber, Project Management Professional Certified (PMP), Six Sigma executive with over 35 years of progressive management, training, instruction and leadership experience.

Nesha Sanghavi, owner of University Girls, is a former West Virginia University Varsity cheerleader for the men’s football and basketball teams and a WVU alumni. During her time as a cheerleader, Nesha noticed a lack of fashion in the collegiate apparel market and decided to take matters into her own hands, creating University Girls Apparel. After graduating from WVU with a degree in Finance and Economics, Nesha was accepted to the top fashion school, Parsons the New School for Design in New York City. During her studies, she was invited to finish her degree while working for PUMA at their global headquarters in Germany. Nesha has done a great amount of market research to develop and produce unique women’s tops that are not currently offered in the collegiate market. While University Girls offers styles for women of all ages, their main targeting customer is an alumni woman, aged 25+. There are 2 issues in women’s collegiate merchandise that University Girls Apparel aims to fix, sizing and styling. What University Girls does differently: Sizing – Currently, the majority of women’s collegiate merchandise is only offered in junior sizing. Nesha conducted several focus groups where she found that average sized women had to buy the largest size offered, or could not fit in any sizes at all. These women were also of an alumni age with discretionary income to spend. She decided to custom make all of her size charts, allowing for average sized women to feel comfortable and confident in University Girls Apparel. In her second collection, and after another round of focus groups, Nesha added Plus Sizing into her collection. Plus sizing has been recognized as an underdeveloped market and not many companies are offering this size set. Styling – The women’s collegiate market has become saturated with basic t-shirts and fleece with screen prints, or loud and busy graphic prints. Nesha has designed tops and fleece that are in line with what is hot and on trend in the regular sportswear market. Her goal is to take styles that women love to wear in their everyday lives, and translate them to the collegiate market by focusing on the silhouette of the style, rather than the graphics. This results in styles that women can feel fashionable in, and are age appropriate, can be worn to work and out for the night. UG Apparel is currently licensed for 20 top universities across the US including Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee and Nebraska.”

This week on “The Tech of Sports,” Rick talks with Jon Finer, who is the founder of KSUOwlHowl.com. The original fan site for Kennesaw State University athletics. They talk about starting a fan site, the challenges Jon faced, and the future of fan sites. Jon is a graduate of Kennesaw State University, a growing NCAA D-I athletic department and they start football in 2015, so it’s an exciting time to be a Kennesaw State University Owl. Jon does a great job, and we wish him the best of luck.

The Outer Banks (also known as OBX) is a 200-mile (320-km) long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina and a small portion of Virginia, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States. They cover most of the North Carolina coastline, separating the Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, and Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. The Outer Banks is a major tourist destination and is known for its temperate climate and wide expanse of open beachfront. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore has four campgrounds where visitors may camp. The Wright brothers’ first flight in a powered, heavier-than-air vehicle took place on the Outer Banks on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near the seafront town of Kitty Hawk. The Wright Brothers National Monument commemorates the historic flights, and First Flight Airport is a small, general-aviation airfield located there.

She was a finalist on “So You Think You Can Dance.” She’s been on “Dancing With the Stars” and “Burn the Floor.” Ashleigh Di Lello has an absolutely inspiring story that would motivate anyone trying to change his/her life. She fought a 4.5 year life-threatening illness, followed by several serious injuries, where doctors told her even if she survived, she’d never be active or dance again. Her determination and strong will not only helped her survive, but led to her love of physical fitness and nutrition, which was crucial to her recovery. Ashleigh knows what it’s like to fight for what seemed like an impossible goal. Ryan and Ashleigh fight for their clients and teach them how to achieve the impossible!

NDT Scouting is an independent NFL scouting service. They are in the business of evaluating college players looking to make it in the NFL. Kyle is a member of the Pro Football Writers Association and has been scouting the NFL Draft since 2010. He’s also been a featured writer for NFLDraftBible.com

NJIT Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences Bruce Bukiet has released his annual Major League Baseball projections. For the 2014 season, Bukiet's model pegs Boston, Detroit, and Oakland as American League Division winners, with Anaheim and Seattle narrowly edging Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees in the AL Wildcard chase. In the National League, the numbers say St. Louis, Washington, and Los Angeles will take the top spots in their respective divisions.

Yes, it’s the legendary former guitarist of The Eagles, Don Felder on “The Tech of Sports” this week. Don is heading out on tour with Styx and Foreigner this summer and he also is a big golfer.

Will Wilcox was born in Birmingham, AL. He played college golf at UAB and Clayton State where he was a three-time All-American. He also won the 2008 Alabama Amateur. Wilcox turned professional in 2009 and played on the Hooters Tour from 2009 to 2011, winning twice He played on the Canadian Tour in 2010, winning once at the Dakota Dunes Casino Open and finishing fourth on the Order of Merit. He has played on the Web.com Tour since 2011 and won the 2013 South Georgia Classic. On July 14, 2013, Wilcox became only the fourth professional golfer in Web.com Tour history to shoot a 59 for a round. Wilcox’s card had 10 birdies, seven pars, and an eagle for a 12-under score in the final round of the Utah Championship at Willow Creek CC inSandy, Utah He finished seventh on the 2013 Web.com Tour regular season money list to earn his 2014 PGA Tour card.

John Ewing is the Director of Research and Analytics at PredictionMachine.com John Manages the Predictalator, the most advanced sports forecasting software available today. The technology has the ability to account for all of the statistical interactions of the players (playing or not playing/injured), coaches, officials, fans (home-field advantage) and weather in each game. The Predictalator plays every game 50,000 times before it’s actually played. Utilizing the Predictalator, John simulates straight-up, against-the-spread and over/under win probabilities for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college football and basketball.

Jeff Salzenstein former top junior tennis player, All-American at Stanford and former ATP top-100 player, He has career wins over Mardy Fish and David Nalbandian among others. Now a high performance coach, guest speaker, my tennis go-to guy.

Nick founded the Sports Podcast Entertainment Network (SPNT.tv) in January 2012 and serves as the host and producer of 5 different podcasts on the network. His goal is to make SPNT an industry leader in the podcast world. Nick and his crew bring you the best Bengals coverage that no one else brings, the Fans Perspective. Who-Dey Weekly was a finalist in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Podcast Awards. Nick also hosts the Redleg Weekly and other podcasts.

Going to talk golf and a whole lot more with Terry Davis, PGA Pro from Birmingham, AL, but he works at one of my favorite courses – FarmLinks in Sylacauga, AL. FarmLinks is a research and demonstration golf course, so that means Terry and his staff has to stay current on all the latest golf technology. Terry was at the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando and we’ll talk about that and his background in golf along with the harsh winter this year.