This notebook was going to be a gloat over the technology of the day and how it is being used to our benefit. However, like so many good things in our society, someone with the wrong intention gets in the middle of it and generally messes it up.
Let’s hope in this case it doesn’t disable the growing business of live streaming sporting events, especially of our local high school and college games. In many ways it isn’t a business, more a service to the family and fans of athletes. Especially in these days of pandemic, the video industry has actually made it quite simple. Just a camera, internet connection and you’re on the air (well, the web).
Several local and area sports teams connect to You Tube or Facebook Live, share a link to their fans and everyone is happy. Some schools go as far as purchasing a video mixer where several cameras can be hooked in, run a couple microphones into the mixer and do a play-by-play. Students then gain the experience of being Sumerall and Madden/ Buck and Aikman, etc.
But in recent years technology has perfected this even more. Companies such as the NFHS Network have begun providing schools with a relatively innocuous camera setup for their gymnasiums and football stadiums called the “Pixellot.” Using A.I. (artificial intelligence) the three cameras in the unit follow the action with panning…
