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Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

nytimes.com

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Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#71

Post by hackuser »

stevehawk wrote: post #69

Technology seems to be a huge issue at the Patriots home stadium. Pretty much every visiting team coach that's been there complains about headset failures / communication issues between coaches/on-field captains. Mike Tomlin said "It's always the case" when speaking about them failing. Like countless other people are saying in other comments - this is likely just a huge radio frequency collision issue for all of the…

From TFA:

Belichick was also unhappy with the other communications systems at the game, like the ones between the press box and the sideline and between the coach and the quarterback. “Those fail on a regular basis,” he said.

He noted that the league does not supply the equipment to the teams until a few hours before the game, making troubleshooting difficult.

“So I would just say there are problems in every game,” he said. “There were problems last week, but there were problems the week before that, too. Some are worse than others. Sometimes both teams have them, sometimes one team has them and the other team doesn’t have them.”

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#72

Post by favorited »

stevehawk wrote: post #69

Technology seems to be a huge issue at the Patriots home stadium. Pretty much every visiting team coach that's been there complains about headset failures / communication issues between coaches/on-field captains. Mike Tomlin said "It's always the case" when speaking about them failing. Like countless other people are saying in other comments - this is likely just a huge radio frequency collision issue for all of the…

The home team says it too.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#73

Post by hackuser »

yk wrote: post #26
pyrophane wrote: post #18

Now, I have to preface this by saying that I don't know much about football and even less about coaching it, but I wonder how much of this speaks to a lack of a real need for a technology solution for coaches. If it were providing a lot of value to them, I imagine they'd have a harder giving it up. This NFL suggests that there is such a need: "Since Microsoft has been a partner of the N.F.L. and implemented their tec…

Belichick is considered the best coach in football of the last twenty odd years, so he has probably his process with pen and paper nailed down. And the thing is, new technology requires a learning curve both individually and also on a larger scale culturally, so I would guess that tablets after a year or so of use would provide a lot of value, however they do not do so now.

> Belichick is considered the best coach in football of the last twenty odd years ...

Many think he's the best ever and his greatest strength is considered to be preparation, especially knowing his opponent in great detail and preparing his team for their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. He is also very flexible in how he does things, adopting very different strategies from week to week.

IMHO he would seem to be a great candidate for a technology that provides up-to-date video of his opponents if it offered some benefits.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#74

Post by wyager »

I'm not sure if wifi is actually the problem here as many are claiming, this is a good read about sports frequency coordination: http://www.radioworld.com/article/photo-holding-page/279450

Frequency management in a stadium is very hard. It's mostly done by volunteer ham radio people.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#75

Post by hackuser »

jlv2 wrote: post #58
ovulator wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure there is huge value to coaches. Pull up our list of plays for 4th and one in the redzone. That list then shows immediately what personnel are best for it and who of those personnel may be out of the game right now. QB just threw an interception, lets look over the play that just happened to see what he overlooked and how we can adjust. The problem with technology in this case, is that there is no room for er…

I suspect what makes someone a good coach is that they already know to a high degree what personnel are best for a particular situation on the field, and don't need some algorithm to pick for them.

That's a really good point. Experts have much different needs than other users, because much of the knowledge is available via a much faster system better integrated with their thinking (their memory).

I wonder what experts would actually want out of a sideline tablet system.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#76

Post by hackuser »

coleca wrote: post #50
Twirrim wrote: post #10

Mostly what stands out to me from this is that they only get the tablets just a few hours before the game. That's ridiculous, unless the NFL is also providing all the technical support (which Bill's actual rant doesn't imply they do.) Having just a short time to use, test and get them ready for the game is incredibly lousy, and certainly won't give the team's IT people any chance to seriously troubleshoot and improve…

Since the tablets are operating wirelessly it becomes very hard to test since the conditions before the game aren't the same as what occurs during the game. All the fans with their smartphones aren't there yet polluting the airwaves until the game starts (some don't make it in until after the game has already started). Also worth noting that some of the reporters were complaining at last week's game that the WiFi was…

> Since the tablets are operating wirelessly it becomes very hard to test since the conditions before the game aren't the same as what occurs during the game. All the fans with their smartphones aren't there yet polluting the airwaves until the game starts (some don't make it in until after the game has already started).

By now, the IT team should know the gametime environment very well. It should no longer be a surprise to them.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#77

Post by favorited »

TillE wrote: post #68
mountaineer22 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't, but why would a coach give up his expert knowledge to all other coaches he is potentially competing against? The incentives for all parties involved in this situation is less than ideal.

I'm sure there are plenty of retired NFL coaches out there who would be willing to advise.

That assumes that the needs of retired coaches are the same as the needs of coaches today.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#78

Post by favorited »

6stringmerc wrote: post #56

On the one hand, it's a reasoned, eloquent, logical gripe about technology not functioning as intended for its target audience, an NFL head coach. On the other hand, this is Bill Belichick doing the talking, so I take the bulk of his complaints about the communications equipment with a healthy dose of skepticism. If you're not familiar with Mr. Belichick, he's earned the reputation of being worthy of suspicion when i…

How's the weather in Indianapolis this time of year?

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#79

Post by frisco »

notatoad wrote: post #49
tw04 wrote: post #30

I'm guessing it has far more to do with network connectivity than the tablet itself. The problems he describes to me sound like exactly what I would expect in a stadium filled with 100,000 cellphones emitting wifi and cellular interference. I'm guessing the NFL didn't get clearance from the FCC to use a dedicated wavelength within the stadium to isolate their systems from noise.

>I'm guessing the NFL didn't get clearance from the FCC to use a dedicated wavelength within the stadium to isolate their systems from noise. if they had, would the surface tablets have been able to use it? I'm not aware of any licensed spectrum that standard wifi cards are capable of communicating on.

Channel 14 is used in some Asian markets but illegal in the US, there's consumer hardware that can use it out there.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#80

Post by huac »

tw04 wrote: post #30

I'm guessing it has far more to do with network connectivity than the tablet itself. The problems he describes to me sound like exactly what I would expect in a stadium filled with 100,000 cellphones emitting wifi and cellular interference. I'm guessing the NFL didn't get clearance from the FCC to use a dedicated wavelength within the stadium to isolate their systems from noise.

Tell that to the Patriots' opponents: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/11/at-least-fiv...
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