Why Ball Tracking Works for Tennis and Cricket but Not Soccer or Basketball | Hacker News Reader

Why Ball Tracking Works for Tennis and Cricket but Not Soccer or Basketball

technologyreview.com

8 pointsdsr129 comments

There is some controversy about the accuracy of ball tracking in cricket, http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/shock-drs-howler-questi...

why not add a tracking system on/inside the ball itself, so you always know exactly where it is, without depending on video?

For solid spherical objects like baseballs and cylinders like hockey pucks I think that makes a lot of sense (pun intended) but for air-filled hollow spheres like basketballs maybe not so much as people might think it would upset the balance of the balls.

If IIRC, hockey tried garish bright puck colors --maybe a special coat could help track the balls as well rather than an active sensor.

> For solid spherical objects like baseballs and hockey pucks

What kind of hockey uses a puck that is a solid spherical object?

Spherical was a adjective for baseball, not for the pucks. I think 'and' fits better than 'or'. added cylinder for the pucks to rid the ambiguity.

Ah, makes sense. I probably would have reversed the order of the items in that case to avoid the ambiguity, but I get it.

Yes, I remember when FOX aired the NHL and used the puck tracker. It was very distracting in my opinion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FoxTrax

Aah yes the Glow Puck! The Glow Puck came about before ubiquitous HD TV. This was FOX's way of helping viewer's track the puck. (As an aside, it is my opinion that HD has helped hockey viewability more than almost any other sport.) A couple of interesting Glow Puck facts:

- The batteries inside of the pucks would only last a short time (15-30 mins). Combine this with sensitive chips being hit at 80-100 MPH and a Glow Puck would only last a couple of shifts a game. FOX went through loads of them.

- The chips changed the weight of the pucks enough where the players hated them. The heavier pucks especially messed with wrist shots and passing.

All this and more is covered in a fascinating article about the development of the technology:

http://ethw.org/First-Hand:Recollections_of_the_development_...

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