In Honor of the Super Bowl

Perusing some web sites, I came across this very interesting article. When watching the Super Bowl, you may notice a little yellow line that indicates the first down marker. I had figured this was not just a simple "draw a yellow line on the screen thing" because the marker moved with the camera and it never was drawn over a player. Well, this little article gives an overview of what is done to provide that line. The most interesting part? The company that developed this technology is based in Chicago and the entire concept was born out of a horrendous Fox notion to highlight a puck during hockey games!

As a hockey fan, I remember the blue puck on the Fox broadcasts and remember thinking it was the dumbest thing I ever saw. Of particular annoyance was that it would change color to red if it was hit hard enough. Hockey is not a game of watching the puck. If you just watch the puck, you miss a ton of action. You miss all the players setting up a pass or a one-timer. You never see the one guy sneaking past the defense for a one-on-one attempt ... Can you tell I miss hockey? Yes, I know, I'm one of 4 people in the entire US that actually misses hockey, but let's not get into that rant now.

Anyway, when you see that yellow first down line, just remember that you have hockey and a Chicago based company to thank.