In yet another terrifying sign that the job of dedicated photo-journalist might be going the way of the dodo (and that tennis umpires might be going the same way), in this piece, we find world-ranked tennis pro Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky take his dispute with an umpire with regards to what he perceived to be a blown call. And like any web-connected athlete in the 21st century would do, Mr Stakhovsky not only whipped out an iPhone and snapped an image, but he posted the picture to Twitter for posterity.
Brilliant.
[tentblogger-youtube h0BLN3lczrk]
I know what you’re thinking. He MUST have Apple’s Protection Plan to be bold enough to play a tennis game with an iDevice in his pocket. But beyond that, I have to apologize for admitting that the technological aspect of the whole thing intrigues me. Crowd-sourcing game/match calls via social networking. Golf tourneys already reluctantly rely on eagle-eyed viewers at home. It could work. Think of the ratings jump when sports becomes a branch of reality TV. Of course, the Dallas Cowboys might then be able to win a playoff game (zing!).
One of the funniest comments about the whole matter came from Bleacher Report’s Gabe Zaldivar, who wondered aloud about what guys like John McEnroe could have done with a tool like Twitter way back when.
Scary.
Speak your mind...