First, this is a sponsored post. Over the next two weeks, you will be seeing occasional posts on this and other SB Nation sites concerning the effect of technology on sports.
I remember going to Purdue football games even as a student and concentrating solely on the game. If you were interested in another game you had to wait for the Ross-Ade Jumbotron to scroll a score across the screen. The same was true in basketball, where the Mackey Arena scoreboard used to show even fewer scores than today. This probably further shows my age, but even text messages were rare on my old style of cell phone way back in 2001.
This is why I am happy technology has improved my fan experience. When I graduated from Purdue a little more than eight years ago, few people had earned of blogs. I posted at a site called Open Diary, and that is even how I met Mrs. T-Mill, but the idea of writing anything about Purdue never occurred to me. If it wasn't for the advancement of technology this great site with you fine readers wouldn't even exist.
Now I can go to games and track other games in real time via my phone. I can leave comments in an open thread or Tweet live right from my seat. The advancement of technology has also allowed me to live a bit of a dream by getting me into events with press credentials, like last Thursday's Media Day. I know you readers have helped build the site, but it amazes me that we have advanced to the point we have a community like this now when there was none as recently as two years ago. We now have a place to celebrate the triumphs and mourn the agony of defeat together. it's almost like group therapy.
Even though it was a sorrowful moment, the moment when everyone found out in the stadium about the Robbie Hummel injury would not have been possible even five years ago. News like that travels so fast now I am surprised someone didn't tweet it directly from practice.
So how has technology enhanced your fan experience?