You know what really grinds my gears during a day at the yard?
Some schmuck sitting next to me that spends all his time on his cellphone instead of watching the ballgame.
Seriously, it’s a waste of a good seat.
Call me old school, but flapping your gums on your Bluetooth instead of cheering for one of Melky Cabrera’s many hits makes me want to karate chop someone in the throat.
Oh, and the last game that I went to? This fool and his fool son — who were already on my $%#& list for getting up six or seven times to go get more food — were video chatting on their cellphones with family members instead of watching my Giants throw Troy Tulowitzki out at first base.
Quickly checking your work email or tagging your location on Facebook is one thing. But Skyping from the game instead of watching it?! Give me a break.
Evidently, we have the geek squad behind AT&T Park to thank for this mass cellphone use during America’s pastime.
According to NBC Bay Area, AT&T Park doesn’t only get about 12,000 Wi-Fi users per game, but they go so far at to call the ballpark at 3rd and King “the ‘poster child’ for providing impressive wireless service at a sporting event.”
And with traffic on the ballpark’s network growing every season, the Giants’ tech geniuses are constantly updating the network to accommodate even more traffic.
That’s right: More people on their phones instead of paying attention to the Giants game.
Giants senior vice president and CIO Bill Schlough assured an audience at a recent InformationWeek’s conference that the doubling in cellphone traffic won’t be slowing down the network. Schlough said the team is constantly working to expand the network to accommodate 3G and 4G phones in addition to WiFi.
And it’s not stopping at the ballparks: The NFL wants to install WiFi in all of its 31 stadiums. Commissioner Roger Goodell said that having WiFi in the stadiums will ensure that spectators “have a great experience.”
Sure Roger, it’ll be a great experience when the WiFi network crashes and angry, drunk fans start chucking their cellphones at the 50 yard line.
