For me, Sunday at the Meadowlands usually means a Jets game. This past Sunday “Gang Green”, as they are affectionately known, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
With just two minutes left in the game, Buffalo was leading by 3 points. At this point they inexplicitly called a pass play that resulted in a sack, and fumble, with an eventual lucky bounce into the cement-like hands of Jets Lineman Shaun Ellis. To copy a quote from “Analyze This”, Sean Ellis is so large he creates his own gravitational field, which is the only explanation for the ball finding his hands and him rumbling 9 yards into the end zone. The Jets held on to win 31-27.
The fans started a cheer of “Holy Sh**, Holy Sh**” We just could not believe that a miracle would happen for our team. By now you might be asking yourself, “so, what’s the wireless angle on a
ll this?”
My wireless football experience began with the tailgate ritual. I cooked steak and shrimp and had to send an MMS of this delicacy to a friend of mine who is a Buffalo Bills fan. In complete disclosure, this friend is also a Boston Red Sox fan, so being a Bills fan is the least of his offenses. I exchanged several SMS messages with him while engaged in the macho tradition of cooking in a frozen, dusty parking lot with 75,000 other men and about 20 women.
Inside the stadium my wireless game experience continued with two shortcode invitations from the Jets. The first is a shortcode to send a message if I feel there is a problem with my seat of my section. Just text your section and seat to “NJSEA” and what the problem is and, in theory, something will happen other than getting sent an offer to subscribe to ringtones. This service is provided by a company called Guestassist. I did send a text during the game. I mentioned that from my seat I had determined that the Jets defense was not pass rushing enough and should start to blitz more. Maybe this text message got through to the Jets coaching staff and resulted in the sack and fumble that won the game?
Another texting offer was to subscribe to “Jets News“. I send the keyword “Go Green” to the shortcode and got a response that included an advertisement for AllState insurance. Besides the advertisement, I got no other alerts or news during the most exciting game in recent Jet memory. This service gets flagged for “Why bother?”
I had previously subscribed to the ESPN sports alert service for the Jets (and the Rangers, btw). This service sends me an alert every time there is a change of score in a game. The alerts are timely, usually arriving a minute after the score. I needed this service, because after Shaun Ellis scored I was still in disbelief until my ESPN SMS confirmed the event.
Uploaded to my Facebook
Arriving concurrently with my ESPN confirmation,, I got an email that my wife sent to me via her I-Touch. She was at my son’s Lacrosse game and the facility has free Wi-Fi, and televisions that were tuned to the game. This was my second confirmation that this play that I had witnessed with my eyes, had indeed occurred and that the Jets had taken the lead. I now, thanks to mobile technology, could stop pinching myself.
Once the event was independently confirmed by mobile sources, I sent the Buffalo Bills fans another MMS picture with the fans going crazy, along with some gloating comment. I would only have done this after dual independent confirmation, via mobile of the play. After all, I am a Jets fan, and seeing the miracle happen in person is a necessary, but not sufficient criteria for actually believing that it happened!
Lastly, I have become a big fan of the Facebook application for my Blackberry. I took several pictures during the game and with one click, posted them directly to my Facebook page via my Blackberry. This capability opens up the realm of “Face-casting” a sporting event.
Seeing a miracle happen at a Jets Game is good, getting it really confirmed by wireless- Priceless!
Miracle at the Meadowlands
Mobileman 