FutureSport.

There is no question that smartphones can offer plenty in the form of fun and functionality. Now technology has advanced to the point where those sensibilities can intersect, giving users the best of both worlds in a single package.

Apps in the sports realm have usually catered to fans interested in following their favorite teams or fantasy leagues. But more and more are focusing on helping users become better players themselves by diagnosing form and technique on things such as a golf swing. They then provide data that can be used for practical and constructive criticism. Here's a closer look at how all this works:

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Apps

The games we love are here to stay. Sports like football, hockey, soccer and lacrosse are enmeshed in our athletic culture, and the lessons and joy we take from those pursuits cannot be replaced. But each sport has a significant risk of head trauma for athletes, and it's one that has been overlooked for far too long.

"One of the things we know, without question, is that no head trauma is good head trauma," Dr. Robert Cantu, one of the country's foremost experts on concussions, told ThePostGame. "You cannot condition the brain to take trauma. You can only injure it."

So now that we as a society understand just how dangerous concussions are, it's our collective obligation to provide athletes with technology that can quickly and accurately diagnose an injury.

What medical advancements are researchers using to assess head trauma? What measures can be implemented to prevent concussions before they happen? In this feature, ThePostGame delves into the burgeoning realm of concussion technology and how theory is being put into practice:

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'Head Games', Chris Nowinski, Concussions, NFL

Brooklyn just got a little more hip.

That's because now the borough's only professional sporting team has the coolest app in all of sports. It's call the Barclays Center app, and it can get you just about anything you would need at a basketball game. You can order popcorn from your seats, send photos and messages to the video board and even watch a livestream of the game.

That's right, you can watch a Nets game on your phone while you're at the game. It might sound silly, but it's actually genius.

Thanks to a feature called StadiumVision, fans won't be afraid to leave their seats at crucial moment to pick up food or go to the bathroom. Plus. if you want to see a replay of a play that just happened or get another camera angle, you can pull it up on your phone.

And David Pierce of The Verge writes that StadiumVision engineers have figured out how to have 19,000 people watching video without crashing the system:

"...[I]nstead of everyone having to crowd onto a single connection, the "multicast" connection splits the feed and delivers the same thing individually to everyone. That means my stream is the same whether I'm alone in the stadium or surrounded by 19,000 other Nets fans."

So the Nets have the coolest part-owner, the most advanced app and the most tech-savvy arena in all of basketball. They truly are Brooklyn's team.

(H/T to Sports Grid)

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Apps, Brooklyn Nets, NBA

The coolest new toy in aquatics has arrived in the form of the "Flyboard."

The Flyboard, which was invented by the French company Zapata Racing, is basically a personalized jetpack that allows its users to harness water power and rocket through a body of water.

And there is no one more equipped to bring us footage of this new device than the acclaimed YouTube director Devin Graham. When it comes to shooting action sports, there are few more creative minds than Graham.

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In case you're curious, the Rocky Mountain Flyboard website has a more in-depth explanation of how the contraption works:

"The water pressure created from a personal watercraft (PWC) is redirected through a 55 foot hose that splits into two nozzles right beneath your feet that are pointed down, creating lift. 10% of the thrust is directed to the hand nozzles, allowing you to stabilize your flight."

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We've followed sports from the players', coaches' and sometimes even the referees' perspective.

So what are we missing? The ball's perspective, of course.

How the ball moves, where it goes and who is around it are all things that we've tried but struggled to completely objectify in all different sports. And now an Australian company is looking to answer those questions.

Catapult Sports will be testing out its innovative ball-tracking monitor, SmartBall, this spring in the Australian Football League’s pre-season NAB Cup. The technology combines a sensor inside the ball with fist-sized GPS trackers worn by players to create several types of information that were previously difficult to obtain.

The sensor will allow teams and fans a more complete understanding of how a ball moves throughout the game. How, for example, certain defensive strategies affect ball movement. And how ball movement changes as players tire toward the end of the game.

Using the information obtained by the GPS trackers, trainers will have a better sense of a player's speed, motion and how fatigued he or she is.

The chip weighs roughly half an ounce, so it doesn't drastically affect the weight of the ball. Meanwhile the GPS device is strapped into a vest worn by the players.

If all goes well for Catapult in its Australian test run, sports fans could see the technology enter in the American sports landscape. At least, that's the goal.

"We see the ball tracking as having enormous potential for Australian football and rugby this year, but have our sights on soccer and (American) football in the near future,” Catapult co-founder and COO Igor van de Griendt told Wired. "We’re all pretty excited about where the technology is headed."

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