Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that’s taken over our lives.
Keep pounding, Panthers. But not on a hoverboard.
Visionary Productions/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNETYou must have seen this too on a weekend.
Roaring bikes, flowing manes as scores of Hell’s Angels adorn your local freeway.
Now, imagine 25 large football players doing something similar, except on hoverboards.
This, according to ESPN, led to Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera banning players from riding the self-balancing boards inside the team’s Bank of America stadium.
A group of about 25 players reportedly hovered along to a food truck earlier this year. This was food for thought for Rivera. He had seen videos of hoverboards catching fire. His team was having a successful season. The Panthers are in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
Why would he want his man-boys risking their health, and the team’s success, over a child’s toy?
The ban occurred before Christmas, but Rivera made it public on Monday.
“I said, ‘Guys, we can’t have those in here. You bring one of those things in here and they short-circuit and the next thing you know we’ve got a freaking fire here,” he told ESPN.
He said even showed them a flaming hoverboard video, just to make his point clear. NFL players are sometimes better at grasping pictures than words.
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Rivera’s own house burned down a year ago, so perhaps he’s unusually sensitive about fire hazards. Still, the players claimed to appreciate the lesson.
“He banned it, it got me kind of scared to keep it at home now, so I keep it in the hallway away from everything just in case it decides to blow up on me,” Panthers’ defensive end Mario Addison told ESPN.
Ah, that’s OK then.
It seems, though, that Rivera’s ban hasn’t stopped all his players from riding hoverboards outside the stadium. Some, including quarterback Cam Newton, apparently ride them to and from work.
Perhaps they feel it helps them with their balance training.
Or perhaps they wonder about the relative danger of hoverboards when compared to smashing your skull into a 300-pound human while hurtling at 20 miles an hour.
