News

The Return of the Bears

After more than 70 years in hibernation, a bear is awakening.  Intercollegiate football is returning to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, with the opening game set for August 31, 2013.  Electro-Mech has been proud to participate in the design and installation of scoring, video, and audio equipment at the new stadium to be the home of the Mercer Bears football team.

Mercer selected the Electro-Mech Model LX3880 as the basis of their customized football and lacrosse scoreboard project.  At 32 ft. x 10 ft., Model LX3880 is the largest standard scoreboard in Electro-Mech’s catalog.  For use during lacrosse games, we added a set of penalty timers that brings the scoreboard section up to almost 14 feet tall.  The scoreboard also includes Electro-Mech’s industry leading 14×112 pixel Electronic Team Names.
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Electro-Mech Brings You Easy Team Countdown Widgets for Your Website

If you are tired of searching for the best team countdown website widget for your favorite teams, look no further. Electro-Mech brings you an easy to use, incredible method to make sure all of the fans get the latest countdown information available for your website. It is easily placed and viewed on your site without the need of spending hours attempting to design your own or download some of the intricate software that ‘say’s it’s easy (but turn out to be a grueling process). In less than five minutes, you can create your own sports countdown widget, designed for your favorite team and everyone will think you are a pro (without the time and effort). We bring you a countdown widget for basketball, football, soccer, softball and hockey.

The team at Electro-Mech have designed a super easy, click-and-add widget, available for you to place on your site. This is not to be confused with a ‘gadget’. To clarify, a ‘gadget’ can only be added to specific and proprietary websites. The Electro-Mech sports countdown widget doesn’t have those limitations. We let you decide which type of view you want, add your favorite team and once done, you will get a ‘code’ to add to your website.
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Electro-Mech Offers an Easy Way to Add Your Favorite Team Widget to Your Website

If you are looking for a way to keep your website updated with the latest scores of your favorite teams, Electo-Mech now brings you an easy way to make sure all of your fellow fans can follow team scores on your site. No longer is there a need to waste valuable time trying to design your own widget or even trying to download one of those intricate software styles. Those widgets may sound easy, but can be pretty involved. In less than five minutes, you can use the Electro-Mech widget and create your own and display your favorite teams: baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. With the color and design choices, you can look like a pro (without a lot of time and effort)

Electro-Mech has created a very easy click-and-add for your website widget. This should not be confused with a website ‘gadget’, which is a tool that can only be added to specific types of websites. Our Electro-Mech widget gives you the option to choose which type of view you want and add your favorite team. Once your selection is done, you will get a ‘code’ to add to your website. When the code is dropped in, it displays your widget. How easy is that?
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Celebrating 50 Years of Electro-Mech Scoreboards

Today, February 11, 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of Electro-Mech Scoreboard Company. At least, it’s as close to the day as we can guess. In the “official archives” of the company — that is, in a cabinet in the president’s office — we have a copy of the minutes from the first stockholders’ meeting dated February 11, 1963. We’re not quite sure whether the manufacturing facility was already completed and scoreboards were being assembled at that point, or if production cranked up later. Somewhere lost in history is the record of where the first Electro-Mech scoreboard was shipped….

Electro-Mech began keeping electronic records of scoreboard sales in 1993. The first few years of those records are probably incomplete, but they tell us that we have shipped well over 35,000 scoreboards in the past twenty years. We believe that most of those scoreboards are in service today.
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Funniest Cheerleader Bloopers

Liquid Generation presents a funny and sometimes hilarious video on some of the best ‘worst’ cheerleader moves. While we may be in awe of the intensity of their training and gymnastics, things don’t always go the way that they are planned. Watch the falls, unplanned choreography, hits and near misses in this collection that is bound to make you laugh. Astoundingly, none of the ladies in the video were reported to have had any injuries, and this just goes to prove the resilience and tenacity that the maintain in their ongoing efforts, focus and life goals to be the best cheerleading teams possible. Continue reading “Funniest Cheerleader Bloopers” →

Cumming, Georgia to See Two New Electronic Scoreboards

Cumming, Georgia is the kind of smaller town that makes you catch your breathe. There is a grace and charm that can only be attributed to the south. This is an area where people smile, waive and look you in the eyes when they are talking. There is a sincere interest in folks you speak to and a genuineness that seems to be a rarity these days. There is a calm beauty as you stroll around the streets and the town itself is a fine blend of the love of life, country and nature.
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Game Plan for Sponsorship that will Pay for Your Scoreboard

If you are researching into the purchase of an electronic scoreboard for your school or team, you need to first realize that the days of fundraisers are over and we have entered the age of sponsorship. Yes, this means that you have an opportunity to plan, design and put together a method to get your electronic scoreboard paid for, 100%.

But first – you need a game plan. It isn’t overwhelming, it can be accomplished very easily with a small team of people. We are listing some of the areas that you will want to begin with. Once you start, you won’t believe the enthusiasm and creativity that will blossom from everyone in your group.
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Southern Pines Adds Electronic Scoreboard for Excellence in Horse Racing

Horse RacingIf you are an equestrian, then you have heard of Southern Pines in North Carolina. They take pride in excellence and have been an established multi-discipline premier equine competition venue. Each year they add something new and exciting and the addition of the electronic scoreboard added just the pizzazz that the fans were looking for.

The beauty of the 250 acres that is often called the ‘field of dreams’ in Hoke County, North Carolina. Surrounded by soft long needle pine trees and gently rolling hills, Southern Pines is home to a number of equestrian competitions and shows as well as dog shows, county festivals, Boy Scout meetings and cross country runs. In a nutshell, everyone loves Southern Pines, simply because it is so beautiful. The location itself is a preservation of everything that represents North Carolina, and the people of the area support the many activities through attendance and sponsorship.
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Thomas Johnson High School Offers Electronic Scoreboard Sponsorship

Planning the addition to any school program can often be a daunting task. Tax payers don’t want to be burdened and yet schools want the best they can get. When the Thomas High School Patriots Boosters in Maryland decided to get an electronic scoreboard, they did an imaginative outreach to help pay for it.

The Thomas Johnson High School has a wonderful history for education, the arts and music. They are one of the National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, with around ninety percent of their graduates continuing on to higher education. The lineup of awards for both the arts, music and sports, is quite impressive. The community supports their local teams and the sports events encompass a variety: tennis, swimming, volleyball, basketball, baseball, cross country, football, gymnastics and soccer. The teams themselves have proven a level of incredible excellence and this can be seen by the number of attendees to every type of game. Continue reading “Thomas Johnson High School Offers Electronic Scoreboard Sponsorship” →

Athletic Business Conference: Trade Show for Electronic Scoreboards

There are trade shows for everything and this includes electronic scoreboards. If you are thinking about a new scoreboard or shopping around, you might want to consider attending one of the tradeshows so that you can see and touch the scoreboards and talk to the vendors. Attending a tradeshow will also give you some additional options that you may not have thought of, such as conferences and presentations from industry experts.

The Athletic Business Conference & Expo is one of the better electronic scoreboard shows. As with most trade shows you can register for just the trade show itself (usually a free one day pass) or go ahead and attend the entire exposition. The benefits of the exposition itself is attendance of the speakers. These are often experts on a number of levels that include marketing, branding, types of scoreboards, etc. The best part is that they are usually supposed to offer information that is knowledge based without the prejudice of suggesting a particular company or product.
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Naval Academy Athletics has a Marketing Win with Sponsors for Sports Events

It seems that the Naval Academy Athletics has jumped on the bandwagon for enlisting sponsors through the use of their well known name and a winning marketing concept. Anyone that is an attendee at the “Navy” games will have the ability to view corporate sponsorship on a high tech and top notch level. This is a smart move on the part of the executives and the fans love it.

Smart marketing attitude can be a win for a sponsor and there are a number of levels to appeal to the loyal fans of the games. There are local, national as well as international offerings that blend a sponsor with the Navy name. These levels are professional and customized for each sponsor; completely based on their vision and goals for results. Sponsorship as well as corporate partner can bring the branding to a different level with combinations of signage, electronics, high tech, video and electronic scoreboard views.
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High Tech Coverage by BBC for Olympics in London

We are now in an age of real time digital viewing and there will be no place like the 2012 Olympic Games in London to see these technologies in action. The BBC has pulled out all of the stoppers to ensure that their viewers around the world see every moment of every athletic event. The Olympic Games are planned to be one of the most covered games in its history.

Unlike games of the past, we are now in a total social media and real-time technology world and the BBC has everything under control. They will be broadcasting around 2,500 sporting action hours. That is over 1,000 hours more than was accomplished at the Beijing Olympic Games. The BBC broadcast bands include BBC One, Three, One HD, BBC HD, mobile phones, tablets and web connected TV’s as well as the BBC Red Button and streaming online. This is all in addition to the two regular television stations that will be presenting the games in the usual format, with close to twenty four online streams.
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Our First Lady is Getting Kids Involved in Sports

Michelle Obama has a goal to get more of America’s kids involved in sports. Our First Lady is well aware of the nation’s propensity for overweight children and is avidly interested in getting them away from the screens and outside on the fields. Mrs. Obama is serious about this, as she is now partnered with The Partnership for a Healthier America and the U.S. Olympic Committee to start changing the behaviors of America’s kids. She announced the new “Let’s Move!” program at a meeting with athletes from the two dozen Olympic and Paralympic groups.
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Greensboro, North Carolina: From Controversy to Progress

Greensboro is part of what is known as the Triad area that includes Greensboro, Highpoint and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. These cities represent some of the most thriving populations in North Carolina, a true representation of home, hearth, and American sports. Their love of their sports teams is reflected in their stadiums, the attendance of each game and the scoreboards that keep the cheering on. However, it wasn’t always so. Greensboro, like many towns of the area had to fight to get where they are.
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Top Five Oddest Sports in the world

In the past, television air time was considered to be quite valuable. However,
I suppose in this age of reality television and absolutely mundane and literally yawn-provoking television shows, this adage is no longer true. There are more channels than a single person could ever keep track of and oddly, there is less being shown that offers any quality. We know that the media moguls are aware of quality because year after year some of the most creative shows win awards. However, there is still a population that is enthralled with the totally useless view, which often includes watching someone else’s totally bland life.

Sports channels seem to abound on television. I probably have fifteen sports channels, displaying all kinds of games; most of which we ignore. However, a news clip came to my attention and, since it was so obscure, it drew me completely in. There are a number of areas of the U.S. as well as around the world that seem to revel in odd or weird sports games. In some cases these are just played for the sheer silliness, but in some cases, they are completely serious. I am sure that many reading this can add to this number, but I have limited it to just the top five oddest sports.
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Picabo Street: Shining waters in the world of skiing

Picabo Street has been listed as the eighth talent in the world for downhill skiing. Overcoming incredible odds, she trained with the U.S. ski team at an incredibly young age and later became the first American woman in history to achieve the silver medal in the skiing downhill competition.

It has to be admitted that Picabo had an advantage. She was born near a well known ski resort near Sun Valley, Idaho. Just having these resources available, was not only an edge, but an enticement. She really didn’t have a true name for the first few years of her life. Her family called her ‘Baby Girl’ until she was named Picabo. It is actually pronounced ‘peek-a-boo’, and is the Native American name of town close by. Simply translated, it means silver creek or shining waters.
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Rafer Johnson: All around sports star and humanitarian

There are few athletes that have experienced intense injuries and yet gone on to an Olympic win. Rafer Johnson is one such star. Overcoming an incredible array of odds that would have removed anyone from continuing in sports, Rafer became one of the best athletes in America.

Born in 1935, Johnson and his family moved a lot, so that his father and mother could earn a living to support their family. From Texas to California, the Johnsons shared the kind of poor existence that many families experienced during those hard economic times. Rafer demonstrated at an early age that he was not only a good athlete but an excellent student. As he got older, Johnson balanced his studies with after school, weekend and summer vacations work, helping his family.

While still quite young, Rafer had a horrible accident. While playing near a plant for food packing, he got his left foot caught in a conveyor belt. The sole of his foot was pulled, eventually infection set in and it required a long period of healing. The pain of this injury would be with Johnson the rest of his life, but, he never let it get him down. It would always be the lead foot that he started out his races with.
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Serena Williams: The lady that brought pizzazz to tennis

Serena Williams: The lady that brought pizzazz to tennisThe world of tennis has traditionally been more of a western sport, led by mostly those that followed protocol and propriety. While there have been exceptions to this rule, they were few and far between. Serena Williams, on the other hand slammed onto the court with a sense of style like no other and a personality that made everyone smile. As an African American woman, she changed the face of tennis and at the same time, elevated it to a sport that now had that ‘wow’ factor.

Serena’s parents moved their entire family to a suburb area of Los Angeles when she was very young. Her father was a tennis fan and envisioned his daughters to be tennis champions. He surrounded his five daughters with video tapes and books and even began teaching his wife and himself how to play, so that he could instruct his girls. Serena and Venus Williams demonstrated the most talent and Richard Williams had Serena entered into a competition when she was only four and a half years old. In the following five years she was entered into forty nine competitions, winning forty six of them.
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Althea Gibson: Breaking the boundaries in women’s tennis

Althea Gibson: Breaking the boundaries in women’s tennisAlthea Gibson has her place in history as the first African American woman to win multiple international women’s tennis championships. In a time when tennis was represented by a small few, Gibson blasted forth as not only a woman of sports excellence, but an example to other African American athletes that success and achieving your dream is possible.

In today’s world, it’s difficult to believe that African Americans had such a tough road in sports. In the 1950’s, almost every state in the U.S. separated every aspect of life between ‘white and black’. African Americans were considered second class citizens and sports was no exception.

Althea’s background was from a poor Harlem family. It wasn’t until her talent was brought to the attention of Dr. Walter Johnson, an individual that promoted tennis in the community of African Americans, that Gibson saw a glimmer of hope. Dr. Johnson became Gibson’s patron and with his help she achieved some of the best tennis instruction and ability to enter higher competition levels.
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