So they can better answer this subject, my first port-of-call was neither the Internet nor the local library. It had been, in fact, my Father.

 

Quite possibly one of several UK’s biggest ‘American Football’ fans, my Dad first discovered a love for that sport when I was just a small baby (I’m 28 this year). Getting up for nighttime feeds, nappy changes and so on, he found that the only thing on TV at that time of darkness was the NFL. Within a couple of months, he was a fanatical fan (and I am unable to prove this, but he perhaps forced me awake just so he had an excuse to visit downstairs and watch it). Within a couple of years, he was an connoisseur.

 

Once I got this question, the time seemed right for the quick call home.

 

“Well, they all wear helmet receivers” he said, “that way the coach can call in the plays that they want the Quarterback to run. However” he went on, “the home crowd makes as much noise as they can to be able to make it hard for the visiting Quarterback to listen to” I hurriedly noted all this down on the series of dog-eared ‘Post-It’ notes, “Overall, I’m sure they can hear pretty well though” he concluded.

 

If i suggested that the Quarterbacks would all use distinctive brands of earpiece, he suggested otherwise “No, it’ll all be one brand” he said confidently. Following that, I put down the phone and headed out to the dark corners in the World-wide-web so as to learn just what this brand might be.

 

The NFL actually upgraded its earpieces last year, this indicates, replacing them with digital models after some teams complained how the signals were getting entailed with the ones from local pilots. As outlined by Taylor Bloom at Business2community.com,

 

“Ever since coaches and coordinators began using headsets in 1994 they have learned to put up with miscommunications during games. This explains why you sometimes see coaches on the sideline using hand signals to communicate plays to their quarterback”

 

A Lincoln, Nebraska-based manufacturer called Gubser & Schnakenberg LLC developed the revolutionary headsets, making special use of ‘push-to-talk’ capabilities. Since the newest headsets are wholly digital, the Quarterbacks (and coaches) can now hear much better than ever before. 

 

As for that company, well, I looked them up as well. Matt Olberding of the duo’s local news source, the Lincoln Journal Star claims,

 

“Mark Gubser and Jamie Schnakenberg aren’t household names. You’ve probably never heard of their company — Gubser & Schnakenberg LLC, or GSC for short — either. But some very important people know them very well. People like Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. That’s because Gubser and Schnakenberg designed a digital system that starting this year replaced the National Football League’s old analog system allowing coaches on the sideline to talk to the quarterback and defensive players on the field”.

When asked about the diversity between the new headsets and the old, Gubser said, “We encouraged them (the NFL) into the digital world and by doing this, we vastly enhanced the audio that goes out to the player”

 

But what do the experts think of these latest earpieces? San Francisco 49ers QB Alex Smith was probably the most vocal opponents of the old system, saying, in an meeting with Associated Press that,

 

“You expect more when you come in as a rookie. You’re thinking this is going to be some crazy high-tech stuff and then you actually look in the helmet and it’s not.”

 

In all probability, Smith (the first Draft Pick of 2005, I’m told) is far happier now.

 

Evidently, audio clarity is very important for the League’s Quarterbacks. As a rather-related postscript, Tim Tebow of the New York Jets launched his own line of earpieces (used for training, but not specifically for games) with Soul Electronics at this year’s CES trade show. He uses them, principally, to listen to music whilst warming up (he’s a Sinatra fan, actually). Of the earphones, he claims,

 

“I was so interested in having something that was comfortable that I could go run around and practice in before games, I could wear it on the field”.

 

So, in conclusion, since last year at the least, I would say that my Father was right, the Quarterbacks hear things as good as these days.