Technology is imprinted in all facets of our daily lives, so advances are naturally expected in sports. Those expectations reach beyond those who profit from the games, as fans and weekend athletes look for connections to take them beyond simply playing or watching.

Football, the dominant sport in the United States, is understandably out front in terms of modern amenities. Just look around the NFL and you'll get an eyeful, starting with the gargantuan video replay boards that loom over the field — and seemingly everything else in the stadiums — at Reliant Field in Houston and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The cliché that everything's bigger in Texas no longer applies to scoreboards, though, after the Jacksonville Jaguars installed two boards that total 362 feet wide at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. That eclipses the Texans (277 feet wide) and Cowboys (160). Even at that size, the picture is clear and seems to put the game and replays right into the fan's lap, as though being in a 100,000-seat stadium isn't close enough to the action.

Not to be outdone, the NFL's Rams, in their move to Los Angeles, have tapped the Dallas-based architect of the Cowboys' home to build an eye-popping venue in Southern California. Its video board will more double the size of the Cowboys' at 360 feet wide.

More than the view has improved. At the San Francisco 49ers' Levi's Stadium, which will play host to Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, Silicon Valley's talents are on display throughout the venue. The stadium features a Wi-Fi access point for each set of 100 seats, allowing fans to take advantage of amenities such as an app that allows them to order concessions from their seats.

On the field, the game is changing, too. The robust growth in analytics has helped foster a new direction in sports. Data can be used to predict running or passing plays, or even formations, as seen in a test in which a computer was able to predict plays from an NFL game more than 90 percent of the time, according to Sports Illustrated.

The use of technology has flourished all the way down to high school sports. In Nevada, prep coaches use video screens to assess replays with their teams — during games. In Texas, the state's governing body for high school sports issued guidelines banning the use of drones during scrimmages or games. The vehicles are popular with coaches during practices in part because they provide unprecedented angles to study and break down.

And wearable technology allows teams to track workout results to improve performance and monitor players' health. That goes right down to the bottle cap on a Gatorade bottle — literally. The company is developing technology that will link "smart caps" digitally to athletes to keep track of how hydration is affecting on-field performance.

It's not only "ball" sports that are affected. Vermont game wardens have employed robotic deer to catch poachers, and multiple states have issued regulations banning or restricting the use of drones to hunt wildlife. Connecting with nature is made easier with a wireless connection: a variety of apps are available to assist hunters and anglers.

The rapid advances seem to have left other "technological" breakthroughs — like the kinesiology tape made famous in the 2008 Summer Olympics beach volleyball matches — in the dust.

The next time you're in a stadium, you might want to look up from your smartphone long enough to see the game changing right before your eyes.