Panning to blur the background is definitely a technique I've done before when shooting triathlons & cycling. It works great! Though I don't want to be anywhere near max shutter speed to get it to work. Needs to be well under (or above? What's the correct terminology here lol. Slower than.) 1/1000. But I'm not sure that it's a technique that really translates to team field sports where players' movements are so much less predictable.
consumer grade lenses get soft at their max zoom levels
Oh that's very interesting. I did not know that! Thanks.