ALL-STAR GAME: Don't Step on the Camera
hhend...@vax.clarku.edu
to be invented by extremely highly-paid network TV producers
in recent memory, or what? A close-up view of dirt and Wade
Boggs' feet is hardly inspiring.
The only dumber thing I remember was Don Ohlmeyer's idea, back
sometime in the early '80s when NBC was trying to "liven up"
baseball telecasts, of putting a microphone in the first base bag.
The theory was that juicy tidbits of conversation could be
picked up. Well, there were no juicy tidbits, and the only
thing it picked up all through the game was THUD THUD THUD
THUD THUD THUD. Because the thing about first base is, lots
of people step on it.
Heather
HHEND...@vax.clarku.edu
Jon Hamkins
>Was the Late-Night FirstBaseCam idea the dumbest thing ever
>to be invented by extremely highly-paid network TV producers
>in recent memory, or what? A close-up view of dirt and Wade
>Boggs' feet is hardly inspiring.
I must say that the first base cam was a big let down. Naturally, I
thought that the camera would have the pitcher in view on the left side
of the screen and second base on the right side. Both pick-offs and
steals could be viewed from this angle, I thought.
What we actually got was a view of was the runner's left foot, and not
much else. Second base consisted of about a single pixel on the
screen, it was so far away. The pitcher was nowhere to be seen.
----Jon Hamkins (ham...@uiuc.edu)
University of Illinios
Urbana, IL
roger maynard
>Yes, the first base cam was stupid.
>If they wanted to do something interesting wit a camera, why not mount
>one on the side of someones batting helmet? Like the ones the have
>mounted inside the helmets in the generic football league.
>A camera munted on your batting helmet would probably upset you swing a
>little, but I'm talking about doing it in the All Star game, not all the
>time. It would be neat to see the ball coming at you.
How about on the plate Umpire's head! that would straighten out the
strike zone pretty fast eh?
roger
>Chris
--
roger maynard
9128...@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca
Christine Hogan
If they wanted to do something interesting wit a camera, why not mount
one on the side of someones batting helmet? Like the ones the have
mounted inside the helmets in the generic football league.
A camera munted on your batting helmet would probably upset you swing a
little, but I'm talking about doing it in the All Star game, not all the
time. It would be neat to see the ball coming at you.
Chris
Robert Lopez
|> Was the Late-Night FirstBaseCam idea the dumbest thing ever
|> to be invented by extremely highly-paid network TV producers
|> in recent memory, or what? A close-up view of dirt and Wade
|> Boggs' feet is hardly inspiring.
|>
Here here! (or is it "Hear hear!"?)
anyway...this was so stupid they didn't even use it very much. I wonder
what they thought they'd catch with a little camera in first...the runner's
lead? The perspective would be nil. The runner sprinting? same thing...
I dunno - stupid stupid stupid.
Twas inspiring to see Nagy get an infield hit.
CBS baseball announcers are the biggest bunch of goobers in broadcasting.
perhaps if the network showed more games they could get more practice.
Not only was the content of their "color" pure drivel, but Tim McC constantly
stomped on the other guy when he talked.
Cheers to Kelly for allowing everyone to play and all the pitchers to pitch
a bit. LaRussa became famous for who he chose not to use.
--
----------------------------------------------------------
Robert E. L\'{o}pez | Internet:
Texas LoanSTAR Program | rlo...@loanstar.tamu.edu
The Hosequarium South | rlo...@cs.tamu.edu
----------------------------------------------------------
Texas A&M University
boohoo.onyou.edu
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Sherri Nichols
>How about on the plate Umpire's head! that would straighten out the
>strike zone pretty fast eh?
ABC has mounted a camera on the plate umpire's mask for the Little League
World Series for several years. I don't find it all that interesting an
angle, personally.
If you want to straighten out the strike zone pretty fast, there is
something that consists of a couple of cameras and a computer, that
reproduce the flight of the ball, and allow you to look at it from several
perspectives, including a three dimensional one, and to obtain
instantaneous velocities at any point along the path of the ball. I
believe it's called SuperVision, or something like that, and ESPN played
with it at the College World Series a couple of years ago.
Sherri Nichols
snic...@adobe.com
Keith Goolsbey
>
>Twas inspiring to see Nagy get an infield hit.
Ironic, too. I love seeing the AL best the NL in all aspects.
>CBS baseball announcers are the biggest bunch of goobers in broadcasting.
>perhaps if the network showed more games they could get more practice.
>Not only was the content of their "color" pure drivel, but Tim McC constantly
>stomped on the other guy when he talked.
I hate McCarver for baseball as much as I hate Sam Posey for auto racing.
Didn't anyone notice how *wrong* the play-by-play was as well?
During the first inning, one of the idiots consistently said things like
"five consecutive singles and no outs". Uh, except for that one ...
Thank God for CBS radio (and mute for the TV)
>Cheers to Kelly for allowing everyone to play and all the pitchers to pitch
>a bit. LaRussa became famous for who he chose not to use.
That's Kelly's style with the Twins, too. He is a class act and knows how to
keep his troops productive and healthy.
Go Twins
Keith Goolsbey
gool...@cs.utexas.edu
Glenn Tanner
>perhaps if the network showed more games they could get more practice.
>Not only was the content of their "color" pure drivel, but Tim McC constantly
>stomped on the other guy when he talked.
I just want want to blow up the TV every time I hear McCarver say that they
should expand the rosters so deserving players won't be left off.
At least Jack Buck is gone.
GT
Eric Sieferman
>
>strike zone pretty fast eh?
>
>roger
Good idea! While we're at it, let's put a camera on
Fay Vincent's head. It probably wouldn't be especially
entertaining, but it would really make him look stupid.
--
| Eric Sieferman | ___ George Bush |
| U. of W., M.C.I.S. | ___ Bill Clinton |
| sief...@u.washington.edu | ___ H. Ross Perot |
| | ___ Ken Griffey, Jr., All-Star MVP |
Ryan Robbins
Robert Lopez
|>
|> I hate McCarver for baseball as much as I hate Sam Posey for auto racing.
|> Didn't anyone notice how *wrong* the play-by-play was as well?
|> During the first inning, one of the idiots consistently said things like
|> "five consecutive singles and no outs". Uh, except for that one ...
|>
|> Thank God for CBS radio (and mute for the TV)
|>
|> gool...@cs.utexas.edu
I noticed that too...they acted like they weren't really paying attention.
I got so irritated at the color though that I pretty much was tuning out
the play by play by the third or fourth inning.
see...it is possible for someone from tamu to agree with someone from ut/tu.
Robert Lopez
|>
|> At least Jack Buck is gone.
I dunno, calls like "He's OUT!!!! No!!! SAFE!!!" did get on my nerves
last year, but then Harry Caray does that everyday and people just
looooove him - it's his characteristic style. right.
McCarver drives me knuts. he used to be so damned technical that he
got boring to listen to. Joe Morgan is beginning to do the same thing
to me, although it is only sometimes (mostly he's a good solid announcer).
I like the four dudes doing the Braves games. Yes, including
the Caray offspring. Where did this sister city contest come from?
The White Sox guys tick me off too. YES!!! bleh.
Brian Curran
|> In article <15JUL92....@vax.clarku.edu>, hhend...@vax.clarku.edu writes:
|> |> Was the Late-Night FirstBaseCam idea the dumbest thing ever
|> |> to be invented by extremely highly-paid network TV producers
|> |> in recent memory, or what? A close-up view of dirt and Wade
|> |> Boggs' feet is hardly inspiring.
|> |>
|>
|> Here here! (or is it "Hear hear!"?)
|> anyway...this was so stupid they didn't even use it very much. I wonder
|> what they thought they'd catch with a little camera in first...the runner's
|> lead? The perspective would be nil. The runner sprinting? same thing...
|> I dunno - stupid stupid stupid.
If you ask me (and nobody at CBS did), a FAR more interesting perspective
would've had the camera in the SECOND base bag, pointed towards first. Imagine
the sight of [insert favorite runner] barreling towards the camera and diving
headfirst right into the bag!
--
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Brian Curran Mead Data Central br...@meaddata.com
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"Any ballplayer that don't sign autographs for little kids isn't an American;
he's a Communist." - Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals infielder
LEHDE,KEVIN VAL
>McCarver drives me knuts. he used to be so damned technical that he
>got boring to listen to. Joe Morgan is beginning to do the same thing
>to me, although it is only sometimes (mostly he's a good solid announcer).
>
>I like the four dudes doing the Braves games. Yes, including
>the Caray offspring. Where did this sister city contest come from?
I still remember the worst McCarverism from last year's NLCS: They were
talking about how the Braves had caught the Dodgers there in the last two
weeks and McCarver came up with "The Braves could not have picked a better
time to make a move to the top of the division." WHAT!! Like there would
have been a bad time for them to try to win every game they could. As if
they were losing games on purpose just so they wouldn't make their move too
quickly.
And after listening to Cubs, ChiSox, Mets, and network guys, I can sit back
and thank Mr. Turner that TBS has Caray, Simpson, Van Wieren, and Sutton
up in the booth. Even when they break down and make extraneous and stupid
comments, they sometimes catch themselves and joke about it, and go back to
playing and having fun in the booth.
Like Skip Caray on Juan Berenguer:
"He keeps saying, 'Trade me, trade me', but Juan, the way you're pitching,
nobody wants you, wants you."
--
Kevin Lehde
Lover of cats, the stage, the female form, Toonces K. Templeton,
the Incredible Hulk, college football (as a sport), Meloni, volleyball,
the Braves, Digger, God, sleeping in, and a rollicking good time.
Lance Not Here Smith
>
>If you ask me (and nobody at CBS did), a FAR more interesting perspective
>would've had the camera in the SECOND base bag, pointed towards first. Imagine
>the sight of [insert favorite runner] barreling towards the camera and diving
>headfirst right into the bag!
They were hoping to get players jumping back to first and diving in head
first. I don't recall anyone really doing this. Too bad Kelly didn't pick
Dan Gladden. Even on the most routine throw to first, Dan goes in head
first.
The problem with a second base camera is the wiring. They ran a cable from
the first base cam beyond the coach's box. They'd have to dig up more of the
infield to put in a second base camera. Not sure whether the folx at Murph
would approve.
Since we're daydreaming, I think a plate came would be pretty good. Assuming
they could come up with some one way material that appeared white from above
and was transparent from below. Seeing people sliding in as well as balls
and strikes would be pretty interesting as far as gimmicks go.
On the whole, the brouhaha over the first base cam show how CBS has its
priorities all wrong. The basic job they did was just second rate. They
missed basic things like Cal Ripkin's fly out and botched their own
special segments. Perhaps if they did more Games of the Week, they wouldn't
botch up the "special" games.
--
Lance "Zeppelin" Smith | "O hateful error, melancholy's stat!
(lsm...@cs.umn.edu) | Why dost thou show, to the idle thoughts of
Prove it! Show us your work! | Mediots, the things that are not!
Huh? What's your point? | _Jose Caesar_, V. iii. 67
James Cameron
[...]
Eric> Good idea! While we're at it, let's put a camera on Fay
Eric> Vincent's head. It probably wouldn't be especially
Eric> entertaining, but it would really make him look stupid.
Come on, he doesn't need any help to do that....(* grin *)
--
-- James Cameron (j...@raven.bu.edu) (617) 353-2879
System Manager, Signal Processing and Interpretation Lab. Boston, Mass
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"But to risk we must, for the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. For
the man or woman who risks nothing, has nothing, does nothing, is nothing."
(Quote from the eulogy for the late Christa McAuliffe.)