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Things you'd change about baseball coverage (besides Joe Morgan)

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by inthesuburbs, Mar 31, 2009.

  1. inthesuburbs

    inthesuburbs Member

    It's baseball time. One thing I wish the networks would do differently. I know, it's a small matter, but it happens half a dozen time per televised game, so it adds up:

    Don't move the markers on the diamond graphic until the runners actually get to the base.

    Say there are runners on first and third, and a batter laces a line drive into right field.

    The way it used to be done was this: You'd hear the announcer get all excited, you'd glance up at the screen, and you'd see the ball going into right, and you'd see the lighted squares indicating that there are runners on first and third, so you can calculate quickly the situation: Runner on third will score, runner on first will get to second, and maybe to third if the ball gets through the gap.

    Now the way the networks do it: You glance up at the screen, and the graphics operator has already given the batter first base, although he can't be more than one step out of the box, so there are squares on all three bases. Great, you think if you're rooting for the team at bat, a single with the bases loaded. We'll score two!

    Or the operator moves up all the runners when the ball is struck, and you think the ball was hit with runners on first and second.

    Do us a favor, networks: Runners aren't on a base until they get to that base.


    P.S. One more thing, while we're preparing for the season: No headlines saying "bullpen breakdown" unless you mean the bullpen failed. When did sportswriters start saying "breakdown" when they mean "analysis." Yes, analysis is a valid, secondary, definition for breakdown, but it's not the one that 99 percent of readers/viewers think of.
     
  2. FreddiePatek

    FreddiePatek Active Member

    Nitpick much? I honestly can say I have never given any thought to that graphic. (Not that you're wrong ...)
     
  3. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    How about just eliminating half or more of the stupid, useless graphics that make it difficult to actually watch the game.
     
  4. mike311gd

    mike311gd Active Member

    I was told in school that baseball was the cheapest sport to produce -- not to mention it was a solid way to kill three or more hours of programming time -- which is a big reason why there was so much of it on television. With all the new graphics, many of which are unnecessary, camera angles, crew, etc., how much has the cost of production risen and is it still the cheapest of the major sports?
     
  5. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    Another useless graphic: That strike zone box that they show after close pitches were called either a ball or strike.

    The problem, of course, is that home plate has some depth to it, and the graphic doesn't. If a ball moves back over the plate on one of the back corners of it, it's still a strike.
     
  6. I will never get those 30 seconds of my life back. And that's depressing.
     
  7. pallister

    pallister Guest

    More Hawk Harrelson.
     
  8. I Digress

    I Digress Guest

    Dammit.. I like the two-inch space right in the middle of the screen for the action....;D
     
  9. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Either move the camera to directly above the pitcher or quit pretending that your monitors are showing anything remotely close to a true reckoning of what is and is not a strike. The "over the shoulder" look creates too much whining about calls.
     
  10. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    I'd put little word balloons right by the pitcher and batter with their names and maybe some pertinent stats. Like the little box with the arrow pointing to the cars in a NASCAR race. Have it always on the screen when they are showing the pitcher throw to the hitter. Maybe even extend it to other shots, but definitely for pitcher/hitter.
     
  11. pallister

    pallister Guest

    Pop-up video?
     
  12. I Digress

    I Digress Guest

    Yeah, pop up video, but not stats. Screw stats. I'm sick of stats. Pop up of what you think they're thinking. "I smoked that guy, but damn I think I got crabs," relief pitcher thinks....
     
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