So, ESPN had the fantastic idea of using their SkyCam as the primary camera for the Kentucky vs Mississippi State basketball game tonight (as evidenced by this Twitpic by thomasbeisner). Basically, the viewer at home is suspended in mid-air above the court. In football, SkyCam is a great idea for replays, and perhaps the odd live play or extra point. As the main camera of a basketball game, it’s one of the most horrendous ideas in sports television since The Daily Line on Versus. Tweeps spoke loud and clear of the wretchedness of this idea. As always, these are Real Tweets from Real People…
Aaron_Torres If ESPN’s goal with this overhead camera is to make me sea sick, they have officially accomplished that goal….
freyj22 @GottliebShow hey ESPN what is this awful camera view I’d spend 5 dollars and sit in the rafters to watch game I’m not breaking down plays
BigBlueMan I’m thinking they should have tried this camera angle on Western Montana & Idaho Southern on ESPNU first.
KySportsRadio: told ESPN producer that fans hated cameraangle…he said”I know its brutal,but they told us we were going to try it out”
FollowBolson Note to #ESPN, find the off button on the overhead camera at Rupp Arena. Time to pack it back in truck. Tried. Failed.
Here’s a paragraph from a Missouri site on SBNation that talks about some of the other initiatives that ESPN is taking this week…
“Doug Gottlieb will leave his courtside seat to go into our production truck to take over as director of the telecast for a segment. As part of this, he will direct the game from a fan/analyst’s perspective while still providing analysis of the on-court action. It’s part of a larger week-long initiative to provide fans with a different view of the game. We also placed Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery on opposite ends of the court for a game last night, will mic a referee on tonight’s Michigan-Ohio State game, put an isolated camera on Duke’s Nolan Smith, and more.”
What is ESPN thinking here? During the Kansas/Kansas State broadcast, the ref mic at the Ohio State game was brought up in conversation and Bobby Knight openly questioned the idea, saying that he thought the referee may not be able to do his job properly. To add to that, it seems like a rather pointless idea, ala Doug Gottlieb in the production truck, or the nauseating SkyCam. With no official press release, or any real promotion of a week of broadcast initiatives, I wonder whether ESPN knew that these ideas would be massive flops ahead of time… or whether they wanted to shock viewers with ridiculously bad ideas just because they could get away with it. Apparently, this week is dedicated to ESPN making the most random, drunken alterations to their broadcasts as humanly possible. What’s next – a glowball? Bob Knight in a small hovercraft that roams the arena? Mic’d up concession stands? Shrinking Dick Vitale and placing him in Coach K’s suitjacket?
Comment it up on your thoughts on ESPN’s experimentations. Did any of them work, what did you like or hate? What could follow up as the most random new innovation to a sports telecast? Let us know below.
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