They Superimposed Me!

Today, while watching the Packers play on Fox, they had some technical difficulties (Fox and the Packers). The graphics package that puts the score, down, and time at the top of the screen quit working. They had to go "low tech" and point the camera at the in-stadium signs, which were simple lightbulb arrays. Keep it simple I guess :)

Even more interesting was that the graphics that they are now superimposing over the field to show the down & distance, and the first down marker were working fine. I guess they were controlled by a different computer. If you watched closely, you could also see that Fox is now putting banners over portions of the crowd during kickoffs. Pretty sneaky. Advertising that costs nothing more than CPU cycles. Let's hope this doesn't get too out of hand. I don't want to see Pepsi ads projected on to a ball during flight.

So, all of these enhancements to the game reminded me of my previous thoughts, and inspired me to post a couple more that I've been "kicking" around for a while.

Pressure sensistive rims in basketball. Tell me how hard LeBron dunked that ball. Tell me how hard Shaq bricked that free throw. Show me how softly Steve Nash put that layup on the rim. Wouldn't these be fun to see?

Also, do you remember CBS' EyeVision? Do they even use that anymore? The problem with EyeVision is that it really only works to rotate around a point in time. Interesting points in time out on the field are hard to come by. Where EyeVision would be great is focused on the uprights during a field goal kick. Add a virtual extension of the pole projecting out the top and you could rotate around that ball that just missed or just made it.

Finally, they hate to show streakers that might run on to the field. It only encourages them right? Well, let's turn that in to a marketing opportunity. Naked dude that should drink less beer and eat more salad can instantly have the Planter's nuts guy superimposed over him. The security guards could have hungry elephants superimposed over them. Elephants chasing Mr. Peanut around a football field, that's good TV!