http://sorabji.com/1/2009/04/base-ball.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:39:08 -0500 hourly 1 http://sorabji.com/1/2009/04/base-ball.html/comment-page-1#comment-2 mark thomas Tue, 19 May 2009 00:18:12 +0000 http://sorabji.com/1/?p=57#comment-2 Other XBL ideas I've come up with over the past few weeks. * Some way to engage the players in the dugout so they are not just sitting there doing nothing for the majority of the game. I see a smaller field where the dugout sits directly along 1st and 3rd base baselines allowing players on the bench to harass or otherwise interact with the players on the opposing team. * Announcers who speak their minds. I think announcers should be allowed to curse openly, suggest inadequacies of opposing players, and generally be shameless about favoring one team over the other. A game-winning home run could be described by announcers as a vulgar sex act, or as some other metaphor of disdainful conquering. * Change the way television coverage focuses on the damn ball. Cameras always follow the ball while making the base runners and other action on the field invisible. I do not know if this implies a 70's-style split-screen bit of hokum (but hey, why not?) or something more sophisticatedly interactive (oh how I hate that word "interactive") but whatever the case I find that television coverage is inadequate at expressing the scope of the field. I think that replicating the experience of being at the stadium is more important than it might have been in previous generations because the cost of admission to a baseball games has become preposterous in some markets. For the price of a virtual reality headset and other gear I think that genuine baseball fans like me who have been priced out of stadium seating could at least get better coverage of the game and at best have an experience that is closer to actually being there. * Another aspect of broadcast coverage involves radio. I may be influencing these thoughts from the specific coverage of the Yankees Radio Network, but I think there should be a premium service available which allows these announcers to keep talking through the commercial time. Commercials would still air for the non-paying audience but continued discussion and conversation among the booth announcers should somehow be allowed between innings. I think this is important because the announcers I listen to regularly begin discussion of something but are forced to abandon the subject when an inning abruptly ends. Other XBL ideas I’ve come up with over the past few weeks.
* Some way to engage the players in the dugout so they are not just sitting there doing nothing for the majority of the game. I see a smaller field where the dugout sits directly along 1st and 3rd base baselines allowing players on the bench to harass or otherwise interact with the players on the opposing team.
* Announcers who speak their minds. I think announcers should be allowed to curse openly, suggest inadequacies of opposing players, and generally be shameless about favoring one team over the other. A game-winning home run could be described by announcers as a vulgar sex act, or as some other metaphor of disdainful conquering.
* Change the way television coverage focuses on the damn ball. Cameras always follow the ball while making the base runners and other action on the field invisible. I do not know if this implies a 70’s-style split-screen bit of hokum (but hey, why not?) or something more sophisticatedly interactive (oh how I hate that word “interactive”) but whatever the case I find that television coverage is inadequate at expressing the scope of the field. I think that replicating the experience of being at the stadium is more important than it might have been in previous generations because the cost of admission to a baseball games has become preposterous in some markets. For the price of a virtual reality headset and other gear I think that genuine baseball fans like me who have been priced out of stadium seating could at least get better coverage of the game and at best have an experience that is closer to actually being there.
* Another aspect of broadcast coverage involves radio. I may be influencing these thoughts from the specific coverage of the Yankees Radio Network, but I think there should be a premium service available which allows these announcers to keep talking through the commercial time. Commercials would still air for the non-paying audience but continued discussion and conversation among the booth announcers should somehow be allowed between innings. I think this is important because the announcers I listen to regularly begin discussion of something but are forced to abandon the subject when an inning abruptly ends.

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