04/19/24
January 06, 2005
The GameBoy shot: The New York Times (nice infographic) checks out the overhead cameras used at NFL games, an XFL innovation that was initially unpopular. Fox and CBS use CableCam; ABC and ESPN use SkyCam.
posted by kirkaracha to football at 09:11 PM - 5 comments
Those cameras capture the frenetic pace of a football play better than anything else I've seen. There was a shot at the Orange Bowl of a punt return where the player ran directly under the camera and it swung around to follow him as he was tackled. It was a little herky-jerky, but incredible. I'm looking forward to when they figure out how to put a bunch of tiny fiber optic cameras in the field, a la home plate cam, or on the players themselves.
posted by rcade at 08:02 AM on January 07, 2005
They could put tiny cameras in the helmets, couldn't they? Horse racing here in the UK done it with "jockey cam" for quite a while in big races like the Grand National. The movement of the horse makes it kinda jerky, but it's still quite impressive when they go over those huge fences. Oh, and I don't watch much football, but I did see this camera on Sky Sports a few weeks ago, and it does look mighty cool.
posted by afx237vi at 08:15 AM on January 07, 2005
Those skycams make me motionsick! HATE THEM. But then again, I can't play Mario Kart because the same thing happens. I get ridiculously car sick!
posted by ozettenation at 01:40 PM on January 08, 2005
Well, they've already used little cameras in the referee's hats, which makes it fun when they get decked by the players or beaned by the ball.
posted by kirkaracha at 06:23 PM on January 08, 2005
i was always wondering about that and figured it had to be something of that nature. i had wondered about whether kicks could collide with the ropes but it is evident from the graphic that if the camera is behind the offence (ie behind the kicker) then it would have to be a pretty skewed kick to run into a rope.