The "guys in the truck" let us down each and every night
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:35 am
There have been many, many games over the last couple of years during which the highly revered "guys in the truck" imposed a cruel ultimatum on me and anybody else interested in the game itself: turn off the TV now, or suffer the consequences of a major psychotic break. The problems with that broadcast team have become so abundant and glaring that I now expect to be annoyed on each and every possession.
When considering all of their problems, what comes to mind first is the multiplicity of inane camera angles they seem to be obligated to work into each and every broadcast. First, there's the low baseline angle that they routinely switch to on all breakaways, often at the worst possible time. Second, there's the recent tendency (yes, they're getting worse) of showing the half-court floor-level sideline angle that they go to for about a second and a half every time a player pushes the ball up the near sideline. Sometimes this results in us seeing the entire possesion from this vantage point. Third, there's the above-the-basket angle that affords the viewer no valuable scope of the play whatsoever. Why not have an upside-down camera angle, too? Fourth, there's the angle from the corner at floor-level. This prohibits any unobstructed view of the entire weak side of the court. Fifth, there's the behind-the-basket remote controlled camera that there's just no reason or use for. My theory is that they are obligated to use all the camera angles they have in order to justify employing all of these camera operators.
That just about covers all the camera angles that serve no constructive purpose. But the problems pervade to a far deeper extent than just the placement of cameras. What they do with them is just as disturbing. I can't remember the last time I saw back-court pressure during a televised game. That's because the idiots in the truck want to show us a close up of the guy who just scored, the player who passed him the ball, a coach on the sideline, somebody in the crowd, or whoever the commentators are talking about at that point during the game. Often, these close-ups last beyond half-court and make us miss the first pass or two of a possession, and sometimes the entire possession. Last week there was a sequence in which a Raptor scored a basket, so they showed a close-up of him running back while Jose Calderon was stealing the inbound pass and making a layup. Of course, we couldn't see any of this. Then, they show a close-up of Jose sprinting back down the court because, guess what, the other team was on a fast break. We didn't see that play either.
There are so many other things they do wrong that it just boggles the brain. On a baseline inbounds play, they keep the camera tight on the passer so you can't see anybody else. They show extended shots of the commentators DURING THE PLAY sometimes. They show a shot of anybody in the building whose name is mentioned by a commentator (also during the play). They switch to a baseline angle whenever they identify a post-up, often resulting in the whole play being shown from this awful angle. They zoom in on the ball when it's in the air on certain camera angles, as if we can't tell if it goes in. They frequently zoom in on a player who just blocked a shot or dove for a loose ball instead of showing the resultant fast-break. I'm positive that I'm missing a lot of important stuff, but I can't sit here all night.
Unforunately, many of these problems are ubiquitous in the NBA, the policies of zooming in for several seconds on a player who just scored and switching to the baseline camera angle on each and every fast break being two examples. There is certainly a contagious effect throughout the league, and it generaly starts with ABC and ESPN. I hope nobody thinks they do a good job, because they commit many of the same mistakes that the Raptors' crew does. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who remembers Demar DeRozan getting screwed out of a dunk contest title because the morons in the truck over at ESPN or wherever decided to show a shot of Gerald Wallace while Demar was approaching the hoop for his final dunk. This camera work is just too outstandingly terrible to be the result of misplaced enthusiasm. The only theory that I can come up with is that these are the machinations of a league desparate to boost ticket demand by ruining televised games. I wish I had another one, but these guys put too much effort into ruining the game to ascribe it to laziness or apathy.
When considering all of their problems, what comes to mind first is the multiplicity of inane camera angles they seem to be obligated to work into each and every broadcast. First, there's the low baseline angle that they routinely switch to on all breakaways, often at the worst possible time. Second, there's the recent tendency (yes, they're getting worse) of showing the half-court floor-level sideline angle that they go to for about a second and a half every time a player pushes the ball up the near sideline. Sometimes this results in us seeing the entire possesion from this vantage point. Third, there's the above-the-basket angle that affords the viewer no valuable scope of the play whatsoever. Why not have an upside-down camera angle, too? Fourth, there's the angle from the corner at floor-level. This prohibits any unobstructed view of the entire weak side of the court. Fifth, there's the behind-the-basket remote controlled camera that there's just no reason or use for. My theory is that they are obligated to use all the camera angles they have in order to justify employing all of these camera operators.
That just about covers all the camera angles that serve no constructive purpose. But the problems pervade to a far deeper extent than just the placement of cameras. What they do with them is just as disturbing. I can't remember the last time I saw back-court pressure during a televised game. That's because the idiots in the truck want to show us a close up of the guy who just scored, the player who passed him the ball, a coach on the sideline, somebody in the crowd, or whoever the commentators are talking about at that point during the game. Often, these close-ups last beyond half-court and make us miss the first pass or two of a possession, and sometimes the entire possession. Last week there was a sequence in which a Raptor scored a basket, so they showed a close-up of him running back while Jose Calderon was stealing the inbound pass and making a layup. Of course, we couldn't see any of this. Then, they show a close-up of Jose sprinting back down the court because, guess what, the other team was on a fast break. We didn't see that play either.
There are so many other things they do wrong that it just boggles the brain. On a baseline inbounds play, they keep the camera tight on the passer so you can't see anybody else. They show extended shots of the commentators DURING THE PLAY sometimes. They show a shot of anybody in the building whose name is mentioned by a commentator (also during the play). They switch to a baseline angle whenever they identify a post-up, often resulting in the whole play being shown from this awful angle. They zoom in on the ball when it's in the air on certain camera angles, as if we can't tell if it goes in. They frequently zoom in on a player who just blocked a shot or dove for a loose ball instead of showing the resultant fast-break. I'm positive that I'm missing a lot of important stuff, but I can't sit here all night.
Unforunately, many of these problems are ubiquitous in the NBA, the policies of zooming in for several seconds on a player who just scored and switching to the baseline camera angle on each and every fast break being two examples. There is certainly a contagious effect throughout the league, and it generaly starts with ABC and ESPN. I hope nobody thinks they do a good job, because they commit many of the same mistakes that the Raptors' crew does. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who remembers Demar DeRozan getting screwed out of a dunk contest title because the morons in the truck over at ESPN or wherever decided to show a shot of Gerald Wallace while Demar was approaching the hoop for his final dunk. This camera work is just too outstandingly terrible to be the result of misplaced enthusiasm. The only theory that I can come up with is that these are the machinations of a league desparate to boost ticket demand by ruining televised games. I wish I had another one, but these guys put too much effort into ruining the game to ascribe it to laziness or apathy.