2008 Championships Webcast

[Hiteak]

So, who's up for going to the New Zealand Regional?

[ScoutingNerd175]

Announcing the Chairman's Award before the Semi-Finals?

Congrats to 842, and welcome to the Hall of Fame

[Mr. Lim]

Originally Posted by Steve W

Shawn I am surprised that you don't understand what announcers try to do. We call the match as we see it and try positive input on all teams. I for one would never call out a team unless it was my own, which I have done, and even then I got spoken to. Positive reinforcement is what FIRST wants and what most teams want and like. As announcers we enjoy the job but it is very taxing. Making sure that you don't give away strategies, tell teams how to play, speak about every team as evenly as possible and make the game exciting. We try to do this all in 2:15 and then we start all over with new teams.

Yes there are announcers that are annoying. Sometimes we get in a place that we don't want to repeat things but we do. We try but we are human.

Steve, I do understand what they're trying to do. But what they're trying to do isn't effective, at least not with me.

Play-by-play announcing has evolved for generations in professional sports, it is effective, entertaining, and adds to the game. It involves pointing out both the good AND the bad.

When Jason Kidd dribbles off the side of his foot and out-of-bounds, an announcer shouldn't turn a blind eye because he's afraid of hurting the Mavs feelings. It was a bad mistake. Point it out, let us know, explain it, it's not personal.

When they throw a 3-2 zone out there, explain it, why is it good, why is it bad, how do you do it, how do you beat it, don't hide it for fear of "giving up a team's strategy."

I know exactly what the announcers are doing by not mentioning this stuff. I just feel that we would add far more to the value of the game if they did mention it.

The few "exceptions" in FIRST of excellent announcing that I've seen, they've mirrored pro-sports in this way. The comments are snuck in there once in a while, but they are meaningful.

But there's no reason why announcing like that should be exceptions, and not the rule.

I was at Kettering with Dan, and yes an announcer pointing out the folly of knocking down your own ball late in the match would've helped everyone.

On FTC, teams desperately trying to score 10 points worth of rings were passing up opportunities for 14 point goals which were far easier to get.

These are all bad moves, but is there really some unwritten taboo that announcers can't mention them?

[Steve W]

The difference is that they are sports announcers and that they don't announce to the audience or the teams at the event. Can you see these announcers saying that player XX made a huge mistake and should smarten up or that the home team is playing like doggie-do-do. This just wouldn't fly. If the announcing was just over the web or TV I might tend to agree with you but to say negative things at the event would just cause harm.

I am sorry if I come on strong on this issue but I know that there are tons of instances where teams have talked to me and told me how I have encouraged them. I have also been spoken to at this years events being told that I was influencing the Refs when all I did was announce that a flag was raised. Teams are not as forgiving as you believe.

[DarkJedi613]

Originally Posted by Bongle

I think they should stick a small camera on the BAE systems blimp that I just saw floating around inside. It probably has the payload capability.

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

They have cameras on them (or at least available), they are RPI's blimps, they ran into range and interference problems with the cameras in Manchester

Really late reply: The white blimp had a camera on it that was being fed to the video guys. It showed up on the FLL screens a few times, I'm not sure it was on any FRC screens though (we were too busy flying them!). So, yeah they had cameras on them, they weren't the greatest quality footage though and were breaking up a little bit (the transmitter uses 802.11x so it can get interference pretty easily if there are networks around -- but it seemed to be working pretty well unless we went way up high).

[Mark Pierce]

I really didn't get to see much of the webcasts, but I was extremely pleased with what I saw when I did:

Every time I brought it up it worked the first time.
There were very few streaming/bandwidth/technical problems.
The sound quality was much improved compared to previous years.
The awards presentations were not chopped short or lost by the camera.
The field shots were pretty clear.
In general, the shot selection and transitions were done well.

I see the previous posts mentioning some issues, but I didn't run into those. I remember many more in other years.

While it's been a few years since I personally watched a Championship webcast, I've seen and heard reports of many problems in these areas nearly every year. I've also seen many problems with regional webcasts.

Thanks for all those involved in continuing to improve this service!

[chinckley]

I am trying to find out if there are video of the matches from Galileo/Championship that will be posted online? I did a search and nothing came up. I would like to show the students in my class the video and I have only the two I was able to video. I would like to show more.

Carolyn

[Andy Grady]

Originally Posted by Steve W

The difference is that they are sports announcers and that they don't announce to the audience or the teams at the event. Can you see these announcers saying that player XX made a huge mistake and should smarten up or that the home team is playing like doggie-do-do. This just wouldn't fly. If the announcing was just over the web or TV I might tend to agree with you but to say negative things at the event would just cause harm.

I am sorry if I come on strong on this issue but I know that there are tons of instances where teams have talked to me and told me how I have encouraged them. I have also been spoken to at this years events being told that I was influencing the Refs when all I did was announce that a flag was raised. Teams are not as forgiving as you believe.

I think there is a happy medium for calling plays and strategies in matches. I think with the proper creativity, you can point out any play that is going on. You can point out a play that might be somewhat "out of the normal" by using humor or "surprise" to nail down the point, as opposed to outright saying "what they heck are they thinking!!!".

For example, there were a few instances where I witnessed a team hurdling a trackball over the wrong overpass, and I essentially said "There goes team XXX, hurdling the red trackball over...the....blue....overpass. Not sure if that action will benefit them, but hey, whatever works!"

I think this points out the play at hand, while making light of the situation.

Remember this though...FIRST is not the NBA. While a competition such as this appears to play in the same flow and excitement of the sport, the ideals through which we play are much different. This is an important point for someone who is game announcing. It is our job to relay the ideals of Gracious Professionalism with every call. Being constructive and positive is at the very root of that ideal.

I hope you all had a great weekend at championships, or watching from home wherever you may have been. In particular, thank you to all of you who came over to Galileo this weekend to check out the action...and truly brought an amazing energy with you.

See you in the offseasons!