Friday, May 16, 2008

When black on white isn't enough of a contrast..

Every evening at 7:30 I sit down in front of my TV and watch SportsCentre. In amongst the World Championship highlights, the NHL playoffs stories, the MLB scores (the Jays are no longer last!), and the Academy Award-worthy drama involving the Toronto Maple Leafs, I see a story about the NHL and Versus. I guess they are cooking up new ideas to bring to the 2 or 3 fans that have access to Versus.

Or drudge up bad ideas from the past. Take your pick.

See, the word out there is that Versus is planning on introducing a brand new puck tracker sometime soon. Now, you won't have to strain to see that black puck on the white ice - you'll have this comet-like tail of light streaming across your screen!

Something tells me that this won't be a popular idea among hockey fans in the States, and if they tried to sell that crap in Canada it would go over as well as privatized health care. And if Bettman actually thinks that this piece of technology is going to draw in more fans to the sport, then he is most definitely on something.

If Versus decides to make hockey a little more 'flashy', I hope it stays States-side. I don't want that thing messing up my screen when TSN broadcasts a Penguins game using the Versus feed.

4 comments:

Stoosh said...

Within the next five years or so, every broadcast will likely be in high-def. If people STILL can't pick up the puck after that, they probably shouldn't be watching hockey. Then again, given the camerawork we've seen by the Versus crews, maybe this technology isn't necessarily being developed only for the viewer at home.

How is that a sport like golf doesn't have these problems? A white ball against a blue sky is infinitely tougher to see than a black puck on white ice.

Anonymous said...

Didn't Fox used to have a circle highlight around the puck? (If I'm imagining things, pretend I didn't ask lol).

Ashley said...

Stoosh - I really don't see what the problem is with people not being able to pick up the puck. I don't have HD, I usually watch hockey on my 13" little TV (and I had an antenna for most of the season), and my eyesight isn't great as it is, and I have no problem tracking the play. Maybe you're right and it's not just for us viewers.

Sarah - yeah, Fox used to have a puck tracker but got rid of it, which has me wondering why the NHL is even thinking of resurrecting it. It seems gimmicky and insulting to me.

DaBich said...

Please tell me they aren't gonna cometize the puck again....GAWD!