Opening day telecasts are a real barometer that gauges the mettle of the TV crew. Our opening telecast for the 2008 regular season was today and, once again, there were instances that really tested our TV production team. Perhaps, there may not be a telecast that causes the TV crew to make adjustments on the fly more than the regular season home opener.
One of the main culprits was the weather. There was a 60% chance of rain all day and, indeed, the game was rained out in the third inning. Because of the threat of rain, the tarp was on the field. This caused us to adjust the “bumper” shots that we send down the line for the pre-game show. These shots are usually of players taking batting practice, stretching, and playing catch. Today’s shots included umbrellas and rain gear.
Our Duet (graphics) crashed and burned. Not five minutes to air the Duet became somewhat functional and the operator did the best he could to salvage the commercial inventory vital to that machine. He adjusted and created on the fly.
During a telecast, the Producer (if there is no phone coordinator) is on the phone with a person coordinating the commercials. This person is located in Houston. The Producer will count the “Coord” to the commercial break and the “Coord” will count the Producer back from break. During the pre-game show, the phone line to Houston died. There was literally no communication between the truck and Coord. However, the pre-game show Producer in the studio still maintained communication with Houston. So, our game Producer adjusted and, because for whatever reason, a phone line could not be patched into his headset, the Producer called the pre-game studio on a handset and coordinated the pre-game show with a phone in his left ear and a headset in his right ear. Adjusting on the fly takes quick thinking. The more experienced a TV crew member is, the better he/she will be able to adjust on the fly. This was a perfect example of an experienced television veteran making an adjustment quickly thus not interrupting the flow of the show.
Our technical director made an adjustment today as well. There were some guests in the booth and, when we have guests, we like to use a 2-box effect with a live game cut in one box and the guest or guests in the other box. The score box should also be in the shot as our 2-box graphic is built to accommodate the score box. When the 2-box effect was built on the pre-set monitor, the score box was over the live cut in the box, not over the 2-box effect. I told the TD to lose the fox box on the live cut and place it over the 2-box effect. He made an adjustment on 2 ME banks and the final effect was captured. Every technical director likes to set up the switcher in his or her desired way. The final effect we were looking for in this instance caused the TD to literally change the way his switcher was set up and do it on the fly. He made the adjustment and it worked.
Home openers can be very challenging. Our crew met the challenges of today’s home opener and provided the viewers with a fairly “clean” telecast.
Because the game was rained out in the third inning, the contest will be made up during tomorrows’ scheduled off day. There is a hockey game in town as well and I have been alerted by the person who “crews” our show that some of the crew members will not be as experienced as our normal home show. In fact, we may be short on camera and in the tape room.
It looks like another day of making adjustments.
Bring it on.

We completed the 2008 spring training yesterday and I can honestly say that the four telecasts were the cleanest spring telecasts we have done in my twenty one years of televising Cardinal baseball.
The reason these shows were so good is that we were fortunate that we had great crews. The members of our telecast team worked hard, were pleasant, and created not only good telecasts but very enjoyable shows as well.
For the most part, every Major League baseball telecast team does not look forward to spring telecasts. The crew members (usually) are not versed in baseball TV coverage and are just putting in their time to make a buck.
The camera operators were constantly looking for shots. Mediocre camera operators take breaks between innings. Yet, between innings is when some of the most compelling shots of the telecast are captured. The camera operators on our four spring training games worked hard from the time we went on the air until we signed off. It was a real pleasure watching these “Professionals” in action.
The technical directors for the four spring shows were terrific as well. In fact, the TD from the FSN North Puma truck is one of the best technical directors I have ever sat next to. This guy was fast, creative, pleasant, and he kept his mouth shut. There were many instances where my directing would have “tied up” many a technical director, but this guy (except for one tiny hiccup) was flawless.
I plan on suggesting to my Executive Producer that we use this Puma Truck in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati instead of being in the back end of a dual. I realize that the dual feed is here to stay and that the cost of televising makes this necessary, but, if the cost of the dual feed and the cost of the Puma Truck are similar, I believe that a telecast out of a Puma Truck (especially with this TD and with this truck’s EIC) has a greater chance of being “cleaner” than that of a dual.
We open the 2008 season on Monday. I am happy we are opening at home. The transition from these spring telecasts to the real thing, the regular season, will be smooth because our home crew is hard working and a pleasure to be part of.
Our home technical director, Don, is one of the best as well.
I hope I have not put too much pressure on him.
Just kidding, Don.

Sunday, March 16, 2008
We televised our first game of the 2008 season today and, for spring training, today’s telecast was quite good.
I knew I would be a bit rusty since I last directed a baseball game six months ago. I tried to not be aggressive early on, but the camera operators were rather good, and I was able to take some chances earlier than I had thought going into the telecast.
Because of this, the mistakes that I made were “aggressive” mistakes. I would much rather make mistakes by being aggressive than by laying back and being timid. I think it is imperative for a television sports TV Director to take chances. Anybody can direct sporting events. But, I believe, the good TV sports Directors direct sports and make them “events.”
It is important to know the talent level of the crew. This is the reason the quality of the “home” shows is substantially better than the quality of road events.
I am fortunate in that the quality of our “home” crew is quite good overall. Because of this, I am able to let two of our camera operators “freelance” as they shoot the ball game. I have told these particular operators to be “producers” when they shoot the game. These two camera operators consistently come through with quality shots, memorable shots. Just as a TV sports Director must be aggressive in order to capture a moment or a sequence of moments, camera operators who are allowed to freelance must be aggressive as well. With a seven camera home show, I want these operators to stray from their normal coverage and responsibilities of a baseball game. I believe that having strict coverage responsibilities for camera operators inhibits the creativity of these operators. Sure, there are situations that require this operator to do this and this operator to do that, but, I believe, when every camera operator has an exact responsibility for every play, the quality of the telecast suffers. Under this scenario, less chances can be taken and memorable moments happen much more infrequently than when camera operators are offered more leeway to “produce” shots. With a seven camera show, allowing two operators to “freelance” while the other five operators have more precise responsibilities, offers our telecast a real chance to capture memorable moments. The aggressive nature of the “freelance” operators does not occur ONLY during the course of play. Many of our most revealing moments occur between innings. That is why we have four of our cameras that have an excellent look into our team’s dugout.
Once the game begins, the camera operators are “on”. If our telecast is airing a commercial, this is not a time for the camera operators to take a break. The best operators never take a break until we are off the air. Let me restate this, the best operators “work” from the time we go to air until we sign off.
The camera operators for today’s telecast continued to work for shots when we were in break. It was very refreshing to see these members of the telecast crew working as hard as they did. All baseball TV Producers and Directors know that spring training telecasts can be very difficult. The quality of these shows is not expected to be of the quality of the regular season shows. In fact, quality is not a word often used to describe spring training telecasts. The main broadcast team is trying to get the cobwebs out, trying to get the feet wet, and really just trying to get back into the swing of things.
Televising sporting events offers many challenges.
Televising sports is very challenging to the Producer/Director team.
However, baseball is the most challenging.
Football is once a week. Basketball and hockey are 2 and 3 times a week.
Baseball, for the most part, is every day.
The players use spring training to prepare and get ready for the season.
Baseball TV production crews use spring training games to prepare and get ready for the challenges of the season.
When the first telecast of the season goes as smoothly as our telecast went today, our production team can and will enter the season with confidence knowing that we will be able to meet the tough challenges a baseball season offers.
We have the same crew a week from today in Port St. Lucie against the Mets.
I am looking forward to that telecast.
I am looking forward to the season opener at Busch Stadium.
I cannot wait to work with the home crew.