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| Robert Ellis |
(Note: I know that over
the past two weeks we have been able to see the NFL for what it really is. A
greed machine, so protective of its brand, so focused on doing whatever it
takes to "get the money" that acting like a human being and doing the
right thing doesn't mean much anymore. This post has nothing to do with the
NFL. We'll save that for another day. Instead, this post is about something
incredible that happened last Sunday during a game.)
I spend most of my time
in the New York media market these days. This past Sunday I was watching a
football game between the New York Giants and the Arizona Cardinals. The Giants
aren't very good this year. The game was long and boring and one of the worst
games I've ever seen in my life. When the ordeal was finally over, FOX cut to
what was left of the game between the Cleveland Browns and the New Orleans
Saints.
I was about to reach
for the clicker when something remarkable happened.
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| Cleveland Browns First Energy Stadium |
There was a glitch in
the transfer to the Cleveland game. The picture came over, and so did the audio
from the mikes on the field and in the stands. But the audio feed from the
booth never made it. The announcers were gone!
The game was a shocker,
the score, 24-23 in favor of New Orleans. Cleveland made a terrific play, and
the ball was spotted within field goal range with 13 seconds to go. The reason
I'm writing about this is that the story was being told with just pictures and
the sound of the crowd. The drama was all amped up, I think, because we weren't
being told what we were seeing. Instead, we were taking it in first hand as if we
were actually in the stands. The truth is, it was better than being in the
stands. We had close-up shots from every angle, and the director kept cutting
from shot to shot.
Cleveland kicked the
field goal and won. The stadium rocked. Sixty thousand people were going crazy.
When the camera cut to
Cleveland's bench -- the players and coaches -- the looks on their faces, the disbelief,
the shock and awe, the pure joy -- I'd never seen anything like it. The moment
lasted for more than five minutes and still no one noticed that the announcers
hadn't been wired in. It was the best five minutes in sports broadcasting that
I've ever seen.
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