You watched it, you can't un-watch it!

Last night, Paul and I attempted to watch The All Star game. We don't have television, so we haven't really had the chance to catch many games lately. Because this game was kind of a big deal, the usually hard-assed fox sports network decided to make a live broadcast available on the Internet.

This was pretty cool, since most of the online sport channel subscriptions cost a pretty penny, and this viewing via the "fox feed" was free. However, one might wonder if the quality of the free "fox feed" streaming video was purposely designed to get us sports fans investing in a pay to watch service.

The weird thing about the "fox feed" was that it wasn't edited, or presented in a complete format. The feed offered you several vantage points on the field to choose from, and the option of having up to 4 views open at any time. It really reminded me of the live editing I had do to in some college production classes, being in change of cutting from one angle to another, being a director. It was kind of hard to figure out how to best view things.

The feed also had some really inconsistent audio. At the start, there was absolutely no commentary. Without it, it was really hard to figure out exactly what was happening, seeing as the teams were made up of lots of different players that I didn't recognize. Eventually some commentary came in, and things were good for awhile. But then at the end, the audio kept replaying random clips, and cutting in on the behind the scenes banter going on in the press box.

For example, during a random break between innings, we heard the fox commentator ask:

"Who wants to try the first chicken burritos I've ever made?"
Followed by an enthusiastic girl saying "Oh! Yes! I'll have one!"

Apparently, they were having some sort of potluck barbecue in the press box? And then at the end, the commentary was totally gone again.

The other weird part of being able to choose the camera angle, was having a constant vantage point into the dugout. You were able to see the players acting unguarded constantly. This led to the viewing of easily the most awkward interaction I've ever witnessed in baseball.

This is the American League starting pitcher, Tim Linceum. During a break between the second and third inning, he was sitting on a bench in the dugout. An older, grizzled looking trainer approached him with a wet towel. This older trainer proceeds to wash him, his face, his neck, and his arms as he just sits there limply. It was kind of like seeing someone get a sponge bath. The washing went on for a solid 3 minutes. It was so weird!

We also got to see Derek Jeter do terrible crotch stretches right in front of the giant flag that was unfurled for the pre-game tribute to america. Classy!

Oh, and Obama threw the ceremonial first pitch.



He did a pretty good job, don't you think?
EDIT: I wasn't going to point this out, until Mike also mentioned it. Obama is TOTALLY wearing mom jeans!