ESPN Uses Camera Angle Unacceptable For High School Broadcast For Michigan-Ohio State Game. https://t.co/dcOD80mUA9 pic.twitter.com/QYxSZ7s0nr
— BT Powerhouse (@BTpowerhouse) February 17, 2016
ESPN experimented with a new camera angle during Tuesday night’s telecast of the Michigan-Ohio State basketball game. And as you might expect, the public reacted perfectly reasonably, with a mixture of scorn, hatred, and digital pitchforks.
The cameras were set up in a way that made it feel like viewers were sitting courtside, which seems awesome in theory, and quite innovative. Who wouldn’t want to sit courtside? However, for the majority of viewers, it did not come close to capturing the courtside experience, and instead was simply making them nauseous.
Also, the rule of unintended consequences seems to have applied, with ESPN perhaps not taking into consideration that every so often, a referee would take up a good portion of our screens. Nobody wants to stare at the back of a ref’s head for two hours.
The fan reaction on Twitter was nearly unanimous in its hatred. Here were some of the best that we saw throughout the game.
ESPN's coverage tonight is brought to you by a dude in the front row wearing a GoPro.
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) February 17, 2016
.@espn You know, usually you're supposed to list these tickets as "obstructed view" before you put them on StubHub.
— Bryan Mac (@Bry_Mac) February 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/AceAnbender/status/699746778371895296
There is seriously more value in staring at a box score for two hours than there is in watching this telecast.
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) February 17, 2016
Dear @Espn , this camera angle has accomplished rare feat of uniting Ohio State and Michigan fans together in opinion: it stinks
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) February 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/JPThomas222/status/699754160414023680
i see that @espn is going with the SNES NCAA Basketball camera angle in the Michigan-Ohio State game pic.twitter.com/Q7j3M5MHk7
— Daniël (@dtho84) February 17, 2016
It’s difficult to determine if the majority of the fan’s reaction’s to ESPN’s bold, new experiment is simply a normal resistance to change, or if the viewing experience simply sucked. Could this be the future of basketball broadcasts, and eventually we’ll all get used to it? Tough to say, but you can bet ESPN has a focus group going through the data right now to figure out the answer, and so far, the opinions they’re reading are 100 percent against.
