From Tennessean.com, an article about Stadium Click Effects. It's a piece of software for speeding up audio & video playback.
"The software has helped Sound & Video Creations generate annual revenues of $1.5 million, up 50% from four years ago. More importantly for sports teams, it has helped them dramatically enhance their game day presentations compared with just 10 years ago, when a minor-league baseball team's collection of audio clips often consisted of little more than a pile of cassette tapes strewn across a table. Video scoreboard clips were found on VCR tapes, a fact that made last-minute lineup changes a nightmare for pre-game video segments."
Read the article...
Jun 25, 2004
Jun 24, 2004
Praise for the (former) Arkansas Travellers Organist
From the Arkansas Times:
"I wanted to tell you about Rich Pharris, the stadium organist, who pounds out tunes on the ballpark Hammond that you or your grandparents haven't heard since grade school, such as "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain," "You Are My Sunshine," and "I've Been Working on the Railroad." (The most modern song in his repertoire appears to be "The Mickey Mouse Club Theme.")"
... but apparantly, Pharris quit.
Read more...
"I wanted to tell you about Rich Pharris, the stadium organist, who pounds out tunes on the ballpark Hammond that you or your grandparents haven't heard since grade school, such as "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain," "You Are My Sunshine," and "I've Been Working on the Railroad." (The most modern song in his repertoire appears to be "The Mickey Mouse Club Theme.")"
... but apparantly, Pharris quit.
Read more...
Jun 15, 2004
Celebrities soak up scoreboard screen time
From MSNBC.com:
"Shortly before the start of Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night, the giant arena scoreboard began showing the faces of prominent personalities seated among the more than 20,000 fans packed into the Palace of Auburn Hills ... But not all the celebrity faces that fans see at courtside are there to root for the home team. Many are on business, especially when the games are in Los Angeles, where Hollywood and network television stars -- and the people whose job it is to promote them -- find the NBA Finals stage irresistible."
Read the article...
"Shortly before the start of Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night, the giant arena scoreboard began showing the faces of prominent personalities seated among the more than 20,000 fans packed into the Palace of Auburn Hills ... But not all the celebrity faces that fans see at courtside are there to root for the home team. Many are on business, especially when the games are in Los Angeles, where Hollywood and network television stars -- and the people whose job it is to promote them -- find the NBA Finals stage irresistible."
Read the article...
Jun 10, 2004
Vital Organ: Kansas City Royals organist Sam Beckett
From The Pitch:
"Sam Beckett plays the organ at Kauffman Stadium. Nine innings a game. Eighty (or so) games a year. "Charge" and the Mexican hat dance and a little bit of Usher. When pitching coach John Cumberland is talking Brian Anderson down, maybe Beckett will play "With a Little Help From My Friends" with two-handed jazz chords. When first baseman Mike Sweeney hulks into the box, maybe a crazy nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-Batman! ... the nuh-nuh-nuh-nuhs are played live, as are those grace notes after a crisp double play and the percussive tap-tap-taptaptaps that make you clap without thinking, along with the thousands of people around you. Fact is, everything organ at the K is live, uncanned, improvised, not beamed in from some Clear Channel satellite."
Read the article...
"Sam Beckett plays the organ at Kauffman Stadium. Nine innings a game. Eighty (or so) games a year. "Charge" and the Mexican hat dance and a little bit of Usher. When pitching coach John Cumberland is talking Brian Anderson down, maybe Beckett will play "With a Little Help From My Friends" with two-handed jazz chords. When first baseman Mike Sweeney hulks into the box, maybe a crazy nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-Batman! ... the nuh-nuh-nuh-nuhs are played live, as are those grace notes after a crisp double play and the percussive tap-tap-taptaptaps that make you clap without thinking, along with the thousands of people around you. Fact is, everything organ at the K is live, uncanned, improvised, not beamed in from some Clear Channel satellite."
Read the article...
Jun 8, 2004
Tampa Bay Tribune prints the wrong editorial
From the Tampa Bay Tribune:
"We took a puck in the gut this morning when we published the wrong editorial about the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup final on Monday night... In advance of the final, we had prepared two editorials, one for either outcome..."
Read more...
"We took a puck in the gut this morning when we published the wrong editorial about the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup final on Monday night... In advance of the final, we had prepared two editorials, one for either outcome..."
Read more...
Jun 7, 2004
Sleepy fan gets caught on video scoreboard
From the East Valley Tribune, a quick note about a fan caught sleeping at an Arizona Diamondbacks game:
"After six innings .... [the]cameras focused on a man in the stands — fast asleep on his wife’s shoulder. The sound of a rooster crowing played over the stadium’s public-address system, then a buzzing noise. However, that nor the cheering crowd could rouse the man from his slumber."
Read the rest of the article...
"After six innings .... [the]cameras focused on a man in the stands — fast asleep on his wife’s shoulder. The sound of a rooster crowing played over the stadium’s public-address system, then a buzzing noise. However, that nor the cheering crowd could rouse the man from his slumber."
Read the rest of the article...
Dodgers & Cubs the last MLB teams without a mascot
Gary Miller on EPSN.com:
"Both the Dodgers and Cubs remain nearly unique in not employing team mascots to "enliven" things at the park ... L.A. admitted it considered adding a mascot recently, but while they chose wisely not to, many traditionalists, including myself, are chagrined that they've eliminated the charming, unobtrusive organ music which used to characterize the Dodger Stadium experience -- from everything but the pre-game. The Dodgers now have the same ear-pounding, heavy-metal chorus punctuating every at-bat and potential rallying moment."
Read the full article...
"Both the Dodgers and Cubs remain nearly unique in not employing team mascots to "enliven" things at the park ... L.A. admitted it considered adding a mascot recently, but while they chose wisely not to, many traditionalists, including myself, are chagrined that they've eliminated the charming, unobtrusive organ music which used to characterize the Dodger Stadium experience -- from everything but the pre-game. The Dodgers now have the same ear-pounding, heavy-metal chorus punctuating every at-bat and potential rallying moment."
Read the full article...
May 31, 2004
"In The Dome" - Calgary Flames Playoff Song
It's a tradition for local radio stations to make a tribute parody of a pop song to support their teams. Here in Ottawa, the most famous one was probably "All The Leafs Stink", to the tune of Blink 182's "All The Small Things". (A couple of years ago, there was a really good one out of Montreal, to the tune of Smashmouth's/The Monkees' "I'm A Believer". A cool English-French lyrical mixture that really captured the spirit of the Canadiens in a breakout playoff year.)
Anyhow, the best playoff song around this year is out of Calgary: "In The Dome", a take-off on 50 Cent's hit. Created for/by Vibe 98.5. Very well done. Listen here...
Anyhow, the best playoff song around this year is out of Calgary: "In The Dome", a take-off on 50 Cent's hit. Created for/by Vibe 98.5. Very well done. Listen here...
Hung sings at Blue Jays game
From Canada.com: "William Hung butchered Take Me Out To The Ball Game during the seventh-inning stretch of Sunday's matchup between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, much to the delight of 22,225 at SkyDome." Read more...
From EPSN.com: "Hung's presence drew media usually indifferent to baseball, including Rolling Stone magazine. The team said more media credentials were issued Sunday than on Opening Day. The Blue Jays initially tried to get Hung for Opening Day, but that conflicted with the release of his debut album." Read more...
More: Hungmania Hits Toronto (via andPOP)
Update: .wmv audio file (right-click and "save as")
From EPSN.com: "Hung's presence drew media usually indifferent to baseball, including Rolling Stone magazine. The team said more media credentials were issued Sunday than on Opening Day. The Blue Jays initially tried to get Hung for Opening Day, but that conflicted with the release of his debut album." Read more...
More: Hungmania Hits Toronto (via andPOP)
Update: .wmv audio file (right-click and "save as")
May 28, 2004
Pittsburgh Pirates return to traditional baseball with "Classic Night"
"Turn Back The Clock" promotions are nothing new in sports, but it sounds like the Pirates are doing it with a bit more authenticity than usual, on June 3:
"Instead of live and animated video, the Jumbotron scoreboard will remain static with an image resembling the scoreboard at Forbes Field. Rather than listening to recorded music of the modern day, fans will be entertained solely with music performed by Pirates organist, Vince Lascheid."
Read more...
"Instead of live and animated video, the Jumbotron scoreboard will remain static with an image resembling the scoreboard at Forbes Field. Rather than listening to recorded music of the modern day, fans will be entertained solely with music performed by Pirates organist, Vince Lascheid."
Read more...
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