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July 1, 2014

NESN: Pop-Up Facts Not Always Factual

It's hard to decide which one of NESN's inane new "features" during Red Sox broadcasts is the dumbest: the Wally Wave dance, Don Orsillo's blurry cellphone videos, or polls that obscure the actual game. My vote goes to something that was lame and pointless when VH-1 introduced it nearly 20 years ago: pop-up facts.

NESN still has not mastered the fine art of showing an entire baseball game - one essential aspect: showing every pitch - yet the network seems intent on larding up the broadcast with non-baseball crap. Does NESN truly believe it will catch (and hold!) the attention of casual viewers with this stuff?

And now, you can't even trust the pop-up "facts" to be correct. Here's one from the bottom of the fifth last night:


Chances are you have already spotted the fairly obvious error. Sammy Sosa retired in 2007 - which was seven years ago. Sosa hit 20 dongs in June 1998 - which was actually 16 years ago, not six.
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4 comments:

  1. FenFanJuly 1, 2014 at 6:55 AM

    It's not the first time they've posted a "fact" that was untrue. I'm noticed it once or twice before...

    I remember telling you about this new "feature" when we met earlier this season in Boston -- I don't think you had seen a NESN broadcast at that point -- and I was 99.9% certain that you and L would find this both pointless and inane. I'm glad(?) to have been proven correct. :-)

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  2. laura kJuly 1, 2014 at 7:01 AM

    I was 99.9% certain that you and L would find this both pointless and inane

    You were only .1% off!

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  3. allanJuly 1, 2014 at 8:07 AM

    Another "missing important parts of the game" is what NESN does on, for example, an RBI double. They show the ball in the gap and the outfielder getting to it and picking it up and getting ready to throw. Then we cut to a useless shot of the runner jogging across the plate and turning towards the dugout, and by the time they cut back to the close play at second, we've missed it.

    I suppose NESN thinks that if it shows the actual throw and play at second on a replay, that counts as showing it to the viewers, but it's a poor substitute. ... Why can't Orsillo saying that X has scored be enough? Players jogging across the plate all look the same, while plays at a base are unique.

    Just a small example of how NESN really doesn't understand the basics about showing a baseball game.

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  4. FenFanJuly 1, 2014 at 10:33 AM

    ...I was 99.9% certain that you and L would find this both pointless and inane...

    You were only .1% off!

    Well, there goes my future as a psychic - damn it! ;-)

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