Have you noticed the Fox Trax stuff they use for the pitched baseballs? If you haven't seen it, Fox uses new fangled computer graphics on their pitch replays to show how the ball breaks coming out of the pitchers hands. And then the faster the ball goes, the redder it gets. Or so I assume.
The graphic is nice and all, but did you notice that it doesn't really follow the path of the ball? Watch closely in game three. You'll often see the comet tail graphic exaggerate the movement of the ball and then veer off in another direction as you notice the ball continue its path to the catcher's mitt. I don't really blame them I guess. It does look pretty cool.
The next step, I would think, would be to use the graphics to make the ball and/or the players look like something completely different in the replays. Like when Willy Taveras hit that triple last night. I would have liked to have seen a CGI jet pack appear on his back as he rounded second. Then McCarver, in his point-out-the-obvious-way, could go, "And right here is where Willy turns on the afterburners." And you'd have the nice afterburner graphics indicating that, indeed, Willy Taveras can fly like a jet.
Or how about when a call gets argued, they use Fox Trax to indicate who's really mad. Like if the manager's really steaming, just use the Fox Trax to show the steam coming out of his ears. If he's relaxed, put a CGI Hawaiian shirt on him to indicate how relaxed he is. On a homerun, how about an explosion graphic coming off the bat and then have a single CGI tear roll down the pitcher's face to indicate "sad".
We could revolutionize the game. Somebody get Fox on the phone!
Filed under: