Comments on: Soccer versus Television

By: Alastair

Alastair — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:10:49 +0000

Just noticed that I missed out by one the honour (?) of posting the 2^15th comment on oddthinking. Oh well!

In order to illustrate the point about photographing very fast things, I will point to this amazing footage from Top Gear of the Bugatti Veyron at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track. The camera barely zooms at all.

Ferryman: I’m not sure about the sense of pride. But I do agree with you on the terminology. I still laugh at Americans and their use of the word “football”.

By: ferryman

ferryman — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 17:33:08 +0000

In the early ninenties, when Norway’s national footballteam was 2nd (believe it or not) on FIFA’s official ranking list, the head-coach of that team, Egil “Drillo” Olsen, introduced the term “best without ball”. Meaning that it’s as important, if not even MORE important, to be able to find a “tactically good” position AT ALL TIMES, than mastering the art of (exellent) ball-controll. Me, and most sport-loving people on the planet agree with you, Julian. Although the majority cares more about experiencing the game/race/fight etc. itself and the atmosphere around it up close, than the tactics. Alastair: that experience gives you a sense of pride as well, oddly enough, doesn’t it? By the way, the name of the game is football, not soccer. Foot-to-ball, see?

By: Alastair

Alastair — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 06:59:35 +0000

I remember having a revelation when seeing the Formula 1 GP cars racing for the first time. Coming down the straight they go from a dot in the distance to right up close in a startlingly short time. Having only ever seen the cars on TV previously, it was quite a spectacle.

On the television this sense of speed is totally destroyed by the fact that the camera zooms to keep the car occupying as much of the frame as possible. The result is an effectively stationary car with some blurry background whizzing by.

Of course this negative effect is offset by the innovation of the in-car camera which does convey the sense of speed very nicely.