Revisiting the Gonzaga-Santa Clara Camera Dilema

Since it’s been lingering in my head, I'd like to offer a quick lunch-hour update on my point yesterday about the odd camera angles for Gonzaga-Santa Clara. My buddy Dez left a comment below explaining this, and others have also told me that the center court camera spot does exist (and indeed, was in use at the start of last night’s game), but that the jumping up and down of the Santa Clara student section makes it impossible to keep the camera stable. Thus, the result is a shaky, nauseating shot of the court. Three more points, then, given this new info:

1) Oversized high school gym or not, I still think it’s cool that the Santa Clara students get so excited that they wreak that kind of havoc on the structure. Now those are real fans!

2) Okay, so maybe a resting spot for the camera was always ready to go at half-court and the design of the arena did at least attempt to accommodate TV cameras. Nonetheless, I go back to the fact that a renovation took place just over five years ago. Wouldn’t a key to the renovation be making sure that the one area that will be most relied upon in order to transmit games to the outside world is stable enough to keep a camera stationary? Either this was neglected, or the engineering world isn’t as advanced as I’d always thought.

3) What a night it would have been to be camera guy #2 at the game. I’m imagining a moment early in the game where he hears something in his headphones like “Yeah, Phil--Bob’s camera at halfcourt just isn’t going to work tonight, so we’re going to have to use you for full court coverage for the rest of the night. So be on your toes.” Then Phil the cameraman gets a big grin on his face, thinks “This is it–it’s my big break,” and takes aim at artfully covering the game from his strange angle, in hopes of dazzling his bosses into moving him up to half court for the rest of the season. Of at least that’s how I imagine it happening.

And now we can put this issue to rest.