Many are not behind the idea of this angle
CBS changed the way we view professional football Saturday night, employing its "Cable Cam" to give us repeated shots of live plays from the "end zone perspective" during the Titans-Patriots divisional playoff game at Gillette Stadium. Artistically, the shots were a success. Practically, they were way too much of a change for the vast majority of viewers, who are used to watching football -- which is linear in nature -- from a camera angle that normally gives them "a seat on the 50-yard line."
The complaint basket overflowed yesterday. Here are the distilled feelings of e-mailers Bob, Reid, Steve, Thomas, John, Rich, Andy, Ken, and Vincent.
They found the angle "disorienting."
"It went totally against the frame of reference we've built up as viewers over the years."
"It took the `1st & 10 line' -- the single greatest advance in football viewing -- out of play on those shots."
"Football truly is a telegenic game, and TV has perfected the magic formula of covering it over the past 40 years. It seems risky at best to change that magic formula."
"It seems that this experimenting would be better in a preseason game."
Personally, this viewer loved the angle, marveling at how fast the plays unfolded and how quickly the quarterbacks must react and their view of receivers running downfield.
Watching the kicking game -- punts, kickoffs, and especially field goals -- gave an interesting perspective on the game, especially in high definition, which puts a significantly larger part of the field in focus.
However, the feedback from viewerland was practically unanimous in hating the shots, especially on live plays, though it's usually the upset viewers, not the happy ones, who sound off.
The camera in question is suspended on cables over the field behind the quarterback and shows the play unfolding from the referee's perspective. ESPN, ABC, and Fox all have used the shots regularly this season, but almost exclusively on replays.
From another e-mailer, former Boston sportswriter Gil Peters: "Saturday night's telecast takes the booby prize for the worst camera work of an NFL game I've ever seen. It looked as if a freshman at Emerson was directing the shots. The decision to continually use that long shot from behind the offensive line of scrimmage was horrendous. I couldn't tell if a running play gained 2 or 22 yards, whether a pass was completed, or if a kick ever made it downfield. And the field goal attempts from that angle all looked as if they were being kicked from 200 yards out. In a word, Blech! The only thing positive I can say about the telecast is that it allowed us to stay warm during the game."
CBS, however, liked the change of perspective.
"The camera takes you someplace no one else can be," said Larry Cavolina, lead game director and coordinating director for CBS's NFL coverage. He was in Foxborough directing -- that is, calling the camera shots -- for the Patriots-Titans Saturday night. "You see what the quarterback sees and how quickly the play unfolds and decisions are made."
He also warns viewers, "you're going to see a lot of it the next two games [AFC Championship and Super Bowl] because we'll have it at both games. Give it a chance and look for all the things you don't usually see. My suspicion is that most viewers will grow to love it."
However, he also knows, "You can't please all of the people all of the time."
Saturday night, it seems CBS didn't even come close.
Sky high at 'EEI
There was serious celebrating by the WEEI radio staffers Friday night after getting the news that they had an exceptional fall ratings book, ranking No. 1 among the station's target male 25-54 audience overall and in all parts of the day.
"It was the most successful ratings book in the station's history," said program director Jason Wolfe. "The Red Sox bring an incredible audience to the station but their season ended just two weeks into the book. We held on to a majority of that audience and carried it through the day."
In Wolfe's view, the numbers that reflect the season's strength among its target audience were in comparing overall numbers from last fall and this.
A year ago, the station ranked No. 1 in its target male demo with a 7.5 share and a cumulative audience of 187,000 listeners. This fall, those numbers rose to 9.7 and 230,000.
"It's been a consistently upward trend," he said.
This marked the first time that the morning "Dennis & Callahan" show has ranked No. 1 among males. It posted an 8.9 share, outpacing Howard Stern on WBCN-FM (8.7) for the first time and also topping news-oriented WBZ (7.7) in that demographic.
"We're particularly excited as this is the culmination of years of hard work," said Wolfe, who made the decision to replace "Imus in the Morning" with John Dennis and Gerry Callahan in 1999. "When they took over morning drive, they ranked No. 8, and they trailed by a 3-1 margin."
The midday "Dale and Neumy" show had a 10.6 share, 3 points better than No. 2 WZLX (100.7 FM). In afternoon drive, "The Big Show" with Glenn Ordway was No. 1 with a 12.2, 5 share points ahead of talk on sister station WRKO (680 AM), and also was No. 1 among men and women in the 25-54 demographic. At night, Ted Sarandis retained the No. 1 position with a 9.9 share.
"Yes, we own the sports brand, but our talent proves day-in and day-out that we can compete across the board for the attention of all male radio listeners in the market," said Wolfe.
Third man in Danny Ainge, who did color commentary on NBA broadcasts for TNT [mostly with Kevin Harlan and John Thompson] before becoming the Celtics' executive director of basketball operations, will sit in with Mike Gorman and Tom Heinsohn during the second quarter of tomorrow night's Celtics-Rockets rematch on FSNE (7 p.m.) . . . Sunday's Celtics-Spurs game will be an ABC telecast (Channel 5, 12:30 p.m.) that goes against Patriots pregame programming on Channel 4 (noon-2 p.m.). Brent Musburger, Sean Elliott, and Dan Majerle will call the basketball action . . . FSNE has begun closed-captioning all its Celtics telecasts . . . Longtime local track coach and fan Dave Dunsky on ESPN's announcement that it was planning to do an original movie "Four Minutes" on Roger Bannister's 1953 assault on the mile record: "It'll be a short movie. Tell ESPN he ran his 3:59.4, the first sub-four-minute mile, the next year, on May 6, 1954." . . . Globe colleague Kevin Paul Dupont noted, "CBS should have included the temperature in its time and score box Saturday night." The network passed on that, but did show a decibel level during Sunday's Chiefs-Colts game . . . Saturday night's Patriots rating was adjusted upward to a 42.2, reflecting an 8:15 start time. It moves the game to No. 9 on the team's Top 10 ratings list. Predictably, the game trailed the Patriots' three Super Bowl appearances, three AFC Championship games, and a divisional playoff. The only regular-season game higher on the list was last month's "Snow Bowl II" vs. Miami Dec. 7, which is No. 7 with a 43.8 rating. The Patriots' all-time highest rating was for the Feb. 3, 2002 Super Bowl vs. the Rams on Channel 25 -- a 56. Those wondering why Saturday night's ratings weren't higher needed only look around. Most people either watched in groups at house parties or out in pubs, which cuts down the rating numbers . . . Channel 4's "Patriots Game Day" did a 4.3 from 7-7:30 Saturday night, going up against Channel 5's "Patriots All Access," which did a 4.2 from 7-8. However, in the half-hour they were head-to-head, Channel 5 had a 4.5 to Channel 4's 4.2 . . . The CBS technical crew caught a break when the Patriots won, saving almost four days' of work by being able to leave everything in place for Sunday's Colts-Patriots AFC title game (Channel 4, 3 p.m.) . . . NESN taped its "Red Sox Inside Out" with host Bob Rodgers and the Globe's Gordon Edes at last night's Baseball Writers' Dinner. The show will air tonight at 10 . . . Thursday's "Sportsplus" (NESN at 10 p.m. following Bruins-Sabres) will have Globe staffers Bob Ryan and Ron Borges joining host Bob Lobel to talk -- what else? -- Patriots.
Bill Griffith's email address is griffith@globe.com.
