Sunday, September 23, 2007

Ooh, Technology

For the last couple years, I’ve been subscribing to NFL.com’s “Field Pass,” which lets me listen to Pittsburgh radio broadcasts of Steelers’ games. Although I really miss the colorful color commentary of legendary broadcaster Myron Cope, who retired the year before last, I still heartily enjoy the “homer” stylings of Tunch Ilkin and Bill Hillgrove, who report the games in an unabashedly Pittsburgh-biased way.

Occasionally during the time I’ve had this service, the Steelers game will be broadcast on TV and when that’s the case, I have always turned down the television in favor of the sound coming through my computer. But because of the way the RealAudio is formatted and processed, I suppose, it is delayed about five seconds from the images being broadcast over the airwaves. I haven’t minded this really; in fact, there’s something to be said for getting the verbal descriptions of the plays a bit after you see them; there’s this confirmation effect where your visual experience is verified by the audio; and when the Steelers do something good, you get to enjoy it twice.

Still, it’s a bit weird to have the split and I’ve wondered if it might be possible to create a work-around in order to synch them up.

Enter EyeTV, this system we have set up on the iMac that lets us use the computer as a television monitor, but because it digitizes the image, you can delay it up to something like two minutes. What I’ve been able to do this morning, therefore, is pretty much synch up the sound and vision, giving me the experience of being in Pittsburgh watching the game on local TV.

What’s weird, though, is that I know I’m looking into the past as I watch the game. What I’m wondering about, therefore, is whether my gameday rituals to ensure the Steelers’ victory will still work.

In the third quarter, they’re up 17-6 on the 49ers, though, so, so far, so good.

1 Comments:

Blogger Deb's Lunch said...

Whoa, man, takes my brother the philosopher to worry about this one - and who says your rituals ever worked anyways?

And, since Rolling Rock is now brewed in St. Louis, and not Latrobe, what does that do?? Maybe you should drink Sam Adams? I heard that was brewed for awhile in the 'burgh at the old Iron City Brewery, but looks like they may be back to making Iron Shitty again ...

2:23 PM  

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