End Of An Era.....

The time has come for us to bid adieu to the friendly and much warmer confines of the Chain O' Lakes complex and head north for the home opener. All of us had a chance to thank many of the fine folks that have worked in and around the complex during not only this pre-season, but many that have come before it. The ambiance of the older park, the older stands, and not-so new facilities, created a "feel" of another time when it was a grand park celebrating exhibition baseball. That now will have its place in history, and we venture forth to the Valley of the Sun next year.



The water tower in the city will stand proud with its image of Chief Wahoo painted on its side and visible for miles.

We added our own signage this year to show our support within the stadium as well!








We have seen much of the play on the field, so I wandered about on the last day attempting to snag the little reminders that dot the grounds speaking to fans or players about their whereabouts in the complex.







And how about some of the spots within the ballpark as well? A shot of the well-visited souvenir stand for one...and a look at the open air press box. This was the spot where the snake visited last year unexpectedly and made a friend of Paul Hoynes, the Plain Dealer beat reporter. You don't get that everywhere!






There is no doubt that the fans have expressed their thanks over the past month. The enthusiasm for the ball club seems just as much as ever as folks enjoyed games in the sun-drenched atmosphere of Florida.





So we leave for another season with our thanks to everyone for their help and consideration while we had the opportunity to work at Chain O' Lakes. The round dome that is at the front of the complex will always be a reminder of its location and what lays behind.




I had the chance to say goodbye myself after many years of travelling south to the complex. I hope to make a return trip sometime just to see how things are faring....but for now I am looking forward to the start of the season - now the games will count!

Opening day is here..summer is coming... Play Ball!!!

Squeeze Play....

The Indians played host to the New York Yankees in their second to last game from Chain O' Lakes Park in Winter Haven. The team was expecting a crowd in excess of 9,000 for a ballpark that normally will fit in around 6.000 or so baseball fans. In addition, the YES Network, the TV home of the Yankees, had selected this game to televise alongside the cameras of SportsTime Ohio. During the regular season, no problem...here in this cozy little ballpark.... a problem! We had to try and place cameras in duplicate positions down by the dugout, up in the stands and out in center field in a park where that sort of real estate is hard to come by easily.

Enter into the scene two members of the Indians organization that make things work at spring training camp - from the broadcast corner there is Alex Slemc, and from the sales side is Ryan Lantz. The task fell upon their shoulders to accommodate both telecasts, and the patrons entering the facility, while working with the team in the confines of this cozier park. Finding nooks and crannies to place cameras, cables, and microphones tested the limits of the available space and opened the door to some creative thinking on the part of the production folks to accomplish their ultimate broadcasting goals.

The cameras in the low positions were right next to each other as normal. But in this park, notice just how close to the stands they are...so close that the New York operator had to sit in the stands to operate his camera so his head would not be obstructing play. As tight as things seem to be here, the field is close to the fans offering them an intimate view of play on the field. That interaction has made this park a fan favorite.






You can see how close the operators are working in relation to the stands and each other. The trick in setting these low cameras was to make sure that the fans had unobstructed views. Ryan and Alex took great pains in planning the position of these cameras to insure the greatest amount of fan visibility. From the truck, both directors realized there would be some limitations but certainly wanted to work with the Tribe and joined in their efforts to make the cameras as inconspicuous as possible.


Meanwhile, over at the truck compound, things are a little tight. There is the basic amount of room for one TV remote unit - and now there are two. From this view looking up the street, not so bad.....









On closer inspection however, notice how close both units are to each other....and imagine the crews loading and unloading gear out of the "belly bays" during the setup period...

Indeed, it was tightly packed, but very workable, and everyone on both crews pitched in to make it so...





Our truck was the closest at the retaining wall as the expando portion folded out toward it away from the other truck...this greatly helped in the flow of traffic between the two units. As I mentioned it took a lot of coordination and our engineers from Lyon Video - Ed Shrider, Troy Flavian, and Tom Sacory - were up to the task.




And as part of our production team, taking time out of their morning while hard at work, are our producers for the 2008 season, Jim Murphy on the left, and Jeff Yakawiak on the right. Both lads have been working not only on the preseason games but the regular season as well....there is plenty to do!





So a big thanks from this corner to everyone involved...it was quite the day - oh and the Indians won....But it's only preseason you say......OK.....whatever.....we still beat the Yankees!

Free HD TV!!!!!....Step inside...

Now that I have your attention - Opening Day is coming from Progressive Field over the next week. And of course, if you do not have a ticket, you will want to catch all the action on WKYC or SportsTime Ohio to see all the action right in your living and have it right in your living room!

So what if you dont have the latest and greatest of TV's to view the game on...you have a chance to win one! I just wanted to take a quick second and promote STO's HD TV Giveaway! You can jump right in and register for your chance to pick up a great TV set and watch the 2008 championship season in HD!

So quit reading here......go......check it out and good luck!

Lights...Camera...Automobiles?

In the course of preparing for the season, we have to prepare not only for the action on the field, but for all of the graphics and other elements that we make a part of the show. Thanks to Greg Golya, who you may have seen earlier in the blog here, we can show a little more of the production-side of the business.

The goal was to complete shooting a final scene for the new open for our pregame show of 2008. It will be a part of the Northern Ohio Chrysler Jeep Indians On Deck Open. You will have the opportunity to see this prior to the start of every pregame show that airs on the network. The shot that was being worked on would be composited into a virtual environment which would include Indians highlights and 3D models of Chrysler and Jeep vehicles.

This shoot occurred at the beginning of March. There was a setup day to light and prepare the vehicles. To do this, you would need a rather large facility to house these vehicles. Off to Akron the production team went to Bruce Gates' Art Factory located on Grant Street. And the cars were not the only stars of the day - we added our own Matt Underwood and Rick Manning (who flew up from Florida whilst in the middle of their pre-season duties) and Al Pawloski, who serves as the host for the pre-game show.

The crew for the day consisted of the following folks:
Production Director, Steve Pullen
Director of Photography, David Litz
Greg Golya, Art Director
Gaffer, Danny Wollenberg
Key Grip, Keith Nickoson
Studio Owner and Still Photographer, Bruce Gates
Stylist, Julia McComb (soon to have her own gardening blog on cleveland.com)
Car Detailer, Doug Shaheen (owner of D.E.S. Auto Detailing Services 216-999-9090)

The grip truck arrived with a full load of gear. This includes lighting, electrical, and material used to shield the lighting during the shoot. Here is Danny in the process of unloading a lot of the gear which is taken to the staging area.

The cars have to look perfect on camera. Doug Shaheen is here to make sure that they have that luster for the camera.

Checking out the shot on the set are Steve Pullen and Dave Litz. It will be their job to make sure that the lighting is set for the exact spot the talent interacts with the vehicles. This turned out to be a 2 day shoot for just a small amount of footage which will eventually be used. It is time consuming, but the reward is to be found in the end product - and everyone will take a great deal of pride in their contribution for the shots!

Steve and Dave check a monitor below to make sure that the cars are lining up the way that they want before they are shot.

It's not all work on the set - the guys share a light moment as they prepare themselves for proper placement next to the appropriate vehicle.

Studio owner Bob Gates positions a car for yet another shot in the production.

Keith Nickoson adjusts one of the many flags on the set. These flags keep light from appearing in places on the cars that would cause a glare during the shooting process. Lighting these vehicles takes a long time and can be very difficult. Each small part of a light reflecting off one of the cars can cause a flare or a "hot spot", which means the team has to adjust even more to make sure the lighting is absolutely finished to perfection.

So there it is - just another part of the production that contributes to the look of the show. We are happy to add our new title sponsor for the pregame.....and like you, I cannot wait to see the final product airing during the season. Stay tuned!

To Uplink or Downlink?...That Is The Question....

Over time I have been asked by folks "How do you send the video back from various locations around the country?". Today, class is in session!

I had posted these pics before but wanted to show them again and talk about what we call an uplink truck. It is a portable unit that provides audio and video from a remote location. You can see from the dish on top of the truck that it can be programmed to be aimed toward the sky. The signal is sent toward space to one of many communication satellites that have been placed along the horizon. And over time, they have been developed for certain phone service and GPS navigation systems. We still use them for our work in television, but more and more we are relying on video fiber lines to provide us with delivery from the site to home base.

Now that's how the signal returns from Florida - and in our
case, to WKYC where our master control is located (we will have more on that later). From
there it is dispersed to your antenna, cable, or satellite services. So the thought for today is to think of how many connections we have from the beginning of the show we are producing to your
living room....depending on the path, it could be a few or many. Those are the real basics - but enough for you to know that when the slide on the screen says "Please Stand By - Technical Difficulties" there is a good chance we are working on the video signal!



The last part of the equation is the most important - the people that make this entire process work! We are fortunate to work with the best in that regard. To the engineering men and women from coast to coast that assist us with our signal - a very hearty thanks for all your help during the season. Without them, Indians baseball on the tube would not be possible.

More on this as the season progresses! Thanks for checking out the overview!

Out of the Truck and onto Wall Street

If you've ever been to a major league spring training camp, you notice there are lots of baseball players around. Not just major league ballplayers, but the entire minor league system as well. Currently, there are 56 players in the Indians' major league camp, trying to make the final big league roster. At the same time, there are over a hundred minor leaguers off on side fields working out and doing all the drills the big leaguers are doing, and one that really sticks out is Randy Newsom.



The 25-year-old Newsom wouldn't really stand out in a crowd at minor league camp, but his story does. Newsom, who pitched at Kinston (A) and Akron (AA) in 2007, began selling stock in his career before spring training began. That is correct, through the end of January, and one could purchase a share in his future big league earnings at the price of $20 per share, which would entitle the investor .0016 percent of Newsom's future major league earnings.



The idea is very interesting, so interesting it raised a red flag with Major League Baseball and the Player's Association and was tabled before Newsom reported to spring training in Winter Haven. But before Newsom closed the sales on his website RealSportsInvestments.com, he had sold approximately 1,800 shares of his career. The original limit was 2,500 shares with a cap of $50,000 is sales, so he sold over 70% of his stock before baseball intervened. And not to say the sales are done; Major League Baseball, the Players' Association and the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) are examines ways to make this happen that satisfies all parties. What could follow after that could become very interesting, with fans REALLY becoming fans of their favorite minor league prospects by purchasing stock in them.



Newsom is the first to try, and he is a very bright and well-spoken ballplayer. His stats are not bad either. The 6'2, 200-pound right-handed submariner went 4-2 with 2.80 ERA and 18 saves in 57 games, and made the Eastern League All-Star team. He's one of those interesting stories to follow throughout the season, but his Wall Street story may be even more interesting.

Winds of Winter Haven

If you watched the game today (The Indians 9-5 win over the Phillies), you noticed a lot of fly balls and pop ups dropping that normally would have been caught. The wind was blowing about 20 to 30 miles-per-hour at times, and the fielders were having all kinds of trouble figuring out where the ball was going to come down. Now I know those of you in Ohio do not feel too bad for the ballplayers, but those of us down here in Florida knew what obstacles the Indians and Phillies were going to face before the game started.

But all those of us could do in the truck was watch in wonder. While you were scratching your heads as to what was going on while watching on television, we were oohing and awing every time the ball went in the air in the truck. And I hope we did it justice. Every time a wind-blown ball dropped or was barely caught, we showed a replay. It's not that we were poking fun at any one player, it was just baseball. It's always a fine line to draw as to whether to show something simply for shock value, or as part of the game, but this was something that needed to be seen. The wind just added an element that normally is not a factor during a baseball game.

And of course, when the game was over, the wind stopped blowing. As we were leaving, I heard one player say "Oh sure, the wind stops blowing now." Such is life in windy Winter Haven.

Warm Air and Blue Skies......

Now that I have your attention Ohio - I just wanted to let you know that somehere in the world there is some nice weather - and that it will come your way eventually - so hang in there!

We were on a busman's holiday today - checking out the ballpark and actually watching the 2008 edition of the Cleveland Indians on the field. Our friends from ESPN were working the game and delivering the play by play for the country. Relax and enjoy some of the photos as the Tribe played the Mets on a windy but warm day here in Central Florida.

I know it is snowing and blowing and blustery, but take heart, it will soon be over.... I, for one, am glad we are down here covering the games in this beautifully balmy breeze with the heat beating down on us --- OK...enough of that -

but somebody has to do it!

Play Ball!

The time to think and plan is over - it is time to play ball! We made it to Winterhaven to broadcast the first of 8 games on SportsTime Ohio.....and from all understanding, we hit the south just quick enough! There was a great deal of severe weather and school closings on our opening day down here - so hopefully we were able to pass along some of the sunshine and pleasant surroundings back north to Ohio.

Our day here started a little after 6:00 AM as we began to setup for the game going "live" at 1:00 PM. The truck was in place and the crew was ready to go. For many of us, it was our first game of the season and everyone was in good humor. The cameras were taken out to the field, the audio cables were strung, and all the preparation for game number 1 were starting to pay off.

As we started, some pre-production was necessary - and Robert started the ball rolling.

The rest of the crew worked at their various positions around the ballpark by first running cable, and then setting up their cameras.

You can see here even one of the cameras has to be set up on the roof of the ballpark. We have some interesting views of the lake from this camera, as well as full coverage of the field. You just hope the wind is not blowing too hard up top. There is room for only one camera, and one operator....To move the camera up to the roof, it takes a ladder, a few hearty camera operators, and the ability to work in high places.

There is a great deal of team work in this business - lending a hand to assist makes the work a little bit easier and the setup a bit faster. We have traveled some of our own crew, but there are many folks that we hire here in Florida. Over the years it has afforded us the opportunity to make many new friends and renew those acquaintances as we travel from coast to coast.

We have a special affinity for the Florida crews because of the extra time that we have spent here during spring training. Our visits will be much shorter because of the few trips we take to play the Rays over in Tampa during the regular season. They will be missed in that regard, but we will still have the occasion to work, visit, and have a few laughs.

We have set out 6 cameras for these shows -
5 cameras in game type positions and a 6th
camera to move around through the crowd. In
a visual way, we try to capture the feeling of

being in the crowd down here in Winterhaven.

So we are ready to roll - let's take a bird's eye view of the compund that we are working in next to the ballpark.

The city folks here have carved out a concrete pad on the side of the hill where the remote truck and uplink truck can park.

Imagine that being muddy grass at one time ---- it was!

The uplink truck is pointed to a satellite to beam
the games back to STO headquarters. These
trucks are very portable and can travel to many remote locations. WKYC provides the uplink facilities for not only the games but other baseball programming coming from Winterhaven. This truck will be in Florida for about 6 weeks before it begins the trek back to Cleveland.

The two vehicles are placed close together, if possible, so that audio and video cables passing from the truck can be connected to the satellite truck. There is so much coordination that has to occur between field, truck, and uplink....and it is then sent out "live" and on the air!

That is a quick look at our start here for the spring season. There will be more to come - so stay tuned!