yerfatma: Also, if it turns out Indy was pumping crowd noise in, what will you say about those cheaters? Greg Aiello from the NFL says (to 'EEI) that they are investigating whether the questionable crowd noise was a CBS problem or Indy broadcasting noise.
Wow- I'm glad to see someone posted that, because two friends and I were watching that game live, and not only noticed the skipping sound, but the fact that the announcers kept talking right through it. So it wasn't the whole feed that skipped, it was just the crowd noise- and it sounded like a CD skipping more than a feedback loop or a computer problem (
it'd be hard for the sound file of crowd noise to skip, since it'd be small enough to be entirely in memory on a computer). At the time, I simply said "Well, I'm sure it's that the mic that picks up crowd noise runs through a different system on its way to the CBS feed than the one the announcers themselves are on." It's not like the announcers would have heard that skipping sound- they've got their headphones on for hearing their own voices, with all the other stuff filtered out.
bperk: Okay, I'm skeptical about the crowd noise thing. Not that I think that any team is above it, but because it went from really loud to completely silent. I doubt the dome could ever be that quiet, especially during a play like that.
And that was also weird- both then, and at other points in the game, there was a sudden shift in crowd noise. However, the announcers- who again I don't think hear what we in the TV audience hear- did comment on the crowd being "well-trained", and mostly making noise during the Patriots' possessions. So sudden drops in crowd noise might be explainable by a crowd that largely understands how to use sound. In any event, I'm not sure it should be a big deal even if they were piping in crowd noise. I think home teams should have a right to use every advantage that doesn't directly affect play- i.e., you can't swap out rigged footballs or have uprights that are narrower at one end of the field, but having piped in fan noise seems more of a gray area. On the one hand, noise is a distraction if the opposing team can't hear audibles while your fans are "eerily quiet" while you're taking snaps, but on the other hand... it's just noise. The 12th man and its noisiness has always been an advantage, and piping in sound wouldn't actually be much different than having a better trained home crowd than most.
For the record, the next time some hayseed reporter tries to make crop quota via the "Our headsets didn't work at Foxboro", it happens in other places too. And the Steelers accused the Colts of pumping in crowd noise in 2005.
But, wait. If we've already established that the Pats are the very embodyment of evil in the NFL, and the Colts are the football equivalent of Mother Theresa, what happens if that audio is really a Colts' stadium blunder? That would mean that watching those two teams play is the equivalent of a Clubber Lang vs Ivan Drago fight. Nice! Dungy says "You shoulda never come back, fool!" to which Belechick responds, "I must break you." Then there's a training montage...
Mother Theresa could never convert on third down. Just sayin'.
Mother Theresa could never convert on third down. Just sayin'. No, but she was the best at Hail Mary and Kneel Down plays.
CBS says the crowd noise was their audio glitch.
Mother Theresa could never convert on third down. Well, her line never was too much to look at. (too far?)
rcade, it would appear the machine that spat a hairball during CBS' broadcast is used expressly for the purpose of adding canned crowd noise to quiet bits. No perma-link, but it's currently the top item on the page.
