While you do that, let's check out what the networks are up to this season…
What I want from network game chrome:
possession
score
game progress (i.e. where the game is at the moment)
time outs remaining
Not everyone delivers all of these, but the key is not making the viewer work to understand game information.
FOX have fully abandoned the full-width game info bar and: I'm a fan.
Their info box lives in the upper left corner, out of the way of the majority of the action on the field and it has everything! Plus the bar with the current down swaps out to yellow or red when flags are thrown. It's my favorite of the NFL game presentations.
CBS are committed to their single line across the top and in fact, it hasn't changed a bit in the last 3 seasons. I still wish the possession indicator were more than a bullet which can get lost in a quick glance, but it's there. Still good.
Oh, NBC. Acceptable, but the lack of possession indicator makes me a little nuts. That on-the-field down notice is gone once the ball's snapped, so after that the chrome is unreliable. Whomp whomp. (Is the background behind the down notice on the right the possession indicator? Not good enough.)
ESPN used to have a kind of possession indicator--team-colored bars around the down notice--but that is gone-zo. Still good, feels a little bit lifeless this season.
NFL Network play around with their game chrome the most of all the networks. A few years ago, their presentation was, well, it was boring. Too small, too hard to read, meh. And placed in the center at the top? Please, no.
Last year's presentation was a little cheeky, but information-wise it was fabulous. The 2012 version is pretty good, although the possession indicator is easily missed--all tiny as it is.
Over in college ball, I think the PAC12 network has the best chrome.
Look at that!
The time out indicators could have better contrast, but still. Even if you miss the arrow next to the score, the down notice lives under the team with the ball: it moves, it's active. Love it.
Bonus points for the chrome container echoing the shape of the PAC12 badge. Extra bonus points for the play clock at all times and not only when it's 5 seconds or fewer.
Overall, FOX have edged out CBS as my current favorite presentation (sure, they have that dopey robot, but they don't have Phil Simms or Cris Collinsworth, so… I'll take it) and none of them are actively unreadable, which is great.
I hope more of the networks start to experiment like NFL Network, but until they do, we can at least poke fun at the goofy holiday augmentations… (:
But asking why rappers always talk about their stuff is like asking why Milton is forever listing the attributes of heavenly armies. Because boasting is a formal condition of the epic form.
The House That Hova Built, Zadie Smith for the NYT (via kottke)
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