Some Olympics announcers calling games from New York

from the new york times

New York-Based Crews Just Call It as They See It
By RICHARD SANDOMIR

On the temporarily vacated set of NBC?s ?Saturday Night Live,? where
John Belushi and Will Ferrell once roamed wild, the Summer Olympics
are being called.

The announcers are at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, nearly 7,000 miles from
Beijing, sitting inside 14-foot-wide booths that are equipped with
24-inch HD monitors and headsets that pipe in the ambient sounds from
the game sites in China. Every bit of 13 sports, and some of
basketball, is called in this fashion on MSNBC, USA and CNBC.

The announcers never see anything more than what the viewers see.

There is no deception afoot here. The announcers make it clear that
they are in New York, as do the studio hosts Bill Patrick, Melissa
Stark and Matt Vasgersian, who is taking a break from the dismal
fortunes of his usual employer, the San Diego Padres.

This sportscasting from afar is an odd yet modern spin on the nearly
ancient practice of baseball games called by radio announcers who read
off ticker tape. Games are supposed to be called from arenas and
stadiums, not in booths far from the action.

But NBC?s arrangement is not unique. ESPN has shown World Cup games
that were being called by announcers at its Bristol, Conn.,
headquarters, and NBC called some Olympic events in Athens off
monitors at the international broadcast center. The New York Times
sometimes blogs about live events from its offices.

But an agreement by NBC in 2003 with the International Olympic
Committee to cut the size of its Olympic contingent, combined with the
technology to send all high definition signals from Beijing, led to
the Studio 8H operation.

So, live from New York, it?s archery, badminton, baseball, equestrian,
fencing, field hockey, handball, shooting, soccer, softball, table
tennis, tennis and weight lifting (none of which matters a whole lot
to NBC?s prime-time strategy).

On Wednesday around dawn, Studio 8H was quiet because all the noise
was inside the black booths. Barry MacKay and Jimmy Arias were calling
tennis. Eric Collins and Joe Magrane were describing the United
States-South Korea baseball game. J. P. Dellacamera and Marcelo Balboa
were calling the United States-Nigeria men?s soccer game.

?For a former soccer player, it?s difficult to do this off a monitor,?
Balboa, who played in three World Cups, said during halftime of
Nigeria?s 2-1 victory. ?You can?t see plays developing. You want to be
where everyone is screaming.?

Dellacamera said he didn?t feel that much was lost by not being in
Beijing.

?The natural sounds makes you feel like you?re there and the pictures
are great,? he said. ?If you?re not there, you have a different focus.
At the stadium, you?re seeing different things, things your audience
can?t see.?

There?s no formality in this set-up. There are no stand-ups in front
of camera.

At game?s end, Balboa, dressed in a hoodie and baggy jeans, rushed to
the nearby set to be interviewed by Vasgersian, the USA network?s
host. Balboa wondered what prompted defender Michael Orozco to elbow a
Nigerian player, earning an ejection that left the United States
short-handed for most of the game. The Americans were eliminated. ?The
referee was right there!? Balboa said excitedly. ?One silly mistake.?

Vasgersian ended the short interview by telling Balboa, ?Go back to
your box.?

As Balboa left to cool down for another game, he passed the room where
Brandi Chastain, another analyst who works from a sound-proofed box,
was getting her hair done.

Chastain said that she also had just called a game in which a player
received a red card. ?You couldn?t feel the intent of the player who
got it,? she said of watching from a studio perch. ?But in terms of
seeing the game and getting replays, it?s just as well that we?re
here. But you do miss a lot of atmosphere.?

In the baseball box, Magrane and Collins were hamstrung by the limited
camera work of the world broadcaster, which would have been balanced
if they were at the ballpark.

?You?re not seeing the defensive alignments,? said Magrane, an analyst
for the Tampa Bay Rays. (Runners taking leads were not regularly seen,
either.) He added: ?Subtle, game-within-a-game elements we?re not
seeing. I instinctively hit the talk-back button a few times to ask to
see some pitches, but we don?t have any control of that.?

Weight lifting presented an easier task for NBC?s Shane Hamman, a
two-time Olympian, and Pete Pranica; they could call this sport in
their pajamas from a hotel room.

There isn?t much production subtlety about capturing a heavily muscled
man or woman lifting a barbell: one camera, maybe two, will do it.

A separate part of the New York operation oversees the editing of
events into on-demand, streaming video packages for NBCOlympics.com.
One replay stands out: an all-underwater recapitulation of the men?s
4x100-meter freestyle relay that Jason Lezak won with an astonishing
final leg and preserved Michael Phelps?s pursuit of eight golds.

It reimagines the race from the view of the swimmers? feet and is
augmented by the sound of pool walls being hit. ?This is what is not
done on TV,? said Kevin Landy, coordinating producer of NBC?s At Home
Highlights Factory, ?and what you can do on dotcom.?
.