THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120031
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 71 lines
SO, HOW DID you hockey nuts out there like FoxTrax, the system that is supposed to make a fast-moving puck easier to see on television?
Did it help you enjoy the Stanley Cup playoffs, swept by Colorado in a three-overtime final Monday night?
When it comes to hockey on TV, the swift skating, fierce body checking and heroic goaltending are great to behold.
Heroic, indeed. In the Game 4 clincher, the Colorado goaltender withstood a 63-shot fusillade. Give that man a Purple Heart.
Even in an exciting, three-overtime final, there's a problem with hockey on TV. You don't have to tell the president of Fox Sports what it is. The man knows.
``I am well aware that the puck is difficult to follow,'' said David Hill when he talked to TV reporters not long ago.
``FoxTrax eliminates the problem of the hard-to-see puck. It also helps us attract new fans to hockey including young viewers.''
Yes, FoxTrax makes it easier to find the puck. But there is a price to pay for the innovation. FoxTrax drives me nuts. I love it. I hate it.
Assuming that millions of Americans don't watch hockey on TV because the puck appears as small as a raisin in a blizzard, Fox Sports created an electronic tracking system for the puck. This system generates a blue glow around the puck as it's sent whistling down the ice at about 90 miles an hour.
The puck also has a comet's tail.
This enhancement is generally used when the puck is headed for the nets. The glowing tail helps the viewer pick up the puck before it disappears into the net or a goaltender bats it away.
(Fox Sports, ever the innovator, created the FoxBox for its National Football League coverage, giving viewers the score and time left to play at a glance. It's widely imitated. Fox uses a similar display in its Major League Baseball coverage.)
I consider the FoxTrax comet tail a worthwhile innovation but not the blue highlighing. The blue halo helps you find the puck. That's good. This glow, at times, is all over the screen. That's bad.
The producers of the Fox telecasts have a devil of a time picking up the puck and framing it in the blue halo. At times, the halo obscures the skating.
And all too often, the glow never catches up with the puck. The speed of an average slap shot is between 85 and 95 miles an hour.
``Purists have said take it off, take it off, take it off,'' said a spokesman for Fox Sports. ``They don't want anything like FoxTrax to invade their sport.''
The Fox spokesman insists that the purists are in the minority. Seven out of 10 viewers said they like FoxTrax, according to a Fox Sports survey. FoxTrax will likely be back next season.
While Fox used the high-tech approach to covering hockey, ESPN left viewers to keep track of the puck on their own. ESPN's coverage of the triple-overtime clincher was crisp and thorough. Good job.
You may have wondered how this system works. I'll explain.
It starts with the puck, which is sliced in half and hollowed out just enough to make room for a small circuit board with 20 infrared emitters on it. The board, about the size of a silver dollar, has a battery on it. When the FoxTrax in the puck is activated electronically, it sends signals to sensors in the arena, TV cameras and a computer system which enables producers to measure the puck's speed and give it color. Fox said the electronics add less than one-hundredth of a gram to the puck's weight.
Once the puck's halves are glued together with epoxy, the puck is as strong as ever. Trouble is, the battery lasts for only about 10 minutes. Fox prepares up to 50 pucks for each playoff game.
So, what do you think? Did all this make watching hockey on TV easier? Or is FoxTrax a silly gimmick that gets in the way of the action on the ice?
How do you like the FoxTrax translucent glow and comet tail? Call me on Infoline (640-5555, press 2486). by CNB