

The sports footage you won't see on TV this Thanksgiving - brownie
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577015903150731054.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

======
keeptrying
You can figure out whats happening on the field just from what they show on
TV. I wrote an answer on quora on how to do this:

What I enjoy in a football game is understanding the strategy thats being
carried out and the efficiency of execution on every play. I've broken down a
list of positions/schemes/plays to look for below.

The following applies when watching a regular play from scrimmage - ie one
that will be either a run or a pass.

_The offense_

1\. First pick out the number of tight ends and their position on the
offensive line. This will tell you what base formation the offense is
"telegraphing" to the defense. 2 or more tight ends implies that the offense
is showing "run" unless its the damn Patriots of 2010.

2\. Look at where the running backs are - the full back and the half back.
This along with the above, will give you an idea of whether the offense is
hedging towards a run or a pass. If they are in line, in front of the QB then
you can safely assume a pass or trick play.

3\. Next the formation of the wide recievers. Are they split, with a slot or
are they bunched on one side.

_The defense_

1\. Due to camera angles you wont be able to see some of the players on the
defense. But its okay because you can workout where they would be (except for
how deep they are playing) based on the offensive formation.

2\. The rectangular area in front of the offensive line is called "the box".
This is where the running back is expected to try to make a run. Count the
number of players in the box. A fast way is to group the players in 3s going
from bottom edge of the offensive line to the top.

The number of players in the box will tell you what the defense is showing the
offense. If the number of players is >=8 then the defense is expecting a run.

Using the following formula, you'll be able to figure out the number of
safeties.

Number of safeties = 11 - (the number of players in the box + the number of
wider receivers on offense )

_Position of the safeties_

* 2 Safeties

If you've figured out there are two safeties then this implies that the
defense is looking to take away big passing plays but give up the middle of
the field. This will usually be a cover-2 formation or a derivative. If you
see that a line-backer is cheating towards the safeties then you know its
tampa-2.

* 1 Safety

If there's only one single safety then this usually means that the defense is
being aggressive, ie they want to blitz, or are showing that they are
expecting a run.

_Blitz_

If the number of players on the line of scrimmage for the defense outnumbers
the number of players on the offensive and in the vicinity of the QB then this
implies the defense is showing a blitz. Picking out the blitzing player is a
lot of fun when watching the Jets, Eagles or Ravens play.

Player in motion

On a passing play, most teams will use the player in motion to figure out if
the defense is in zone or man coverage. (They are mostly always in zones but
do use man coverage to shake things up.)

So as the offensive player in motion moves, watch who covers him. Does he get
handed off from one player to another on the defense or does the same
defensive player follow him as he moves from one side of the field to the
next. If the same player moves to cover the man in motion then it usually
implies that the defense is playing a man-coverage. If the man in motion is
handed off between players then this usually implies a zone.

Of course there could be special cases in which the defense chooses man/zone
depending on which player is in motion at the time of the snap.

_Exercises_

How do you know if your seeing/understanding enough of the action:

1\. On regular plays you should be able to see the "hold penalty" at the same
time as it happens and before the commentator explains it on TV.

2\. You should be able to call some percentage of the plays as you get
familiar with understanding the strategy your team plays as well as the play
callers idiosyncrasies and the players who get the most attention on the team.

3\. Figure out if the defense is in a zone or man coverage. This will take a
while because most defenses dont run a scheme which is instantly recognizable.

As you enjoy more aspects of the game, you'll realize the true brilliance of
Peyton Manning, the genius of Rex Ryan and you'll be baffled by how precise
these NFL plays are.

These are the basics and there is so much more happening on the field. If you
have any questions then please ask them here and I'll update this answer.

~~~
mechanical_fish
This is excellent.

Here's a question: Where can I buy the equivalent of _this post_ , but in
video form with actual illustrative game footage?

I've wanted to see that for some time. Want it for every sport on earth,
really.

I've thought about trying to watch a bunch of coaching videos for my sport of
choice, but was never sure it would help. They aren't designed for me. I don't
need to know how to think like an above-average high-school coach or player; I
want to admire the work of top-level pros.

~~~
bokonist
If you have an xbox or playstation buy Madden and try learning to play the
game it a bit. The formations, plays, and strategy are pretty much all real.
You'll learn about different formations, routes, zone defense, etc.

~~~
kingnothing
Agreed. I really didn't understand football much at all until I started
playing Madden with a group of friends. They helped me out in the beginning by
answering questions like "why are there two different colored lines for the QB
routes?" (it's an option play). By learning the game of Madden, I learned the
game of football and now have an appreciation for the sport.

~~~
mechanical_fish
Interesting that this didn't occur to me. An artifact of being just a little
too old, I think. (In the Atari 2600 days one did _not_ play sports games for
the knowledge...)

What's sad is that I read a whole article about how much hard work it is for
sports-game programmers to get all this stuff perfect and I still didn't get
it until now!

Many thanks. Madden it is. ;)

------
loso
I have always been a football fan but when I was in college I lived in the
Football dorm and it changed how I saw the game forever. (Back story, I lived
in those dorms because I'm a big guy and the coach wanted me to play for the
team. I told him yeah because I noticed that at registration all of the
Football players were able to skip in line. I never did play because I loved
Basketball more than Football at the time).

Anyway, when you live around Football players 24/7 you start to learn facets
of the game that you never knew about. You learn what every position is doing
on every play and why they are doing it.Now when I watch Football it is more
like a game of chess than a brutal grudge match. The real excitement in the
game comes from watching the linemen and not the skilled positions.

On another side note, you would think that all of this football knowledge
would help actual players when playing Madden (That was all that was played in
those dorms. Hours and hours of Madden). It does but only to a certain extent.
Football players take Madden too literally and try to play it as a simulation.
They forget the video game part. I would use that to my advantage all of the
time.

~~~
nkassis
There a few things that are starting to bleed from the madden into the real
life game. Time management is one of them. I can't remember who it was but a
few years ago a player was running for the ends zone and had a huge lead on
the defense, 1 yard from the end zone he started running sideways draining as
much clock as possible, assuring no come back from the opposite team.

I saw I believe Leon Washington for the Jaguars pull a similar stunt once, the
D seemed to be giving him a free TD at the end of the game but he preferred to
just take a knee right before the end zone. With the new Canadian Football
rule requiring contact to end the play the D lost a few seconds not reacting
fast enough (first year it was implemented I believe) thinking he was down.

The game is also teaching much better strategy to players, getting them to
understand more than their position.

~~~
adestefan
It was Brian Westbrook for the Eagles on Dec 1, 2007. He actually just dropped
at the 1 because the Cowboys had no timeouts left and the game was effectively
over with a 1st down. I believe in the post game interview he acknowledged
that he did it because that's how he wastes the opponents time in Madden
games.

Maurice Jones-Drew did the same thing in 2009 against the Jets.

------
flyt
Here's the NFL survey asking fans if they would like access to this footage
for a fee: <https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9FXQC3D>

In case it gets pulled, here's the attached image:
<http://cl.ly/3e1m1b0x1L410V0I1i0h>

The poll says "The NFL is evaluating an online streaming product providing
consumers with exclusive Coaches Film footage of all 22 players on the field
for every play and game."

The whole survey: <http://cl.ly/1Q3R0h1L161b3J1a2J3u>

------
bumbledraven
Good article on the subject in Slate, from 2007: "The NFL's Perplexing Refusal
To Help Fans Understand the Game"

[http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/features/200...](http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/features/2007/how_to_watch_pro_football/the_nfls_perplexing_refusal_to_help_fans_understand_the_game.html)

A bit more from Football Outsiders:
[http://www.footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2006/too-
deep-z...](http://www.footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2006/too-deep-zone-
big-jaworski)

------
mechanical_fish
I used to watch NHL hockey when I was a kid. Then I started going to college
hockey games, and that was great, but a terrible side effect is that I've
never been able to enjoy TV hockey in quite the same way. Those players off
the screen are _really important_.

The advent of HDTV has done a lot to fix this for hockey, where the rink is
not so huge. But it would be awesome to have full-field perspective on
football.

~~~
adestefan
I agree that most sports are better live. The problem is that NFL games have
so many TV timeouts now that watching NFL games live gets _boring_. There is
so much downtime, that it's not worth the $100+ for a ticket anymore.

~~~
w1ntermute
You can get around this pretty easily by just using a DVR and starting the
game about halfway through. Fast forward through the commercials/breaks and
you'll progressively catch up as the game goes on, and hopefully finish at
about the same time.

The only major issue with this is if you have friends watching separately who
regularly text you about occurences in the game as it's going on. You'll also
have to make sure you don't look at any NFL websites during the game.

------
josephcooney
What's the reason for keeping the footage out of the public's hands?
"Proprietary NFL coaching information" doesn't really explain it. Are the NFL
making money off the teams by cutting them a special deal of All-22 footage of
their own games, and opponents?

~~~
curiouskat
The NFL's lawyers stated the NFL competes in the "entertainment marketplace"
([http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?renderfor...](http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?renderforprint=1&id=e655f9e2809e5476862f735da11d017d&wit_id=e655f9e2809e5476862f735da11d017d-1-2))
and operates as a single entity, not as 32 teams. The NFL makes a large
portion of its revenue from television, and ratings are higher on close,
competitive games.

What prevents owners from keeping the games close or trading wins/losses now
to help a storyline in exchange for markers for future wins when they're on a
championship track?

While it is illegal to fix sporting events for gambling purposes, evidently
you can fix sports for entertainment purposes. The All 22 footage would make
this more difficult because this type of stuff would be easier for fans to
detect.

~~~
matwood
The _only_ way the NFL could hope to come anywhere near fixing a game is the
either a) change the rules to benefit certain team makesup (as they have done
to make passing/scoring easier) or b) get the refs to call fouls more against
a certain team.

b) is watched frequently and doesn't seem to be happening statistically a) has
occurred but it's not secret and all teams know the rules. It's not really
'fixing' as much as it was the NFL wanting more scoring overall.

There is no way for the NFL to do mass game fixing because that's just too
many people that have to agree to doing it. Keep in mind this means they would
need current players, ex-players and the ex _disgruntled_ players too all
agree to not talk. I've talked to players from all 3 groups at the gym and
fixing a game is simply something that doesn't happen. Some of these guys are
very negative on the NFL and would have loved to say it's fake if it was true.

~~~
curiouskat
All you need is the coach calling the plays and one high-paid player to have a
bad day, like the quarterback. "Any given Sunday," right?

------
ja2ke
If college or Canadian football started doing it and fans responded extremely
positively and started asking for/expecting it elsewhere, that could force the
NFL's hand a bit. The XFL's crazy wire camera rigs almost immediately made
their way into the NFL, so there's at least a little precedent.

~~~
philwelch
Conversely, if the NFL released this footage, competing leagues could analyze
NFL tactics and raise their level of play. So it really is a competitive
advantage.

------
ghshephard
Seems like there's an opportunity here - how difficult would it be for a fan
to video / stream the "all-22" from high angle (read nosebleed) seats? I've
brought my Laptop and SLR into football and baseball games (Oakland), so they
aren't that strict about allowing media/comms equipment in.

~~~
babar
I am pretty sure the NFL would shut down any distribution very quickly - not
sure how much of an opportunity there is if it blatantly violates someone's IP
rights. What I don't understand is why the NFL wouldn't use it to generate
more revenue. Do they really think the criticism would be any worse than it is
today with 24/7 sports talk and online message boards? Why not have the
criticism be more grounded in reality?

~~~
ghshephard
I'm a pretty strong supporter of IP rights - but in this case I feel capturing
the game that I'm watching falls into grey area - something akin to a bootleg
of a concert.

I agree it's likely that a live stream would be shut down fairly quickly,
particularly at scale, but I'm thinking a combination of after-the-fact + some
intelligent post-processing might be useful/valuable.

Admittedly, the majority-value is in the real-time production, but, by
providing after-the game all-22 videos, you might be able to fly somewhat
under the radar.

I've never been asked to stop taking pictures with my (admittedly small)
70-200 lens - and it's usually perched atop a rail for the entire game - I
could just as easily have been filming the entire game as snapping pictures.

Looking at various venue's policies - it would be hard to do this on a
reliable basis with a larger lens:
<http://www.coliseum.com/info/prohibiteditems.php>

But, the all-22 isn't really a zoom situation anyways...

~~~
yarzigard
I can see them not letting you film in the stadium, but how about you rent a
blimp, and get sufficiently above/outside the stadiums airspace?

------
mnutt
It sounds extremely challenging, but could someone use image detection to
process the existing camera angles and use the field markers to recreate an
overhead view of the game? If it worked, you could probably use that to do
some interesting play analyses over a large number of games.

~~~
jleader
I think the point isn't specifically about the overhead angle, it's that the
existing camera angles don't show some of the players (who may be moving in
ways that are relevant to the overall strategy, but their movements aren't
sufficiently telegenic to bother showing them on TV).

------
malbs
I'd be willing to have a stab that the people who really don't want the public
with this footage are the sports bookies offering point spreads/line betting.

The bookmakers would already have access to this footage, because it is a
competitive edge over the public. If the public suddenly had access to the all
22, there might be a correction in those betting markets.

And if the bookmakers don't have access to the footage? Could be an
opportunity to capitalise on their in-efficiency ;)

------
jsight
Does anyone else just see this as them gauging interest in charging for this
footage? Some of the wording almost makes it sound like a market segmentation
strategy.

------
yewtree
end zone view would be good too.

------
1010101111001
Well, this is why NFL Films and the old programs they produced in the 70's and
80's are so cool. NFL Films had it all. Every angle, every sound plus the
all-22. They could do the full analysis. And their choice of music was, in
retrospect, brilliant. I can watch those old programs year after year. Somehow
I never get tired of them.

Now we have ESPN.

Hats off to keeptrying. You are a true fan.

~~~
nkassis
While ESPN has some problems, I'm not going to complain about them as the only
way I can watch my College team play while in Canada is through their
espnplayer.com service. My wife thinks I'm crazy for paying for it but hell
it's an addiction. If I can't be in the stadium I have to see every play
somehow. (I'm sure I'm not the only one watching then end of the game when
loosing by 50 points right? )

~~~
1010101111001
How about the CFL?

------
mekarpeles
I won't see this sports footage this Thanksgiving because I will be
programming and reading the hacker news articles related to hacking.

------
tobych
This reads like a dark parody of life on earth as we know it. Finally put me
off American Football for life, too.

