This past Sunday, a game was played in Oakland between the hometown Athletics and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The game went long, and was tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the 12th inning.
The game was telecast to Southern California on KCOP/13 of Los Angeles.
The A’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the 12th. Chris Bootcheck was pitching for the Angels. The batter was Oakland 2nd baseman Mark Ellis.
Bootcheck goes into his windup and delivers. Ellis swings and hits a walkoff grand slam home run for a 7-3 Athletics’ win. The crowd at McAfee Coliseum goes crazy. The entire A’s bench greets Ellis at home plate. Joy permeates the air in Oakland.
Oh, and one other thing: The viewers in Southern California never see it.
Just before the pitch is thrown, color bars appear on the screen. Then, the screen goes black with the KCOP logo in one corner. Then a commercial runs. Following that, the 1997 movie “Smilla’s Sense of Snow”, starring Julia Ormond, begins running. No game. No announcement. Nothing.
Angels Vice President Tim Mead blames the snafu on miscommunications on the production end. “It was some kind of miscommunication between the parties who oversee the satellite feed.”
Production staff in Oakland took the necessary steps to extend the satellite time window as the game went long, nearly four hours. However, the connection went black at precisely 5 p.m.
The glitch apparently resulted from problems between AT&T and Vyvx, the satellite carrier for Sunday’s game.
Added an obviously angry Mead: “We’re going to get answers.”
I’ll betcha Heidi was never like this.
Tags: American League, Anaheim Angels, Baseball, Broadcasting, California Angels, Humor, Journalism, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Major League Baseball, Media, MLB, Oakland A's, Oakland Athletics, Sports, Sports Humor, Sports Journalism, Sports Media, Sports Television, Television, TV
