[HN Gopher] Finally, on CBS, the football matches the business c...
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       Finally, on CBS, the football matches the business cards
        
       Author : starmftronajoll
       Score  : 106 points
       Date   : 2021-10-03 16:32 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.ological.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.ological.net)
        
       | dlbucci wrote:
       | Read through this whole thing thinking it was filling the "Block
       | & Tackle"-sized hole in my heart, only to realize by the end that
       | this was also authored by John Teti! I'm glad he's still doing
       | it, cause B&T was weekly reading for me back in the day :)
        
         | wolverine876 wrote:
         | You may be happy to click here:
         | 
         | https://www.ological.net/author/john/
        
       | harrydehal wrote:
       | _Whatever the other failings of this redesign, the ampersand is a
       | winner, a full-bodied, chewy soft pretzel of a thing. I want to
       | bite into that ampersand and feel its warm, doughy goodness fill
       | the spaces between my teeth._
       | 
       | I enjoyed this fun poke at television UX far more than I enjoy
       | watching football. Thanks for sharing!
        
         | geoduck14 wrote:
         | >Go on, try to find a more graceful down-and-distance
         | ampersand. You can't. That ampersand is a little butler, gently
         | pouring you a teacup of chamomile football.
         | 
         | This guy has opinions about ampersands that I didn't know
         | someone could have. It was delightful and makes me glad I'm on
         | HN.
        
         | HPsquared wrote:
         | "Look at that subtle off-white coloring, the tasteful thickness
         | of it..."
        
           | mlavin wrote:
           | Let's see ESPN get a reservation at Dorsia now!
        
       | Matthias1 wrote:
       | I don't agree with a lot of this article. I think the font looks
       | excellent, I appreciate coherencies across a brand's design, and
       | most of all, I think the purpose of a score indicator over a
       | football game is to tell you the score, and get out of the way.
       | 
       | That being said, these are opinions, and I'm glad there's someone
       | else who pays attention to the design language used by football
       | broadcasters.
        
         | ddek wrote:
         | > That being said, these are opinions, and I'm glad there's
         | someone else who pays attention to the design language used by
         | football broadcasters.
         | 
         | I feel like once you have the knowledge to pay attention to
         | design language you are now cursed to do so everywhere. It's
         | like the curse of a trained ear - congratulations on being able
         | to hear any chord progression, now you can't escape every song
         | you ever liked being the same 4 chords over and over again.
        
           | jsjohnst wrote:
           | > I feel like once you have the knowledge to pay attention to
           | design language you are now cursed to do so everywhere.
           | 
           | For a long time in my career as a software engineer I mostly
           | avoided this, but a little over a decade ago I had a designer
           | who beat tiny details into everyone on the team. I kinda feel
           | like he took away my innocence to some extent, as I can't
           | look at fonts, colors, and other design details anymore
           | without noticing all the flaws so pervasive all around us.
        
       | bitwize wrote:
       | > It's an iPhone 13 sort of update, with no compelling reason to
       | exist other than somebody decided it was time for it to exist.
       | 
       | Funny he should mention that, because the CBS graphics look to me
       | like Windows 11: flat, seemingly uniform, nicely subtly
       | gradiented, but subtly inconsistent in an irritating, pebble-in-
       | shoe kind of way.
        
       | cjf4 wrote:
       | Anything that moves away from the CBSness is a good thing. Their
       | broadcasts have been second rate mediocrities since they've had
       | the rights:
       | 
       | - Completely bland theme music.
       | 
       | - Half-witted former QB analysts (other than Romo).
       | 
       | - The worst studio show.
       | 
       | The other networks (particularly NBC) do a way better job.
        
         | listenallyall wrote:
         | > Anything that moves away from the CBSness is a good thing
         | 
         | The article's entire point is that the graphics were redesigned
         | for more CBS-ness.
        
           | cjf4 wrote:
           | The article says the old way was the cbs way (blue colors,
           | stay out of the way)
        
             | listenallyall wrote:
             | He is lamenting that the football graphics look like
             | everything else on the network, that they don't make an
             | exception for the spectacle of pro football.
             | 
             | > It just looks like "CBS," because it's the same font the
             | network uses to brand its news shows, comedies, and paint-
             | by-numbers crime procedurals. The name of that font is TT
             | Norms
        
         | VWWHFSfQ wrote:
         | * Their studio show is by far the best
         | 
         | * Nantz and Romo are by far the best broadcast crew
         | 
         | * NBC is old hat at this point. Nobody wants to listen to
         | Collinsworth anymore
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | The Manning Bros are interesting
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | throwaway9980 wrote:
           | Cris Collinsworth, yes it's spelled Cris, makes me want to
           | rend my ears from my skull. Collinsworth and Al Michaels is
           | like some kind of perfectly seasoned stew of stupidity worthy
           | of Idiocracy. Listening to the two of them I can't help but
           | constantly think of the NFL as bread and circuses meant to
           | placate a mentally degraded populace.
        
             | mlavin wrote:
             | Now here's a guy who can really break down what ruins a
             | broadcast crew.
        
         | pubutil wrote:
         | This is especially disappointing considering CBS owns what
         | seems to be one of the more popular sports statistic suites:
         | https://www.statcrew.com/
        
           | listenallyall wrote:
           | Why would the quality of the announcers or theme music have
           | any influence on an XML feed of straight sports stats
           | (specifically designed to avoid editorializing)?
        
       | lilboiluvr69 wrote:
       | This article has no right to be as well written as it is.
        
         | geoduck14 wrote:
         | I know, right? I hope one day he stumbles on the website for my
         | work and does a writeup.
        
         | morley wrote:
         | The article has every right to be this good: the writer is John
         | Teti, who used to be editor in chief of the AV Club (and hosted
         | its short-lived tv show). If you've never read his football
         | column Block and Tackle, it's great: and I haven't followed
         | football since the mid-90s! https://www.avclub.com/tv/sports
        
           | wolverine876 wrote:
           | He has a column:
           | 
           | https://www.ological.net/author/john/
        
       | pests wrote:
       | "The vest is a remnant of 19th-century football rules, in which
       | this role would have been held by a beekeeper, who tended the
       | hive of angry bees used to mark first down."
       | 
       | Is this true? I can't tell if he's being legit here or just
       | running with a joke.
        
         | leephillips wrote:
         | I often warn people that, no matter how off-the-scale obviously
         | ridiculous you think your absurd, satirical jest may be, there
         | will, not maybe, not probably, but will definitely be,
         | somewhere, someone who takes you literally.
        
         | chrisrogers wrote:
         | It's a joke about the uniform
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | JaggerFoo wrote:
       | What about possession of the ball? Only Fox seems to show this
       | with a dot next to a teams score. I often glance at the score box
       | when busy, but have wait to see which team takes possession to
       | know the current state of the game before I can continue my busy
       | work away from the TV.
        
         | mod wrote:
         | From the article:
         | 
         | > Amid its grandeur, NBC also maintains touches of subtlety--
         | such as the tiny possession indicator above each team's score
         | 
         | In later CBS screenshots, you can see it indicated sometimes.
         | When it shows "3rd & 7", that box will be filled with the team
         | color of the team in possession. It's not a permanent box,
         | though.
        
       | mulmen wrote:
       | Why don't any of these score displays show the _field position_?
       | It 's 3rd and 8 but are we in field goal range? Gotta wait for a
       | camera angle that shows the field.
        
         | listenallyall wrote:
         | a) because "field goal range" is subjective and differs among
         | kickers
         | 
         | b) the football field is extremely well-marked to easily
         | determine the field position
        
         | xzel wrote:
         | They often have line indicators to show field goal range. I'm
         | not sure if that's specific one broadcaster. I agree field
         | position would be handy.
        
         | handmodel wrote:
         | I personally like it as is. When the ball snaps you can see the
         | yardline and they do usually put up a field goal line when its
         | appropriate. I feel like for whatever value it adds being on
         | the bottom it ultimately clutters things more.
        
         | raldi wrote:
         | Similarly, if it's "3rd & GOAL", how much farther is there to
         | go? Nine and a half yards? Three inches?
        
           | gremIin wrote:
           | Broadcasts often have something like "3rd & Goal. Ball at opp
           | 6" or "1st & 10. Ball at own 25".
        
           | jancsika wrote:
           | They probably change to "3rd & Inches" when it's less than a
           | yard.
        
             | jancsika wrote:
             | However, you'd have to know that "Inches" is a possibility
             | to deduce that "GOAL" is more than mere inches to go.
             | 
             | I'll summon my FOSS-based knowledge of UX to suggest a
             | change:
             | 
             | Change "3rd & GOAL" to "3rd -g --ONLY_INCHES_TO_GO=NULL"
             | and "3rd & INCHES" to "3rd -g --ONLY_INCHES_TO_GO=4"
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-03 23:00 UTC)