Mike Hart Visualizes You Some Scoreboards
The worst thing is when you know you saw something useful somewhere obscure a long time ago and stare at the Google box certain it will not help you. So it was yesterday when I tried to dig up a scoreboard comparison graphic that I thought I saw on a Mississippi State blog sometime in the murky past. Never found it, [UPDATE: It was on an Auburn blog; we are basically going from South Carolina to Tennessee] but the Daily did this:
![ScoreboardGraphic[2]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/MikeHartVisualizesYouSomeScoreboards_B1E4/ScoreboardGraphic2.jpg "ScoreboardGraphic[2]")
So there you go. Bigger than a blue whale. IIRC, this is a standard Daily graphic they use whenever they have to compare the size of anything to objects in the world. I remember that elephant.
The actual viewable area for the boards is 47 x 85. This is large. When I went to Auburn a few years back I reported their single HD board was "killer" and that Michigan fans had "no idea" how much they needed one. That board:
![war-damn-eagle[2]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/MikeHartVisualizesYouSomeScoreboards_B1E4/wardamneagle2.jpg "war-damn-eagle[2]")
That board was packed with frippery and advertising—about every fourth play instead of a replay you'd get a frustrating ad—that Michigan's boards will presumably be free of. This is going to be life-changing. Serious. Your life will be different. There will be a band hype-up video that actually gets you hyped up. You will understand what is happening in football games better. You will have up to date stats. Also grapefruit will taste better.
Let's explore in the universal language of Mike Hart pictures. I could not find dimensions for the existing scoreboard but I remember Michigan State's setup, also installed the late 90s, as nearly identical. The size of that increasingly vintage board:
![51487715[55]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/MikeHartVisualizesYouSomeScoreboards_B1E4/5148771555.jpg "51487715[55]")
The size of Auburn's board:
![51487715[49]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/MikeHartVisualizesYouSomeScoreboards_B1E4/5148771549.jpg "51487715[49]")
What you'll see this fall:
![51487715[50]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/MikeHartVisualizesYouSomeScoreboards_B1E4/5148771550.jpg "51487715[50]")
Very big. Somehow still considerably smaller than Minnesota's. And just for the hell of it here's Godzillatron:
Ah but wait:
In its first usage, the portion of the new screen that was typically used for showing replays and film highlights was approximately the same size as the old video screen. More recent games have featured a 16:9 format image centered in a ring of advertisement and score/clock related information. Nevertheless, complaints continue about the advertising, with some fans shouting out "We won't shop/eat/bank there" when advertisements are played loudly in the stadium.
This is wikipedia so it's true. With ads…
…Godzillatron loses a big chunk of its advantage, especially if they blare as loud as the ones at Ohio Stadium or Memorial Stadium. Michigan's going to have the best combo of replay and lack of annoyance in the country. Point Dave Brandon.
How about a Split M with the capacity number?
Why can't they put scoring and stats on a dedicated numeric display instead of wasting expensive screen real estate with what is essentially a static display?
Because it's less static than you think it is. If they put the stats in the video screen, they can remove them at times when they aren't necessary to use the entire screen for whatever video they want to show. Dedicated numeric displays will permanently block the use of video in that portion of the board.
Since we will have two boards and I believe all the schools ranked above us just have one.
Damn, why does the university have to get all this cool new stuff right when I am going to graduate???
Just be glad you got to experience the stadium renevations. My graduation had to be held in the Diag because they just started work on the stadium. At least I can fly back to 1 game a year and slowly see the updates. I still can't wait to see Crisler and Yost when they are done.
i think it would be pretty sweet to have a wraparound score/stat board that wrapped around the stadium. Imagine flashing Maize on 3rd downs
we can put that right on the balcony that wraps around the stadium above the lower deck seats. oh wait...
a thousand times no. Those are so unnecessarily distracting. They're okay when they're just quietly displaying useful information (like stats), but when they start flashing colors and annoying GET LOUD messages, they need to die.
I couldn't agree with you more. Every time I go to an arena that has the small band of wrap-around video screens, I am constantlly annoyed by it and it is very distracting.
They scream "ValueCity Arena" to me whenever I look at one of them, and they're definitely distracting. Remember the dedication game for Oregon's new arena? I could tell whenever the color changed on the screens because of the glare off the floor.
David Brandon has shown that his idea of tradition is to do whatever is in his own self-interest and call it "tradition." DB will feel it is in his own self-interest to sell advertising on the new scoreboard and help raise more revenue. He will somehow compare himself to Fielding Yost and Don Canham in the process.
Then, he will leave to pursue his true passion: running for office.
New boards of this size require, nay, DEMAND, a similar proportional increase in size and, more importantly, loudness (or sound pressure, for the scientifically minded).
And they should NOT look like blue vuvuzelas. Just sayin'
Could one of you photoshoppers out there please insert Charlie Weis into the Daily graphic showing the relative scoreboard size? Few of us have seen actually seen a blue whale, so using a more familiar frame of reference might help us better visualize the size of the new scoreboards.
Does anyone, that's familar with this video board technology, know if those in the North Endzone will be able to look to their own board for replays (much larger due to proximity) or will they still have to took to the South Endzone? I typically had to look South due to our angle to the old video boards.
Huh??
The new scoreboards are bigger = easier to view.
You're missing a benefit of sitting in the endzone. At least you don't have to strain your neck a full 45 degrees like the poor bastards sitting at the 50 yard line.
If you are needing a new viewing angle, try catching a reflection of the far scoreboard in the glass from either of the two buildings.
All of us here probably know 100 others each who would love to have your ticket so you don't have to strain your neck to view the scoreboard.
Just saying.
We need more DBs... David Brandons. He's my most favoritest person in the world.
One thing to note, Brian: Auburn's board has a higher resolution than ours will (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_scoreboards_in_NCAA_colleg…).
I'm not sure how much visual difference there is between 12mm and 16mm pixel pitch at this size, but it's probably not insubstantial. However, we will have two of them to Auburn's one. And no ads. That's a win.
Also, has no one else remarked on the video boards for Yost? I'm pretty damn excited for that.
I was at a pair of environmental industry conferences earlier this week in Philly* where a guy mentioned the proliferation of new HD screens in stadiums in recent years as an example of technology driving environmental decisions. He said the reason is their energy consumption (as opposed to phallis size war by proxy, or whatever). The screens from 8-15 years ago are energy hogs (needing big fans to keep them cool) so the new boards will basically pay for themselves in a few years.
Course, the size matters -- Michigan's puny TVs probably didn't take much more energy (or perhaps less) than the new M-HDs
* Neither really related to jumbotron pollution
National Brownfields Conference perhaps? I was there myself. Just curious.
Yeah.
And hit up the solar guys next door while I was at it, mostly because they had free muffins and coffee for journalists. WTF ICMA?
First: I am opposed to any advertising in Michigan Stadium.
That said, I have been to at least one UTexas game every year for the past 8 years and have to say the ads around the Godzillatron are not that distarcting when you are watching the actual video on the screen. Your eyes automatically block everything else out.
Regarding viewing angles, I have sat almost everywhere in Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium other than right in front of Gozillatron (where I would have to turn around to see it). There are no issues with viewing angle.
The speakers on the other hand, they suck. So hoping for really loud speakers is not a good thing.
Also, I've been to a Cowboys game at Jerry World and sadly, I found myself watching the scoreboard more than the field because the thing is so big and right over the field it is always in your peripheral vision. I don't have the same issue with Godzillatron because it is so far away from where the action is taking place.
The wikipedia entry appears to have some of the dimensions in total boardsize and others (like ours) in video screen size. If you compare the boards using the 16:9 ratio to find the largest possible screen size, ours appears to rank fourth behind Texas, Miami and Minnesota. Obviously the aforementioned space for stats and score can play a roll in total video size, but hopefully advertising will not for us.
And we've got two of these suckers!?! Sweet baby jesus, that's nice.
my old roommates company is putting up the new scoreboards right now. Should be fully finished by the end of May.
I told him to take some snapshots when it's all up. Can't wait to see these things installed
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