If you watched the Cardinals lose to the Astros Tuesday night on TV, you saw my nephew Zach. He was about 4 rows behind home plate, and offset such that the he was smack dab in the middle of the centerfield shot of the batter. My sister-in-law let us know he was on, and after watching him munch on the “free” food that comes with those seats for a while, my son got the bright idea of calling him on his cell phone. So we waiting for the commercial break to end and then called him. There is something oddly exhilerating about watching somebody answer their cell phone on TV when you are on the other end. But we kicked the exhileration up a notch when my son told him to wave and he did. That my friends is the pinnacle of interactive TV, right there. Watching your nephew/cousin wave to you live on TV.
I haven’t ever watched a spectator in a crowd before (on TV, that is), and there were some things I’d never noticed before. Like how Zach would look to his left after every pitch – I’m assuming to see the replay on the big screen. But it was downright spooky to watch the people in the stands on a pop up – all their heads snapping upward and then tracking the ball in unison. After that, I’m kind of glad I never did watch the crowd in the TV picture before, although the scientist in me will now be tempted to start comparing crowd action during different sporting events.
