The best camera operators are always looking for "the shot".
From the moment we go on the air until we sign off the best camera operators are always looking, always searching, looking and searching for "the shot".
Capturing "the shot" during the big games is the most rewarding. Tonight's game was the biggest of the season between the Cardinals and the Reds who led the Cardinals by two games in the NL Central division.
What exactly is "the shot"?
"The shot" is when a moment of the game/telecast is captured in an exciting or unique fashion.
St. Louis Cardinals television has included many games throughout the years that have captured "the shot".
There was "the shot" of Albert Pujols in the Cardinals dugout telling John Rodriguez "You don't need that" as he took the bat out of J-Rod's hands and hurled it down the dugout steps. We read his lips, "You don't need that". This was during the tenth inning of a game with the Atlanta Braves at the old Busch Stadium. Sure enough, on the next pitch David Ekstein smashed a grand slam homerun and the Cardinals won the game.
There was "the shot" of Tony Larussa holding up four fingers and telling Kiko Colero, a relief pitcher to take four pitches and not swing the bat. On the second pitch, Colero swung the bat and hit a bloop single to right field. The look on LaRussa's face was priceless.
It was "the shot".
Capturing a moment that can be classified as "the shot" does not happen very often. Once a series is very rare and I believe that we are lucky if we experience "the shot" once a month.
There were no examples of "the shot" in tonight's game/telecast.
Then again, there was no looking and no searching for "the shot" tonight.
Even though this was the biggest game of the season for both ballclubs.
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The shot of the game was with a camera not available to you. It was a robo shot of Cris Carpenter "lecturing" Brandon Ryan up the tunnel about his gaffe in the bottom of the 1st inning. It was an ESPN robo camera that caught Carpenter taking Ryan up the tunnel. All you could see was Ryan's face but it spoke volumes. The disappointing thing to me was that nobody ("camera ops" included) picked-up on what was happening on the field. The fact that Ryan got out there late and then even had the wrong glove by the time he made it out there wasn't documented. Somebody should have seen it. A lot of time I find that camera ops are just shooting, not shooting the game. Someone should have realized what was happening and alerted the truck to it, because I have always been told (as a camera op) that we are the eyes of the director.
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