I didn’t go to Chapel Hill last night, wasn’t part of the media horde at the Dean Dome.
I watched it on the tube, just like most of y’all.
Our columnist, Ed Hardin, covered Duke’s buzzer-beating victory over North Carolina for us. The days of double-staffing a single game are gone for most frugal newspapers.
But this game’s live TV broadcast was double-staffed — a true oddity in this day and age.
ESPN sent its A-team: Dan Shulman calling play-by-play alongside analysts Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas. Erin Andrews worked as a sideline reporter.
The ACC Network — good ol’ Raycom — also broadcast the game, with Tim Brando on play-by-play and Dan Bonner on color.
It was fascinating to watch both. It was fascinating that those of us in Greensboro could watch both. But with the ACC’s new TV contract in effect, the national broadcast of the game on ESPN wasn’t blacked out in favor of the local show. Under the deal, there are no blackouts until the ACC Tournament.
So there I sat, constantly hitting the “Prev-Ch” button on my remote control, flashing back and forth between ESPN and WFMY. At times, it was like staring into a strobe light. Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash.
I confess: I’m cheap when it comes to TV. I go to more games than I watch on the tube. I love old movies, and the only new TV series I watch is Justified. So spending on TV would be a huge waste of my money.
No wall-mounted flat screen for me. No digital cable. No HD. No set-top boxes or DVRs.
So I saw the WFMY broadcast in full screen on my old RCA square tube, while ESPN was presented in letterbox.
ESPN’s picture was sharper and clearer, but the broadcast was too slick for my taste compared to Raycom’s delightfully muddy quality.
Why? Raycom’s sound picked up the crowd noise. It sounded like a full basketball arena. ESPN filtered out most of the white noise. It sounded like a TV studio.
Raycom got it first, too. ESPN was on a slight delay, so if I wanted to see the last second of a play over again, I could flash from WFMY to The Worldwide Leader.
The choice of camera angles was also interesting.
Raycom is guilty of panning the crowd too much, at times rejoining the action a little late. But in the second half, Raycom kept its cameras pointed at the court — even during stoppages of play. We could see the players casually bump one another when they shuffled to their spots to wait for free throws.
ESPN, meanwhile, clearly loves the coaches. If play stopped for a free throw, the cameras instantly flashed to the benches for close-ups of Roy Williams or Mike Krzyzewski. Over, and over, and over again.
The cameras didn’t return to the court until the free-throw shooter had the ball in his hands, or the inbounds pass was about to happen.
At times, that works.
It’s cool to see Roy Williams and clearly read his lips as he hollers “Reggie! Reggie! Zip it!” making a buttoning motion with his fingers at his mouth, warning Reggie Bullock against too much trash talk with Austin Rivers.
It’s cool to see Mike Kryzewski beg a referee to call a shot-clock violation against his own team, rather than give up an easy basket in transition.
But, again, I prefer the quaint Raycom way of keeping our eyes on the players and referees instead of making the coaches the stars of the show.
No, I wasn’t in Chapel Hill. But I got two distinct looks at the game from the couch in my living room.
It wasn't nearly the same as being there. But it was an eye-opener.
