Quoted from 85vett:No, it wasn't live but they also didn't cut out portions of the game. They cut out the dead time between matches.
That again, goes to another challenge of pinball. Kieth Elwin has a 15 min game of which most of the play doesn't match the "excitement" meter. Are they supposed to cut out the cradle time and parts where he's not scoring something major? How do we expect a viewer to accept this. Game shows 100 million on the scoreboard, they cut and come back and now it's 200 million to conserve time. You can't cut in and out during balls as you lose the flow and the ability of someone to follow the game (how scores happened and if they learn rules the progress in the game). You're only cutting out the time between players walking up which takes me to my first point at the top of the thread. How many, non-pinheads, will spend 1.5 hours watching 1 single round of 3 games PAPA style?
Again, if you are talkin about editing, it's easy. IF Keith Elwin has a big but boring 15 minute game, just don't show it. Who cares. Show the dramatic parts. You could edit that game down to 45 seconds probably. Just show a couple boom jackpots and move on. As his opponent sucked, you don't have to show any of his game at all, maybe just a couple reaction shots. You could edit most rounds of PAPA style pinball down to the one most exciting game, and if only 2 of the 4 players have good games, that's what you show. Creative editing solves almost all of the so-called problems I'm hearing here.
As far as the "that's pinball!" stuff you were talking about - "unfair" stuff that will somehow offend or bore the home viewer - seems more like you are airing gripes about stuff that's happened to you in tournaments then making a serious application of real life experience to show why pinball sucks on TV. The rulings you are talking about are GREAT if you ask me for booth drama. If I was in the booth, I'd be screaming about this dramatic turn of events on how a player just got fucked. And I'd try to grab the affected player, the TD, anybody I could for a quick moment to get a hot take on what just happened. I'd try to interview the winner and ask what THEY think about winning on such a CONTROVERSIAL AND SHOCKING call!!! I'd get Josh Sharpe on the phone (complete with a graphic of Josh Sharpe with "Live Via Phone" text) and ask what the league office in Chicago thinks, just like they do on NFL broadcasts. Life ain't fair and neither is pinball. Terrible/unfair shit happens in ALL sports, ALL the time - so use it for drama, not boredom. When an NFL game is decided on a dodgy call they milk the story FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK on sports TV, doesn't seem to hurt the sport any.
Friggin CORNHOLE is on ESPN. I think we could make pinball work.