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First-Pitchgate!
Biz of Baseball's Maury Brown called it "the biggest gaff[e] of the night." The Detroit Free Press listed it first on its tally of All-Star broadcast "lowlights." The Albany Times-Union's Pete Dougherty used the headline "Fox blows coverage of Obama's first pitch." Jim Buzinski of OutSports.com accurately described the collective WTF that millions of us felt last night while watching a pointless baseball exhibition:
Leave it to Fox Sports to screw up what should be the easiest shot in baseball: The ceremonial first pitch. But that's just what the bozos did at tonight's All-Star Game in St. Louis, when we saw President Obama, clad in a Chicago White Sox jacket, throw the first pitch.
Except, we never saw the whole pitch, just Obama's windup and delivery. We never saw who caught it (Albert Pujols was IDed about two minutes later) and we never saw it actually go over the plate. A graduate student director could have gotten that shot (hint: use the camera behind home plate, or a camera behind Obama). And there was no replay as they went into commercial. So we have no idea whether Obama did a good job or would make the blooper reel.
I had the obvious immediate reaction–CONSPIRACY–and though that was a joke, one that only conservative media obsessive Tim Graham seemed to flirt with ("Murdoch Goes Gentle on Obama's First Pitch"), watching the wide-screen video replay this morning is making me stroke my chin and wonder about birth certificates.
Why? Because even though we already knew that they used just one
camera in a location where they had dozens of the things (including
the traditional centerfield view, which you can see in this
famous
President Bush strike at Yankee Stadium just after 9/11), and
even though we already knew that that the lone
gunman hand-held camera missed the money
shot of whether the pitch crossed the plate, what I didn't fully
grok until watching the footage below was that the cameraman jerked
his lens away from home plate just as the ball was approaching,
then jerked it back after the deal was done.
See for yourself; it's at the 0:44 mark. Note that the full width of the shot–showing catcher Albert Pujols–was only available to viewers on HD; the rest of us never did see the ball's destination.
So until I hear an explanation from the execrable Fox Sports, and/or until some intrepid citizen video reporter dares to ask the hard questions and upload the results on YouTube, I am going to assume, even more so than usual, that Donald Sutherland was right all along.
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds is going there: "My guess is that the White House media shop negotiated that camera angle."
Kyle Jordan|7.15.09 @ 11:25AM|#
Ha! This is great! Didn't watch the game so I had no idea about
this but it makes me happy.
Fuck Obama. He deserves every slight/disrespect he gets for being
such a fucking idiot.
|7.15.09 @ 11:29AM|#
until some intrepid citizen video reporter dares to ask the
hard questions and upload the results on YouTube
Bwahaahaa!!!
Russ 2000|7.15.09 @ 11:30AM|#
I think they decided not to show much of it because The President Of The United States throws like a girl. He's a wuss!
Peter|7.15.09 @ 11:33AM|#
Which conspiracy is worse, this, or LeBron having Nike confiscate the tapes of him being dunked on by a college kid?
|7.15.09 @ 11:39AM|#
If you saw the guy bowling you'd easily understand the White
House PR folks' trepidation.
Obama's athletic skills make me look like Jim Thorpe.
Jim Treacher|7.15.09 @ 11:41AM|#
If you don't think Sarah Palin is a talented politician, just imagine the skill and craftiness it took to convince Obama to wear her jeans.
creech|7.15.09 @ 11:41AM|#
Yeah, it almost hit the ground. But I bet Ryan Howard would have
swung at it if he already had two strikes on him!
Distinct sounds of booing along with cheers when Obamessiah walked
from the dugout. But tv guys ignored it and today's newspaper
claims he was "cheered."
|7.15.09 @ 11:41AM|#
Last night reminded me about the boredom I now feel with the
game of baseball, along with the existential crisis that lurks
underneath for betraying my childhood love.
It pains me to say it, but I just can't watch it anymore. Too
slooooooooow. Now I must go sit in a corner and ruminate.
|7.15.09 @ 11:44AM|#
He's a southpaw!
Reuters video shows the pitch barely made the
plate. Maybe the Fox cameraman was trying to save him some
embarrassment?
Warty|7.15.09 @ 11:44AM|#
Some of His supporters were all atwitter a while ago because, right before he went onstage at a debate that was being held at some college gym, he did THREE WHOLE FUCKING PULLUPS. Goddamn, three. That's like, impossible and stuff.
Mike M.|7.15.09 @ 11:47AM|#
Distinct sounds of booing along with cheers when Obamessiah
walked from the dugout. But tv guys ignored it and today's
newspaper claims he was "cheered."
It sounded to me like the cheering and booing was divided pretty
close to 50-50, which can't be a good sign for him just six months
in.
I didn't mind the traditional throwing out of the first pitch, but
practically the whole damn game was all Obama, all the time.
Kyle Jordan|7.15.09 @ 11:49AM|#
"Some of His supporters were all atwitter a while ago because,
right before he went onstage at a debate that was being held at
some college gym, he did THREE WHOLE FUCKING PULLUPS. Goddamn,
three. That's like, impossible and stuff."
Are you fucking serious!? Ok, I changed my mind. The Robot zombies
can't come quick enough.
The Angry Optimist|7.15.09 @ 11:52AM|#
I have to be honest, if I were reporting it, I would have said he was "cheered" as well - listening to the audio, it definitely did not sounds like "50-50" to me.
|7.15.09 @ 11:52AM|#
If you don't think Sarah Palin is a talented politician,
just imagine the skill and craftiness it took to convince Obama to
wear her jeans.
I can't.
I can't do it.
I would never make one of those sleazy "in her pants" -type jokes.
That would be wrong.
Was there a baseball game last night?
|7.15.09 @ 12:03PM|#
"It sounded to me like the cheering and booing was divided
pretty close to 50-50, which can't be a good sign for him just six
months in."
In Missouri? The land of John Ashcroft?
50-50 is about the best he could expect.
|7.15.09 @ 12:03PM|#
Fox missed the second pitch, too. Too busy loading the screen with Ichiro Suziki stats.
|7.15.09 @ 12:12PM|#
I told Obama to read my
Libertarian President Top 100, but he wouldn't listen (I think
the liberty thing was too scary for him), because I clearly
addressed this specific issue (well, almost specific):
37. Throw a freakin' strike when I make the first pitch to open baseball season.
Lowdog|7.15.09 @ 12:12PM|#
In light of some of the comments about butt-wiping in a thread
from yesterday, we have even further proof that Obama is a
sinister, evil man, up to no good.
Did you notice from the Rueters video that Pujols was pretty much
on top of the plate, and Obama still almost bounced it up
there?
|7.15.09 @ 12:19PM|#
Barry slid the long zipper of Sarah's jeans down, tooth by
delicious tooth. Each of the teeth clicking apart sent a shiver of
pleasure down the length of her gunt. "Oh, yeah! You bethca!" she
exclaimed as he reached through the open zipper and tried to push
aside her enormous Wal*Mart panties.
As he leaned in close, the tip of the cigarette hanging from his
mouth was inches from her own mouth. Sarah breathed in the acrid
menthol smoke. "Cool," he said, the cigarette bobbed as he spoke
and ash fell into her cleavage. Barry stubbed out the cigarette on
the side of a salmon Sarah had caught for him and let the gentle
rocking of the boat guide his fingers against her swollen
clitoris.
Sarah's fingernails scrabbled for purchase against Barry's own
jeans. "Button-fly, baby," he drawled, "Hold on." Sarah began to
softly whine has he pulled his hand out of her crotch to undress.
He wiped his hand on her face and gave her a salty finger to nurse.
Sarah stumbled backwards and landed on a pile of fishing
nets.
Barry dropped his jeans to his ankles. His POTUS underwear could
barely constrain his turgidity. "Hey, girl. Where's the shitter in
this place?"
"It's a boat, Barry."
"Yeah. Yeah it is."
Warty|7.15.09 @ 12:23PM|#
HAHAHA:
In fairness, President Barack Obama grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia
without a dad, never played Little League and is certainly as
athletic as one can expect for a president.
It's not his fault that he can't pitch, 'cuz his daddy didn't love
him.
|7.15.09 @ 12:25PM|#
Barry smokes reds, you racist. I wonder how many hours he practiced that pitch. And obviously he never perfected it, thus the camara angle deal.
|7.15.09 @ 12:31PM|#
"It's not his fault that he can't pitch, 'cuz his daddy didn't
love him."
Baseball's more the speed of a slow person like George W. Bush.
Jim Treacher|7.15.09 @ 12:31PM|#
I would never make one of those sleazy "in her pants" -type jokes. That would be wrong.
It could be funny, though. Hypothetically.
|7.15.09 @ 12:33PM|#
37. Throw a freakin' strike when I make the first pitch to
open baseball season.
Sissy. A beanball would show you mean business.
|7.15.09 @ 12:38PM|#
P Brooks,
Only if I called it first. Can't have a wild pitcher in the White
House, after all. Though that would be better than tossing the ball
into the dirt. Pathetic.
|7.15.09 @ 12:40PM|#
sent a shiver of pleasure down the length of her
gunt.
"Gunt"?
I'm apparently not as knowledgeable about the female anatomy as I'd
like to think; maybe I really *should* read Feministing more
often.
|7.15.09 @ 12:43PM|#
What you really need to do, Pro L, is make sure the Speaker of
the House is in attendance when you send the high hard one caroming
off the batter's head into the upper deck.
Then you can turn and smile at him/her.
|7.15.09 @ 12:45PM|#
Duh, Nick's right. Bean who? I suppose the control problem is exactly why a batter doesn't stand out there for a ceremonial pitch.
|7.15.09 @ 12:49PM|#
I know even less about the traditions of baseball than I do
about women.
How can you call it a "pitch" if there's nobody there to swing at
it?
Tim Cavanaugh|7.15.09 @ 1:00PM|#
It looks clear to me he got the ball to the catcher. I don't see
the controversy.
But man, that JFK clip is phenomenally bad. Eight minutes
of spoken exposition backed up by History Channel-level inserts in
black and white. (To be fair, maybe the History Channel picked up
that technique from Oliver Stone rather than the other way around.
Either way, it sucks.) This is filmmaking?
I can't wait for Oliver Stone's Napoleon:
Captain: Emperor, Wellington has defeated your army!
Napoleon: Merde! 'ow did zees 'appen?
Captain: Wellington and Blucher's forces were arranged in two
groups, with a gap between their lines. You were faced with the
choice of attacking either the British or the Prussians first, or
trying to drive a wedge between the two. After long consultations
with Marshall Ney (cue bw footage of Ney and Napoleon poring over a
map), you decided on the latter strategy. Although initially your
strategy seemed to be succeeding....
Matt Welch|7.15.09 @ 1:08PM|#
It looks clear to me he got the ball to the catcher. I don't
see the controversy.
CAN YOU EVEN READ???? Point is, they didn't show the results in the
live shot, at all. I have never seen that before.
|7.15.09 @ 1:12PM|#
Now that I have you both here, can you make sure there's a posting on the zombie robot story? I mean, that just screams Hit & Run.
|7.15.09 @ 1:21PM|#
A gunt is the female taint.
Sorry, but no. Gunt is a portmanteau of gut and cunt and describes
when the lower portion of a woman's belly fat and the accumulation
of fat in the pudenda merge into a single flabby protrusion.
SFW
Visual
As for girl taint... why are the vagina and the anus so close
together? So when girls are drunk, you can carry them like a
six-pack.
JB|7.15.09 @ 1:23PM|#
Obama didn't make it to the plate. He needed some help just like
he needed some help from Affirmative Action when he went to
college.
Where are those test scores, Mr. Transparency?
|7.15.09 @ 1:26PM|#
SugarFree,
By now, you should realize that I don't use dictionaries or the
Internet--I just make words up.
Ska|7.15.09 @ 1:31PM|#
Wow SF, never knew there was a real word for that (also, the
link doesn't show anything, but that might be a problem on my
end).
I've always referred to it as a FUPR (pronounced "fooper") - Fat
Upper Pussy Region.
Seward|7.15.09 @ 1:34PM|#
Tim Cavanaugh,
Funniest thing I've heard so far this week!
How about a biopic of Gen. Mark Clark in Italy? ;)
|7.15.09 @ 1:44PM|#
Ska,
The link works, you may just have photobucket blocked on your end.
It's a pretty standard thing for blocking software to
blacklist.
moman|7.15.09 @ 1:46PM|#
JB
You make the case that affirmative action works. It's not like he
got a pass and went on to become a janitor.
Not that there's anything wrong with being a janitor.
|7.15.09 @ 1:58PM|#
Fox may not have shown it, but I watched from MLB.tv and saw
every second of it.
I saw Obama walk out in the mom jeans. I saw him stand on the
mound, and saw him throw a lofty sinker to about three feet in
front of Pujols. Luckily, Pujols caught it.
It was just in front of the plate.
There, silliness put to an end.
Now you guys can go back to watching UFC and TED speeches.
Rhywun|7.15.09 @ 1:59PM|#
He should have just said "Pass." Or does that make him a sissy
boy too? Another reason we need a chick president--to dispense with
stupid he-man rituals like this.
May I take this opportunity to thank H & R for not moderating comments at all?
I can't believe that innocent blogs get caught by my company's
naughtiness filter, but this page sails right on through.
|7.15.09 @ 2:16PM|#
If I was prez I wouldn't even go to a baseball game. What a waste of time. I would offer to randori with Vladimir Putin in the name of diplomacy. He's mop the floor with me, most likely, but he'd respect the office of the POTUS a little more.
JB|7.15.09 @ 3:03PM|#
You make the case that affirmative action works.
Not at all. It works for some people, but it creates more problems
than it solves at this point. The backlash it creates is
large.
You have new generations of whites and asians who have very little
connection to past racial attitudes, but they are given reason to
wonder if a person got their job on the merits. That is not helping
this country move forward.
The Angry Optimist|7.15.09 @ 3:36PM|#
you guys are fucking hyperdisgusting. And that's not meant as a compliment, either. Christ.
jollylama|7.15.09 @ 4:27PM|#
That was the prez throwing?.. geez, by the looks of the throw i thought it was the first lady
Dee|7.15.09 @ 4:29PM|#
Uh...usually I enjoy reading the comments, but...WOW! Being a
woman in IT, I am used to trading immature sexual comments with
male co-workers, but some of this is a little over the top.
There are certain things I thinks, fewer things I will say, and
even fewer things I will write.
Dee|7.15.09 @ 4:32PM|#
Ah jeez...excuse my Popeye impression: "There are certain things I thinks..."
Jim Treacher|7.15.09 @ 5:08PM|#
There once was a pitcher named Barry
Who was worshipped much like Virgin Mary
When he stood on the mound
There were laughs all around
'Cause we all saw him throw like... um... Aunt Sherri?
|7.15.09 @ 5:13PM|#
This only proves he African and not American. Show me one American born black male child that can't throw a baseball, and I'll show you a girly man.
nobamablog|7.15.09 @ 6:25PM|#
Like everyone else in the media, the camera just couldn't take
its eyes off The Anointed One long enough to follow the
pitch.
That's my theory, and I'm stickin' to it.
|7.16.09 @ 12:06AM|#
I think the camera person was juked by Barry's hellacious Eephus pitch. Didn't know what to do.
|7.17.09 @ 7:14AM|#
nice post..
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