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A Quiet Eye
Keep your eye on the ball? Research reveals how an athlete's gaze helps make the plays.
Select text to jump ahead in the clip:
ALDA:
At whatever level this is
I play,
I really love playing
tennis--
for all the reasons that most
people enjoy playing sports:
the exercise, the
competition,
the rush that comes from
pulling off a difficult play.
But until now, the world
of sports beyond tennis
hasn't interested me much.
Ah!
And then we became intrigued
by
all the science and
technology
that's now being focused
on sports
and how that's not only
improving performances,
it's also offering a new
window
into how our bodies and
brains
work together.
And as a result,
I've been in some places
I never expected to be:
a basketball court,
the golf links, a hockey
rink,
even behind the plate
at a major-league baseball
park.
And you know what?
It's been fascinating.
Ready?
Oh, yeah.
ALDA:
For instance, there's the
question that has long
intrigued
the University of Calgary's
Joan Vickers.
Can you get, like, CNN on
this?
ALDA:
Joan wondered
where athletes look
when they're playing
their sport,
so she devised a way
to find out.
Okay.
VICKERS:
So now, Alan,
would you look at point
one...
ALDA:
That black spot on the screen
is where my gaze is resting.
VICKERS:
point four, point five...
ALDA:
The pupil of my eye is being
tracked as it scans the
target
with the aid of the cameras
and mirrors mounted on my
head.
VICKERS:
and nine.
Excellent.
Okay, here I go.
ALDA:
Now, my experience with
putting
is limited
to the miniature golf courses
I play with my grandkids,
which makes me a perfect
subject
for Joan Vickers,
because she wants to know
if there's a difference
in where a rank amateur like
me
looks when I'm putting
as compared to someone
who sinks putts for a living.
VICKERS:
Notice how the...
your gaze actually
goes with the ball?
Yeah.
95% of beginning
golfers do that.
ALDA:
David Lindsay is a golfer who
doesn't hit putts for a
living
but plays a pretty good
amateur game.
And he's been working with
Joan
for several years now.
David has been taught by Joan
to use his eyes the way she's
discovered the experts do:
to look steadily at the
target
for a second or two,
then look back at the ball
and let his gaze rest there
before and even after
the stroke.
Your gaze is so steady
before you hit.
And it's very...
it's as steady after
you've made contact.
I just... I want to see
if there's a jump
at the moment of impact,
if your eye flicks
unconsciously.
ALDA:
It's steady.
It didn't jump at all.
LINDSAY:
When I'm doing it well,
there's no question in my
mind
my putting improves
dramatically.
And when my putting
is starting to...
you know, go out the window
type of thing,
it's usually because
my eye movements
now are starting
to become erratic
and I'm not following the
pattern that I've
established.
ALDA:
So let's see
if any of this helps me.
For starters,
I'm just going to try
one steady look at the target
before bringing my gaze
back to the ball.
It's really amazing.
It really works.
You know, I only tried
to do one thing,
although I was aware
that there were two other
things
I wanted to do.
Actually you changed
a phenomenal number of
things.
ALDA:
Oh, I did?
It's amazing, actually.
ALDA:
By changing how I looked at
the target-- one steady
stare--
I'd stopped my gaze
from jumping around.
That obviously helped,
but I'm still not holding
quietly on the ball as I hit
it.
You're still really...
Jumping a little.
The club's coming through,
the ball's coming through
and your eye wants
to go with it;
and it does,
it just takes off.
But you have
to resist that,
because you want that
really nice solid impact.
Right.
ALDA:
This time I'm going
to concentrate
on looking at the ball with
what Joan calls a "quiet
eye"--
before and after hitting it.
On my previous tries
I'd never made more than
three
putts out of six attempts.
This time, four under
pressure.
VICKERS:
Did you stop thinking
about the mechanics of the
club?
I don't know if I was ever
aware
of the mechanics of the club.
Like what? What would be
an example of that?
Well, so many golfers
are overwhelmed
with the mechanics
of their stance...
Oh, no, you see...
and where the club
is moving...
I wouldn't think about that
because nobody ever told me
how to do it, so...
You're a free man?
( laughing ):
Yeah.
That's the other
comment that we get,
is that by
stressing the focus
all of a sudden,
then you're not
completely preoccupied
with the mechanics
of the stroke.
Yes, I can see that.
And that gives people
more strategies,
some more things that
they can actually use
in order to play better.
If I do anything, I think
about
the cup sucking the ball in.
( laughing ):
Marvelous.
I have bizarre ways
of getting the ball in there.
That's excellent.
( both laugh )
ALDA:
Joan Vickers believes
her quiet-eye concept can
help
other athletes
in pressure situations.
For several seasons
she's worked to improve
the free-throw percentage
of the University of
Calgary's
women's basketball team.
The team's coach is
Shawnee Harle.
HARLE:
In the first three,
I want you to look
right where the net goes
through the little ring
on the front of the rim.
When you look up there,
I want you to say
"sight focus"
and then you're
going to shoot.
Out loud?
Yes, it all has
to be out loud.
All right?
Yep.
Nothing but net.
Sight focus.
ALDA:
The "nothing but net" mantra
is to settle the player down.
Saying "sight focus" ensures
her gaze is steady on the
target
for at least one second.
Okay, good.
One more.
Nothing but net.
Sight focus.
HARLE:
When I watched
our players shoot
I was amazed at how few of
them
actually even looked at the
rim
for probably any more
than 200 to 300 milliseconds.
We had shooters on our team
that were looking
at the top of the backboard,
the bottom of the net,
and completely unaware
that they were doing that.
This was before
they studied
the quiet-eye technique?
Yes, before we gave
them the training.
Shawnee's team was shooting
54%
when we started working
with them.
During that first season
they improved 12%
here in this
experimental setting,
but it didn't show up
in terms of that season of
play.
But the next year, what,
you were, what, 13th or 14th
in the nation that year.
And then the next year
they came second
in the country
and they had
improved by 22%,
which is unheard of.
ALDA:
What's happening
in the brain
when you do the quiet-eye
thing?
It seems to recognize how
the body wants to really
work.
The mind wants
to get it organized
and the body wants to do it.
But when you put those
two things together,
you're putting a tremendous
amount of pressure
on the whole system
and it breaks down.
It especially breaks down
when a person is
under stress.
VICKERS:
Okay, Alan.
ALDA:
And speaking of a person
under stress...
( laughs )
Sorry about that.
( laughing )
Let's see
if I can do that again.
ALDA:
The idea here is that
during the quiet-eye moment,
my brain is absorbing
and organizing
all the information
it needs for taking the shot.
Once my body starts
the action itself,
vision becomes irrelevant.
In fact, according to Joan,
trying to keep my eye
on the hoop as I'm throwing
is a harmful distraction.
Boy, it's very hard
to give up on it.
ALDA:
So, I did take my eye off it
as soon as I started to
shoot.
VICKERS:
That's what
you're supposed to do.
It builds up trust.
Actually seeing this,
I believe now
that I only have to look
at it two seconds
and then I can let my body
do what it does.
Exactly.
And it goes right in.
I mean, it's amazing.
It works.
HARLE:
That was sweet!
I'm living proof it works.
VICKERS
Excellent.
ALDA:
Okay, good.
HARLE:
He's got
a competitive streak!
Yeah.
VICKERS:
Have we noticed!
( all laugh )
Well, that was
really fun.
Was it? Good.
Yeah, it's amazing.
I mean, it's...
You know what I love
about it is, I mean,
you do what all the
scientists
on this program do
who we interview.
You find a way to look at
what
people haven't looked at yet
and to measure it.
And you just lift up the
carpet
and you show
what's under.
And we've been walking on
the carpet all our lives;
we don't know
what's under it.
Then you just take
a peek at it
and all of a sudden we have
a whole new way to look.
And it's counterintuitive.
One of the things
that I was thinking about
when you were shooting
is that you've actually
changed your technique
from when you began.
It's a much softer shot.
Right?
And David, in the golf,
was saying the same thing.
He's changed his mechanics
of his stroke,
but we don't teach that.
We don't actually teach
a change in technique...
as much as we teach a change
in focus and attention.
You change
the way you look
and when you look, hmm?
And that changes
the way you do things.
VICKERS:
Right, and then
you reconfigure
your body yourself
in order to suit that.
ALDA:
Knowing my love of tennis,
Joan indulged me by setting
up
a version of a study she's
done
on return of serve
in volleyball.
What she's interested in
is how the eye tracks the
ball
as it comes across the net.
What she found is
that good players don't try
to follow the ball all the
way.
Instead they let the ball out
of
their sight once it gets
close,
and they hold their gaze
steady
while they hit it.
This is the ball
coming through here
and you know you have
to hit it there.
VICKERS:
Then you stabilize the gaze
actually in front,
but the point is you don't
have
your eye on the ball.
I track it over to here,
and leave it there
and hit the ball.
ALDA:
Well, it's nice to know
I've been doing something
right.
Take that!
I'm ready.
ALDA:
We obviously couldn't come
to Canada
for a show on sports science
without including hockey.
MAN:
How does it feel?
Something like
a hockey helmet?
A little heavier, but...
ALDA:
Becky Kellar is one of a
group
of young women hockey players
having their gaze tracked
in the stadium that housed
the 1998 Winter Olympic
games.
These players are Canada's
best,
training for the 2002
Winter Olympics.
The idea here is to find out
where Becky is looking
when she's playing defense;
what she's doing to read
the situation in front of her
as she and a teammate skate
against two opponents.
To me, everything happens so
fast, I can barely see the
puck.
VICKERS:
The best players are seeing
things very soon,
much earlier
than we ever imagined--
what, on the order
of two seconds--
two seconds earlier.
And that's what's separating
the really skilled players
from the not so skilled.
ALDA:
A slow-motion replay of
Becky's
gaze shows her checking
on the positions of all
the players as well as the
puck
as the play comes toward her
and she's deciding on her
move.
So now she
has her.
Now she has
to step up
and move on
the other one.
ALDA:
Watching the replay with us
is the coach
of the Canadian national
team,
Danielle Sauvageau.
You know, when I
was wearing the helmet,
I would be surprised
sometimes
to find out
that I wasn't looking where
I thought I had been looking.
Do you find that
with your players, too?
Do they come and tell you,
"I was looking at her,
I was looking at her,"
and you'd say, "No, you
weren't.
Here's where you were
looking."
This is an excellent
point
because sometimes a player
is going to say, "Yes, this
is where I was looking"
because they know this
is where they should be
looking,
but with that kind of
analysis,
we can go back
and say, "Well, no, see,
you were looking at that."
ALDA:
It's really
a tool, then,
not just to improve
a player's ability
but to improve communication
among all of you
so that you understand the
player's experience better.
You really can see it
through the player's eyes.
Yes, sports science
helps us coaches
in today's way of coaching
to understand a little bit
more
of the player
and also for them to
understand
a little bit more, like,
how it's all about.
ALDA:
Before we left Calgary,
I asked to wear the helmet
one last time.
My question was this:
How does a juggler--
even an amateur--
keep track of several objects
at once?
I always wondered
where your eye was
when you saw things
peripherally
and now I see
that you can look
at something
and never move your eye
and be aware of all
this stuff happening
peripherally.
It's great.
You have
a... a vision
into stuff
that's happening
that nobody ever saw
before.
Brainy Putting
It happens to the best of us. New insight into the physiology behind the all too familiar phenomenon of 'the choke.'
Select text to jump ahead in the clip:
So what is this?
What are you
going to do to me?
We're going to hook up
some electrodes to your head,
and we're going to look
at the electrical activity
in different parts
of your brain,
and they're going
to be an indication
of what state you're in.
You play tennis,
right?
Yes.
Do you play golf?
No.
You're going
to play golf today.
Well, I can tell you right
now
what state I'm in.
ALDA:
Here we go
with the headgear again--
this time a brand new helmet
designed to pick up
my brain waves.
Oh, this is a rubberized one.
I've never had one like that,
so I'm getting...
A little softer.
I know all the fashions
in these caps.
( group laughing )
You do.
That's a new one,
isn't that right, Steve?
This is probably nice
for street wear.
ALDA:
Blinking-- one, two...
ALDA:
With my brain on-line,
it's time to choose my
putter.
Well, this seems nice.
I don't know what's good or
not.
( chuckling ):
Well, how would I know?
CREWS:
Feel.
Feel, yes.
Look and feel--
you got it.
That seems nice.
Is this part
of it, picking
your putter
so I feel like I'm
in touch with it?
Always be
in touch
with your putter,
folks, okay.
Are you sure Tiger Woods
started this way?
Exactly this way.
About seven.
ALDA:
As I make each putt,
Debbie's asked me
to rate how I feel about it
on a scale of one to ten.
That seems pretty good,
like a seven or eight.
Uh, another eight.
Nice.
Like a six.
ALDA:
We've come here to Arizona
State
University straight from
Calgary
and my quiet-eye training
is paying off.
CREWS:
One, two, three,
four, five...
Pretty good, huh?
...six-- yeah.
You know, what's...
I mean, you've been
keeping track, but...
Six out of 20.
but it feels like I ?got
closer
?
when I thought that... when I
felt better about it, you
know?
There seemed to be
a real correspondence there.
And you smiled.
And I smiled, huh?
I smiled when--
before I shot?
When you were
getting ready.
Oh, that's right,
I started to notice that.
I was starting to feel...
In fact,
I was starting to act...
Toward the end, I was
starting
to get the feeling
this doesn't make
any difference.
It's fun.
I'm just playing.
There's a hole
and I'll just swing.
I'll let the ball
go in the hole.
ALDA:
It turns out that
without realizing it,
I'd been doing pretty much
what Debbie's research
suggests
is the key to good putting--
getting the two halves
of my brain in balance.
CREWS:
As you're getting ready
and you're preparing
and you're reading the line
and you're making decisions,
the left hemisphere,
which is your analytic side,
your verbal side,
your self-talk,
is going to be quite active.
As you get closer and closer
to actually moving the club,
the left hemisphere must
quiet.
That's the consistent
finding we've had
through all the sports.
It must quiet and in essence,
the right hemisphere
becomes a little more active.
Right hemisphere
is your rhythm, timing,
balance, coordination,
creativity, imagery.
And so what you achieve in
the
last second before you move,
which is where you're still
focusing attention,
you achieve a state of
balance
in essence
between the two hemispheres.
How about if I do it
that way?
ALDA:
So the question is,
how do you get your brain
into a state of balance?
Now, what's
the idea,
just to go back
and forth?
No, the idea
is to balance.
Oh, balance.
Oh, balance.
That isn't easy.
Boy, that's
impossible.
Whoa!
ALDA:
Exactly what balancing my
body
has to do with balancing my
brain isn't immediately
obvious.
But as I stop trying
to figure out how to
balance--
a left-brain activity--
and let my body
take care of itself--
helped by a little
right-brain
imagery-- things get easier.
No, I'm a cloud.
Very good.
Every time I think I'm a
cloud,
it balances.
That's really weird.
That's your imagery.
That's excellent.
You're done.
I'm done.
You're done.
Very good.
Okay, we're going
to have you putt.
Have me putt now?
Yep.
Okay, over down there
by the hole.
Um, eight.
Beautiful.
Also eight.
ALDA:
The EEG confirmed
my brain was more balanced
after balancing my body.
Eight.
And I'm giving better ratings
to my putts.
That felt good.
Eight or nine.
Now, that's
a competitor.
They always put
the last one in the hole.
That's true.
( wheel whirring )
ALDA:
But Debbie isn't finished
getting my brain
into the right putting mode.
Just as I'm getting used
to the idea
that relaxing and letting go
is what's important,
here I am on a stationary
bicycle, getting all pumped
up.
60 seconds.
Okay, we don't give
you much warm-down
on this one.
Putter.
We're going
to hook you in.
It'll take a couple seconds
for the signals to come in.
We're on.
ALDA:
This time my EEG shows my
brain
is definitely revved up
but crucially the extra
activity
zis still pretty
well-balanced
between the two hemispheres.
It seemed like about a seven
or an eight.
Eight.
Eight.
That was a nice putt.
That's in.
0My tape can't stop it.
That's a nice putt.
uUm, nine.
Beautiful putt.
And I knew it was nine
before I saw it go in.
Excellent.
That was good, too.
That was, like, nine.
Beautiful.
Last one in.
That's right--
always the
last one in.
You should tell me that
on every shot.
But you know what?
When we get
your arousal state up,
just like here
if we say last putt
and we get your arousal up,
that means you have
more activity to work with.
If you focus it, which you
did
beautifully on that putt,
the ball goes in the hole.
That's true for me
on the stage, too.
Before I go onstage,
I do a lot of exercises...
That's right.
...and the audience,
of course, gets you up.
You know, there's
an excitement and you're...
It's... it's very interesting
that, uh, that extra charge
you get
helps you concentrate
sometimes.
ALDA:
Debbie has got me tuned up
just in time for one
of those little surprises
the producers of the show
love
to pull every now and then.
Also invited
to Debbie Crews' lab today
is a real golfer-- LPGA
Tournament Player Tina Tombs.
It>'s luck.v
How much of the game
is putting, Tina?
The older I get,
the more I think
that putting is...
is basically all of the game.
I mean, it comes down
to hitting a drive.
I mean, I don't think you
have
to think as much over a
drive.
At least I don't.
I don't think as much over
a tee shot as I do over a
putt.
ALDA:
Tina's here to add her expert
brain to Debbie's EEG data...
Oh!
ALDA:
But also, I'm just
now discovering,
to put me under pressure
and up the ante
on my newfound putting
skills.
I think what we'll do now is
we're going to go sets of
five
and... and we'll look
at number of putts made
and... and go back and forth
and maybe put a little money
on the condition.
TOMBS:
How many did
you make?
Oh,
I don't remember.
Oh, I don't
remember.
I have it right
here, Tina.
That's all right.
That's all right.
I'm so competitive
it's just unbelievable.
Everybody thinks
I'm a nice guy.
Is that the hole over there?
It's a little thing
we developed at the
institute.
ALDA:
Debbie has done several
studies
on what golfers call
"choking."
And you get a dollar
for every one you make.
I know, I know.
You're trying
to make me nervous.
ALDA:
That's when anxiety
about performing under
pressure
means your game falls apart.
One for one, but
you've never played?
No.
ALDA:
Of course I was getting a
little
help from the special rules
of this particular green.
Two for two.
Do we count that even
though it's the speed?
If it goes through.
So I can belt it and even
if it goes through, it's in?
Can we have a little quiet
on the golf course?
Sorry, but I'm trying
to get it in the hole.
Do you know
how many years
I've devoted
to this game?
ALDA:
It feels as though
with my quiet eye
and newly balanced brain at
work
and, most importantly, with
low
expectations, I can do no
wrong.
TOMBS:
See now, I think
that's a made putt.
That was terrible.
ALDA:
Tina, who clearly should
be beating the pants off me,
is having a hard time.
TOMBS:
Get in.
That's how hard
I'm going to start
hitting them.
There it is.
Beautiful.
CREWS:
She doesn't have a chance
of getting the ball in the
hole
in the state that she's in
because the state
is having the perception
that she should be beating
and winning, uh, the match.
What Alan's doing
is he's looking at the hole,
going there, coming back,
getting to the bottom
of his breath and go.
His mechanics aren't
anywhere near as solid as
hers,
but he's putting the ball
in the hole.
Are we done?
Actually, you can
just pay him.
No, I'm just teasing.
Now, here's the thing:
You're... You have a lifetime
of experience hitting real,
you know, playing real golf.
This is, uh, this is a toy
thing
that's all chaotic.
I mean, you couldn't even,
uh...
It was different.
All the bumps were different
every couple of times you
hit.
It doesn't matter to me.
All my whole experience in
golf
is on this stupid rug.
You know, so...
But you
should play.
( group laughing )
If I could take this rug out
to
the golf course, I'd be
great.
Okay, step back.
ALDA:
Uh, if only...
I almost fell over.
ALDA:
Once out on the driving
range,
my true golfing skills
are quickly exposed.
What... what... now what?
ALDA:
But even here, apparently,
things aren't hopeless.
The Arizona State
research program
that Debbie Crews is part of
is best known in golfing
circles
for its work on imaging.
The pro golfer Phil Mickelson
ascribed a recent tour win
at least in part
to imaging techniques
he'd learned here at ASU.
CREWS:
What we're going to do
at this point
is we're going to put
an image in first
of what you want
to have happen.
There's two things
you can do.
You can put an image
of the ball flying--
landing in
that target, okay?
And that's going
to prep everything
to set up the motor program
to perform.
Then the other thing
is you can put an image in
of how you want
to swing.
Do you have any idea
of how you swing?
Of course not.
I don't think so.
So we're going
to skip that one.
ALDA:
So here we go--
a little arousal...
Add a pinch of imagery.
There's the ball sailing
into the target.
Stir in a little brain
balancing
and for old times' sake, top
it
all off with a nice, quiet
eye.
CREWS:
Yeah!
Where was it?
Just in front.
Just in front.
Beautiful!
ALDA:
But enough about me.
The real reason we're here
is to see Tina at work out
here
where it counts,
while Debbie is actively
monitoring her brain--
something that's never
been done before.
So it's really exciting.
We're going to look
for that state
the same as we did before--
a second before--
and theoretically
she gets very quiet,
so we should be able
to get the data.
She's doing full swing
outside into a target.
And now we have the
technology
that we actually can go
outside
and do that.
ALDA:
And Tina, of course, now
that she's where she belongs,
drops the ball right into
that impossibly small square
in the middle of the target.
( group cheering )
Way to go!
That's it.
That was a 12.
That's a 12.
Baseball Tech
Missile-tracking technology help umps refine their skills, plus physicists search for the elusive 'sweet spot.'
Select text to jump ahead in the clip:
ALDA:
Last baseball season,
the Boston Red Sox
were kind enough to let me
spend
a little time
behind the plate...
Strike one.
...trying my hand at what is
surely one of the toughest
jobs
in baseball.
That's a strike,
huh?
That was a strike.
ALDA:
What I'd find most alarming
about the job
is that you can't
second-guess yourself,
although plenty
of other people do.
That was outside
the zone, wasn't it?
CATCHER:
That's a strike.
Was that a strike?
No kidding.
Jeez, no, I... I
would talk it over.
I mean, don't we want
to arrive at consensus here?
We don't want to be,
like, dictatorial, you know?
ALDA:
It's clearly time for a
review
of the strike zone,
courtesy of baseball buff
Paul Baim.
From the hollow
just below his knee...
Oh, the...
down there.
okay, to about...
to about here.
ALDA:
Paul Baim is also an engineer
in an aerospace company
whose specialty is tracking
fast-moving objects--
usually things like missiles,
but more recently baseballs.
( Alda chuckling )
BAIM:
Now, where was that?
Looked outside to me.
ALDA:
Looked outside to me.
I'm just watching out
for my life here.
ALDA:
Paul's been workingwith the
company
that has brought pitch
tracking
to television,
allowing viewers a 3-D
graphical
view of where a pitch goes
and at least
a good approximation
of the strike zone.
It gives TV watchers yet
another
way to second-guess umpires.
Whoa!
Hey, that... that dropped in,
didn't it?
Yeah, that's a definite
strike.
This guy's doing better
and better.
And he's not hitting me
hardly
at all.
ALDA:
But the current
commerciasystem isn't
accurate enough--
especially in defining the
top
and bottom of the strike
zone--
to be useful to umpires
themselves.
BAIM:
No one else in the park hasas
good a view of the pitch
as the umpire does.
And so there's really no
opportunity for umpires
to get any sort of feedback
on what they're doing
that's objective.
They get lots of feedback,
but most of it isn't pretty.
It's kind of instantaneous,
too.
ALDA:
So Paul Baim set out to give
umpires some objective
and almost instantaneous
feedback
by upgrading the pitch
tracker
already installed
in major-league ball parks
like Fenway.
One of the interesting
things about Fenway is
that because it's
a very old ball park
and everything here is
pretty much set in its ways,
is finding locations
for the cameras
that would, number one,
not get in anybody's way
and number two,
get the job done that
we need to get done.
ALDA:
So where are they?
Well, we have...
the pair of high camerasthat
actually track the ball
are located
up in the rafters
and you can see there is
a pair of cameras up there
above the first base line.
A pair of identical cameras
are up in the rafters up off
the third base line.
So from the time the pitch
leaves the mound here,
what's happening?
What we do is we concentrate
on
a piece of that corridor
that the ball travels
through,
with the cameras running
continuously.
And what the system does
is it automatically
determines
when a ball-sized,
ball-shaped object
traveling in the right
direction
at about a reasonable speed
enters the field of view.
And at that point,
the system says,
"Well, this is
probably a pitch."
ALDA:
These images show
both the predicted and
the actual path of the ball
on its way to the plate.
A graphic is constructed
from the images
showing the ball's flight
from different viewpoints.
The cameras stop tracking
the ball
where the batter might
interfere
with the image,
which raises
an obvious question.
ALDA:
If the cameras can't take
a picture of the ball
for the last three or four
feet,
how are you able to give us
a picture here
of what happens to the ball,
like when it drops off
sharply
and that kind of thing?
Well, what we do is
we use a model of the physics
of a baseball in flight
and apply that to the data
that we actually measure.
And that lets us extrapolate
the path of the ball
for those last three
or four feet very accurately.
The system is accurate
to within essentially
about an inch and a quarter
in the sense
of the commercial system.
And in the case
of the umpires' system,
it's accurate
to about half an inch.
ALDA:
The trickiest thing
to measure accurately
is the top and bottom
of the strike zone.
Because it's set by the
batter's
height and stance,
it's different for every
pitch.
The new system uses
two additional cameras,
located in the dugouts,
to take qa snapshot of the
batter
just after the pitch is
thrown.
This snapshot is used to
define
the strike zone
as the pitch crosses the
plate
a few tenths of a second
later.