{"id":172,"date":"2012-06-27T09:15:20","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T16:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/?p=172"},"modified":"2023-10-31T09:25:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T16:25:32","slug":"view-from-all-angles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/?p=172","title":{"rendered":"View from All Angles"},"content":{"rendered":"

TrackTown Productions keeps fans updated and entertained<\/h4>\n
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\u00a0BY DAVID WOODS<\/p>\n

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For The Register-Guard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Appeared in print: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, page D7<\/p>\n

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A complaint among track and field fans is that they can see more from home \u2014 from a webcast or telecast and online results \u2014 than they can by attending a meet.<\/p>\n

Like a judge signaling foul in a jump or a throw, Tim Lay has raised a red flag to that. He is executive producer of TrackTown Productions, which is responsible for displaying what\u2019s on Hayward Field\u2019s video screens and scoreboards for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.<\/p>\n

Lay\u2019s mission is to entertain fans in the stands. That\u2019s why the local organizing committee employed TrackTown for the 2008 and 2012 Trials.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re doing anything revolutionary in the coverage of track and field,\u201d said Lay, 52, of Eugene. \u201cWhat we are revolutionizing, I think, is bringing things that have never been used in a board stadium show.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re utilizing a lot of things that we do in network television.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lay\u2019s production company has covered college football and basketball for ESPN, Fox Sports Net and the Oregon Sports Network. Track is complicated, he said, because there so many simultaneous events and relevant statistics. The sport, he acknowledged, is hard to cover.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why some in TV hate it. That\u2019s why he loves it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to put some brains around where to put cameras to actually cover track, because you have all these places where you can\u2019t see anything,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Near-instantaneous results are sent by FinishLynx to TrackTown, which reprocesses them for scoreboard display. FinishLynx\u2019s flashresults.com website has supplied photo-timing (including lap splits) at major championships since 1992.<\/p>\n

TrackTown has access to about 25 cameras, including some used by NBC. Photographers are deployed for still shots. Video boards are also displaying tributes to Olympic heroes, some of whom are in attendance.<\/p>\n

Lay said he concentrates on displaying athletes\u2019 reactions and assembling \u201csummary packs\u201d of meet highlights. In turn, those highlights can be shown leading up to a final.<\/p>\n

Identifying what to display depends on knowledge of the sport, Lay said. He said they are decisions a TV producer must make all the time.<\/p>\n

For instance, the moment when Jeremy Wariner knelt, holding head in hands after failing to make the Olympic team in the 400 meters, was as poignant as the celebration among the top three.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to concentrate on showing more faces and reaction and close-ups instead of more wide shots,\u201d Lay said. \u201cAs my wife said, \u2018I can see a wide shot from where I\u2019m sitting.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Borrowing from his TV background, Lay produces what amounts to pregame shows at the trials.<\/p>\n

Replaying highlights from seasons past can do that, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to let people see what they didn\u2019t see before,\u201d Lay said. \u201cAnd if you did see it, it\u2019ll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You get excited because you remember that moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t run highlights of the 2008 800-meter men\u2019s final enough. OK? You just can\u2019t run that enough.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beyond inability to follow all events, a fan\u2019s complaint can be long waits and inactivity at a track meet. Lay conceded track meets have a flow to them, and it \u201cdoesn\u2019t fit the flow of television.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modern fans require the kind of constant stimulation they get from smartphones, laptops and tablets. TrackTown fills the void with music and its collection of video highlights.<\/p>\n

Lay expects presentation of the final four days of the Trials to be better than the first four. And though his focus is the fans, he is mindful of the athletes, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can tell you the first time they ran on this track. They can tell you the first time they did well on this track,\u201d Lay said. \u201cI like being part of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like covering that and bringing that experience to the fan, and making the fans even better at supporting those athletes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t run highlights of the 2008 800-meter men\u2019s final enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u2014 TIM LAY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF TRACKTOWN PRODUCTIONS<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TrackTown Productions keeps fans updated and entertained \u00a0BY DAVID WOODS For The Register-Guard Appeared in print: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, page D7 A complaint among track and field fans is that they can see more from home \u2014 from a webcast or telecast and online results \u2014 than they can by attending a meet. Like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tracktownproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}