I dig this sky cam thing ESPN’s been using the last couple of years, but isn’t it possible that it could interfere with a pass or kick or something? Has it happened before? Is there a plan for what to do if it does?
It happened during a college game a while back. I think it was on a kickoff. They just rekicked it.
I was wondering the same thing. It’s not just ESPN - I think Fox and/or CBS has the Sky Cam now as well. Anyway, while trying to Google up the answer, I was able to glean from the preview text of hits this little nugget:
That’s all I could get, as the site was ChicagoSports.Com, which requires a pay subscription to access the full article. Second link down.
I don’t know if it has happened in the NFL yet.
…plus it seems that the official NFL rule book is available for purchase only. The only rules I found online were brief summaries of key points.
I’ve seen it happen in baseball where a fly ball hit a camera mounted on the ceiling of the Metrodome. It was ruled a ground rule double.
And there was the, “unpleasantness”, of Randy Johnson v. the bird. :eek:
One of the most incredible feats in sports history. 
What was the call in the Randy Johnson case?
Fowl ball.
[sub]Sorry.[/sub]
That’ll depend on the stadium. I know the announcers were making a big deal of the differences in the ground rules for Houston and some other stadium this last postseason. Something to do with whether the ball hits the ceiling in fair or foul territory and then the ball is either live or dead.
And I have to say Johnson versus the bird was one of the coolest moments in sports.
I don’t think it’s possible to ever get a sports moment better than that captured on tape.
I wonder what Vegas books would set the odds at for it happening even in the next 25 years.
I wonder this every time I land.
How the heck did this happen?
I think the real question is, what if a punt hits a 747?
Do they ever use the Skycam on network broadcast games? I’m not much of a sports fan but I dig technology and the first time I saw the Skycam I thought it was way cool.
But that was like 15 years ago and I can’t remember ever seeing it used again on like Monday Night Football or a Superbowl game (though Letterman used it a lot…)
They use it on Sunday (ESPN) and Monday (ABC) Night Football and I think any playoff game aired by ABC (which I guess is probably just the Saturday wildcard games.) I think it’s more of a network thing than a “special game” thing.
Not all that high, something like it happened in the 25 years preceding Johnson’s pitch.
In 1983 in Toronto, after warming up playing catch between innings, Dave Winfield threw the ball to a batboy, hit and killed a pigeon. Billy Martin’s quote on the incident is one of the classics in all of baseball.
Well? Don’t leave us hanging like this.
After the game, Winfield was arrested, on the belief that he hit the pigeon deliberately. Martin said that wasn’t possible because “that’s the first time he hit the cutoff man” all year.
It was a true rarity in Major League Baseball history: a do-over.