This Olympic Trials brought to you by.....

[gh]

The Beauteous Babs was in town for Thursday night only and she was surprised (bemused) to discover that in her section at least there was audible booing when a commercial (Claritin?) played on the big screen. Has this been widespread? (we can only hear the edges of crowd noise in the booth)

[bad hammy]

I only noticed boos during that first commercial (for Zyrtec). Booing the concept of commercials on the video screens, not Zyrtec specifically. We paid enough to get in the door you would think we could avoid having to watch/listen to commercials too . . .

[tandfman]

We paid enough to get in the door you would think we could avoid having to watch/listen to commercials too . . .

You haven't been to a lot of USATF Championships, have you? At USATF-run meets, we normally see many more commercials than we're seeing here.

[Got Lapped by Kevin Byrne]

I think this was the first year we had video ads at Penn. I don't mind it really - it's annoying but brings in revenue, and that's good. They didn't play any ads while races were in progress, so no biggie.

[Half Miler]

If you ask me, they should only be allowed to show track ads, like Jenn S and that vitamin shit she's plugging.

[dj]

I think this was the first year we had video ads at Penn. I don't mind it really - it's annoying but brings in revenue, and that's good. They didn't play any ads while races were in progress, so no biggie.

Second year at Penn. First year ('07) they did play videos on rare occasion during longer relays, but that was stomped on by certain individuals and did not occur in '08.

[bad hammy]

We paid enough to get in the door you would think we could avoid having to watch/listen to commercials too . . .

You haven't been to a lot of USATF Championships, have you? At USATF-run meets, we normally see many more commercials than we're seeing here.

Outside of OTs, I've never paid hundreds of bucks for tickets to watch a meet . . .

[tandfman]

Top ticket price in Indy last year was $25 per day.

[Pego]

If you ask me, they should only be allowed to show track ads, like Jenn S and that vitamin shit she's plugging.

Commercials I can live with. These are the things that could be corrected.

1. Listing automatic qualifiers in daily sheets instead of "12 best marks advance".

2. Posting wrong heat on the board.

3. Placing the tent for HJ officials exactly in line of vision from the most of west grandstand.

4. Announcing in the stadium could be louder.

5. Frequent breakdowns of the on-field marks.

[bad hammy]

3. Placing the tent for HJ officials exactly in line of vision from the most of west grandstand.

That's what you get when you have those big-buck front row seats - up in the nosebleeds that was not a problem!

4. Announcing in the stadium could be louder.

Loud is not the issue - clear is. The acoustics of the wooden overhang in the west grandstand must certainly account for some of this. Sitting on the north edge (literally last seat) or standing in line for water or walking around outside of the grandstand I can hear everything perfectly. In my seats in the middle of the grandstand up high, the volume is there, but the clarity is gone.

[Daisy]

4. Announcing in the stadium could be louder.

Loud is not the issue - clear is. The acoustics of the wooden overhang in the west grandstand must certainly account for some of this. Sitting on the north edge (literally last seat) or standing in line for water or walking around outside of the grandstand I can hear everything perfectly. In my seats in the middle of the grandstand up high, the volume is there, but the clarity is gone.[/quote]

One solution to this would be to broadcast on a radio frequency too. Then those with a problem hearing the speakers could listen using headphones.

[tandfman]

4. Announcing in the stadium could be louder.

Loud is not the issue - clear is. The acoustics of the wooden overhang in the west grandstand must certainly account for some of this.

I've been sitting in the East grandstand and there are issues of both loudness and clarity. Sometimes you can hear the PA ok, and sometimes you can't.