6. TERRIBLE USE OF SCOREBOARD
I have no problem with modern technology having a role in today’s major league baseball game. I’m not on the side saying that baseball should be tradition-based manually operated scoreboards.
Baseball is complex sport. It’s nice to have a big jumbotron that shows interesting stats all the time and offers interesting insights into the players. U.S. Cellular Field doesn’t do that even though it has a nice big jumbotron. (And yes, I know that jumbotrons are technically bigger and started in the 1984 olympics in LA. I’m generalizing for simplicity’s sake here).
There’s so much real estate wasted on the White Sox’s jumbotron. They need to get a designer who knows how to use space properly. There were many times in the game where I felt like I get better stats from Wrigley Field than from The Cell. Showing a giant photo of the player on the jumbotron is nice to a point. It humanizes the figures on the field. However, way too much time is allotted to showing the players’ photos. So show the big photo during starting lineup announcements, then make it about 20% of that size when the players come to bat.
I guess it’s just easier for the Sox to put a giant photo of the player on the jumbotron than actually doing some legwork and finding interesting stats to put on the board. Lazy!
And they had the nerve to replace statistical info with welcome messages DURING GAME ACTION. You know those welcome messages: “The White Sox welcome so-and-so corporation. The White Sox wish so-and-so a happy birthday.”
I have no problem with those messages. I think they’re fun to watch BETWEEN innings. Don’t display those messages during the game! Geez! It goes back to the question of what do the White Sox want me to be doing during game action. Do they want me to be watching a Sox player round the bases after hitting a homerun or do they want me to be watching fireworks? Do they want me to be watching the game or watching the jumbotron to see if my company name shows up on the welcome messages? All indications say that the Sox don’t want me watching their team.