Tuesday, August 28, 2018

ABC News Reporter Jonathan Karl's Lapel Microphone creates False Narrative in Trump vs McCain Tribute Controversy.

I'm not going to accuse ABC News of intentionally doing what they did, but what they did did not accurately reflect the reality of the situation. On three occasions ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl is clearly heard asking Donald Trump about John McCain. Please watch the video below by clicking here.

After watching the video, do you recall how vivid Jonathan Karl's voice was? This is because his own lapel microphone is recording his voice. Karl's voice sounds so crystal clear that it makes Trump ignoring Karl that much more ominous.

However, the real reality is that Trump could not hear Karl as vividly as we can. There were all kinds of people yelling at Trump from about 10 to 20 feet away, Karl's voice was probably still audible at that distance but it would have been mixed in with all the other voices in the room speaking at the same time, creating an overall buzz of audio as multiple people were yelling at the same time.

The Dashcam Detective watched other angles of this event and the audio was definitely much less vivid, just as loud but much less intelligble as many many more voices were all shouting at the president, all at the same time.

Dashcam Detective is not taking a side here politically, just pointing out that the position of the Lapel microphone on Jonathan Karl's did not give a fair representation of the actual overall audio sound in the room and most definitely did not come close to matching what the President was actually hearing from his own vantage point. Yet the unsuspecting viewer will just presume that Mr. Trump was hearing Mr. Karl as clearly as those watching the video were, and that, is fake news.

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Is Major League Baseball Instant Replay becoming tainted on a Local Level before the play is even Reviewed by Major League Baseball?

In the August 22, 2018 MLB Baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox, Red Sox announcers erroneously claimed that Edwin Encarnacion was out at first base. The photo evidence proves otherwise.

Above the ball is approaching first baseman Mitch Moreland's mitt. Below the ball is about to enter Moreland's mitt.
The frame below is the frame that the Boston Instant Replay crew claimed proves the ball had been caught by First Baseman Moreland. However, the ball actually hit the top webbing of Moreland's glove, then ricocheted into the middle webbing of the glove. Can the call be considered caught before it is held firmly in one position inside the glove?
Announcers and Replay crew claim the above frame is the frame that shows the first baseman has caught the ball in his mitt. Below is the reverse angle, the ball actually entered the top part of the glove webbing, then richocheted into the middle webbing of the glove, as can clearly be seen below. Below the ball is now in the webbing part of the glove, but the glove is still OPEN as evidenced by the span of the glove that is visible. Can possession of the ball exist if the glove is in the open position? Unless the ball were to hit the webbing so hard as to stick halfway through the webbing and not be able to move anymore, an open positioned glove is a questionable frame to pick to establish possession of the ball.
Above we can clearly see the ball in Moreland's glove, but the glove is still open, if Moreland did not close his mitt shut, the ball would fall out. Below we can see Moreland squeeze the glove shut, this is the actual point where the ball can be considered officially caught. Edwin Encarnacion's foot is clearly on the base.
The frame below is when the announcers and the Home Field Instant Replay crew CHOSE to FREEZE the FRAME to make the point that the ball was caught. We'll call this Premature Webbification. The ball is clearly in the mitt, but the glove is WIDE OPEN, can this moment in time be considered when the ball is caught? if the Glove is not closed the ball will fall out.
Compare the frame above and the frame below, in just that one micro instant the ball clearly is still moving, from the top of the glove in the picture above to the center of the glove in the picture below. The glove is still open in both frames. Unless the mitt is closed the ball will fall out, hence neither the frame above nor the frame below should be considered the point at which the ball was officially caught. However the Boston Television instant replay crew choose a premature frame to freeze to create a groundswell of support among the Boston announcers and the fans watching the replay on the big screen that favors their own possibly biased point of view.
Comparing the picture above and the picture below we now see the glove closing below. However, the glove is still not completely closed. One could argue that first baseman Moreland has secured the ball with the palm area of his glove in the picture below. However, guess whose foot is now CLEARLY on first base, that would be Edwin Encarnacion, aka, SAFE.
Because it actually takes three frames to create proof that the ball has indeed been caught and held by the first baseman, the frame below is actually the first frame that we can for sure say the ball is firmly held by first baseman Moreland's clenched glove. Down below is the actual first frame where we can officially say that Mr. Moreland has grasped the ball within the glove in a clenched position. Edwin Encarnacion's foot is CLEARLY on the first base bag, as it was on the prior frame as well.

A pitcher once threw their mitt with the ball stuck inside the glove to the first baseman, but the glove itself was clenched and in the closed position. The ball entering the glove is CLOSE to when the catch is made, but it is not the actual frame that the home field Instant Replay Crew should be using to determine when the ball actually has been caught.

Dashcam Detective's question is, Is Major League Baseball being influenced in anyway by the Home Team's Instant Replay crew, the baseball announcers, and the home field crowd, into accepting their judgement when determining if a player is safe or out?

Or, is this simply a situation where everyone is accepting the ball entering the glove as being the reference point for a safe or out call? The Home Town Instant Replay crew has the ability to enflame the announcers and the home field crowd by freezing the wrong frame for all to see as "proof" of when a baseball has been caught.

Dashcam Detective believes that even though New York Instant Replay is supposed to be separate from where the game is being played, if they are listening to the broadcast and viewing the selected freeze frames provided by the home team's Instant Replay crew, they can be swayed into a pre-conceived decision based on incorrect freeze frame selections. If the New York Instant Replay crew is not being influenced by the local Replay Team, why are they selecting the frame prior to the ball actually hitting the glove and being squeezed?

Edwin Encarnacion was originally ruled safe, and the call was reversed, was there enough evidence to overturn the call if the call is being based on when the first baseman has firm control of the ball?

Let us not forget that the first baseman can use a bigger glove to have a better chance of catching the ball. But the bigger the glove, the more chance there is of the ball not being firmly held in the glove as quickly as if they had used a more normal sized glove. 

Baserunners who attempt to steal a base and start their slide late to make sure they have more speed to beat the throw, but then slide either past the base or momentarily lose contact with the base while the tag is being applied are ruled out. The same guideline should be being used at first base. It's not when the ball enters the first baseman's mitt, it is when the ball is firmly in the first baseman's mitt that matters, the bigger the glove, the more likely that the ball will take a moment longer to settle within the glove, and when possible, the Instant Replay Crews should be acknowledging an extra frame or two when determining possession of the ball.

Dashcam Detective asks, what if this had been a playoff game? 

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Holy Crap, Dashcam Detective gets excoriated on LinkedIn for Talking about a Person's Gloves.




Dashcam Detective is merely pointing out that this very nice young man didn't take his filthy gloves off before his kind deed. The deed is still kind, and his gloves are still most likely filthy, so why all the hate from LinkedIn members?

Dashcam Detective was not even looking for a problem when watching the feel good Video. Yes, Dashcam Detective cringed upon seeing the kindly gentlemen pick up the child with his presumably filthy gloves. But then Dashcam Detective figured he would put the kid down in a moment or two. But then kindly hero did not. Kindly Hero kept doubling down on his good deed as I attempted to spray some lysol through the screen to save the boy from those evil, germ defying gloves.

Maybe the Kindly Heroes goodness had killed the myriad of germs cohabiting on the glove he was using to pick up each and every can of refuse prior to picking up the boy.

Since apparently DashCam Detective's truth is not enough, DD would like to take all the hostility generated by DashCam Detective's observation and comment and convert it into a positive. I am asking all Bureaus of Sanitation in the U.S. to show this video to their employees, applaud the efforts of the man in the video, and then remind their own employees to either take their gloves off when handling a child in a non-emergency situation and one approved of by the child's parent or guardian, or to have a spare set of NEW gloves readily available and to use those before picking up the Child with the prior consent of the Parent or Guardian's.

An update! No sooner had Dashcam Detective posted this story then Sina Sambo came to Dashcam Detective's Defense.

Being in Waste Management, Sina's comment carries some weight, no?

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

MLB Umpire James Joyce made the correct call of Safe at First Base on June 02, 2010 to end Perfect Game bid by Armando Galarraga.

Editor's note, the most comprehensive review and analysis of this story can be found by clicking here.

The Dashcam Detective was able to review the final out of the almost Perfect Game by Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga against the Cleveland Indians on June 02, 2010 at the time it happened. The reason that over 99% of the public believes the safe call was wrong is 99% because of an error of omission by the Detroit Tigers announcing crew and their TV Replay Crew.
The ball is snow coned in Galarraga's glove for a reason, he was still bobbling it.

Even the GIF clip on Wikipedia continues the misrepresentation to this very day. The Wikepedia repeating GIF conveniently cuts off the play just as Galarraga touches first base. If the GIF had been allowed to continue the ball being bobbled would be obvious to all. Stunning as it may seem, the angle used to make Umpire James Joyce look like he made the incorrect call is the same angle that would exonerate Mr. Joyce, except that the play is always cut off before Jason Donald reaches first base. Is the reason the Wikipedia GIF is prematurely cut off and never shown in its entirety to hide the possibility that Mr. Galarraga was bobbling the ball?
Galarraga is both trying to catch the ball and locate first base with his foot. There is one ever so brief moment when the bobbling ball hits the webbing (below), but then comes loose again. By freezing the frame it deceptively looks like Galarraga held the ball long enough, but at regular speed the ball was never firmly in Galarraga's grasp until after Jason Donald had crossed first base.

Up above the ball just traveled from the center of the mitt and momentarily hits the upper webbing of the glove. However, Galarraga cannot devote his full attention to catching the throw because he is also making sure his foot is on first base. Below you can see the ball as it craters back into the middle of Galarraga's glove. If the Video frame several frames before this image had not been frozen by the video crew (as Galarraga touched first base), it would be obvious that the ball was still being bobbled by Galarraga as Jason Donald crosses first base.
The glove is open and the ball is rolling around in the webbing. This last frame is taken from a different video, which can be found here.  Unfortunately here too the video is manipulated by freezing the image several frames before this frame. However this is the best video I can find that does show the angle proving Galarraga bobbled the ball. All one has to do is remove the frozen frame so the sequence flows naturally and the bobbling will become self evident. Two other commenters have noticed the bobbling as well, if the frame had not been prematurely frozen, I believe most everybody would see the bobbling.

Umpire Joyce's angle meant he was staring right at the ball as it was moving around in  the webbing of Galarraga's glove and that is most likely whe he called Jason Donald safe at first.

Some may ask, who cares if Mr. Galarraga bobbled the ball, Jason Donald was still 6 to 7 feet away from first base at the time of the bobble. Simple math explains what happens next. Jason Donald reached first base in a highly explosive time of 3.76 seconds. To put 3.76 seconds in perspective, after Jason Donald hit the ball, he had to finish his swing, drop the bat, and start from a dead stop. Donald probably covered the final 81 feet in 3 seconds flat, or, 27 feet per second. 

Even a mere bobble of the ball by the pitcher could result in a delay of making the catch by a 1/3 of one second. In other words, Jason Donald would travel at NINE FEET at the very least before Galarraga can recover from his bobble. Donald can literally not be in the side view camera angle at the time the ball touches the glove, to Donald touching first base with his foot before Galarraga is able to properly contain the ball in his glove in that 1/3 of a second.

So how did the bobbling of the ball by the pitcher get overlooked? This is the sad part of the story. The Detroit announcer went over a checklist of why the baserunner could have been safe at first, but the checklist never mentioned the possibility of Galarraga bobbling the ball in his glove. The bobbling of the ball in the glove was intentionally or unintentionally covered up by the replay crew when they prematurely froze the frame as the Galarraga was touching first base with his foot.

The crowd started to boo as the replay that was shown to the fans froze the frame right at the point Galarraga's foot touched first base, in essence masking the fact that Galarraga was still bobbling the ball.

The two real victims in the Perfect Game that wasn't, aka the Imperfect game are James Joyce and Jason Donald. Donald's explosive take off out of the batters box with his arm's extended like like an airplane just lifting off of a runway resulted in a time of approximately 3.76 seconds from when he hit the ball until he touched first base. Many baserunners might have just run hard down the line and accepted their fate, but not Donald. Donald's run was close to the fastest a runner can run down the first base line. Once the story was spun that Donald was out when he was most likely safe, Donald was robbed of his moment of actually breaking up a Perfect Game with two outs in the ninth inning by running a very fast time to first base.
It is possible that Mr. Joyce was manipulated after the game into accepting responsibility for missing a call that he actually got right by possibly the same person or team in the Detroit Tigers Instant Replay booth who created the original freeze frame confusion to begin with?
Will the real truth ever come out? MLB sure took the hit for this mistake that was probably not a mistake. What of Umpire James Joyce? His life has been forever changed over a call he most likely got right.

And what of the Replay Crew? I watched the live broadcast and the Replay Crew NEVER showed the angle from the perspective of the second baseman looking at the first baseman, without also FREEZING the frame at the point Galarraga's foot was on the base, thus concealing the bobble. 

For context, did you know that in football if a wide receiver jumps for a thrown ball and it goes through his hands, the replay can be frozen right at the moment the ball was in between his hands to make it look like the ball had been caught. Obviously we all would see in real time that the football player did not catch the ball. But if a replay was shown to a fan who had not seen the original play, they could be fooled into believing the ball was caught by freezing the frame just as the football entered the wide receivers grasp.

Here's hoping someday, some way, James Joyce and Jason Donald will receive the proper credit they both deserve for their roles in the break up of a perfect game on what could have been the final out of the game if either Donald or Joyce had not done their jobs.

This is the Dashcam Detective reminding you that sometimes a fresh set of eyes can see something that was not seen the first time through. Sadly, what he have now has instead become fake news folklore.