the bummage is a
more dramatic picture than
the celebration
From the paragraph:
Yet the heart of the gig is straightforward. “It’s storytelling,” Esocoff says. “My job is to make the audio and the video match as closely as I can.” He clings to pillars of classic narrative: cause and effect, triumph and defeat. “If the QB hits the receiver for 75 yards up the seam, it’s probably because he had plenty of time to throw. So we’re going to find a shot that shows you the pass protection. You want to show both sides of an event. I always say, the hero on a play is no more important than the goat. So right away I’ll be in the ear of my cameramen: ‘56 blue is the goat.’ A word I use a lot is ‘bummage.’ I want to see the bummage. Because a lot of times the bummage is a more dramatic picture than the celebration.”
From the article, Behind the Scenes of the Most Spectacular Show On TV by Jody Rosen, in the New York Times on Dec. 2. 2023.
I loved this article and as anyone who remembers the glory days of Monday Night Football, it sounds very familiar, especially the line, I want to see the bummage. Because a lot of times the bummage is a more dramatic picture than the celebration.
This thought was made famous by the famous camera shot of Joe Namath showing exteme bummage.
According to legend, the shot was called by the man who invented Monday Night Football, Roone Arledge, who happened into the control truck at the moment and called for the camera …
Maybe it happened that way.
Maybe it didn’t.
But I’ll hold with it.
And as I life long Detroit Lions fan, I know bummage when I see it.
No Haiku For You 