The Syracuse men’s Lacrosse team steamrolled Holy Cross in a 15-6 win Sunday. Head coach Gary Gait described it as a “good way to end a busy week. We got exactly what we wanted out of it”.
Attack man Joey Spallina, a freshman from Mount Sinai New York, led Syracuse in points with 5 goals while also working the ball to assist other players score as well. Behind him came Freshman Finn Thomson, from Ontario Canada, with 4 points.
In a press conference after the game, Thomson said, “Moving the ball and moving our feet helps us out a lot and was a big reason for the win today”.
Syracuse University offers arguably one of the top lacrosse programs in the country and with that comes a hardworking and all around the clock production crew to make sure everything runs seamlessly.
There are multiple components that make up this production crew. The lead engineers, audio team, lighting team, camera team, and turnaround team. Alongside them all are production assistants.
In the case of the JMA Dome at Syracuse, there is an in-house production crew, and another crew which comes in to produce the television broadcast. In the case of the television broadcast, all video and audio of the game are caught on-site and sent to a control room in New House hall, which is the communication center at Syracuse.
In order to make sure the signal is transported quickly, the engineers use fiber optic technology. Fiber allows for the signal to flow smoothly and usually gives the least amount of issues compared to other methods.
According to Tom White, one of the lead engineers for the Syracuse network, “There are a little over 240 lines of fiber that run from New House to JMA. Each piece of equipment that’s sending a signal has an input cable and an output cable.”
All equipment that generates a signal that must be streamed, such as a camera or audio console, is linked through a virtual interface called Dante.
“Every piece of equipment we have, I can basically control the signal output from my computer just by using this app.” said White, when asked what the upside to Using the Dante program was.
That may all seem very complicated to somebody who is inexperienced in that field. The truth is, a lot of the other crew members aren’t too familiar with how it all works either. That is what makes the Head engineers so crucial to the process though. That is only one side to a sports production however. The people who actually operate the cameras and audio consoles play key roles too to make sure what the viewer is seeing and hearing on their TV is actually of quality.
Jim Hamilton, one of the Lead camera operators describes his job as, “Fast paced and always moving around. You have to constantly be watching what is happening because you may miss a great shot.”
In this case, Jim was operating the Sideline camera. His role was basically to catch all the footage of the teams on the sidelines, but also film all the time out huddles, Faceoffs and all the action within the substitution box also. It’s safe to say that he was running around constantly and that he is a true pro at his job because the shots he was getting were flawless.
This crew takes no breaks during game day and are always preparing for the next step. Right after the game ended Jim ran off the field immediately to set up for the post-game press conference where he operated the main camera, and the turnaround team immediately started setting up for the Basketball game against NC State that is taking place on Tuesday night. The turnaround basically transforms the turf field into a completely different setting with a whole new floor, added seats, unique production methods, and completely different atmosphere.
It’s quite amazing how this team is able to make these things happen in such a short amount of time and they definitely are the unsung heroes of Syracuse sports. Without them there wouldn’t be a game to watch. They truly deserve more recognition and credit for what they do.
