During one game, it declared that a ball that had left the pitcher's hand at 85 miles an hour arrived at the catcher's glove at the same speed. A ball can't do that. Russo claims that such problems are a thing of the past, eliminated by better software and hardware and by better-trained operators. Televised baseball games continue to make use of the technology. Still, this hidebound professional sport probably won't soon adopt SuperVision or any other system that replaces the umpires who call balls and strikes.
Sport is about tradition as much as it is about competition.
The reams of statistics so cherished by baseball fans testify to the powerful ties the game has to the past. Comparing today's players to the greats of seasons gone by adds a vital richness to a fan's appreciation. Fooling a computer is not as easy, which makes it unlikely that one will be seen on the field anytime soon. Off the field, however, technologies like SuperVision are quickly becoming part of the fan's experience of sports. Smith uses SuperVision, along with technologies such as robotic cameras and telestrators, which allow commentators to draw directly on the screen, to enhance the coverage of a game.