Now you can get inside the head of a referee. Or, right next to it, at least.
The Phoenix Mercury-Indiana Fever WNBA basketball game Saturday featured a technological first. The game featured video from a camera that one of the referees wore.
Referee Lamont Simpson agreed to adorn the object that was mounted above his right ear. The camera had a frame that looked like a pair of glasses and gave unique views to fans watching the game.
"The first half, it took some adjusting to, especially when you started running and actually broke a sweat," the veteran official told The Associated Press. "The goggles started to loosen up and the sweat around the band started to loosen up. The first half was pretty much just adjusting the headset."
He didn't notice it during the second half, according to The AP.
"It was fun. We made some adjustments at halftime and the second half it was almost like it wasn't there," he said.
The AP added that the first images during the game appeared shaky but did give the fans a different look at a televised basketball game. Simpson's camera showed him giving a technical foul to Phoenix's Candice Dupree during the second quarter.
"Today's broadcast was a great opportunity to be at the forefront in terms of providing viewers with unique perspectives on our game," The AP reported WNBA President Laurel Richie as saying. "The use of Ref Cam certainly offered a previously unseen point of view that really brought viewers into the action, adding a whole new visual and audio component to the experience."
Peter Larson, general manager for Broadcast Sports Inc., which developed the camera, said the device has been used in a professional rugby game and a soccer match, but noted that its use in an NFL or NBA or Major League Baseball game is "another generation or two away."
ESPN, which broadcasts the league, and the WNBA will jointly decide when the cam will be used moving forward.
"The Ref Cam is the latest effort in keeping with our tradition of innovation," said ESPN senior vice president and executive producer Mark Gross. "We are always looking for new ways to provide fans different angles and a feel for the game they may not have gotten in the past."
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