for those of you that read our live event coverage please give me your honest critic of how we did reporting the event. if you have any ideas or suggestion of how we can make it better or things you would like to see please do so.

It was Great, hats off to you guys.

Thank You.

Dan

The teams who usually receive little to no coverage, when they get even just a little, appreciate it the most.
I think of "coverage" as just that, instead of it being a popularity contest.

Definitely seemed to be the best yet. I was glued.

Can't wait to see Sunday's pictures.

I was there both Friday and Saturday and comparing the coverage to actually being there I would say you guys did an outstanding job. In the past events I agree with Jaffer about the "little" guys not getting nearly enough coverage but I think you guys represented everyone as well as you could expect. Good job guys.

I thought it was awesome working out there with you Camo. I'll get those Kelly Pics to you tomorrow. Haven't read the story yet, but will. I'm sure it will be as good as the rest have been.

Kimber

Definetly the coverage had me glued do the monitor all weekend. Awesome job!

SuperCrawl, the vidio game. Someone needs to do it :p

The coverage has always been great, but this year it was awsome!
I really dig the videos, really gives a feeling for what it's like being there.

Didn't get to follow the event as it unfolded so I can't comment on the timeliness firsthand(although the updates looked like they were many and frequent :) ), but I can say the content was EXCELLENT.
I liked the personal info that was relayed through the tech report, it brings alot of excitement into it when you know a little something about the teams.
I liked the blow by blow descriptions of some of the runs being made by the teams, and the explanations of the importance of the particular run in regards to scores and placement. I felt kinda like it was insider info.
I liked that the paragraphs were followed by a pic of the team it was about.
The videos are excellent, I could only wish for more.

You seemed like you had some good coverage spread out among the event. I know you can't be everywhere all at once, and it didn't seem like you missed much, but how much do YOU guys feel like you missed?
Would it be a good idea to enlist some intern type helpers to get a few more eyes on the competitors?
Mebbe a Pirate giveaway (for the red stars) that would give a flight voucher to help pay someone's way there and a free weekend pass, and then let them be a gopher or whatever to help out?
Maybe make them qualify for the giveaway by proving a general knowledge of the scoring and rules, and the teams?
Take the test, if you pass, you're in the drawing? You'd weed out the yahoos and get some good cheap help.

Camo,

I thought you did a great job. you were out there hustling your a$$ off getting the news and the pics. I live 20 min from SLC and if you need a gopher next time let me know. Karl, Von and Bryson were great to lend you a tent for a couple of days. I came in to Chili's with Dustin on Sunday to say hi to you and Lance but Dustin took over :D so I went and sat down with the family.

Thanks again for the awesome coverage for all of those that could not be there.

Was glued to the monitor all weekend.

Only thing I wanyed to know all weekend was what was keeping some of the top guys out of the mix. Ie , Blume, Shupe, Melchner. Jordan etc. Saw some 50's and 40's in there and was wondering if it was breakage or what.

Other than that it was awesome. Until this event goes live on TV PBB will have my money just so that I can stay tuned to all the events. :D

I don't post much on pirate but I wanted to thank you for the coverage. I read it all weekend and felt closer to the event as well. I agree. I also liked the pics following the talk of the person so I could put faces with names since I don't know many of the people. Also thanks for the updates on the injured. It's nice to see both sides of the sport being talked about and not just the good, even if it is hard to read.

The comment made about mod class tech inspection said it all. The coverage of the supermod class was excellent.

I was looking everytime I could this weekend. Great coverage and great pics. Would have liked to see more video clips especially of that wall.

Thought the coverage was very good as well. As mentioned in other posts, I would like to see pics of drivers/spotters and their names at the bottom of the pictures. When there are so many competitors out there, putting a face to a name is a nice coverage point. Keep up the great work! Sam's always writing something good.

I thought the coverage was great. I was out there and came home to read about it and see if I thought it was an accurate portrayal. I thought it was. Good job.

Future considerations:

One media team (and article) covering modifieds, one covering supermods. I know this takes more equipment and more staff but I think there are people, including myself at times, that soak up every piece of info they can get from an event.

The coverage was the best yet.

I would like to see more coverage of the mod class though. Some of the top Eastern stars in Pro Mod and Mod only got one or two pics and no mention at all. It'd be nice to have a better mix.

But I was glued to my computer all weekend wishing I was there competing and beggers can't be choosers.

Got back late last night and just finished reading the coverage.

With all the pics, videos, and written descriptions of the action I still don't think that someone who wasn't there has an understanding of what the individual course layouts looked like and what specific challenge to complete each course presented (except #1 of course).

Maybe a narrated video walk through of each obstacle would help with that?
Take a camera through the line of each obstacle and discuss it like the driver and spotter do before running them.

An overhead pic of the course with the cones and geographic(?) features highlighted would work too, but I am not sure what the status is on the Pirate helo purchase :flipoff2:

Overall great writeup, but NOTHING is as good as being there :grinpimp:

I thought you guys did great. I liked the type of pictures that really show what's going on.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/trailreports/uroc_supercrawl2004/IMG_0007.jpg

http://www.pirate4x4.com/trailreports/uroc_supercrawl2004/IMG_0010.jpg

http://www.pirate4x4.com/albums/supercrawl2004day1/afn.jpg
I think this one should have made it into te coverage.

These kind of pictures (either the up close reaction type or the type that shows everything that is going on) are what really shows the hard work, size and reaction of the event.

Overall i think that an estimated spectator count and vendor count would help with showing the size of the event. (Something i personally would like to see)

After that, it was great. Hats off once again and thanks to Superior Axle and Gear and Marlin Crawler and pirate4x4 for making it happen.

Got back late last night and just finished reading the coverage.

With all the pics, videos, and written descriptions of the action I still don't think that someone who wasn't there can get an understanding of what the individual course layouts looked like and what specific challenge to complete each course presented (except #1 of course).

Maybe a narrated video walk through of each obstacle would help with that?
Take a camera through the line of each obstacle and discuss it like the driver and spotter do before running them.

An overhead pic of the course with the cones and geographic(?) features highlighted would work too, but I am not sure what the status is on the Pirate helo purchase :flipoff2:

Overall great writeup, but NOTHING is as good as being there :grinpimp:
I did a spotter ride with Scott Schlapman up #1 and now I know what the first monkey shot into space felt like :smokin:

Thanks to CAGE OFFROAD (http://www.cageoffroad.com/page/page/1167796.htm) for makin it happen.

The coverage is great, BUT my Windows media player won't play the video's. Any idea's?

The coverage is great, BUT my Windows media player won't play the video's. Any idea's?

right click the video icon.

select "save target as..."
when it finishes downloading select "open" from the dialog box.


we are working on why they don't work correctly but until then this way works. sorry for the hassle

camo

The photography took a step up this year for sure, such as the ones given in Lil' Rich's examples. But, then that's the style I favor in my own work, so I could be a little biased ;) .

As for getting pictures of everyone, well that's easier said then done. As a photographer, you tend to follow the action, and it's no surprise that many great competitor just don't seem to be spectacular targets. The best guys often make things look just too darn easy, which makes the photographers job a lot harder... :)

I loved the written 'inside action' coverage. The competitors as individuals and personalities is what will drive this sport onwards. People will follow the competitors and teams a lot longer and further than the buggies that change every year. Get name recognition, and the sport will take off (jmo).

All and all, best coverage yet. Keep up the good work, and THANKS!

The media is biased...very few, if any pics of the east coast guys are up there. Torbett won, but I didn't see a single pic of him.

I came in to Chili's with Dustin on Sunday to say hi to you and Lance but Dustin took over :D
Hey Fawker...I was the one that saw them and went in first...you just followed and were too late :flipoff2: Though it was nice havin dinner with you and Angie.

Hey guys, keep up the good information of what you liked and disliked. Constructive information is what we like to see because we are always trying to improve. For those that have said stuff in the past, we have tried to work the ideas in. It's not always possible, but we really do make an effort. So thanks and keep it coming.

As for the "media being biased" comments; is that possible when the camera girl taking the pictures doesn't recognize an east coast vs. west coast rig? Can she help it if the east coast action is boring?

In actuality, we have a list of drivers and as we take their pics, we check them off the list or try to anyway. Sometimes a driver puts on a great show and we get more pics of them. Several times though, we run into situations of no action, truck broke before we saw it, or we just plain missed it. If we missed you at this event, let me know and we will make an extra effort at the next event. Trust me when I say we are not biased. Ask around. It sucks to see someone accusing us of this when it is absolutely not true. In fact, I read that we had little to no east coast rigs and also saw something that we had no Randy Torbett pics??? Randy T, Charlie Melchner, and Ken Shupe are 3 examples of drivers from the east side and we have several good shots of them. If you missed, look again. Here is this years SuperMod champ with his own page of pics.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/gallery/supercrawl2004day1?page=15

So why get all weird and make statements like we are biased or didn't take any east coast pics? If we missed your rig or your favorite rig, let me know and we will get some next time.

Also I just noticed that some of the day 3 coverage pics didn't get up. I noticed that the gallery didn't take all the photos that I was trying to upload. Let me look at it tonight because we have several pics from the finals as well. Maybe the FTP program doesn't allow me upload 257 pics at a time? I think we are missing something like 100+ pics. Let me check though.

Once again, thanks to those that are making constructive comments to help improve the coverage. This is Lucie and my first time doing anything like this and we would love to get better. Just give us time.

-Sam

Great work! :smokin:

I've run coverage teams of up to ten people, and nothing beats more lenses aimed at the action, but there's a high overhead cost to that... not just processing all the images, but arranging food, travel, and lodging for the crew (ka-ching). More cameras also equates to a higher likeliness of capturing more drivers, spotters, and rigs, but you'll never get 'em all, perceived-bias or not :rolleyes: Until you get behind a media pass on the courses, it is hard to understand how many things there are going on at any given moment -- you make the best choice you can, and then you move on to the next potential great shot or great story... all day long, until you crash, completely wasted at the end of the day!

The minute-by-minute coverage was great, but I always like follow-up summary articles to tie it all together -- you'll get both the casual reader who wanders in off a search engine, as well as the competition-hungry fanatic who will soak in every word. I tried publishing course walk-throughs in text and pictures, but it really doesn't translate well to the small screen -- that your photos convey angles and movement, and your words captured excitement -- that is a true testimonial to the coverage team, as well as the action!

Randii

The media is biased...very few, if any pics of the east coast guys are up there. Torbett won, but I didn't see a single pic of him.

I highly, highly, doubt it is on purpose, I was out there also and I saw the pirate guys busting their asses to get pictures, the girl who was taking pictures for them (not sure of her name) had to have taken an insane amount of pictures. I don't think I ever saw her face since the camera was always in the way. I took over 2000 pictures and she always made me feel I was slacking.

the girl who was taking pictures for them (not sure of her name).

that is Lucie Silveira and yes she rocks :D

Overall thought it was great,I like the idea of a "walk thru" of the course and i would like to see a short interview with the winner and some pics and details of their rig.

Hey Fawker...I was the one that saw them and went in first...you just followed and were too late :flipoff2: Though it was nice havin dinner with you and Angie.



Just givin ya chit.... I really don't know them personally I just wanted to introduce myself. Dinner was great I just wish I was at the end with the guys takling crawling and not with the women. Of course it wasn't all bad. Great crew Dustin. Had a good time and hope to do it again soon.

Can she help it if the east coast action is boring?
-Sam

Hey, we can't help it if the East Coasters make the West Coast courses look easy :flipoff2:

that is Lucie Silveira and yes she rocks :D

Not to mention she's pretty hot, too! :eek: :D

Liked the coverage, was on the net every half hour checking the updates.

BTW does anyone have a course map, or overview picture showwing the entire course?

As a photographer, you tend to follow the action, and it's no surprise that many great competitor just don't seem to be spectacular targets. The best guys often make things look just too darn easy, which makes the photographers job a lot harder... :)

Guy from our club tied for the series win in the Safari Triathalon a few years back (I don't even know if they even do that anymore). Thanks to a nice suspension setup, he didn't get much airtime. Good for going fast, bad for pictures. Warn dumped him at the end of the year - despite the series win, he hadn't made a single print mag.

TEX

I watch the coverage here on Pirate every event.. It just keeps getting better and better. Sam keep up the good work, The writing has improved a ton since the begining of the year. I can't wait till next year. I don't have any idea what it would cost but I'm sure you guys are already trying to figure out how to get a live video feed. Pay per view maybe? Even just a web cam on top of a man lift would kick ass, Maybe in a booth with a couple of talk show hosts??? big dream but I bet sponsors would love that.

thanks again for helping me with the addiction. Damn pushers!:)

More pictures are up in the gallery. It appears I have an upload limit on my FTP which I wasn't aware of. So now all of day 3 is available to check out.

The event was awesome....
It was great so meet and finally put PBB names to actual faces.
The coverage was excellent, however all the pics that ive seen dont do the whole course justice.
Ive got pics that are going to be posted soon which i hope ya'll enjoy.
Congrats to team Torbett.....

Who Rocks? East Coast Rocks!!!

BTW does anyone have a course map, or overview picture showwing the entire course?
c:\wutemp\course small.jpg