Goodbye, New Camera Angle

So, remember that home plate-aligned camera angle that the Rangers had used regularly through the month of April? You know, this one? The one that gave you a better sense of both (a) the lateral movement of the pitch, which I consider pretty valuable, and (b) the location of the pitch in relation to the edges of the plate?

Well, according to Evan Grant, that angle is gone, and he's making it sound as though he had a part in helping pass along complaints (which disappoints me):

Rangers have officially axed the high, high center field camera because of complaints. I'd like to think that your voices on our little blog were heard. Whatever the reason, those who spoke up have been served.

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't feel so strongly about this, but this bothers me. After having had a prolonged taste of the new angle, I had really grown to enjoy it (and it definitely made watching the Rangers' pitchers a more enriching/entertaining experience), and it infuriates me that people apparently felt so strongly about this that they complained to whoever about it and forced FSNSW to revert to the old angle. The only upside to the old angle is that it makes it easier to discern the vertical movement of the pitch, but I don't consider that more important than the aforementioned virtues of the new angle.

This is about people being resistant to change, plain and simple -- even if it's for the better, even if it means having access to more accurate and less misleading visual information:

More than anything else, the continued prevalence of the offset angle reflects baseball's reigning philosophy: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. "People don't like change, it's as simple as that," says Marc Garda, the Pittsburgh Pirates' director of broadcasting. But contrary to Garda's assertion, teams that have switched to the dead-center angle say reviews have been positive. Joel Feld, executive producer for Red Sox games at NESN, says the team has "had really great feedback."

This is why we can't have nice things. Damn.