# Cubing should be live-broadcast



## Zarxrax (Jul 17, 2012)

In order for cubing to grow and become considered as a serious sport, it needs to be treated more seriously, and we have to help give it a push. It wont just happen on its own. 

Big events like worlds need to be broadcast live on the web, and have commentators talking about whats going on, giving us some background on the competitors, and just generally making it interesting. 

A large event like the worlds competition really needs to be viewable by the world. Not only does this increase the visibility of cubing, but it would greatly enhance the opportunities to obtain sponsors, especially sponsors who are outside of the cubing niche. And once the world can see it as a serious sport, that increases the chances of actually getting it televised at some point down the road. 

Just a thought.


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## Kirjava (Jul 17, 2012)

You mean like how worlds /was/ live?


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## Zarxrax (Jul 17, 2012)

Kirjava said:


> You mean like how worlds /was/ live?



Wait wait wait... when was this?
Link please?


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## BlueDevil (Jul 17, 2012)

Totally agree.

Even when I was a non-cuber, I would have found cubing more interesting than the spelling bee - and the bee gets broadcasted by ESPN.

I think doing some sort of broadcast (that is easy for non-cubers to find and access) of cubing would be interesting, good for the community, and is a good idea that should be looked into.


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## PandaCuber (Jul 17, 2012)

This would be nice. Get some commentators like from Espn saying, 'oh just a beautiful xcross. what a ravishhing f2l. oh wait, seems to have a lockup on oll. pll skip pll skip pll skip pll skip! lets see that in slow mo!!"

would get so many watchers.


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## RaresB (Jul 17, 2012)

Sounds like a good plan, the web would be a great place to start, and I agree we have to present it as something serious but that would take an effort from everyone. On the other hand people watching will not have a clue whats going on, but the same thing happens in almost every sport. In baseball for example im sure not many people pay attention to how the batter sets himself up, or how he hits, but just what the end result is... that would be the same thing with cubing.

However to make this remotely achievable we would have to remove all cubing jargon from performances, frankly no one watching would care about an easy f2l pair, but something like a pop, or a bad lock up, something that you would understand with no cubing knowledge would be a good thing to comment on.


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## ThomasJE (Jul 17, 2012)

Zarxrax said:


> Wait wait wait... when was this?
> Link please?



1982

As to the OP, I totally agree. I believe that in WC2011, there was something simular to this, but was just on screens within the event. Releasing it online would be relatively simple for someone with the knowhow, and especially with WC2013 being held in the USA, there will no doubt be more interest than there would have been in Thailand for WC2011.


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## Kirjava (Jul 17, 2012)

ThomasJE said:


> I believe that in WC2011, there was something simular to this, but was just on screens within the event. Releasing it online would be relatively simple for someone with the knowhow,



it was online

LISTEN TO KIR. HE GIVES ACCURATE AND CORRECT INFORMATION


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## Evan Liu (Jul 17, 2012)

Yes, WC 2011 was live online:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/world-rubik-cube-2011
http://worldrubik2011.voicetv.co.th
(The second site has been taken down)


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## Zarxrax (Jul 17, 2012)

pwnAge said:


> However to make this remotely achievable we would have to remove all cubing jargon from performances, frankly no one watching would care about an easy f2l pair, but something like a pop, or a bad lock up, something that you would understand with no cubing knowledge would be a good thing to comment on.



No way, you don't see other sports dumbing it down. Not understanding what the commentators are saying does not necessarily detract from the enjoyment. People learn after spending some time watching, just like with anything else. And it helps people to appreciate the complexity of what is going on.


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## mrpotatoman14 (Jul 17, 2012)

Worlds was live. There's no way cubing is going on ESPN in the near future.


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## applemobile (Jul 17, 2012)

The only person capable of supplying commentary for a 6 second solve is Brest.


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## Kirjava (Jul 17, 2012)

me and andrew kang could totally do commentary


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## Human hybrid87 (Jul 17, 2012)

mrpotatoman14 said:


> Worlds was live. There's no way cubing is going on ESPN in the near future.



Maybe on ESPN 8 The Ocho.


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## mrpotatoman14 (Jul 17, 2012)

Human hybrid87 said:


> Maybe on ESPN 8 The Ocho.


Touche good sir.


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## RaresB (Jul 17, 2012)

Zarxrax said:


> No way, you don't see other sports dumbing it down. Not understanding what the commentators are saying does not necessarily detract from the enjoyment. People learn after spending some time watching, just like with anything else. And it helps people to appreciate the complexity of what is going on.



Good point I didn't look at it from that standpoint, I think there is just a lot of terms that people arent ready to get right away, we have to think of a way to make it easier. It might be hard to just pick up.


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## PandaCuber (Jul 17, 2012)

pwnAge said:


> Good point I didn't look at it from that standpoint, I think there is just a lot of terms that people arent ready to get right away, we have to think of a way to make it easier. It might be hard to just pick up.



Brest could do live on screen reconstructions


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## Julian (Jul 17, 2012)

Livestreamed as much as possible, Worlds was super fun to watch. People who are honestly thinking TV, uh, no.


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## RaresB (Jul 17, 2012)

PandaCuber said:


> Brest could do live on screen reconstructions



Yes lol that would be epic, notation is easy to get, maybe show it after a decent solve, but if you mean move by move as hes doing it, its going to be super fast


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## MaeLSTRoM (Jul 17, 2012)

Kirjava said:


> me and andrew kang could totally do commentary



Idea for next cubecast?


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## antoineccantin (Jul 17, 2012)

MaeLSTRoM said:


> Idea for next cubecast?



Nats live with commentary!


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## Stefan (Jul 17, 2012)

mrpotatoman14 said:


> There's no way cubing is going on ESPN in the near future.



http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7152108


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## mrpotatoman14 (Jul 17, 2012)

Stefan said:


> http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7152108


I apologize for my bad wording. I'm sure the basics of cubing will be shown on "documentary" type programs. However chances are it won't have it's own slot on ESPN for the sake of watching speedsolves.


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## Dene (Jul 18, 2012)

Yes, that would be fantastic, let's put cubing live on ESPN where only Americans (probably not even every state) and maybe a select few other countries in the world can view it... great idea...


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## Kurbitur (Jul 18, 2012)

would be great to broadcast some event so people like me that won't be able to attend worlds can still watch. Also then would every solve be recorded and you could find your solve and watch it and like post it on youtube if you're proud of it (even put your name on it?).


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## sneaklyfox (Jul 18, 2012)

It could have commentary paired with slo-mo replay.


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## BlackStahli (Jul 18, 2012)

BlueDevil said:


> Totally agree.
> 
> Even when I was a non-cuber, I would have found cubing more interesting than the spelling bee - and the bee gets broadcasted by ESPN.
> 
> I think doing some sort of broadcast (that is easy for non-cubers to find and access) of cubing would be interesting, good for the community, and is a good idea that should be looked into.


^^
But the spelling bee has been around for a really long time. Cubes have only been around for what, 30 years now? Only ~15 years if you don't count the time it lost popularity after 1982. Maybe ESPN will broadcast cubing in a decade or something


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## speedcubingman (Jul 18, 2012)

PandaCuber said:


> This would be nice. Get some commentators like from Espn saying, 'oh just a beautiful xcross. what a ravishhing f2l. oh wait, seems to have a lockup on oll. pll skip pll skip pll skip pll skip! lets see that in slow mo!!"
> 
> would get so many watchers.



oh my gosh this made me lol


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## marthaurion (Jul 24, 2012)

Yeah...I dont really see live-broadcasts of a competition catering much of an audience outside the speedcubing community to be honest. Yeah, it sounds cool for us, but there has to be a way to draw in other people outside of our little circle...


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## jla (Jul 24, 2012)

This would be awesome. Enough said.


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## asportking (Jul 25, 2012)

I can't see this ever happening on something like ESPN (at least for a long time), but a livestream of large competitions with commentary would be really cool.


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## blade740 (Jul 25, 2012)

If you took high-level solves, added an instant replay, and had knowledgeable commentators, it could definitely work. The average person doesn't know cubing terminology, but if it weren't for TV commentators most people probably wouldn't understand baseball jargon either. I've been waiting for this for years: Kir as the play-by-play announcer, Bob Burton with color commentary, Andrew Kang on the floor with post-solve interviews, and of course there's no shortage of possible guests. You could break it up with short explanations of cubing concepts, methods, et cetera (to help make it more accessible to non-cubers). The world juggling championships have been shown on ESPN2 several times (and not just a quick feature, but actual honest-to-god coverage), so why not cubing?

The biggest reason that cubing as a sport doesn't enjoy that sort of popularity is that there's not enough sponsorship. But there's no sponsorship because there's no visibility. And there's no visibility because there's no sponsorship. If the World Championships were televised, it would mean a lot more people seeing the sport at its best. And with more eyes on cubing, the possibilities for actual sponsorship, not only for competitions but for individual cubers, grows incredibly. To my knowledge, there are no full-time professional cubers. Just about everyone that competes regularly does so at their own expense. I know I've probably spent thousands of dollars over the years traveling to competitions, and I haven't even left the USA. And yet top Starcraft players make well over 6 figures a year.

So what's it going to take to make this happen? Well, first of all, we need a show. ESPN doesn't have any commentators that know jack **** about cubing, so they're going to have to come from the community. We'll need high-quality footage, of course: just final rounds will do. It doesn't even have to be done live: there's nothing stopping us from editing together a broadcast after the fact. We could even make it into a DVD and sell copies as a way to raise some more funds for competitions. Something like that will show what this sport can really be, and then we can take that and use it to sell the idea to networks. Who knows, maybe it'll turn our nerdy hobby into a productive career, and one day top cubers will actually get recognition from those outside the sport.


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## Ranzha (Jul 25, 2012)

As far as Mistar Nelson's DVD idea goes, if we can get a D-Faze-esque film made out of Nats with footage from each day from multiple people, then we could have ourselves a decent shot.


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## Hunter (Jul 25, 2012)

BlueDevil said:


> that is easy for non-cubers to find and access



IMO, this would be the biggest issue. I think a cubing 'show' would have to be _presented _ to non-cubers from a media source they already know and use; however that might be done... I doubt a non-cuber would find this sort of thing on their own.


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## Weston (Jul 25, 2012)

I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 viewers too lol
They seem to be pretty interested


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## RaresB (Jul 25, 2012)

Weston said:


> I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 MILLION viewers too lol
> They seem to be pretty interested



That's where it will be one day... Hopefully


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## Cheese11 (Jul 27, 2012)

Weston said:


> I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 viewers too lol
> They seem to be pretty interested



You should share whenever you stream. I would love to watch you practice!


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## PandaCuber (Jul 27, 2012)

Weston said:


> I have been streaming my practice sessions on twitch.tv to give myself pressure. I usually have 4-5 viewers too lol
> They seem to be pretty interested



where? when?


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## seth5124 (Jul 28, 2012)

PandaCuber said:


> This would be nice. Get some commentators like from Espn saying, 'oh just a beautiful xcross. what a ravishhing f2l. oh wait, seems to have a lockup on oll. pll skip pll skip pll skip pll skip! lets see that in slow mo!!"
> 
> would get so many watchers.



i'm just picturing someone doing that with someone like Feliks. "and he's off with a nice simple cross, and now he's st- Oh he's done."


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## Akash Rupela (Jul 28, 2012)

This must happen. I also thought about something like this a few months back. And if there is anything that can take speedcubing to a new level (except the few documentaries or some people in talent hunts), IT IS THIS .


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## Hunter (Jul 30, 2012)

I think speed BLD would be interesting to non-cubers.


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## bluecloe45 (Jul 30, 2012)

I mean we have had *some * publicity. We had the espn bit, Anthony's VW commercial, and Andrew's nickelodeon appearance. Thats pretty good in my opinion.


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## 4EverCuber (Jul 30, 2012)

I would love to see speedcubing get more popularity the way StarCraft 2 does. The age bracket seems to be about the same for both. The problem I see, and I could be wrong about this, is that there's no money to be made in speedcubing. You'll never see tournaments with prize pools like in SC2. How would you attract sponsors? Sponsors come forward if their name can be marketed in some way enabling them to advertise their products. What kind of sponsors would be willing to invest into speedcubing? At least in SC2 a game usually lasts at least 10mins. Not much to say about a 7-10sec. solve except that it was quick. Just my 2 cents.


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