When the Cleveland Browns kicked and made their first field goal to draw to within 14 to 3 against the New York Jets on their way to a come back 21- to 17 victory on September 20, 2018, complete with Baker Mayfield playing his first professional game, something strange happened as the ball rocketed into the sky on the first field goal attempt.
As the kicked ball rose into the air, the ball clearly appeared to first move outside of both goal posts, and then come back inside the goal posts. The Thursday Night Football announcers noticed this phenomena as well. But when the field goal was shown from a different angle, one from directly behind the goal posts and most likely with a more conventional lens, the ball NEVER appeared to venture outside of the path of the goal posts, and this was commented on by the announcers.
The prior week in New Orleans Sportscam Detective noticed the same phenomena on a field goal by former Browns Kicker Billy Zane. The ball seemed to do a dipsy doodle and then stay wide. Sportscam Detective believes the wide angle lenses on the aerial cameras used above the field of play that move on guide wires are using wide angle lenses that are distorting the path of the ball at a certain distance from the camera lens.
This is not an attempt to slander the maker of the lens. However, the evidence is there, in the video recordings of both kicks. Sportscam Detective is concerned that if the aerial camera wide angle lenses have some kind of Bermuda Triangle zone in terms of distance from the camera and lens and the amount of telephoto or lack of telephoto lens used can create a momentary optical illusion, could this illusion incorrectly influence how the Instant Replay crew reviews the field goal of the ball perhaps stayed above the goal posts?
Imagine having to rely on the aerial camera to judge an instant replay because the ball stayed above the field goal posts and the camera in the stands could not capture the flight of the ball. If Sportscam detective can find the video online it will be posted her so you can judge for yourself.
In the meantime, it seems somewhat fascinating that lightweight portable wide angle lenses may have built in wide angle anomalies that can actually change the spatial relationship of two objects that are not on the same plane of view.
