Customer Feedback Works
Well, I suppose it was more viewer feedback than customer feedback, but Fox Sports Net has made a few changes to their score box at the top of the Mariners games. Who knows if my feedback played a part, but it's definitely an improvement. Here's a photo:
Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it prior to the change, but I was pleasantly surprised tonight as Aaron Sele threw out the first pitch. David Delucci hit a home run off of Sele's next pitch, but that wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. As you can see in the picture, the inning, outs and pitch count numbers are now in a large white font on a black background, easy to read. There's still a bit of a glass effect over that text, but it's much less obtrusive and doesn't obscure much of the text. I'd still prefer it to be totally removed, but it's tolerable.
The blue behind the "SEA" also seems a bit darker, which I also like, as it allows it to be ignored a bit easier. It's hard to say if it actually changed, though, without a picture of the older version as a comparison. "TEX" is also in blue, so it's hard to tell if the darker colors are an across-the-board improvement. It would have been nice to see the update during the Oakland series, with the bright green color used behind their "OAK".
Though I didn't mention it in my previous post, the last version also had a poorer version of the baserunner indicator (seen on the left side of the bar). It had very little contrast between homeplate and the runners on base. The updated version is a bit better, with a grayer homeplate and a yellower baserunner. Here you can see Ichiro on first base, waiting for Randy Winn to hit into a double play on the next pitch.
The bar still is not up against the top of the screen, but it does appear to be slightly closer. I think I'd like it better if they'd just color in that gap with black rather than letting us see a bit of the frame there. The motion up there seems amplified a bit by squeezing it in a small space between two mostly black borders. If they covered it up, it would be less distracting. Better yet, I'd like it if they'd just move it all the way to the top, but maybe they can't due to minor variations in screen dimensions or picture centering across different TVs.
Thanks for the changes, FSN.