tombonneau
Footballguy
http://wcbstv.com/sports/crowd.noise.RCADome.2.490315.html
Hear This: Guard Claims Colts Enhance Crowd Noise
BOSTON (CBS) ― The NFL may have concluded that the Colts weren't cheating against the Patriots on Sunday, but one of their own security guards is allegedly telling a different story.
A day after some unusual sounds were heard during the Colts-Patriots broadcast Sunday, the NFL issued a statement saying what sounded like simulated crowd noise at the RCA Dome was actually created by the CBS production crew, not the Colts.
But Bryan Foley, a photojournalist for CBS Station WBZ-TV, says an unidentified RCA Dome security guard told him Sunday that the Colts do enhance the crowd noise.
Foley has been shooting sports for more than a decade. He was covering the game for WBZ-TV and claims the noise in the RCA Dome was deafening when the Patriots had the ball.
"It was almost silent when the Colts had the ball," he said.
The noise was so bad he asked a security guard about it.
"I asked him, 'Do you go home at night with a headache? Because it's early in the first quarter and my head is already hurting.'"
"He said, 'I don't know if you know this, but they actually pick up the crowd noise and pump it back through the P.A. (public address system)'"
WBZ Audio Engineer Charlie Lucci said it wouldn't be difficult to enhance the crowd noise.
"If you wanted to add crowd noise to any environment, if you were pumping something out, into the P.A., the announcer that kind of thing, there are recordings available of crowd noise; or you could make one yourself and you would just add it to whatever you're feeding into the public address system."
It's not the first time Indianapolis has been accused of such tactics. The Pittsburgh Steelers complained about the same thing after a 26-7 loss at the Dome in November 2005. Since then, other teams have informally contended there is artificial noise pumped into the dome.
The Colts have continually denied the accusations, and issued their strongest worded statement yet on Monday.
"We trust this will put an end to the ridiculous and unfounded accusations that the Colts artificially enhanced crowd noise at the RCA Dome in any way," the team said.
The telecast received the highest rating overnight rating, 22.5, of any Sunday afternoon regular-season NFL game since at least 1987 and had a 39 share nationally.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)