Our attempt to see the South Africa team was foiled; quite simply, they were not around Papago Park. A few of the Oakland A’s minor league players told us that they thought the visitors from South Africa had a scrimmage scheduled for the afternoon.

Spring baseball being what it is, we just hopped over to the San Francisco Giants minor league facility. Good timing--we just hung around and looked at some of the major league wanna-bes take some hacks in the batting cage.

I had hoped to have a high definition camera in hand for my videos of the World Baseball classic, but it was not to be. The new Sanyo HD1 is not yet available for sale, and a loaner was not forthcoming. I toyed with the idea of the Sony high definition camera (which has come down in price) but it’s a bit large (and costly) to take into a crowded setting. I like the smaller hybrid cameras (shoots both digital stills as well as movies) because they are inconspicuous and versatile and provide good results for videoblogging.

 

Speaking of the Sanyo HD1, apparently a loaner made its way into the hands of a tech reporter at The New York Times. I found the review odd in that it did not approach the camera as the ultimate videoblogging tool (which it is). As such, the review was worthless to me and other videobloggers who now must think twice before forking over about $800 for an uncertain commodity. For now, I’ll stick to the cameras I already have.