Friday night, no one could miss the overhead camera when it came crashing down to the field late in the fourth quarter, nearly taking out one of the players.
The ESPN camera narrowly missed Iowa receiver Martin McNutt Jr., who became entangled in the guide wire but wasn't hurt.
"First, I looked: What is it that fell from the sky?'" McNutt said after Iowa's 31-14 loss to No. 19 Oklahoma. "The next thing I know, the camera kind of scratched me a little bit. It was just pulling me and I knew I didn't want to keep going with it."
ESPN has consistently used the cameras for football coverage, making it a staple of "Monday Night Football." The cameras also have been used occasionally in the NBA, NHL, NASCAR, NCAA basketball, baseball and at the island-green 17th hole at the TPC Sawgrass during The Players Championship.
The cameras, despite flying over the playing field, have rarely interfered with the action.
In 2007, a cable camera was forced to make a controlled descent during an NFL game between the New Orleans Saints and the Seattle Seahawks from what was called human error.
At the 2009 Las Vegas bowl between BYU and Oregon State, the overhead camera reportedly had to be taken down due to wind gusts of around 40 mph.
