This is your chance, the big moment. The regular play-by-play announcer has just been carted out under the effects of a bad plate of nachos. You're in the press box and, looking at the mic, think, " I can do this! " With thousands of screaming fans looking onto the field, you glance at the clock ticking down, lean forward, and say… what?

This scenario is like meat on a platter to many sports fans, and indulging in the fantasy is one of the attractions at the recently opened Hall of Champions Sports Museum in the heart of San Diego's Balboa Park. The facility, in addition to hosting an extensive collection of sports memorabilia, creates a learning environment that mirrors the entertainment value of professional sports. With an expansive vision but limited budget, the museum needed to lean on technology in order to achieve these objectives with a minimum of on-site personnel. Therefore, virtually all the hands-on exhibits are triggered by either time cues or the museum visitors themselves, with no attendants.

Dedicated to San Diego's hometown sports heroes, the 70,000 sq', three-level interactive museum pays tribute to a diverse list of athletes, including Ted Williams, Bill Walton, Fred Dryer, Dave Winfield, Tony Gwynn, Dennis Connor, Tony Hawk, Billy Casper, Ken Norton, and Bill Muncie (bonus points to those who can correctly identify both Tony Hawk's and Bill Muncie's sports without checking the website!)

In order to achieve their mission, the museum turned to Gerri Groubert and Randy Taylor at The Effects Network of Las Vegas, NV for concept development and coordination. In turn, based on prior work, the Effects Network asked Sound Image of Escondido, CA for a design-build bid for technical systems development and implementation. After being provided with rough design criteria and conceptual sketches, the staff of Sound Image conducted extensive interviews with Effects Network staff and Hall of Champions personnel, created storyboards of the various themed areas, and designed systems to breathe life into the vision. With careful application of leading edge technology and a minimum of staff, the museum now boasts a user-friendly environment that essentially runs itself. Says Scott Oosthuizen, Sound Image's Director of Contracting, "The museum was really looking for a self contained, very reliable, very stable system that they could handle with one or two people on staff. "

The most challenging obstacles were creating a self-operating facility, working within compressed development schedule, and determining how to retrofit the systems into the existing building with a minimum of infrastructure and related construction. Careful pre-planning, communication, and coordination was required to ensure that the systems met all expectations. In order to expedite construction, Panduit raceways were utilized wherever possible, and all exposed wire trays and cabling were painted to match the ceiling. This allowed construction to proceed without waiting for the installation of extensive conduit systems, and kept the overall infrastructure unobtrusive.

Another challenge was developing the Media Center, an interactive display modeled on two different sportscaster's sets. Again, starting with rough concepts, the exhibit developed into a stand-alone, self-operating interactive attraction. The first set allows visitors to create their own play-by-play/announcement from a variety of scenarios. The user selects between a teleprompter or six baseball or six football scenarios. The visitor either reads the teleprompter commentary into the camera, or is presented with timing cues for their own play-by-play, all of which is recorded for immediate audio and video playback. The second set is modeled after a sports commentator set, with automated camera selection and videoconference lights highlighting the "talent". As on the play-by-play set, the commentator is recorded on a hard-drive for immediate playback for friends and family.

A pair of AMX Netlinx processors control the automation, triggered by a pair of VTM-S15 touch-screen monitors. Two Ashly SRA-120 power amps power a pair of JBL Control 1 loudspeakers, with vocal reinforcement being provided by Beyer MPC67B mics, routed through dbx 286 mic preamplifiers and a pair of Shure DPR11EQ5 processors. Video sources are routed through a pair of Extron Matrix 50-series routers, and two Fast Forward 301-TA004 hard disk recorders are used to store the scenarios for playback. Navitar Hi-light XL fixtures illuminate the set, while Sony DXC390 cameras capture the action. Video playback is distributed to four Sony KV32FS17 and eight Sony KV20FV12 monitors.

The facility also installed sixteen video playback kiosks and nine video research kiosks, scattered throughout the museum. Each kiosk houses an Alcorn-McBride video server, linked via TCP-IP network to a central control room. Each kiosk presents a selection of up to 20 video highlight clips of various sports events, which can be updated via FTP as required from the central control room's video database. The main floor also sports a pair of rear-projection Sanyo XP45L 3500 ANSI projectors, fitted with a character-generator for text overlays and graphics control. Crown CL-series amps provide the power for a total of eight JBL MS28 loudspeakers, six JBL Control 29AV's, and a pair of JBL SP125S subwoofers for LF support.

The Awards Center is another example of interactive information retrieval. Touch screens are used to access information on athletes, teams and coaches who have received awards from the hosting Breitbard Athletic Foundation, including those in the Hall of Champions. Information can be obtained regarding Star of the Month from Pro, Amateur, or Prep levels, local High School Coaching Legends, Stars of the Year, Coaches of the Year, and Disabled Athletes of the year, with records dating back to 1946.

Downstairs, the museum has an intimate 147-seat automated video cinema. The theater, designed by Los Angeles-based Tim Hart of Media Systems Design Group, is equipped with a 5.1 Lexicon MC12 surround processor and a Digital Projection HIGHlite 5000GV xenon video projector. A full AMX Netlinx control system was installed, programmed to operate the theater unattended. Timing cues trigger welcome messages, which invite visitors to be seated. At the appropriate time, lights are dimmed and the digitally-stored show starts. At the conclusion of the presentation, lighting comes up and visitors are thanked and directed to an exit. The sequence is repeated every 25 to 60 minutes. As with other areas, playback material is selected from Alcorn McBride DVM2 video servers within the facility. A BSS 9088 Soundweb processor is used to provide audio processing and routing, with Crown CL-series amps powering JBL 3678 left/center/right speakers. A single JBL 4642 double-18 " subwoofer provides the thump, and eight JBL 8330 units handle the surround. The facility can also be used for live presentations.

The museum takes pride in offering a variety of presentations with a minimum of operational costs, while still providing a quality interactive experience for visitors. Attention to detail makes the experience both enlightening and entertaining. As Sound Image's Oosthuizen observes, " It's the small touches that really make the facility very nice."