Evolve – very slowly, admittedly – or die

So, we bought a Flip camera for the sportsdesk here and we’ve been messing about with it, getting used to the software and stuff. It’s a very nice bit of kit for the price – and handily enough – almost fool-proof.

UPDATE: My former Irish Examiner colleague Gavin Sheridan reminded me that we actually bought a very nice kodak Zi8, in the end.

I brought it with me to Broadford, Co Clare for the piece I did with Flan Marsh – the former roofer who invented the wonderful shatter-proof hurley.

He brought a few lads – including Banner senior Brendan ‘Bugsy’ Bugler – down to the club house and we went up to the pitch where I was treated to a full-blooded demonstration.

The footage, here, is pretty ropey, admittedly – but I enjoyed using it for the first time and Flan, and the patent guy who’s helping him with the process, were delighted to have it on Youtube. I’ll know better the next time I suppose.

I’ve a big feature in the pipeline as part of our World Cup coverage and we hope to use the Flip again for that.

In the meantime, have a look at this clip I found on The Story (with thanks to Mark Coughlan).

It’s a profile of a former gridiron star from Eric Seals of the Detroit Free Press. This is the kind of stuff I’d like to think we’ll be producing in the years to come.

Courtney Hawkins comes home to make a difference from Eric Seals on Vimeo.