Sound adjustment

Did the Colts get busted?

It’s no secret that the opposition has suspected the Colts of turning up the crowd noise at the RCA Dome (if not the heat, too), but during yesterday’s Patriots win, it sounded like the PA staff forgot to take a damp cloth to the CD much in question.

A few folks have written in, and it’s all the chatter among Pats fans on the web, wondering if the noise heard over CBS’ broadcast toward the end of the game was in some way connected to chicanery on the part of Indy.

Writes the Sporting News’ Mike Florio: “During the first play of the fourth quarter, the noise from the crowd contained a strange effect. It almost sounded like my kid was working the ‘Whammy Bar’ while playing Guitar Hero…We don’t know whether that noise could be heard in the stadium, but it was obvious on the television broadcast. And it invites speculation as to whether the Colts are indeed piping in phony music — and whether there was a malfunction of some sort on Sunday that offered proof of it.”

Indeed. Scroll to the 2:25 mark of this NFL highlight package to hear it, almost like a ray gun in some cheesy Saturday morning sci-fi show. It could be written off as a CBS audio problem, perhaps, except that Jim Nantz appears to have no problem speaking over it.

Here it is in mp3 format.

Note: CBS has chimed in and taken the blame for the ‘unusual audio moment’.