Is this video real?

[Buzzsaw]

There's been a lot of talk about this; whether authentic, some of it faked, all of it faked. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_5XyMUwDMc

[Jedo the Jedi]

I don't know what's so spectacular about it that it would need to be faked. I mean, the pizza didn't disintegrate; the ball just went through it. Still, I would be interested to see Mythbusters officially review it.
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[Zag]

I bought all of it except the pizza box. You couldn't throw a baseball through two layers of cardboard like that. If you really threw it fast enough to go through it (and not just knock it away), it would split, not make a round hole. Even a bullet does not make a round hole in cardboard.

[Jack_Ian]

The pizza is definitely fake. No way the pizza stayed in position so that the hole through the pizza and the box match up after the ball went through it and then it fell to the ground.
Also the hole in the spinning box does not stay in the same place. Pause it a few times and you'll see it sometimes closer to a corner than in other frames.

[Neo]

Fake.

Pitching a fastball is more than brute strength, you've got to have solid mechanics. The wind-up isn't just for show. He's just tossing the ball into the air.
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[Death Mage]

I can say, with a great amount of certainty, that yes, that is a video on youtube.
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[TGC*]

[Buzzsaw]

For anyone who might feel more comfortable seeing this presented from a different source, here are two more.

CBS Sports - Matt Cain and mythbusters team up to throw baseballs through things

NBC10 Philadelphia - Matt Cain and "Mythbusters" break stuff



Death Mage and The Great Creper, you're both acting rudely. Please go away or stop crapping on the thread. Everyone else, thanks for the responses. Very interesting.

[TGC*]

[Buzzsaw]

TGC, go away and start your own thread, I promise to not shit all over it like you're doing here.

[The Potter]

I don't see any reason to believe that it is faked.

The pizza box one would need a pizza inside-- otherwise there wouldn't be enough mass and the cardboard would deflect. A pizza with a reasonably stiff crust would stay in place with the help of a little torn cardboard.
I would have expected a little more mid-air deflection.

As for the warm-up part of pitching-- meh. Quite a bit of that is to get the strange downward angle needed for baseball.

At the same time, the camera positions leave much to be desired. It would be pretty easy to fake this video but I don't feel it is necessary.
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[The Potter]

I would also like to mention that cardboard used for pizza boxes is really thin.
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[TGC*]

[Buzzsaw]

I think that all of it is real. I also think that explanations can be made about the questionable issues. But on Nov 4th, apparently this pitcher, Matt Cain will be featured on Mythbusters. Hopefully they will clear this up. Am wondering though if they do indeed end up claiming it's real, how many people will still be in doubt about it.

For those that think some of it is faked, consider that these people who made the video (although maybe not be the best actors in the world, as demonstrated here), are in the business of essentially debunking things.

If any of this was/is faked, how do you think it would affect their credibility regarding any work they've done in the past and any they might do in the future? I think they would be immediately brushed off. People would say "remember? those are the very same clowns who faked the baseball going through the deep dish pizza box!" So if they did fake any of this video, and considering the position they're in, think how incredibly stupid that would be to do.

[Buzzsaw]

[The Potter]

[Buzzsaw]

You should see what I backspaced.

[Buzzsaw]

It had to be pointed out to me but now I understand that Death Mage and The Great Creper were indeed only joking, did not understand that at the time. It's like the joke when someone asks "is this green or blue" and someone responds "yes, it's green or blue". I failed to see this for what it was and completely misunderstood.

I sincerely apologize to Death Mage, and The Great Cre'per.

[Jack_Ian]

There is no official Myth-Busters logo anywhere to be seen.
My guess is that they are performing an experiment on how easy it is to fake stuff.

[Jedo the Jedi]

If he actually will be a guest on YouTube, my guess is this is viral marketing. If it is fake, at least a bunch of people watched it and they can bust the myth. I actually think that's a point in favor of it being fake.
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[MNOWAX]

I think Mythbusters is running out of Myths if they have to fake them, then test it out on their own show.
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MNOWAX

[itisally]

My guess is real.

The pizza was smashed into that box pretty evenly by the looks of the lid. This would have softened the cardboard and helped hole the pizza in place. I agree that the mass of the Pizza would be required. an empty box would be pushed by the ball. I didn't notice any other toppings that would cause resistance. The centripetal force of the spin would have helped as well, keeping the pizza in place and keeping the ball from flipping or moving the box.

He isn't actually pitching straight so the wind up may not be necessary. The throw is more like one to the outfield where it would need enough force to go a distance. He is pretty close to the targets, but they are up not out. I don't think a 90 mph pitch would be needed, but that is supposition.

The hole isn't perfectly round. There is splitting and spray. The hole isn’t in the center of the box so the perception of placement is hard to determine. This is the only thing I really find questionable.
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[Jack_Ian]

Guy throws pizza box.
Ball thrown.
Pizza lands - Hole at 7 o' clock
Guy runs towards pizza box.
Camera pans away.
<time passes>
Camera pans back.
Man backing away from pizza box.
Girl runs towards pizza box.
Hole now at 5 o' clock.

I think that pizza had anchovies. Definitely fishy.

[Zag]

Meh, it's the same box with the same hole. You're just seeing it from the other side.

I still think it's silly to think a baseball, moving at any speed this side of the sound barrier, would burn a hole in a pizza box. I could believe splitting it (well, not really), but not a round hole.

[itisally*]

Zag, that totally makes me want to go to the batting cages just to check it out. lol

[Zag]

Go for it. I'd be glad for some experimental data.

[Jedo the Jedi]

Or you can just catch the episode which will focus on the same things.
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[The Ragin' South Asian]

Real or fake, they have wasted a perfectly good pizza. Disgusting.

[Buzzsaw]

I agree RSA about this being a waste of food, but I felt more badly about the watermelon being wasted for some reason. Over the years I have seen melons being used in destructive stunts, it has always bugged me to see anyone smash a nice melon. I think that's what pumpkins are for. But leave those melons alone, please. But I suppose if someone bought (or grew) their own melon, they can do with it what they want.

Although this was not a formal Mythbusters clip, I still feel that it would be beyond a bad idea for these people to be faking a video, esp one of this nature. I just can't imagine them doing this since they want to be believed when testing things, investigating, trying to set any records straight on misconceptions. I don't think it matters much whether it was an official video, think the concept of credibility applies, remains the same. And I don't think that faking a video is any way to create a myth to then later try to debunk. That approach makes zero sense to me.

I agree, Zag that it doesn't seem likely for the pizza box to suffer that kind of damage it did, but on the other hand if one can accept any of the other items were not faked, then they all have in common being struck with obvious high velocity.

Esp the watermelon.

That particular clip does a good job showing in entirety, the ball first leaving the hand, traveling though the air and striking the melon. The ball does not hit squarely in the middle but more off to the side, where the rind would be thicker, more difficult to penetrate. Yet one can clearly see though the ball gouging into the melon.



The pizza box has been moved from the time it first struck the ground. like Jack Ian points out. I have watched the video several times and the box definitely comes to rest with hole at the 7oclock position. Not only has the hole been moved to 5oclock upon the group walking over to inspect it, but the pizza box has been flipped, righted so that the top of the box is now upright with logo showing. (It originally lands upside down.)

As far as it being impossible to make the hole, esp through both sides of the box although I agree it doesn't seem likely, when you consider how fast the ball strikes each object, as witnessed by the damage done, I don't think it's a stretch that the ball could go straight through both sides of the box - including the pizza inside. The ball first punches through the top of the box, then punches through the pizza and then the bottom. I think if the ball had first hit from the bottom of the box, the pizza would not be in as good a shape, we might not see the cookie cutter-type of hole.
I also think the stunt was aided by this being a thicker crust pizza - I think a thinner one would have crumpled off to one of the sides of the box. The thicker pizza also made it heavier, helped keep the box stationary when struck, resisting deflection.

Some have said that there's no way that the pizza would have maintained its position as well as it did. But if you see the way the box is lobbed, it's rotating. I think this is important to what happens, not only to help the pizza stay in place but the centrifugal force created, although maybe only slight, is enough to help keep the pizza and box from being deflected, that is from recoil that would have aided the box in being more resistant the the blow.

I think too that it particularly makes no logical sense, given these people are supposed to be "mythbusters", that they might fake one of the objects and not the whole thing. And of course like I said, I wish I could gamble on this because I think I would win some money with the opinion that it has not been faked. I don't know that all of them were struck the very first take. But when the camera rolls for each take, there is only one camera at work here and there doesn't seem to be any cuts - each item is filmed in one continuous shot.

The watermelon esp shows the entire shot - the ball leaving the hand, traveling through the air, striking the target. It would take more bells and whistles than this stunt it worth to fake that, besides the reasoning I gave for why I think it's real. So itisally, Jedo, and The Potter seem to be in agreement with me that it has not been faked.

Jedo, not an appearance on youtube (not sure if you were joking) but apparently on a Mythbusters episode Nov 4th. I have not been able to confirm this though but am going to try to be home to watch it. I think it will be a highly watched episode, there is a lot of discussion going on about this video. I think the episodes are prerecorded but hopefully there will be mention of this "incident" and records set straight. I think there's been enough interest in this though that somehow there will be an answer to this forthcoming - even if not on the upcoming Mythbusters episode. .

[Jedo the Jedi]

[novice]

I don't see why they couldn't make a fake youtube video as part of a test of how internet myths spread, and reveal on the show that it's faked.

I also think the video could be real. I guess we'll find out on the 4th of November.

[Elethiomel]

Could it be an extra-heavy baseball? Pizza box aside, it also makes quite an impact with the watermelon. Either way I think it has more momentum than what you'd normally see.

I like the theory that it's an off-screen cannon doing the shooting. It doesn't even have to be firing baseballs. The pitcher's throwing arm is always suspiciously close to the edge of the screen. He could be faking a throw while a cannon sitting next to the camera shoots right past him.

[Quailman]

You guys are analyzing this like it's the Zapruder film. Did anyone suggest a "magic baseball" theory yet? Maybe there was a second pitcher on the grassy mound.

[Elethiomel]

[extropalopakettle]

[DF*]

I think the pizza is a TV prop, and not so much "faked" as a box containing a fake pizza.

I think it would be a lot harder to aim a cannon firing at the targets than a skilled pitcher. If they were going to fake it then small explosive charges hidden inside the items would be easier to detonate remotely.

[Buzzsaw]

.






Is this CGI? They sure did a good job then, even went as far as producing the spray of the pizza sauce. If the point of going through all this trouble to create a hoax was to test what people would be willing to believe, it sure seems rather pointless to me. Lame.

Having mythbuster staff involved in a stunt like this would destroy show ratings, make it a complete waste of time to watch and akin to pro wrestling. Who would want to waste time watching a show that is supposed to center itself on testing and debunking, whose hosts (even if in their spare time) are using CGI and filming trickery to create elaborately fake videos; esp on a rather simple and straightforward topic like this one? Absurd.

If they did fake it, I feel sorry for them. All the thousands of people out there, just like me - loose in society and upset that they have been hoodwinked. Ashamed and Humiliated. Having boasted their opinion loudly on the internets.

Well, let's just say I would not want to be them, that's for sure. It sure would suck to be them.

[Death Mage]

I'm sorry to hear you were having such a rough day recently, Buzz, I hope you are feeling better by now.

I don't think it really matters if this video is real or fake. I know it won't effect their ratings in the slightest if it is fake. People seem to forget that M5 Industries, the company that Jamie Hyneman founded, that Discovery went to for their show, where all the Mythbusters are employed, is a visual effects house. Making fake videos is literally their job. These people do a lot more than simply host Mythbusters.

This is much ado about nothing. It doesn't matter if it's real. It doesn't matter if it's fake. It doesn't matter if it's going to be involved in some myths on the show, except in the sole point of being viral marketing for an episode of the show. AN episode. Mythbusters are a household name, it's not like anyone is going to discover them based on a viral video at this point. And it's not like their reputation is going to be effected in the slightest based on a youtube video.
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[Buzzsaw]

[Death Mage]

Buzzsaw, I am merely responding to what you yourself have posted in this thread.