Bears See Red in Loss

Archives Admin · #1 (**permalink**) 04-05-2006, 09:06 AM

John Ray and Brennan Garr are seeing red. Amber, to be exact.

Everything at Jackson Field has a hue. The balls, the bats, the scoreboard. Even the umpires.

Ray and Garr's views have nothing to do with their competitive attitudes, but everything to do with performance-enhancing contact lenses.

These particular contact lenses aren't designed to make your brown eyes blue. The high-tech lenses are designed to give a player an enhanced view of everything from the infield dirt to the seams on the baseball.

The engineers at Visine are no doubt rolling their eyes right about now.

"They work, at least for me they do," said Garr, sporting the red-eye equipment. "The ball seems a lot brighter to me."

Nothing short of a magnifying glass would have helped the Bears Tuesday afternoon as they recorded just two measly hits in a 3-1 loss to Air Force at Jackson Field.

"Obviously, they didn't help enough today," Garr said.

Ray, the Bears' everyday catcher, introduced Garr to the new look after a test run while playing in the Cape Cod summer league based in Massachusetts.

"They're really popular right now," said Ray, who was 0-for-2 against the Falcons, sans the anti-Visine look. "I didn't wear them today because it looked like it was going to be a cloudy day, and when it's overcast, they don't seem to help much.

"On a bright day though, they really help you see the ball better. I'd say it's at least a 10 percent increase in vision."

The lenses are available in prescription form, and the average cost is $25.

Baltimore Orioles second baseman-turned endorser Brian Roberts was one of the first major league players to try the new lenses this spring. A three-hit day convinced him the new concept -- which is called MaxSight on the retail market -- works.

"I'm not so sure they'd help much in a night game, but I have looked at stadium lights with them in, and it's weird," said Garr, who threw one inning of hitless relief Tuesday after starting at third base and recording the Bears' only RBI on a sacrifice fly.

"You look at the lights, and it seems like everything is green, and then it turns to a burnt orange," Garr added. "That's the color everything stays, and everything just seems more clear. I think the ball looks a lot brighter to me."

UNC head coach Kevin Smallcomb isn't totally sold on the idea, but added, "hey, if they think they help them, I'm all for it."

To an onlooker, Ray and Garr know they look like freaks, and are anything but a sight for sore eyes.

"I've had people look at me and ask, 'What they heck happened to your eyes,'" Ray said. "They look sort of weird, but it's really like wearing red-tinted sunglasses."

MaxSight has been in the works for seven years by Nike and Bausch & Lomb, and the product isn't just for helping baseball players deal with the bright sun on a cloudless day.

Several pro tennis players are sporting them. They're popular with soccer players, and the University of Miami has more than two dozen student-athletes giving them a try.

Golfers have been open to give them a try -- they come in a gray-green tint for playing on the links -- and a different model for night vision is in the works.

Though their popularity is on the rise, the lenses haven't been an eye-opening experience for everybody.

Many major leaguers have turned down the opportunity to try them simply because they're not used to having anything in their eyes, even contact lenses.

"I get a lot of stares, especially when you shake hands after a game," Garr said. "And I don't take them out when I come in to pitch because there really isn't enough time. I imagine some guys may use them just to hit, but once you get used to them, they help."

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Bears See Red in Loss

Contact Lenses