Australian Coverage of Cycling...disgraceful

[Martin318is]

Eddie is far better than Tomalaris. What about Bruce MCavaney?

Eddie? Come on mate, now I am seriously worried about you. Eddie is a hopeless commentator in anything other than football and a total arrogant blow-hard about everything else. Michael pwns him

Bruce however, yeah you probably have a point. at least he would take less than 15years to learn the rider's names

 

[Archibald]

Sorry, have to pick you up on that last point. Bangladesh had their first win over Australia when, at least 2005? Let's not even start on the past years England vs Australia results...

Off topic I know but well. He started it.

England just lost to Bangladesh, so what's to pick me up on? What's 2005 got to do with it??
suck it up cupcake, you had your chance to sh*tstir us about that back then, now it's your turn to lump it...


Now, as for Eddie Maguire he should not be let near a commentary box unless it's AFL and on the radio. He's dismal at everything else.

Brucie would be okay, but he'd spend most of his time fawning over the Russian riders in much the same way he went on constantly about Bubka. Then again, that would be better than the bleating of Phil n Paul over LA...

 

[waccampbell]

I'm thinking that there will be more coverage of Cadel if he loses the yellow jersey rather then get it.

I'm starting to hear the mistakes from PL and PS a lot lately, all I can do is shake my head and watch on though.

 

[ScottyMuser]

Crashed at the start of the day!!!

and? So did nearly everyone on most stages, and he crashed when the peloton weren't going fast, so it was easy to get back on. Also, as much as I am impressed BMC had a single guy left with Evans - lets not forget that Morabito was the *only* BMS guy left from befor Lance crashed prior the climb - and that the effort he put in vs all the other teams' domestiques would therefore have been much higheer, and harder to recuperate. And even then, of the 12 guys, Evans lost his domestique before many of the others - only Lotto and Euskaltel lost their last domestique before Morabito dropped, and in Lottos case they also had a man alld ay in the break who could have been doing domestique duties if they turn theior attention that way. Even Lofqvist, who many were being critical of after being used to burn the pace up early, lasted longer than Morabito, as did Vino and Tiralongo.
What twill be the true test is when we start getting more than 2 medoium sixzed cat 1s in a day, and whether, day after day, BMC can keep a man with Evans. Looking at their team, my guess is probably they'll be at least 1 day when he is isolated vs the big climbers early on, and he'll consequently lose time. I'll be happy to be proved wrong, though.

 

[CycloErgoSum]

Ya know what, I'd prefer no commentators at all!

I remember a few years ago, for a good 20 or so mins, there was no commentary feed and all we had was the camera mics picking up the sounds on the road - it gave a beautiful ambiance of the real action and no blow-hard crap about so-and-so winning the Tour of Mallorca in 2001 a few months before taking the silver medal in the national TT championships as a teammate of Thor Hushovd who, by the way, wears the national champions colours on his sleeves to denote his victory in that country's national championships, the same championships, by the way, in which the king of Norway took a massive dump in the cycling cap of Dag Otto Lauritzen and, oh look at those giants on the side of the road, they resemble the zombies that were native to these parts in the 17th Century, the same zombies, incidentally, that taught Louis XIV to ride a horse backwards just before they ate his half-witted brother who they used to hide in the cellar. And George Hincapie has pulled to the back of the field with his hand up wanting some technical assistance from his team due to a 'crevaisson', the French word for puncture, oh no, Big George just wants a drink and a smoke. You may notice George's jersey there...

All the English-speaking cycling commentators don't know when to keep it shut. They give me the runny browns.

 

[auscyclefan94]

and? So did nearly everyone on most stages, and he crashed when the peloton weren't going fast, so it was easy to get back on. Also, as much as I am impressed BMC had a single guy left with Evans - lets not forget that Morabito was the *only* BMS guy left from befor Lance crashed prior the climb - and that the effort he put in vs all the other teams' domestiques would therefore have been much higheer, and harder to recuperate. And even then, of the 12 guys, Evans lost his domestique before many of the others - only Lotto and Euskaltel lost their last domestique before Morabito dropped, and in Lottos case they also had a man alld ay in the break who could have been doing domestique duties if they turn theior attention that way. Even Lofqvist, who many were being critical of after being used to burn the pace up early, lasted longer than Morabito, as did Vino and Tiralongo.
What twill be the true test is when we start getting more than 2 medoium sixzed cat 1s in a day, and whether, day after day, BMC can keep a man with Evans. Looking at their team, my guess is probably they'll be at least 1 day when he is isolated vs the big climbers early on, and he'll consequently lose time. I'll be happy to be proved wrong, though.

Yes but he crashed on the actual stage. Hardly any of the other teams had domestiques up there but BMC with Morabito was one of the last domestqiues to be up there.

I guess this would not hurt though. http://twitpic.com/24gm20

 

[Broken Spoke]

i think Anderson was just being realistic - he believes Cadel won't last the tour after riding the Giro. he could be proven wrong, but it's not an outrageous point of view. Trevorrow was more positive about Cadel. Tomolaris just recounts obscure facts in a vain attempt to sound like a pundit.

it could be worse people... you could have eddie mcguire so be nice.

Please, just don't. Horrible flashbacks to multiple Olympics where Oz broadcasters scrape up any piece of 'talent' on their books to commentate on a sport they know absolutely nothing about. *shudders*

 

[Runitout]

ACF -

please, please stop complaining about people not fawning over Evans enough. Not everyone is a fanboy. There's no patriotic duty to love someone because his mother popped him out in the same country you find yourself in. There's particularly no need for Phil bloody Anderson - the one Australian with a far better palmares than Evans - to start licking his boots. He might just have a better idea than you. Evans might win - but it didn't look like it on the last stage.

We understand that your schtick around me here is be Evans' biggest fan in a 'Misery' kind of way. But cut the complaining when no-one else joins in. Evans has impressed a lot of people by his positive attitude this year, and his decision to cut the whingeing.

Maybe you should learn from your hero.

 

[The Falcon]

ACF -

There's particularly no need for Phil bloody Anderson - the one Australian with a far better palmares than Evans

I agree with most of what you say, but a "far better" palmares is a bit of a stretch.

 

[barn yard]

the average joe thinks we are a bunch of ****s so why would the press write about our sport?

 

[Willy_Voet]

Ya know what, I'd prefer no commentators at all!

I remember a few years ago, for a good 20 or so mins, there was no commentary feed and all we had was the camera mics picking up the sounds on the road - it gave a beautiful ambiance of the real action and no blow-hard crap about so-and-so winning the Tour of Mallorca in 2001 a few months before taking the silver medal in the national TT championships as a teammate of Thor Hushovd who, by the way, wears the national champions colours on his sleeves to denote his victory in that country's national championships, the same championships, by the way, in which the king of Norway took a massive dump in the cycling cap of Dag Otto Lauritzen and, oh look at those giants on the side of the road, they resemble the zombies that were native to these parts in the 17th Century, the same zombies, incidentally, that taught Louis XIV to ride a horse backwards just before they ate his half-witted brother who they used to hide in the cellar. And George Hincapie has pulled to the back of the field with his hand up wanting some technical assistance from his team due to a 'crevaisson', the French word for puncture, oh no, Big George just wants a drink and a smoke. You may notice George's jersey there...

THAT was funny (a la Mystery Science Theater 3000).

 

[2beeDammed]

granted there should be more cycling coverage, i think SBS do a great job and i shudder to think what would happen if a commercial network picked up the broadcast rights just look at the trends, SBS runs with Top Gear and it ends up on WIN (sorry i live in SW Vic) the Tour is getting more mainstream interest every year. In reality if a commercial network decided to throw money at the tour broadcast rights they would only need to shelve Danoz direct or other crappy infomercials to make room and it would still rate it's pants off. I'd be very surprised if 9 aren't hatching some evil scheme that does involve sending Eddie to France and broadcast live six hours a night you saw what they did to the winter olympics

 

[Bazza_13]

In all the news

Can't say I agree with this one.
Cadel was in all the news. the today show, sunrise, the news, the newspapers. What more can you want? It is footy season after all!
PS: great win by Mark Webber!

 

[53 x 11]

Can we compile a list of all the people who have wronged Evans and ACF:

SBS commentary team.
Andy Shreck
Me + everyone else on this forum.
Australian Society
Belly Button Fluff.......
Everything else.

I can only think of three people who bang on and on about the same thing over and over. One is constantly banned from this forum and the other two commentate on SBS/VS

 

[pedaling squares]

...I'm a big wrap for Cadel and have had the pleasure of meeting him socially...

Oops! You must be new around here. You NEVER admit to having met Cadel. You were in the presence of Lord Greatness Himself. You just picked up a stalker, mate.

... I live in Torquay...

And now you've gone and given out your whereabouts. Aw Jesus. You're in the $hit now, mate. Ride around the block three times checking for a tail before you pull into the driveway. And don't hang your chamois on the line if you expect to see them again.

 

[53 x 11]

And don't hang your chamois on the line if you expect to see them again.

It's OK, he doesn't like them washed.

 

[oncehadhair]

I am disgusted to watch the news and listen to the media to not see hardly anything of Cadel Evans' mighty effort to take the yellow jersey. It is not good enough to have hardly any coverage of this amazing feat cadel has done. He also crashed early in the stage so to be hurt and be in that position is a special effort.

It also seems odd that Mike Tomolaris, Phil Anderson, and John Trevorrow hardly gave Cadel any credit and canned him for not being good enough. Yes the guy was in a bit of trouble but he had a nasty crash. When LA comes in the bull**** starts of how brave Lance was from his 3 crashes when there was only two. I think their needs to be some seriosu review of tomalaris' place as host as he mumbles and makes so many mistakes. He also seems to have something out for Cadel also.

Maybe Cadel's history is the reason. Several times he's been poised for victory in a grand tour and hasn't been able to finish off. Much as I'd like to see him win there's a serious danger it will happen again this time.

There were also comments on how well Evans did considering his crashes.

Is pretty hard to predict him a winner on his past performances.

 

[Lones1]

Ya know what, I'd prefer no commentators at all!

I remember a few years ago, for a good 20 or so mins, there was no commentary feed and all we had was the camera mics picking up the sounds on the road - it gave a beautiful ambiance of the real action and no blow-hard crap about so-and-so winning the Tour of Mallorca in 2001 a few months before taking the silver medal in the national TT championships as a teammate of Thor Hushovd who, by the way, wears the national champions colours on his sleeves to denote his victory in that country's national championships, the same championships, by the way, in which the king of Norway took a massive dump in the cycling cap of Dag Otto Lauritzen and, oh look at those giants on the side of the road, they resemble the zombies that were native to these parts in the 17th Century, the same zombies, incidentally, that taught Louis XIV to ride a horse backwards just before they ate his half-witted brother who they used to hide in the cellar. And George Hincapie has pulled to the back of the field with his hand up wanting some technical assistance from his team due to a 'crevaisson', the French word for puncture, oh no, Big George just wants a drink and a smoke. You may notice George's jersey there...

All the English-speaking cycling commentators don't know when to keep it shut. They give me the runny browns.

+1 That is hilarious... loved it and sadly, so very true...

 

[badboyberty]

Yeah Australain coverage of cycling is disgraceful. No mention of Raphael Valls valiant effort to set himself up to steal the KoM jersey, no proper analysis of how god-awful the pants suits on the podium girls are, and no proper mention how impressive Gesink's ride with his broken elbow was...

 

[Stuart]

well the SMH had Cadel on the front page on Sat in an article entitled "The Art of bicycle magnificence" >> http://www.smh.com.au/am/2010/07/10/
Here's the pic they had too - it was big.

As for SBS coverage - it's good I think if you take everyone's opinions as just that. As for Phil & Paul - they are past their use by date and need to be replaced - now that Lance is gone maybe they'll retire as they won't be able to suck up to him every day. Still, the commentary on Eurosport for the Giro was absolutely, shockingly beyond bad ... I just watched with the sound off.

 

[blaxland]

"Disgraceful" is a pretty strong word to use.These days its been getting a lot more coverage than what we used to get in the 80/90s.But considering the remarkable ride by Cadel more coverage is needed...

 

[Bennyl]

I am disgusted to watch the news and listen to the media to not see hardly anything of Cadel Evans' mighty effort to take the yellow jersey. It is not good enough to have hardly any coverage of this amazing feat cadel has done. He also crashed early in the stage so to be hurt and be in that position is a special effort.

It also seems odd that Mike Tomolaris, Phil Anderson, and John Trevorrow hardly gave Cadel any credit and canned him for not being good enough. Yes the guy was in a bit of trouble but he had a nasty crash. When LA comes in the bull**** starts of how brave Lance was from his 3 crashes when there was only two. I think their needs to be some seriosu review of tomalaris' place as host as he mumbles and makes so many mistakes. He also seems to have something out for Cadel also.

I am guessing you live in Australia ACF and if so, are you really suprised about our media's coverage? TDF is not AFL, and therefore, to get on the news you must be a winner. How often did Mark Webber make headlines before he started winning GPs even though his achievements were still remarkable in a very tough sport against the worlds best. Unless it is the Olympics I don't expect much apart from an segment each night on the news, although yeah, i'd love Roy & HG to do a nightly show together with 12 hours a day commentary and analysis.

I am of the view that if it wasn't for SBS, I am wondering how many Aussies would have any idea that cycling even existed. SBS with PL & PS at least educate the public, and promote cycling. I agree Tomolaris is a blubbering mess sometimes, but I certainly wouldn't can the coverage the other night just because Phil was reserved in his hopes for Cadel (of which I agree with Phil, although am still excited Cadels efforts). At least its covered, and like reading opinions on this forum, the experts have their views, and I don't mind listening in/having a read and either taking it or leaving it.

 

[leftover pie]

front page of the west this morning banner reading: Cadel in Yellow

Big article in the sports section

television coverage:

last 3.5 hours (at least) of every stage live on free-to-air television

highlights of previous stage at 6pm every night

hardly "disgraceful"

what would be disgraceful would be if the media treated the tour like they treat the olympics, disregarding the performances of any athlete not wearing the green and gold. spending 3 weeks feeding us "cadel cam" and "cadel vision" and "here's what cadel has for breakfast" "he's a mechanic pumping up the tires on cadel's bike" "here's where we think cadel might take a nature break"

"it was a thrilling stage where andy schleck took yellow from contador while doing a wheelie up col du tourmalet BUT HERE'S VISION OF CADEL CROSSING THE LINE IN 15TH PLACE"

etc etc etc.

the best thing about the tour coverage (that i have seen living in Aus) is that we see/hear about the other 200 guys from 20+ different countries in the peleton.

keep up the good work i say!

 

[unsheath]

ACF -

please, please stop complaining about people not fawning over Evans enough. Not everyone is a fanboy. There's no patriotic duty to love someone because his mother popped him out in the same country you find yourself in. There's particularly no need for Phil bloody Anderson - the one Australian with a far better palmares than Evans - to start licking his boots. He might just have a better idea than you. Evans might win - but it didn't look like it on the last stage.

We understand that your schtick around me here is be Evans' biggest fan in a 'Misery' kind of way. But cut the complaining when no-one else joins in. Evans has impressed a lot of people by his positive attitude this year, and his decision to cut the whingeing.

Maybe you should learn from your hero.

Yeah well said. We're all Cadel fans one way or another tied by our country, but the way ACF carries on, he probably gives Cadel more haters on CN than he deserves.

The 24/7 fawning and 'God' comments were the final straws. He's happily on ignore.

 

[waccampbell]

Back page of the 'highly regarded' Geelong Advertiser today was an article about Evans and his chances written by John Trevorrow. Hopefully this link works, first time trying.

It was pretty much full back page with a huge photo of him in yellow.

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2010/07/13/190741_geelong_sports.html