Commentary on TNT and other WB brands

[movingtarget]

Declan is not up to it. He is asking some really stupid questions. He's out of his depth. I only listen when Kelly is talking.

 

[ozerulz]

I think its those 2 doing the highlights on SKY Sports in the UK. Do you also find it really annoying how often he tells you how far there is left in a stage even though its telling you that in the top left hand corner of the screen.

I find Kirby beyond listening too. He has becomes a family joke in our house, everyone rides, the san remo finale where he climaxes as he screams "oh Ciolek" gets an automatic laugh. I dont think that bit of stupidity will ever cease to be funny. I dont know Dutch but Im gonna learn. I enjoy the Sporza feeds the best, especially when they yell at Renard because he isnt talking. The tone they use to talk to him is hilarious.

 

[gustienordic]

Kelly is usually pretty good, I like Harmon over the other guys though, his comments may be dumb sometimes, but he has a easier to listen to voice.

 

[uphillstruggle]

Kelly putting it straight once again. Electronic vs mechanical gears: well maintained mechanical gears work just as well.

 

[Descender]

I know this is not commentary, but Eurosport Germany refuses to broadcast the Giro. First it was the snooker **** and now they're showing some U17 football game.

Unreal...

 

[barmaher]

I think Kelly and Quigley gel very well as commentators.

DQ is quite slow at identifying riders and what is going on in the races. I hope he improves, as he comes across as a decent bloke.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Quigley isn't commentating at all. He's just discribing what he's seeing (and what everyone is seeing) on TV - with a certain delay due to not recognizing any riders. There's no inside information, no background stories, tactics analyzed etc.

 

[movingtarget]

Quigley isn't commentating at all. He's just discribing what he's seeing (and what everyone is seeing) on TV - with a certain delay due to not recognizing any riders. There's no inside information, no background stories, tactics analyzed etc.

Thankfully Sean is there otherwise it would be unbearable.

 

[cocteau_ireland]

That was astronomically bad (& unintentionally funny) commentating by Quigley in the last km today. As the camera shows Degenkolb on the ground exhausted,surrounded by press photographers, quiggers has this as initially degenkolb crashed in last corner;then became an unidentified teammate in very bad way in crash-whilst this was evidently the victor post finish line. Really, really bad commentating.

 

[Cyivel]

Yes the last two stage endings have not gone well.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Declan Quigley

Yes the last two stage endings have not gone well.

oh yeh forget the 3 hours coverage that he did with great, informative, INTERESTING, knowledgable, learned commentary.

Harmon Huggers ! just like the Duffield brigade - get back on yer trikes !

 

[argyllflyer]

oh yeh forget the 3 hours coverage that he did with great, informative, INTERESTING, knowledgable, learned commentary.

Harmon Huggers ! just like the Duffield brigade - get back on yer trikes !

Harmon has a better knowledge of the sport, and is better at recognising the riders. However, DQ and SK is a better, more enjoyable partnership than DH/SK together. For whatever reason. I've enjoyed Sean more than I have in ages. He is stepping in to fill the gaps in DQ's knowledge, something he doesn't need to do with DH.

For me, Harmon is best with the likes of Brian Smith.

 

[Cyivel]

oh yeh forget the 3 hours coverage that he did with great, informative, INTERESTING, knowledgable, learned commentary.

Harmon Huggers ! just like the Duffield brigade - get back on yer trikes !

Might want to read my post on the last page before you call me a Harmon Hugger

I mean disagree with me all you want on DQ but that is below the belt!

 

[Cycle Chic]

joke post

Harmon has a better knowledge of the sport, and is better at recognising the riders......

Do you mean he can name all the Sky team ? oh and Cadel Evans...?? he never mentions any other riders in the race.

And Quigley doesnt have an ego like Harmon 'Sean kelly is my sons godfather' blah blah blah

Go on twitter and see how many people are praising Quigley - even Emma O'Reilly.

 

[argyllflyer]

Do you mean he can name all the Sky team ? oh and Cadel Evans...?? he never mentions any other riders in the race.

And Quigley doesnt have an ego like Harmon 'Sean kelly is my sons godfather' blah blah blah

Go on twitter and see how many people are praising Quigley - even Emma O'Reilly.

Ah, Irish lass Emma O'Reilly praising her fellow Irishman?

DQ doesn't know the riders. Degenkolb is pretty distinctive yet he was 'one of the Argos riders' bombing up to the finish. He also has an irritating habit of calling all 'unknown' Spanish riders by their full names... if he didn't know Bertie and he was at the Giro, he'd be Contador Velasco! He also called an ageing Euskaltel rider, Urtasun, 'young' despite being 33.

Your hatred of Harmon is seriously clouding your judgement here.

A search of 'Declan Quigley' just now on Twitter hardly brings up a list of his fanclub members.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

A lot of these guys seem to be almost set up to fail. Not deliberately, but it's like, people expect so much from the commentators. A guy like Quigley hasn't called that many international races with the whole international péloton, at least not with the international audience that he'll have with Eurosport. People have commented on how Kelly has seemed more talkative than usual, maybe he's trying to help out a bit to ease Declan in. I seem to recall quite a few people thought Matt Rendell was pretty good on commentary... until he got the high profile role of having to call the Vuelta solo, and floundered in that position. Some of the best commentary I recall hearing in English on cycling was Marty McDonald calling the 2010 Tour of Turkey solo. He seemed to know enough about the riders, or could bluster his way through sounding like he did; but would he be able to do the same consistently on every race? For guys like Harmon over the last few weeks he's been jetting back and forth on commentary on a variety of races, must be sometimes difficult when doing your research to remember who's at what race.

I think Quigley could be a very good commentator in time. Maybe he isn't that yet, but commentary is something you need time to pick up, just like any other task.

 

[argyllflyer]

A lot of these guys seem to be almost set up to fail. Not deliberately, but it's like, people expect so much from the commentators. A guy like Quigley hasn't called that many international races with the whole international péloton, at least not with the international audience that he'll have with Eurosport. People have commented on how Kelly has seemed more talkative than usual, maybe he's trying to help out a bit to ease Declan in. I seem to recall quite a few people thought Matt Rendell was pretty good on commentary... until he got the high profile role of having to call the Vuelta solo, and floundered in that position. Some of the best commentary I recall hearing in English on cycling was Marty McDonald calling the 2010 Tour of Turkey solo. He seemed to know enough about the riders, or could bluster his way through sounding like he did; but would he be able to do the same consistently on every race? For guys like Harmon over the last few weeks he's been jetting back and forth on commentary on a variety of races, must be sometimes difficult when doing your research to remember who's at what race.

I think Quigley could be a very good commentator in time. Maybe he isn't that yet, but commentary is something you need time to pick up, just like any other task.

I agree with a lot of what you say, and Marty McDonald is a good commentator when it comes to knowledge, I always enjoy him on Cycling.tv. Declan has had a baptism of fire stepping in for a 3 week Grand Tour, but facts are facts. He just does not know enough about what's happening to carry it off, but as you say, it gives Sean Kelly plenty of opportunity to step in.

The other guys on the periphery like Rob Hatch and Jon Harris-Bass do display a very good knowledge of the European race scene, and one of the toughest shifts I've heard in recent times was JHB doing the recent German classic on cycling.tv, alone. Declan is a decent commentator on domestic UK racing, and I'm sure he could be better than Harmon with more experience. He is very listenable, but the gaps in his knowledge, reading of the race and grasp of the rulebook (such as not picking up on the mess the host broadcasters made of the overall GC graphic at the end of the stage) are glaring.

 

[LugHugger]

Today's performance at the finish was possibly the most embarrassing piece of commentary I've heard on Eurosport. And that's saying something.

 

[coinneach]

and if he says "in his own world of pain" again, I'm hitting the mute button

 

[argyllflyer]

and if he says "in his own world of pain" again, I'm hitting the mute button

That reminds me of a similar Kirbyism I can't stand! Though CK delivers it with a shrill "he's in a world of pain here!"

 

[Basecase]

Go on twitter and see how many people are praising Quigley - even Emma O'Reilly.

Whatttt?

Search "Declan Quigley" on Twitter and mostly you will see people lampooning him. It's well deserved.

He is brutal. Go back to motorsport!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Oh god, you should hear some of the commentators they dig up for the graveyard shifts at Le Mans.

 

[Leadbelly]

Ach it's been okay so far. I think Sean has been making a bit more of an effort to ease the pressure on Quigley, but I can't help thinking he'd be a bit better off with someone a bit more verbose like Smith or Backstedt.

The past two finishes have been ballsed up a bit, but that isn't exactly a rare occurrence in cycling. I can't remember who was commentating at Pais Vasco recently, but during one of the sprints it was "Matthews this", "Matthews that" and "Matthews wins" and of course when the stage results came up on screen it was "1st - Daryl Impey".

So I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Once he gets his feet under the table a bit more and builds a bit of a rapport with Sean, I'm sure he'll be fine.

 

[asdfgh101]

I can recognise 50% of the riders here which probably equates to 95% that will ever animate the race at a crucial moment; i expect the commentators to be at least that good.

Things that frustrate me; commentators not having a startlist in front of them, not using common sense to identify a rider when the picture isn't great and unnecessary criticism of certain convicted dopers.

DQ obviously knows little about road cycling and even less about the pro peleton; examples too numerous to list but today his focus on Cavendish was nauseating.

 

[Cyivel]

Not that this has any relevance to how good he was on commentary but after searching for Declan Quigley on twitter one of the first things I saw was this, made me laugh a bit