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Albert Fishwick

Sep 8, 2012
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It does seem sad that ES's relationship with David Harmon has broken down. We can't know how abrupt his departure was last year and what problems that might have caused for ES but he has made it very clear that he is available if asked and I think ES should just swallow their pride and get him back for the Tour, if nothing else. If they are committed to CK then I guess that may not be possible this year but please get things sorted for next. Harmon & Kelly is the A team as far as I am concerned.

I blow a bit hot and cold about Carlton Kirby. As others have said, talking for up to five hours about anything isn't easy and I think with a good sidekick he is ok for one-day or short stage races, but I can't put up with his mannerisms for three weeks ("there you go", laughing at his own jokes).

I like Rob Hatch and his unflagging efforts to pronounce every rider's name correctly according to his home language! It was a bit of a surprise at the end of K-B-K when he couldn't translate the interviews in Flemish as he pronounces its words accurately (to my ears, at least).

I can't get on with Declan Quigley I'm afraid, neither interesting nor accurate enough. Brian Smith and Dan Lloyd are always good at picking riders; Matt Stephens is ok so far.

Whoever is on, my biggest complaint with British Eurosport is that almost all races are covered from a soundproof box somewhere in West London. I realise that it's all a question of cost, but the commentary inevitably lacks depth when there has been no contact with the riders and team management around the race. They also have more options during the inevitable picture loss in Spanish races if they can nip out the back to find out what's happening. It reached its nadir in P-R when the French TV picked out the wrong group in the race for second and Kirby had nowhere else to go as he couldn't just look out of the window. Paris-Nice is the only time they seem to have let the commentators travel this year and it was much better for it.

Sky coverage is welcome despite its inevitable focus on team Sky, but is inevitably a bit clunky around ad breaks as they take the world feed commentary so have to fade in and out abruptly. Their new inCycle magazine programme is interesting but if they are serious about cycling I'm surprised they haven't looked to pick up some of the races ES aren't showing, Trentino being a case in point.
 
argyllflyer

argyllflyer

Apr 6, 2012
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11,880
Albert Fishwick said:
It does seem sad that ES's relationship with David Harmon has broken down. We can't know how abrupt his departure was last year and what problems that might have caused for ES but he has made it very clear that he is available if asked and I think ES should just swallow their pride and get him back for the Tour, if nothing else. If they are committed to CK then I guess that may not be possible this year but please get things sorted for next. Harmon & Kelly is the A team as far as I am concerned.

I blow a bit hot and cold about Carlton Kirby. As others have said, talking for up to five hours about anything isn't easy and I think with a good sidekick he is ok for one-day or short stage races, but I can't put up with his mannerisms for three weeks ("there you go", laughing at his own jokes).

I like Rob Hatch and his unflagging efforts to pronounce every rider's name correctly according to his home language! It was a bit of a surprise at the end of K-B-K when he couldn't translate the interviews in Flemish as he pronounces its words accurately (to my ears, at least).

I can't get on with Declan Quigley I'm afraid, neither interesting nor accurate enough. Brian Smith and Dan Lloyd are always good at picking riders; Matt Stephens is ok so far.

Whoever is on, my biggest complaint with British Eurosport is that almost all races are covered from a soundproof box somewhere in West London. I realise that it's all a question of cost, but the commentary inevitably lacks depth when there has been no contact with the riders and team management around the race. They also have more options during the inevitable picture loss in Spanish races if they can nip out the back to find out what's happening. It reached its nadir in P-R when the French TV picked out the wrong group in the race for second and Kirby had nowhere else to go as he couldn't just look out of the window. Paris-Nice is the only time they seem to have let the commentators travel this year and it was much better for it.

Sky coverage is welcome despite its inevitable focus on team Sky, but is inevitably a bit clunky around ad breaks as they take the world feed commentary so have to fade in and out abruptly. Their new inCycle magazine programme is interesting but if they are serious about cycling I'm surprised they haven't looked to pick up some of the races ES aren't showing, Trentino being a case in point.
Click to expand...

Eurosport were supposed to be showing Trentino until live coverage got pulled.

I'd rather Sky made a better fist of the handful of rights they do have - they have rights to all of the Flanders Classics yet only showed one of them live. They have rights to both Swiss races yet only plan to show one of them live with the other getting a single hour of highlights a week after the fact (if they repeat what they did last year).

It has been suggested that Harmon will never work for Eurosport again.
 
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Tournesol

Feb 19, 2014
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BigMac said:
Ah, that's fair. :p Though I don't think he have actually put you on the ignore list. Was more of a joke.
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Yeah,i did think it might be,seemed a bit strong,maybe didn't pick up on the dry humour,went over my head perhaps.
 
jens_attacks

jens_attacks

Sep 8, 2009
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i would take kirby over harmon any time of the day. kirby at least doesn't seem to take himself seriously too much. i rarely listen to british anyway.
when i haven't romanian at my disposal, i always prefer spanish or italian(rarely now,garzelli is very boring just like pancani). french chauvinist thierry adam i like him. he has a proper voice for commentary. plus jaja knows stuff
i admit though that i don't have lots of expectations from commentators. for me the most important is to keep me entertained(TOP TOP TOP radio moto!!!). riders and infos, i get myself, don't need them for that.
 
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Beech Mtn

Oct 6, 2009
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jens_attacks said:
i would take kirby over harmon any time of the day. kirby at least doesn't seem to take himself seriously too much. i rarely listen to british anyway.
when i haven't romanian at my disposal, i always prefer spanish or italian(rarely now,garzelli is very boring just like pancani). french chauvinist thierry adam i like him. he has a proper voice for commentary. plus jaja knows stuff
i admit though that i don't have lots of expectations from commentators. for me the most important is to keep me entertained(TOP TOP TOP radio moto!!!). riders and infos, i get myself, don't need them for that.
Click to expand...

Then you, sir, need to listen to the smooth vocal stylings of one Mr. Phil Liggett. Poor old Phil is so senile, last year for about 5 stages he called the race as if Cyrille Guimard was in the TdF. As a rider. Competing.
 
BigMac

BigMac

Jun 10, 2013
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Beech Mtn said:
Then you, sir, need to listen to the smooth vocal stylings of one Mr. Phil Liggett. Poor old Phil is so senile, last year for about 5 stages he called the race as if Cyrille Guimard was in the TdF. As a rider. Competing.
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Phil is the best english commentator I know. I could listen to him for twenty four hours a day and not get tired of it. I melt everytime I hear him. :eek:
 
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elfed68

Jan 28, 2014
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Some of the posts on this thread are a bit over the top with calls for sackings and all that.

Carlton Kirby does a fine job considering he's in a studio somewhere in London for most of the races. I'm guessing that he sees exactly the same feed as us on his monitor, so he's doing ok considering.

Murray Walker and David Coleman, two of the country's best loved presenters, yet renowned for making the odd mistake, so Carlton's not the only one.

I like Rob Hatch but do find his pronunciations of names and place names in the way they should be said as a native quite comical.
Rob Hatch reminds me of the sketch in 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' about Angela Rippon going over the top with her correct pronunciations.
 
BigMac

BigMac

Jun 10, 2013
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17,495
willbick said:
Lol, if you think that incompetent surgeons are sent to jail you are very naive
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Incompetent to the point of killing the patient by negligence. Some pay an indemnity (or the hospital), some do not get sentenced at all. And others do go to jail. Negligent homicide is punishable by law last time I checked. Where I live, the biggest sentence I've seen applied to a negligent surgeon was 4 years.

But hey, maybe not in your country.
 
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William H

May 25, 2009
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elfed68 said:
Murray Walker and David Coleman, two of the country's best loved presenters, yet renowned for making the odd mistake, so Carlton's not the only one.
Click to expand...

Kirby doesn't make the odd mistake, he fundamentally lacks in understanding of the sport.
 
melkemugg

melkemugg

May 16, 2012
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Another bad day on the job for the British commentators. I dont think they look at the screen at all and just mumble out their endless prediction-talk. So many riders attempted to break without they noticed it or made any comment on it. Is it too much to ask for they actual watch and comment the last 20 km?
 
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