Commentary on TNT and other WB brands

[the delgados]

Re:

The thing that always annoys me is the lack of friendly correction both on this type of mis-speaking error, and of more blatant errors of fact.

Three possibilities come to mind:
the second chair (the ex-pro co-commentator) is told to never correct the commentator for fear of making him look bad;
the second chair is equally ignorant;
the second chair isn't listening to him witter on...

(I suspect that 1 happens, but 3 is the main reason)

1) No. Magnus has corrected my main man Carlton Kirby on more than one occasion. The corrections mainly involve positioning and best and worst lines taken in a corner. Thing is he does it in a polite and subtle manner, probably because he realizes they are talking about a bike race, not the Cuban Missile Crisis.
2) See American tv coverage of bike races. Most of you would be begging to hear my man Carlton.
3) Sean Kelly sometimes wakes up from his mid-race nap to chime in and add a bit of spice. Has it ever occurred to anyone that CK is trying to wake Kelly up when he lights up like a Christmas tree (qm)

p.s. Thanks to the person who reviewed my quote poem a few posts back. Although you gave it a negative grade, I had no idea I was writing a poem. That means I am a poet and didn't even know it! We poets have to take the barbs like the one you offered. I guess it just comes with the territory. I promise to try better next time.
p.p.s. I have to admit that your poem is better than mine. Completely untrue, mind you, but yeah, much better than mine.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re:

I... but that's usually been the two announcers asking each other who someone is and neither one being sure. Although in that case one usually asks the rest of the behind the scenes guys/gals to get a jersey number.

I don't think there are any behind the scenes personnel in any position to do such a thing: for most races the two commentators are in a broom cupboard in Twickenham with a TV screen and a couple of laptops. There is probably someone the other side of a pane of glass with control of the volume knobs/ad breaks, but I think that is it.

 

[argyllflyer]

British Eurosport commentary pairings so far (mens .WT, .HC and .1 only):

Tour Down Under (highlights): (world feed - Liggett & McEwan)
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race: (world feed - Keenan & McEwan w/ Evans)
Vuelta a San Juan: Hatch & Backstedt (stage 1), Stephens (stage 2-7)
Challenge Mallorca: Hatch (solo)
Herald Sun Tour (highlights): (world feed - Keenan & David McKenzie)
Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Hatch & Smith
Tour of Oman (recap): (world feed - Marty MacDonald)
Clasica de Almeria: (ES Player only)
Trofeo Laigueglia: (ES Player only)
Volta ao Algarve: Hatch & Stephens (stages 1-3), Simon Gerrans (stages 4&5)
Vuelta a Andalucia: Kirby & Smith
UAE Tour: Hatch & Gerrans (stage 1), Smith (stage 2-7)
Omloop Het Niewsblad: Quigley & Backstedt
Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne: Quigley & Backstedt
Le Samyn: Hatch & Backstedt
Strade Bianche: Hatch & Backstedt
Paris-Nice: Hatch & Kelly
Tirreno-Adriatico: Kirby & Smith (live from Wed 13th Mar)
Tour de Taiwan: Kirby (solo)
Handzame Classic: tbc (live Fri 22nd Mar)
Milan-Sanremo: Hatch & ?? (live Sat 23rd Mar)
Tour of Catalunya: tbc (live from Mon 24th Mar)
Bruges - De Panne: tbx (live Wed 26th Mar)

Selected future events confirmed

Paris-Roubaix: Hatch & (Kelly?)
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Hatch & ??
Giro d'Italia: Hatch & (Kelly?)
Tour de France: tbc
Vuelta a Espana: tbc

 

[MartinGT]

Quigley was hard work this weekend.

He must have been watching it from a Nokia phone. When Sunweb failed to get in the break at KBK they put a rider near the front. Not one mention of Matthews there etc. Some of the stuff he comes out with as well is a head scratcher. Backstedt corrected him on a few occasions.

 

[tobydawq]

Quigley was hard work this weekend.

He must have been watching it from a Nokia phone. When Sunweb failed to get in the break at KBK they put a rider near the front. Not one mention of Matthews there etc. Some of the stuff he comes out with as well is a head scratcher. Backstedt corrected him on a few occasions.

Sunweb didn't participate in the race.

 

[argyllflyer]

Bit of a blunder by Rob Hatch in Le Samyn today... for him anyway! He pronounced Direct Energie the way it reads to a Brit. He did immediately correct himself though and gave us the genuine French pronunciation! :lol:

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I listen to a variety of commentators and they all make mistakes in identifying riders - It's no 'bed of roses' trying to identify SOME riders from long shots or aerial shots - Yet Hatch/Gerrans called MAS instead of Stybar, for at least 5kms at a crucial part of the last stage of Algarve - We never heard a peep in this forum - Enough said.

Its not even Kirby doing the UAE race - getting the blame for other peoples errors now.

Having said that I think Carlton's getting worse - the number of ums and ers he's throwing into his commentary seems to have increased hugely.

Well, that answers Armchair cyclist's initial question; it wasn't Kirby, it was some other idiot.
But, anyway, the main difference between Mas/Stybar, and Fuglsang/Mareczko is that Mas and Stybar are on the same team, and were in the same race.
The only explanation I can come up with is that the commentator had just been watching Andalucia, and therefore got a little confused, just like when Brian Holm called Tim Declercq "Tim Wellens", after he'd just watched - and commentated - the latter win stage 1 in Andalucia. Which is just extra stupid, given the fact that Declercq is one of Holm's "own" riders...

I'll give commentators a pass for mixing up the Yates twins. That is going to happen when they are in the same race. But really you should at least be able to keep straight which riders are on which teams, especially when the kits look nothing alike.

What about the Oliveira twins?

Twins or even brothers if you aren't paying close enough attention and they are on the same team I can see mixing up. Happens in other sports as well. Just should never mix up riders who are on two different teams.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I'll give commentators a pass for mixing up the Yates twins. That is going to happen when they are in the same race. But really you should at least be able to keep straight which riders are on which teams, especially when the kits look nothing alike.

armchair cyclist: I'm with you on the opinion that it's #3 most of the time. However, I can say #2 has happened, but that's usually been the two announcers asking each other who someone is and neither one being sure. Although in that case one usually asks the rest of the behind the scenes guys/gals to get a jersey number.

Oh yes, 2 certainly happens: Hatch and Smith having a long conversation about the impact of time bonuses in the tactics of Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana was a recent example. To Smith's credit, they at least apologised for their error after being corrected on Twitter, something they very rarely do.

TBH, misidentification of riders is the error that bugs me least, so long as they are willing to acknowledge the possibility that they are wrong until they know for sure ("If that is indeed Mas, it shakes up the GC").

That had to be annoying. Glad they apologized when it was brought to their attention.

The problem with misidentified riders is when they assume it's a specific rider instead of saying if it's so and so rider.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I... but that's usually been the two announcers asking each other who someone is and neither one being sure. Although in that case one usually asks the rest of the behind the scenes guys/gals to get a jersey number.

I don't think there are any behind the scenes personnel in any position to do such a thing: for most races the two commentators are in a broom cupboard in Twickenham with a TV screen and a couple of laptops. There is probably someone the other side of a pane of glass with control of the volume knobs/ad breaks, but I think that is it.

There should be a statistician around somewhere who can look up that information. Granted my experience with live broadcasts is college football, NFL and MLB games. Even low buck (or in our case student production of college football games) games there is always at least 1 or 2 people around to go dig into stats or find out who someone is if it's not readily available. Then down in the truck would be at least 5-6 people running all the feeds, now that would almost non existent for cycling races as it's one feed.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

The thing that always annoys me is the lack of friendly correction both on this type of mis-speaking error, and of more blatant errors of fact.

Three possibilities come to mind:
the second chair (the ex-pro co-commentator) is told to never correct the commentator for fear of making him look bad;
the second chair is equally ignorant;
the second chair isn't listening to him witter on...

(I suspect that 1 happens, but 3 is the main reason)

1) No. Magnus has corrected my main man Carlton Kirby on more than one occasion. The corrections mainly involve positioning and best and worst lines taken in a corner. Thing is he does it in a polite and subtle manner, probably because he realizes they are talking about a bike race, not the Cuban Missile Crisis.
2) See American tv coverage of bike races. Most of you would be begging to hear my man Carlton.
3) Sean Kelly sometimes wakes up from his mid-race nap to chime in and add a bit of spice. Has it ever occurred to anyone that CK is trying to wake Kelly up when he lights up like a Christmas tree (qm)

p.s. Thanks to the person who reviewed my quote poem a few posts back. Although you gave it a negative grade, I had no idea I was writing a poem. That means I am a poet and didn't even know it! We poets have to take the barbs like the one you offered. I guess it just comes with the territory. I promise to try better next time.
p.p.s. I have to admit that your poem is better than mine. Completely untrue, mind you, but yeah, much better than mine.

This exactly. Try listening to US TV coverage and you'll be more than happy with what you have with Eurosport. Many of us over here would be happy to pay to get Eurosport's coverage.

 

[RedheadDane]

Twins or even brothers if you aren't paying close enough attention and they are on the same team I can see mixing up. Happens in other sports as well. Just should never mix up riders who are on two different teams.

Just thought it was kinda funny how you specifically named the Yates-twins.
And I'm guessing that "rule" doesn't count for the Sagan brothers…

---

Right... I dunno if this is the best place to post this, but it kinda bugged me a little how Holm (during OHN) kept talking about how great the motos in Belgium were, given that the two worst incidents in recent years happened in Belgium.
Of course it's been (almost) three years, and I really hope things have changed.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Twins or even brothers if you aren't paying close enough attention and they are on the same team I can see mixing up. Happens in other sports as well. Just should never mix up riders who are on two different teams.

Just thought it was kinda funny how you specifically named the Yates-twins.
And I'm guessing that "rule" doesn't count for the Sagan brothers…

---

Right... I dunno if this is the best place to post this, but it kinda bugged me a little how Holm (during OHN) kept talking about how great the motos in Belgium were, given that the two worst incidents in recent years happened in Belgium.
Of course it's been (almost) three years, and I really hope things have changed.

It was because they came to mind first. That's all. It would count for the Sagan brothers, Nibali brothers, Quintana brothers, etc as long as they are on the same team.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Twins or even brothers if you aren't paying close enough attention and they are on the same team I can see mixing up. Happens in other sports as well. Just should never mix up riders who are on two different teams.

Just thought it was kinda funny how you specifically named the Yates-twins.
And I'm guessing that "rule" doesn't count for the Sagan brothers…

---

Right... I dunno if this is the best place to post this, but it kinda bugged me a little how Holm (during OHN) kept talking about how great the motos in Belgium were, given that the two worst incidents in recent years happened in Belgium.
Of course it's been (almost) three years, and I really hope things have changed.

It was because they came to mind first. That's all. It would count for the Sagan brothers, Nibali brothers, Quintana brothers, etc as long as they are on the same team.

You mean, in the unexpected situation that one of them is indeed not Slovak champion? Though I guess if Juraj became Slovak champion, and Peter wasn't World (or European) champion, then it might cause some confusion.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Twins or even brothers if you aren't paying close enough attention and they are on the same team I can see mixing up. Happens in other sports as well. Just should never mix up riders who are on two different teams.

Just thought it was kinda funny how you specifically named the Yates-twins.
And I'm guessing that "rule" doesn't count for the Sagan brothers…

---

Right... I dunno if this is the best place to post this, but it kinda bugged me a little how Holm (during OHN) kept talking about how great the motos in Belgium were, given that the two worst incidents in recent years happened in Belgium.
Of course it's been (almost) three years, and I really hope things have changed.

It was because they came to mind first. That's all. It would count for the Sagan brothers, Nibali brothers, Quintana brothers, etc as long as they are on the same team.

You mean, in the unexpected situation that one of them is indeed not Slovak champion? Though I guess if Juraj became Slovak champion, and Peter wasn't World (or European) champion, then it might cause some confusion.

LOL, yeah. However, unlikely it is, it's possible.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Bit of a blunder by Rob Hatch in Le Samyn today... for him anyway! He pronounced Direct Energie the way it reads to a Brit. He did immediately correct himself though and gave us the genuine French pronunciation! :lol:

Hatch evidently prides himself on his French/Dutch/Italian/Spanish pronounciations, but managed to make a right hash of the Anglicised Gaelic name Cullaigh in Le Samyn, rendering it something like 'Cullayszh'. [shudders]

 

[christopherrowe]

Re: Re:

The thing that always annoys me is the lack of friendly correction both on this type of mis-speaking error, and of more blatant errors of fact.

Three possibilities come to mind:
the second chair (the ex-pro co-commentator) is told to never correct the commentator for fear of making him look bad;
the second chair is equally ignorant;
the second chair isn't listening to him witter on...

(I suspect that 1 happens, but 3 is the main reason)

1) No. Magnus has corrected my main man Carlton Kirby on more than one occasion. The corrections mainly involve positioning and best and worst lines taken in a corner. Thing is he does it in a polite and subtle manner, probably because he realizes they are talking about a bike race, not the Cuban Missile Crisis.
2) See American tv coverage of bike races. Most of you would be begging to hear my man Carlton.
3) Sean Kelly sometimes wakes up from his mid-race nap to chime in and add a bit of spice. Has it ever occurred to anyone that CK is trying to wake Kelly up when he lights up like a Christmas tree (qm)

p.s. Thanks to the person who reviewed my quote poem a few posts back. Although you gave it a negative grade, I had no idea I was writing a poem. That means I am a poet and didn't even know it! We poets have to take the barbs like the one you offered. I guess it just comes with the territory. I promise to try better next time.
p.p.s. I have to admit that your poem is better than mine. Completely untrue, mind you, but yeah, much better than mine.

This exactly. Try listening to US TV coverage and you'll be more than happy with what you have with Eurosport. Many of us over here would be happy to pay to get Eurosport's coverage.

FloBikes streams a very high number or Eurosport broadcasts, with the Eurosport commentators. I have no idea who was doing Le Samyn today, but he was hopeless. Fun race, though.

 

[christopherrowe]

Re: Re:

Twins or even brothers if you aren't paying close enough attention and they are on the same team I can see mixing up. Happens in other sports as well. Just should never mix up riders who are on two different teams.

Just thought it was kinda funny how you specifically named the Yates-twins.
And I'm guessing that "rule" doesn't count for the Sagan brothers…

---

Right... I dunno if this is the best place to post this, but it kinda bugged me a little how Holm (during OHN) kept talking about how great the motos in Belgium were, given that the two worst incidents in recent years happened in Belgium.
Of course it's been (almost) three years, and I really hope things have changed.

It was because they came to mind first. That's all. It would count for the Sagan brothers, Nibali brothers, Quintana brothers, etc as long as they are on the same team.

You mean, in the unexpected situation that one of them is indeed not Slovak champion? Though I guess if Juraj became Slovak champion, and Peter wasn't World (or European) champion, then it might cause some confusion.

I just hired a Portuguese translator to translate some emails for me to a bunch of Portuguese Continental teams in advance of the Algarve race (I'm mostly done assembling a "program book" of pro teams with rider and staff names, bike sponsors, nationalities for everybody, and a jersey image--I use the program pages to generate custom start lists to have at hand while I watch televised coverage). Anyway, in my letter to the Efapel team I asked them if the two riders they have on their team named Rafael and Bruno Silva were brothers, and if they were in turn related to the DS, Américo Silva. The translator helpfully provided the information that Silva is the most common surname in Portugal and they probably weren't related, and as it turns out, he was right!

As an aside, non-Anglophone teams are much, much better at replying to fan requests for things like high resolution jersey images and so on than Anglophone teams. The Italian Continental teams in particular have been awesome, but NONE of the UK-based Continental teams have responded to multiple requests for information. Weird.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

The thing that always annoys me is the lack of friendly correction both on this type of mis-speaking error, and of more blatant errors of fact.

Three possibilities come to mind:
the second chair (the ex-pro co-commentator) is told to never correct the commentator for fear of making him look bad;
the second chair is equally ignorant;
the second chair isn't listening to him witter on...

(I suspect that 1 happens, but 3 is the main reason)

1) No. Magnus has corrected my main man Carlton Kirby on more than one occasion. The corrections mainly involve positioning and best and worst lines taken in a corner. Thing is he does it in a polite and subtle manner, probably because he realizes they are talking about a bike race, not the Cuban Missile Crisis.
2) See American tv coverage of bike races. Most of you would be begging to hear my man Carlton.
3) Sean Kelly sometimes wakes up from his mid-race nap to chime in and add a bit of spice. Has it ever occurred to anyone that CK is trying to wake Kelly up when he lights up like a Christmas tree (qm)

p.s. Thanks to the person who reviewed my quote poem a few posts back. Although you gave it a negative grade, I had no idea I was writing a poem. That means I am a poet and didn't even know it! We poets have to take the barbs like the one you offered. I guess it just comes with the territory. I promise to try better next time.
p.p.s. I have to admit that your poem is better than mine. Completely untrue, mind you, but yeah, much better than mine.

This exactly. Try listening to US TV coverage and you'll be more than happy with what you have with Eurosport. Many of us over here would be happy to pay to get Eurosport's coverage.

FloBikes streams a very high number or Eurosport broadcasts, with the Eurosport commentators. I have no idea who was doing Le Samyn today, but he was hopeless. Fun race, though.

TY. I've already considered getting them for cycling, just don't have any money currently. Nice to know they use Eurosport.

 

[Nirvana]

Stages 1, 4 and 5 of Tirreno will be live only on the player.
https://it.eurosport.com/tutti-gli-sport/guida-tv-tutte-le-dirette-di-eurosport-1-eurosport-2-ed-eurosport-player_sto6960356/story.shtml

The coverage of cycling on the standard channels is worsening every year.

 

[RedheadDane]

We get it on the main channel in Denmark!











I'm not at all rubbing it in.

 

[yaco]

Rob Hatch called Jack Haig as Simon Yates for the last 35kms of stage 2 of PN - They are not even remotely alike - Imagine if Kirby made this mistake.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re:

Rob Hatch called Simon Yates for the last 35kms of stage 2 of PN - They are not even remotely alike - Imagine if Kirby made this mistake.

What did he call Simon Yates?

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Rob Hatch called Simon Yates for the last 35kms of stage 2 of PN - They are not even remotely alike - Imagine if Kirby made this mistake.

What did he call Simon Yates?

Jack Haig - Now if this was Chaves or Nieve then you could understand the mistake.

 

[argyllflyer]

Re:

Stages 1, 4 and 5 of Tirreno will be live only on the player.
https://it.eurosport.com/tutti-gli-sport/guida-tv-tutte-le-dirette-di-eurosport-1-eurosport-2-ed-eurosport-player_sto6960356/story.shtml

The coverage of cycling on the standard channels is worsening every year.

Every stage live in the UK - obviously the skiing a bigger draw in Italy though at the weekend?

But maybe I'm misreading your link ES1 on Wednesday has nothing scheduled between 1300 and 1600.

 

[MartinGT]

Bonification, still makes me chuckle.