Commentary on TNT and other WB brands

[Samu Cuenca]

You mean as opposed to someone who thinks that you've tuned in purely to listen to their monologues rather than to watch a bike race ? I wonder who could you possibly be referring to ?

Luckily I've never personally experienced someone like that

 

[ciranda]

Among active riders I'd put my money on Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier.
Few even dare to pronounce it.

It seems straight forward. Ghebre is a common prefix in eritrean/ethiopian names, after that it's just three syllables so ghe bre ig za bhier. It feels right to have the accent on IG but I don't know if it is. It's an awesome name.

Gebre (Ge'ez: ገብረ) is a common masculine Ethiopian name, meaning "servant" or "slave of" in Ge'ez. It is used as both a stand-alone given name and, frequently, as a prefix (or stem) in religiously-themed compound names; e.g. Gebreselassie ("Servant of the Trinity"), Gebremeskel ("Servant of the Cross"), or Gebremariam ("Servant of Mary"). Gebru is a variant, often seen in Tigrinya. As with other such compound names, when written in transliteration in a Latin script, it is often abbreviated as "G/" (e.g. G/Selassie for Gebreselassie). It may likewise also be transliterated with a hyphen or a space connecting it to the root, potentially obscuring the nature of the name.

Igziabeher (Amharic: እግዚአብሔር /əgzi'abəher/) means literally "Lord of a nation or tribe", i.e. God, in the Ethiopian or Ge'ez language, as well as modern Ethiosematic languages including Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia.[1]

Igziabher in Ge'ez is composed of əgzi[/I] (Lord or ruler), plus a euphonic -'a added to the vowel to signify the possessive construct (i.e., "ruler [I]of[/I]"), followed by [I]bihier[/I] ("nation, tribe (Today, bihier, when directy translated into English, means ethnic group)"). Another, more generic Ethiopian word meaning "God" (including the deities of any other religion) is አምላክ ([I]amlak).

How to say gebre in sign language?

 

[tobydawq]

I'm totally okay with commentators not getting the names entirely right, and actually the correct Danish pronounciation is sometimes a mystery to me. You Danes would laugh about how I call your riders. But in general commentators from several countries get the names more or less right, at least so that you understand who they mean. It's the English commentators who are often just awful and treat every name like it's an English one. Obviously there is no culture which values original pronounciation, whereas the Arabic commentators during the UAE tour did a great job, in my opinion (even if Adam Yates became a German sounding Adam). In Germany it very much depends on the commentator, I'd say. The Swiss one of course will never stop emphasizing every (French) name on the first syllable, which I already found annoying at university, when Rousseau became ROUSseau and Picasso PIcasso. Well, but it has its own Swiss charme, so... okay. Problem is when the others start to do it as well, and Pinot generally becomes PInot, Bardet BARdet and Alaphilippe ALaphilippe. I don't know why this bugs me so much, but it's slaughter in my ears.
Anyway, of course that's nothing compared to the constant butchering by English commentators, which often makes me wonder who they are talking about, when it's not the big names.

I wonder what the most mutilated cyclist's name is, but Dylan Teuns must be very high up there.

Basically, I agree with all this but it's definitely not like the French commentators don't mutilate foregin names too and twist them into their own accent. It just sounds a bit more charming than BARday and PInough.

 

[argyllflyer]

You mean 7/3, right?

ES had it live on Sat and Sun when I posted that, I forgot to correct it and I actually did double-check the date and saw it was 7th.

 

[MartinGT]

McCrossan is an absolutely awful commentator.

I am assuming its Ant McCrossan thats now changed his name to Marty MacDonald McCrossan?

 

[RedheadDane]

Is Brent Van Moer really pronunced "Brent Van Mmmrrr"?

 

[DaveJones2]

My word the Eurosport commentary is appalling sometimes. Race being blown apart and almost zero interest in trying to identify the riders at the front...

 

[RedheadDane]

My word the Eurosport commentary is appalling sometimes. Race being blown apart and almost zero interest in trying to identify the riders at the front...

They've namedropped several of the riders multiple times. Guess you're not talking about the English one.

 

[DaveJones2]

They named VWA and one other. Whilst the first selection in the entire race was happening they rather unfathomably played a pre-race interview with Alaphillpe. Not once was the importance of the split and accelerations by Ala and WVA mentioned or any attempt made to convey the tactical relevance / excitement of what was happening. Pathetic IMO.

 

[RedheadDane]

They named VWA and one other. Whilst the first selection in the entire race was happening they rather unfathomably played a pre-race interview with Alaphillpe. Not once was the importance of the split and accelerations by Ala and WVA mentioned or any attempt made to convey the tactical relevance / excitement of what was happening. Pathetic IMO.

Oh, I thought you were talking about the current front group.

 

[tobydawq]

McCrossan is an absolutely awful commentator.

I am assuming its Ant McCrossan thats now changed his name to Marty MacDonald McCrossan?

Yes, he is such an awful listen that it blows my mind how he has ever landed that job. He is boring, has the worst rhythm of speech of any commentator ever, never shifts gear in his non-excitement, does not read races well, pronounces foreign names hopelessly badly and talks all the time.

 

[argyllflyer]

McCrossan is an absolutely awful commentator.

I am assuming its Ant McCrossan thats now changed his name to Marty MacDonald McCrossan?

Ant McCrossan and Marty MacDonald McCrossan are different people. They are brothers and both commentate.

 

[tobydawq]

Ant McCrossan and Marty MacDonald McCrossan are different people. They are brothers and both commentate.

Now I am confused as to whom I can't stand. Or maybe they are equally annoying?

Also, Marty MacDonald McCrossan, what an insane name is that?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

MMM is the one, who has done the women's races with Joanna Rowsell and others, right?

And yes his name must be the most Scottish sounding of all time.

I'm not sure, who Ant is.

 

[Wyndbrook]

MMM is the one, who has done the women's races with Joanna Rowsell and others, right?

And yes his name must be the most Scottish sounding of all time.

I'm not sure, who Ant is.

Ant does a lot of commentary for UCI feeds and finish line announcements at UCi championships and world cups.
He pops up all over the place including Eurosport.
I agree he is awful.

 

[tobydawq]

This is Ant, right*?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoCvceSbTn0&ab_channel=UCI

*The commentator in the video, I know who Sagan is, thanks.

 

[MartinGT]

Ant does a lot of commentary for UCI feeds and finish line announcements at UCi championships and world cups.
He pops up all over the place including Eurosport.
I agree he is awful.

Like @ebandit said. He was at the Milton Keynes CX world cup event and kept getting Sanne Cant and Sophie de Boer mixed up. I mean it was difficult for him as Sanne Cant was Belgium champion and Sophie de Boer is Dutch.

 

[luckyboy]

I guess he is only just out of the peloton so these guys are his friends but man, nobody on British Eurosport or GCN is as openly biased as Adam Blythe...


He is good at giving insights into some of the riders, what's going on in the peloton etc though. Like the bit about Paolini always keeping track of where soigneurs are so he could get rid of bottles and weight for the hills while some riders don't care about that.

 

[the delgados]

Does anyone know if broadcasters at places like Eurosport have a union?
I hope so, because I would demand a hefty amount of extra pay to be the one who drew the short end of the stick and had to call a time trial. For two hours. Good lord.
There's only so many times (i.e. one) that you can introduce a rider, identify his place in the race and talk about the possibility he might win before everyone starts nodding off a little.
Then, after a brief nap, the commentator lights up with lines like: "Ohh! There's Sam Bennett at the start line!"
10 minutes later:
"Ohh! There's Sam Bennett on a recovery day training ride! Look at how little energy he puts into turning those pedals! It's almost like he's not trying! Top stuff!"
Kudos to every broadcaster who calls a TT. Your contributions are legendary.

 

[Potomac]

I guess he is only just out of the peloton so these guys are his friends but man, nobody on British Eurosport or GCN is as openly biased as Adam Blythe...


He is good at giving insights into some of the riders, what's going on in the peloton etc though. Like the bit about Paolini always keeping track of where soigneurs are so he could get rid of bottles and weight for the hills while some riders don't care about that.

I didn't catch today's time trial stage, but yesterday's commentary was an over the top love fest. Hatch had to point out there are other riders in the race at one point.

 

[BlueRoads]

Does anyone know if broadcasters at places like Eurosport have a union?
I hope so, because I would demand a hefty amount of extra pay to be the one who drew the short end of the stick and had to call a time trial. For two hours. Good lord.
There's only so many times (i.e. one) that you can introduce a rider, identify his place in the race and talk about the possibility he might win before everyone starts nodding off a little.
Then, after a brief nap, the commentator lights up with lines like: "Ohh! There's Sam Bennett at the start line!"
10 minutes later:
"Ohh! There's Sam Bennett on a recovery day training ride! Look at how little energy he puts into turning those pedals! It's almost like he's not trying! Top stuff!"
Kudos to every broadcaster who calls a TT. Your contributions are legendary.

I am really starting to love Jens Voigt. Half of the time he talks nonsense, but he just has an emotional, benevolent, appreciating style, is never afraid to admit mistakes or tell the truth about a rider (in a very nice way). It makes a time trial commentary way more lively, nothing you wouldn't know, but it's nice to have in the background and it seems to come easy to him.

 

[MartinGT]

Blythe just wish he got a ride at Sky the lad. I do like him though to be honest.

I had the TT on today with no commentary as I had it on in the background.

 

[hayneplane]

Blythe just wish he got a ride at Sky the lad. I do like him though to be honest.

I had the TT on today with no commentary as I had it on in the background.

That is the funniest thing about it, him never having even ridden for Sky during his career.

 

[the delgados]

I am really starting to love Jens Voigt. Half of the time he talks nonsense, but he just has an emotional, benevolent, appreciating style, is never afraid to admit mistakes or tell the truth about a rider (in a very nice way). It makes a time trial commentary way more lively, nothing you wouldn't know, but it's nice to have in the background and it seems to come easy to him.

I agree that Jens is a natural when it comes to commentating. The guy seems like a free spirit who likes to just shoot the schit while talking about a bike race. And as you said, he's not afraid to admit mistakes. That's awesome. He realizes we're talking about a bike race, not impending armageddon. No biggie.
Chris Horner is the same. He's a story teller with knowledge about what's going on. The fact he adds examples of behind the scenes riders who may or may not be training or may or may not know how to ride a bike is a bonus. You can't ask for anything more (except for candid talk about you-know-what. But we all know that's not going to happen.)

 

[pmcg76]

I agree that Jens is a natural when it comes to commentating. The guy seems like a free spirit who likes to just shoot the schit while talking about a bike race. And as you said, he's not afraid to admit mistakes. That's awesome. He realizes we're talking about a bike race, not impending armageddon. No biggie.
Chris Horner is the same. He's a story teller with knowledge about what's going on. The fact he adds examples of behind the scenes riders who may or may not be training or may or may not know how to ride a bike is a bonus. You can't ask for anything more (except for candid talk about you-know-what. But we all know that's not going to happen.)

Listening to Kirby after not having had to listen to him for a while is just shocking. The level of utter banality is off the scale. During T-A today, he was on about the number of Carlton Kirbys in the world and how two of them were in prison. WTAF. Any chance you can send someone to prison for crimes against decent commentary I wonder?