Eurosport commentary

[Cycle Chic]

So my poll wasnt working - i,ve messaged why the votes werent being registered. As for trying to get Kirby ousted - why the hell not ? ok bring him in for geographical content during the Tour de France, let him have his funny french jokes etc. but NOT for the races.

This is not vitriol it is criticism of a 'journalist' who is 'not up to his job'.

In any job if you make mistakes and are incompetent, you are sacked. Whys this bloke any different ?

 

[therealthing]

I have nothing against any of the cycling commentators besides Kirby. In fact, when I am watching cycling and there are people in the room who have no interest in the sport, I often hear them saying "what is he on about?" when he is commentating.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Nice job in my opinion by Jon Harris Bass (I think) and Magnus Backstedt today in Brabantse Pijl.

 

[argyllflyer]

Re:

Nice job in my opinion by Jon Harris Bass (I think) and Magnus Backstedt today in Brabantse Pijl.

Yep it is JHB with Maggy.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

So my poll wasnt working - i,ve messaged why the votes werent being registered. As for trying to get Kirby ousted - why the hell not ? ok bring him in for geographical content during the Tour de France, let him have his funny french jokes etc. but NOT for the races.

This is not vitriol it is criticism of a 'journalist' who is 'not up to his job'.

In any job if you make mistakes and are incompetent, you are sacked. Whys this bloke any different ?

I don't know what happened to your poll. If you would like to start another one we can try to get it working.

I tried to get your poll working correctly but could not. I think you should use at least three options to start out, that way we can delete one of them which you have to do to make polls work. Since two options is the minimum I couldn't delete one of them without getting a warning message. Anyway, if you try again make sure you have at least three options.

Well, Eshnar's reason for locking the thread was that there already is a thread for Eurosport commentators. Don't you guys talk to each other?

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

So my poll wasnt working - i,ve messaged why the votes werent being registered. As for trying to get Kirby ousted - why the hell not ? ok bring him in for geographical content during the Tour de France, let him have his funny french jokes etc. but NOT for the races.

This is not vitriol it is criticism of a 'journalist' who is 'not up to his job'.

In any job if you make mistakes and are incompetent, you are sacked. Whys this bloke any different ?

I don't know what happened to your poll. If you would like to start another one we can try to get it working.

I tried to get your poll working correctly but could not. I think you should use at least three options to start out, that way we can delete one of them which you have to do to make polls work. Since two options is the minimum I couldn't delete one of them without getting a warning message. Anyway, if you try again make sure you have at least three options.

Well, Eshnar's reason for locking the thread was that there already is a thread for Eurosport commentators. Don't you guys talk to each other?

Haha! Yes, we talk to each other but not about minor forum moderation.

Now that I recall, I vaguely remember reading that it was locked.... Please cut me some slack, I'm still waking up and drinking my morning coffee.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Re: Re:

So my poll wasnt working - i,ve messaged why the votes werent being registered. As for trying to get Kirby ousted - why the hell not ? ok bring him in for geographical content during the Tour de France, let him have his funny french jokes etc. but NOT for the races.

This is not vitriol it is criticism of a 'journalist' who is 'not up to his job'.

In any job if you make mistakes and are incompetent, you are sacked. Whys this bloke any different ?

I don't know what happened to your poll. If you would like to start another one we can try to get it working.

I tried to get your poll working correctly but could not. I think you should use at least three options to start out, that way we can delete one of them which you have to do to make polls work. Since two options is the minimum I couldn't delete one of them without getting a warning message. Anyway, if you try again make sure you have at least three options.

Well, Eshnar's reason for locking the thread was that there already is a thread for Eurosport commentators. Don't you guys talk to each other?

Haha! Yes, we talk to each other but not about minor forum moderation.

Now that I recall, I vaguely remember reading that it was locked.... Please cut me some slack, I'm still waking up and drinking my morning coffee.

Ishnar continues to state that the Poll was a thread. Can you get the poll working for me please ? or let me edit this one to 3 options ?

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

So my poll wasnt working - i,ve messaged why the votes werent being registered. As for trying to get Kirby ousted - why the hell not ? ok bring him in for geographical content during the Tour de France, let him have his funny french jokes etc. but NOT for the races.

This is not vitriol it is criticism of a 'journalist' who is 'not up to his job'.

In any job if you make mistakes and are incompetent, you are sacked. Whys this bloke any different ?

I don't know what happened to your poll. If you would like to start another one we can try to get it working.

I tried to get your poll working correctly but could not. I think you should use at least three options to start out, that way we can delete one of them which you have to do to make polls work. Since two options is the minimum I couldn't delete one of them without getting a warning message. Anyway, if you try again make sure you have at least three options.

Well, Eshnar's reason for locking the thread was that there already is a thread for Eurosport commentators. Don't you guys talk to each other?

Haha! Yes, we talk to each other but not about minor forum moderation.

Now that I recall, I vaguely remember reading that it was locked.... Please cut me some slack, I'm still waking up and drinking my morning coffee.

Ishnar continues to state that the Poll was a thread. Can you get the poll working for me please ? or let me edit this one to 3 options ?

I should have done a little more research before I tried to tinker with your poll. Had I scrolled down to the end of the thread I would have seen that Eshnar had already locked it. I can ask him if he will permit a poll but I won't veto Eshnar's decision without his blessing.

 

[London Hibs]

Re:

Nice job in my opinion by Jon Harris Bass (I think) and Magnus Backstedt today in Brabantse Pijl.

I might be going against the grain here, but I thought the commentary today was awful and would have preferred Kirby's inane bletherings to the monotone JHB.

FWIW - I actually quite like Kirby.

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

Nice job in my opinion by Jon Harris Bass (I think) and Magnus Backstedt today in Brabantse Pijl.

I might be going against the grain here, but I thought the commentary today was awful and would have preferred Kirby's inane bletherings to the monotone JHB.

FWIW - I actually quite like Kirby.

Your last line renders your first line moot.

 

[yaco]

So it appears that Eurosport will have three commentators for their full day coverage of the TDF - So it will be Kirby and Kelly - Who will be the third commentator ?

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Nice job in my opinion by Jon Harris Bass (I think) and Magnus Backstedt today in Brabantse Pijl.

I might be going against the grain here, but I thought the commentary today was awful and would have preferred Kirby's inane bletherings to the monotone JHB.

FWIW - I actually quite like Kirby.

Agreed (about the first bit anyway). I ended up having to watch Eurosport today and the rider identification/discussion was far worse than it is with Kirby.

 

[argyllflyer]

Re:

So it appears that Eurosport will have three commentators for their full day coverage of the TDF - So it will be Kirby and Kelly - Who will be the third commentator ?

They will perhaps be pushing it to four as they've had three for a while now. Up until Harmon's departure, it was him and Kelly at the finish line with Kirby in Paris. Mike Smith did the Paris gig one year I think. Then from 2014 onwards it has been JHB in Paris, tweets of recipes from his apartment balcony etc, with Kirby and Kelly on the road. I think this is in case the commentary link fails? JHB was doing a similar thing introducing the coverage for Paris-Nice while Hatch & Kelly were out and about at the finish, and did the same in previous years. They also had someone doing it when ES sent comms to the finish for the Giro in N. Ireland.

In terms of who does the extra role - that's going to come down to availability as these guys are freelancers and get booked up well ahead of time, and looking at race allocation from previous years, they seem to get the same events. Then factor in other commitments away from Eurosport... Hatch with his comms for host broadcasters and his commitments to other sports (handball? volleyball?), Stephens with GCN... during last year's Tour, Quigley did Tour of Austria which ES had, so I'd assume he's the most likely one to go on the road as relief commentator.

Then again, maybe they'll 'promote' Jon having given him the 'Tour Lite' experience for 3 years running!

The list of commentators they use is fairly short:

Kirby - 1st choice
Hatch - 2nd choice
Quigley - 3rd choice
Stephens - not been lead since 2016 season
Harris-Bass: 4th choice, seems to do other sports - cricket and rugby?
MacDonald: Does a lot for Cycling.tv and various host broadcasters but ES do use him occasionally
McCrossan: Can't recall ES using him that much (though he voices the british Cycling stuff) but he's busy being the announcer at various events

 

[the delgados]

Re: Re:

Nice job in my opinion by Jon Harris Bass (I think) and Magnus Backstedt today in Brabantse Pijl.

I might be going against the grain here, but I thought the commentary today was awful and would have preferred Kirby's inane bletherings to the monotone JHB.

FWIW - I actually quite like Kirby.

London Hibs!
Where have you been my whole life (insert question mark here).
Dont listen to these degenerates. (insert apostrophe there).
Carlton Kirby is a highly competent cycling broadcaster and raconteur.
Also, he knows how to light things up like no one else.
p.s. something is wrong with my keyboard and I am unable to access certain keys. I just needed to jump into the fray to say London Hibs is awesome.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Oh Delgados !! you really do resemble Mr Kirby !! reading your posts is like listening to Kirby.

Not sure why my poll was closed - whats so wrong about it ?? quite a legitimate poll asking people if they want a tv commentator to be taken off Eurosport.

 

[Jagartrott]

There are not so many good cycling commentators. Kirby is definitely not one of them. Yapping is the correct verb to describe what he does, I believe.

 

[therealthing]

I like the little summary of Carlton on his website:

"His style combines a great depth of knowledge (he only knows about 4 riders: Clarke, Uran, Reichenbach and Soupe) and with a warm sense of humour (that's just a plain lie) and the sharpest of reactions (continuously calling out the wrong winner and taking 5 minutes to correct it) to make an occasion of any sporting event."

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Man this Kirby fella sounds like a ton of fun listening to. I wish I had the opportunity to do so one day.

 

[yaco]

JHB and MB only recognised two riders in GP Denain - Bouhanni and Demare.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Re: Re:

So it appears that Eurosport will have three commentators for their full day coverage of the TDF - So it will be Kirby and Kelly - Who will be the third commentator ?

In terms of who does the extra role - thats going to come down to availability, as these guys are freelancers and get booked up well ahead of time,...

You have to be kidding ?? !! KIRBY booked for any-thing ?? I dont think so....I bet he's at Eurosport's front door everyday begging for any commentary work.

Harris-Bass did ok with Backstedt, at least he can pronounce flemish and riders names correctly.

 

[Robert5091]

Who will be the third commentator ?

Get Oleg T - that'll boost the ratings!

 

[Brullnux]

The co-commentator for the Track Worlds on British Eurosport was really poor today. I don't know who it was because I'm not great at a) actually knowing who they are and b) differentiating between them (Apart from Hatch, Kirby and anyone with a noticeable accent).

 

[the delgados]

Re:

Oh Delgados !! you really do resemble Mr Kirby !! reading your posts is like listening to Kirby.

Not sure why my poll was closed - whats so wrong about it ?? quite a legitimate poll asking people if they want a tv commentator to be taken off Eurosport.

Ouch! That was a real doozy; ya got me on the ropes, Cycle Chic.
I can't speak for the mods, but it seems your idea is somewhat redundant.
Here's an idea: Rather than creating a poll, send the entire thread to Eurosport and save everyone's time.

 

[argyllflyer]

Re:

The co-commentator for the Track Worlds on British Eurosport was really poor today. I don't know who it was because I'm not great at a) actually knowing who they are and b) differentiating between them (Apart from Hatch, Kirby and anyone with a noticeable accent).

I'm not really following but it's been Quigley and Gibb when I have seen it this week.

 

[Brullnux]

Gibb wasn't very good