Eurosport commentary

[elfed68]

Disgraceful stuff from Kirby and Stephens today.[/QUOT

Disgraceful, get a grip, the guys are only commentating on a bike race?????

 

[elfed68]

Here's the deal, Carlton Kirby or any of the other commentators has to talk from the start of the race till the end. A huge task which 99.9% of us would be incapable of doing.

The person with him, who's usually the ex pro is the one with the insightful knowledge, the one who's usually talking about previous experiences of said race, and the one the commentator can work with to give the viewer a knowledgeable experience of what's happening.

Sean Kelly and Magnus Backstedt, not exactly personalities, and Matt Stephens with his Jeremy Clarksonesque abrupt endings.
Give the guy a break, he's not the expert, I'm surprised he's as good as he is given the people he has to work with!

 

[gooner]

Poor stuff from Kirby and Stephens today not taking any notice of the caption on screen with the intermediate times and then being shocked out of nowhere as a result of this when Contador crosses the line in 2nd. I don't mind him talking tosh for the flat stages and it's difficult enough to do so long periods on days like that, but for a TT when times and intermediate splits need to be relayed to the viewers, this was incompetence for a commentator in his role.

Lucky enough Sky are showing Amstel live next week.

 

[movingtarget]

Poor stuff from Kirby and Stephens today not taking any notice of the caption on screen with the intermediate times and then being shocked out of nowhere as a result of this when Contador crosses the line in 2nd. I don't mind him talking tosh for the flat stages and it's difficult enough to do so long periods on days like that, but for a TT when times and intermediate splits need to be relayed to the viewers, this was incompetence for a commentator in his role.

Lucky enough Sky are showing Amstel live next week.

All true. The climax of the race was an unprofessional shambles simply because they were not paying attention.

 

[argyllflyer]

Watching it back, the boob for yesterdays's stage was neither paid enough attention to the sole graphic which popped up showing Condator's 2nd placing (+7 secs) at the 13.4 km mark.

They were hindered by there being zero actual coverage of him going through that point and when it did go on screen Matt Stephens was rambling/talking and Kirby was listening to him. The significance of Contador being +7, Kwiatkowski +13 and Valverde +41 had been lost as they immediately started talking about Valverde and Contador's similar TTing ability, saying that Valverde could yet overhaul his GC deficit - even though at 13.4 km the GC lead of Contador had grown from 12 to 46 seconds.

One half of the commentary pairing needs to write splits down especially when the tv coverage is poor. And MS needs to learn to perhaps dial it back when there are graphics on screen to avoid missing key info. The fact that AC went last meant the intermediate sprint graphic was obsolete thereafter. It wasn't used again and they had no point of reference for where AC was on the road. And when they did pop up a graphic showing AC having a 53s lead on Valverde towards the end, CK couldn't interpret it correctly having missed the significance of the split time.

 

[Miburo]

Here's the deal, Carlton Kirby or any of the other commentators has to talk from the start of the race till the end. A huge task which 99.9% of us would be incapable of doing.

The person with him, who's usually the ex pro is the one with the insightful knowledge, the one who's usually talking about previous experiences of said race, and the one the commentator can work with to give the viewer a knowledgeable experience of what's happening.

Sean Kelly and Magnus Backstedt, not exactly personalities, and Matt Stephens with his Jeremy Clarksonesque abrupt endings.
Give the guy a break, he's not the expert, I'm surprised he's as good as he is given the people he has to work with!

Kirby is a disgrace and should be fired. Many of us are not ex-riders and although that stephens dude sucks monkey balls it's not an excuse for him to absolutely know nothing of this sport.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Watching it back, the boob for yesterdays's stage was neither paid enough attention to the sole graphic which popped up showing Condator's 2nd placing (+7 secs) at the 13.4 km mark.

They were hindered by there being zero actual coverage of him going through that point and when it did go on screen Matt Stephens was rambling/talking and Kirby was listening to him. The significance of Contador being +7, Kwiatkowski +13 and Valverde +41 had been lost as they immediately started talking about Valverde and Contador's similar TTing ability, saying that Valverde could yet overhaul his GC deficit - even though at 13.4 km the GC lead of Contador had grown from 12 to 46 seconds.

One half of the commentary pairing needs to write splits down especially when the tv coverage is poor. And MS needs to learn to perhaps dial it back when there are graphics on screen to avoid missing key info. The fact that AC went last meant the intermediate sprint graphic was obsolete thereafter. It wasn't used again and they had no point of reference for where AC was on the road. And when they did pop up a graphic showing AC having a 53s lead on Valverde towards the end, CK couldn't interpret it correctly having missed the significance of the split time.

Reminds me of the 2008 Vuelta, when the cameras picked up Alejandro Valverde dropping off the back of the péloton to pick up his rain jacket at least twice, but Séan Kelly was in the middle of an 83-clause run-on sentence about a technical matter, and then there was a split in the péloton and both Harmon and Kelly were dumbfounded as to how Valverde could have missed it because both had failed to notice the action on the screen.

 

[luckyboy]

You would think Phinney was British the way Kirby keeps going on about him and BMC

 

[argyllflyer]

Damn, just realised Rob Hatch and Dan Lloyd did this on 5LiveSX! Muted tv would have worked a treat.

 

[elfed68]

Kirby is a disgrace and should be fired. Many of us are not ex-riders and although that stephens dude sucks monkey balls it's not an excuse for him to absolutely know nothing of this sport.

I think some people need a reality check sometimes...

 

[Netserk]

I must say that I'm very pleased when I can see a race on TV2. Very well done by Rolf and Ritter today.

 

[gunara]

The extra with Lemond and Flecha is rather awkward (the questions sometimes had more informations than the short, mumbled answers), but still way nicer compared to the Phinney/Boasson Hagen hysteria.

 

[Cyivel]

Damn, just realised Rob Hatch and Dan Lloyd did this on 5LiveSX! Muted tv would have worked a treat.

That was how I did it, was a much better experience.

 

[Roude Leiw]

Besides abysmal commercial breaks, french ES (Jacky Durand being the chauvinistic french supporter he is) was rather good in comment quality. Big lol though when the sprint for 12 was shown, the reporter went nuts, because he tought the group caught the other group and Demare was sprinting for second

 

[damoski]

That was how I did it, was a much better experience.

Yeah, me too. Proper commentary that was well informed, serious, entertaining and coherent. It's been a while since I've heard Dan Lloyd in that role and thought he was excellent!

The sync with ES was spot on too which can be frustrating sometimes.

When Kirby said something early on about a riders 'tummy' I said to my brother, what professional commentator uses words like that? Later on, Rob Hatch made the same point but used the word 'stomach' and we both shouted at the same time 'EXACTLY'!!

I know some will say this is a witch hunt against CK but the evidence is there for all to see. If a large % of fans want to mute or find an alternative comms stream then something clearly isn't right.

Glad to hear someone say Hatch is doing the Giro on ES, is that confirmed?

 

[argyllflyer]

Glad to hear someone say Hatch is doing the Giro on ES, is that confirmed?

By himself on Twitter.

 

[JRanton]

By himself on Twitter.

Thank god for that.

 

[whittashau]

Kirby seems like a nice guy, but if any regular person performed as badly at their job as he did over the last few weeks they would get fired, or at least demoted.

 

[damoski]

Kirby seems like a nice guy, but if any regular person performed as badly at their job as he did over the last few weeks they would get fired, or at least demoted.

Yes, but we are talking about the same TV channel that seems to be happy to have left their long standing lead commentator out in the cold. I wouldn't like to speculate on what has gone on behind the scenes between DH and ES but I do hope they can find a way so that David can come back some time in the future. That's of course if he even wants to.

Did Dan Lloyd and David Harmon ever work together? I'd quite like to hear that pairing.

 

[willbick]

Kirby seems like a nice guy, but if any regular person performed as badly at their job as he did over the last few weeks they would get fired, or at least demoted.

You clearly have little experience of the real working world lol

 

[postmanhat]

I enjoy Kirby's ramblings and musings. Don't need to be told exactly what's going on at every moment as I have a pair of eyes

Kirby/Stephens are much more listenable than Quigley/Kelly/Smith/Backstedt for me

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yes, but we are talking about the same TV channel that seems to be happy to have left their long standing lead commentator out in the cold. I wouldn't like to speculate on what has gone on behind the scenes between DH and ES but I do hope they can find a way so that David can come back some time in the future. That's of course if he even wants to.

Did Dan Lloyd and David Harmon ever work together? I'd quite like to hear that pairing.

Harmon was, like most of the guys, an independent contractor who ES used very regularly. Possibly overused, in fact. So while he had spent a long time as ES' lead commentator, they didn't have the same level of commitment to him than they might have had had he been a direct employee. So it's not really that they're leaving him out in the cold, so much as they're deciding not to use him. Maybe the other options are cheaper, maybe they had made assumptions regarding his availability last year due to the long-lasting relationship between them and his leaving caused them to scramble and put together some hastily-assembled commentary teams with whoever was available. Quigley got the Giro job because Kirby, who was normally the play by play man on the 'B' team at the time, was already on RCS' official coverage.

I just get the feeling atm they and Harmon don't see eye to eye, but they haven't really worked out who the best guy to go forward with is. Kirby is not a permanent solution, but I don't think he's seen as such either - he's been a utility man for years, cropping up on wintersports coverage, the 24h du Mans (trust me, if you think Kirby is bad, wait til you hear some of the guys that get trawled out for the graveyard shifts at Le Mans. British, French and German Eurosport all have some absolutely abysmal drivel-spouters by that point), Dakar, and all manner of other smaller sports. That's probably where he'll return once they decide who 'the main guy' to come is.

And he's still a lot better than Paulo Martins ever will be.

 

[BigMac]

Out of curiosity, Libertine, do you listen/watch ESpt or use online streams?

 

[Arnout]

Harmon was, like most of the guys, an independent contractor who ES used very regularly. Possibly overused, in fact. So while he had spent a long time as ES' lead commentator, they didn't have the same level of commitment to him than they might have had had he been a direct employee. So it's not really that they're leaving him out in the cold, so much as they're deciding not to use him. Maybe the other options are cheaper, maybe they had made assumptions regarding his availability last year due to the long-lasting relationship between them and his leaving caused them to scramble and put together some hastily-assembled commentary teams with whoever was available. Quigley got the Giro job because Kirby, who was normally the play by play man on the 'B' team at the time, was already on RCS' official coverage.

I just get the feeling atm they and Harmon don't see eye to eye, but they haven't really worked out who the best guy to go forward with is. Kirby is not a permanent solution, but I don't think he's seen as such either - he's been a utility man for years, cropping up on wintersports coverage, the 24h du Mans (trust me, if you think Kirby is bad, wait til you hear some of the guys that get trawled out for the graveyard shifts at Le Mans. British, French and German Eurosport all have some absolutely abysmal drivel-spouters by that point), Dakar, and all manner of other smaller sports. That's probably where he'll return once they decide who 'the main guy' to come is.

And he's still a lot better than Paulo Martins ever will be.

How can one ever listen to Eurosport during Le Mans when there is Radio Le Mans

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Out of curiosity, Libertine, do you listen/watch ESpt or use online streams?

Depends on what the race is and who's covering it and what streams are available.

How can one ever listen to Eurosport during Le Mans when there is Radio Le Mans

Sometimes you don't have access to it, sometimes I'm just happy enough to have coverage of the race and that's enough for me. I love Le Mans. Easily the best motor race of the year.