Eurosport commentary

[Cycle Chic]

bradwigginsBradley Wiggins



It must be hard to be a cycling commentator and not really know what your talking about!

14 SepFavoriteRetweetReply

From Twitter. I,m not the only one then !!

 

[Kvinto]

What makes a cycling commentary good for me:

First of all i want to hear what's going on in the race. It means:

1. I want to hear the name of the cyclist on the screen because sometimes i fail to see his number or recognize his face;
2. I want to know the following information: who rides in the breakaway, the gaps, who has been dropped / was able to come back, information about the route and weather forecasts (sometimes)...

Of course the commentator might not know everything of the item 2 but the item 1 is absolutely necessary.

So "what's going on in the race" is the most important thing commentator should care about. Everything else (history, news, predictions etc) is his/her own choice till the moment he/she becomes making fool of him/herself and me who watches this

And in the end i like when the commentator is an even-tempered person. I hate emotions in the commentary. And this is the reason why i would prefer any British or German commentary to the Italian or Spanish one.

 

[The Cobra]

bradwigginsBradley Wiggins



It must be hard to be a cycling commentator and not really know what your talking about!

14 SepFavoriteRetweetReply

From Twitter. I,m not the only one then !!

I'm fairly sure that comment was aimed at Hugh Porter during the Tour of Britain commentry on ITV. Now there is a awful commentator, Harmon is bodering on genius compared to him.

 

[Pharazon]

I'm fairly sure that comment was aimed at Hugh Porter during the Tour of Britain commentry on ITV. Now there is a awful commentator, Harmon is bodering on genius compared to him.

the problem is that hugh porter is a track guy, and he really doesn't know much about the road racing scene, although he should....

he's great on the track, but on the road he's meh

 

[hatcher]

I'm fairly sure that comment was aimed at Hugh Porter during the Tour of Britain commentry on ITV. Now there is a awful commentator, Harmon is bodering on genius compared to him.

It was, and of course Hugh Porter was a professional cyclist, so Cycle Chic again tramples all over his/her own point.

 

[woodenswan]

anyone who finds Harmon or Kelly annoying should listen to the Hungarian commentators. well, one has to speak Hungarian in order to do that, so i guess you shuold take my word for it, but they're perfectly dreadful. they would talk about anything but cycling, including old Hungarian tv series, or even the type of sausage one of them really liked during a trip to Italy. when something happens, they are in a state of shock, as they are unable to identify riders, and instead they choose to remain silent honestly its ridiculous

compared to this, Harmon's enthusiasm, Kelly's insight, and the amount of knowledge they seem to possess make for a trully enjoyable and insightful commentating. and thats not easy to do (i mean outside the NFL and the NBA cos those guys are in their own league)

 

[issoisso]

man i wish the portuguese eurosport guys could read this forum so they could learn something about cycling.

at least they are good at entertaining you while the race is going on and i can discuss cycling as much as i want here so i don't really get bothered by their lack of knowledge.

You'll likely get your wish. Martins has several times in the past googled his name, gone to the forums he found people criticising him, and insulted those people. He's also repeatedly asked admins of forums to ban anyone who dares say he's not perfect.

Pardon my off-topic post, but who on earth is that?
The other three are easy enough to figure out, but that one?

Jenning Huizenga

 

[Elverde]

the problem is that hugh porter is a track guy, and he really doesn't know much about the road racing scene, although he should....

he's great on the track, but on the road he's meh

You know nothing. Hugh Porter was World Pursuit champion four times in the 60's, he was also an excellent road racer with numerous victories to his credit. He raced as a pro in UK for Condor/Mackeson one of the bigger British teams of the day, he did ride in the TdF for the British team in 1967.
I agree with you though, he is not a good commentator.
As a side note, Hugh's wife, Anita, was the last British Lady swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal, 1960 in Rome.

 

[LugHugger]

You know nothing. Hugh Porter was World Pursuit champion four times in the 60's, he was also an excellent road racer with numerous victories to his credit. He raced as a pro in UK for Condor/Mackeson one of the bigger British teams of the day, he did ride in the TdF for the British team in 1967.
I agree with you though, he is not a good commentator.
As a side note, Hugh's wife, Anita, was the last British Lady swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal, 1960 in Rome.

Sorry to derail but I couldn't let this slide.....what?????? Rebecca Adlington? Now then, who knows nothing?

 

[Parrulo]

You'll likely get your wish. Martins has several times in the past googled his name, gone to the forums he found people criticising him, and insulted those people. He's also repeatedly asked admins of forums to ban anyone who dares say he's not perfect.

oh my now thats pathetic. . . .

i doubt he knows a word of english so i think we are safe here

i must be honest tho i do like luis piçarra

 

[The Hitch]

Sorry to derail but I couldn't let this slide.....what?????? Rebecca Adlington? Now then, who knows nothing?

I read somewhere just 2 days ago, that Adlington was the first lady swimmer since Anita to win the olympic gold.

To be fair to Anitas fans, theyve had 48 years of saying she was the British last lady swimmer to win an olympic gold medal.

Cant blame them for adjusting to the change

 

[LugHugger]

I read somewhere just 2 days ago, that Adlington was the first lady swimmer since Anita to win the olympic gold.

To be fair to Anitas fans, theyve had 48 years of saying she was the British last lady swimmer to win an olympic gold medal.

Cant blame them for adjusting to the change

It was certainly a long time coming, but it has been 3 years now. The Brits had to wait nearly as long for their next male cycling World Champ

On topic, I do sometimes find the British Eurosport commentary very hit and miss. Sometimes, it's informed and interesting other times it's madly frustrating. I think that all of the race commentary teams run hot and cold, some good days, some bad with the exception of Kelly who is always quietly interesting. My other half calls him ' the boring Irish man' though so I guess you can't please everybody I have to say that I just can't warm to Brian Smith. Having John Herety in the studio on occasions this season has been a major plus for their coverage - still involved in team management, an ex pro racer and not prone to hyperbole. Good stuff from him.

 

[Winterfold]

Kelly is a legend.

I love that he is allowed to be who he is on Eurosport.

On BBC or ITV it would be 'Sean stop mumbling' 'Sean lose the accent' 'Sean dont think before answering questions' etc etc

 

[LouieLouie]

I usually watch swedish Eurosport though. Roberto Vacchi is an excellent commentator, one of the best around.

Definitely. Vacchi is pure class.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Having John Herety in the studio on occasions this season has been a major plus for their coverage - still involved in team management, an ex pro racer and not prone to hyperbole. Good stuff from him.

Agreed. Magnus too. Honestly, for a free channel, and one with such a low budget, Eurosport's coverage is incredibly good.

 

[hatcher]

It was certainly a long time coming, but it has been 3 years now. The Brits had to wait nearly as long for their next male cycling World Champ

On topic, I do sometimes find the British Eurosport commentary very hit and miss. Sometimes, it's informed and interesting other times it's madly frustrating. I think that all of the race commentary teams run hot and cold, some good days, some bad with the exception of Kelly who is always quietly interesting. My other half calls him ' the boring Irish man' though so I guess you can't please everybody I have to say that I just can't warm to Brian Smith. Having John Herety in the studio on occasions this season has been a major plus for their coverage - still involved in team management, an ex pro racer and not prone to hyperbole. Good stuff from him.

It just goes to show how hard it is to find a commentary team that pleases everyone. Personally, I LOVE Brian Smith; to me he's the only one who manages to make Carlton Kirby tolerable.

 

[bobbins]

I'm fairly sure that comment was aimed at Hugh Porter during the Tour of Britain commentry on ITV. Now there is a awful commentator, Harmon is bodering on genius compared to him.

Someone did reply to Wiggins along the lines of being a GC man getting dropped by his domestique!

Porter can be a little repetitive but at least he's not on the payroll of manufacturers to constantly pepper his commentary with plugs. And he does do a fair bit of research to give him some credit.

 

[hatcher]

Hugh Porter gets so excited if a break has a minute gap with 90k to go. Stop getting tricked by it every day, Hugh!

 

[LugHugger]

It just goes to show how hard it is to find a commentary team that pleases everyone. Personally, I LOVE Brian Smith; to me he's the only one who manages to make Carlton Kirby tolerable.

tbh, i haven't forgiven him for his sycophancy toward LA and his 'it all happened in the past, I don't understand why people are making a fuss' comment during the ToC this year when the Landis/Hincapie deposition story was breaking.

 

[sublimit]

I love the Dutch commentators - even though I have no idea what they are talking about most of the time..but it just sounds right.

The commentary on Cav winning M-S-R I could understand the names of Haussler and Cav and the Oooohh photo finish, photo finish! Top quality stuff.

 

[issoisso]

oh my now thats pathetic. . . .

i doubt he knows a word of english so i think we are safe here

i must be honest tho i do like luis piçarra

I do like Luis Piçarra too. He's an intelligent, thoughtful person, and he's clearly learned a lot about cycling through the years.

Sometimes I feel for him, having to put up with Martins' crap. Especially with Martins refusing to ever admit to being wrong no matter how obviously he's been found out.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

I love the Dutch commentators - even though I have no idea what they are talking about most of the time..but it just sounds right.

The commentary on Cav winning M-S-R I could understand the names of Haussler and Cav and the Oooohh photo finish, photo finish! Top quality stuff.

Belgian who keep repeating "status quo" during the tdf is my fav.

 

[Cycle Chic]

So what did we all think of David ' i,ll speak for 95% of the time Magnus because I know more than you ' Harmon today on Tour of Lombardy ??

and did we all enjoy his laughter and mockery of Oliver Zaugg ?

If only it was possible to mute him and not Magnus Backstedt.

 

[bicycle_rack]

Harmon is a bit of a tool but at least he can identify the riders on the screen. I watched Paris Tours on Versus and it wasn't until the last 5k that Sherwen and Roll realised it was GVA in the break ffs.

 

[palmerq]

So what did we all think of David ' i,ll speak for 95% of the time Magnus because I know more than you ' Harmon today on Tour of Lombardy ??

and did we all enjoy his laughter and mockery of Oliver Zaugg ?

If only it was possible to mute him and not Magnus Backstedt.

what are you talking about :S he was not mocking zaugg in anyway :S well i think you cant be serious so carry on..... But it is obvious why every sport has a professional comemntator next to a pro sportsmen... talking for the whole event is a lot different from performing the event so you need a pro talker next to an expert. which is what every sport I have ever heard does because it makes the most sense and it is the best way to do it.