Eurosport commentary

[HelloDolly]

I dont see how middle aged people goofying around in an alley or using in jokes appeals to some mythical younger audience

I agree there is a place for fun and humour on a braodcast but also there is a need to not include cringe and a need not be part of an in club
I too really liked dry humour Gary Imlach
As for using 'engaging, telegenic individuals' this is all well and good but you also need experts who talk like experts and in a professional manner

Everyone is the target audience and you cannot afford to alienate cycling fans by substituting content for malarkey

Its about balance

I have stopped watching the breakaway as I find it annoying . That is down to one person really and when serious topics are up for discussion , they get tossed aside or diluted in the interests of 'humour' . One can go too far one way

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

''It's Uno-X. Not Uno-X Pro. I used to call them Uno-X pro untill i got told off by someone that it was Uno-X. The ''Pro'' is not part of the name, it's Uno-X pro cycling team.''

5 seconds later

''Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro...''

 

[lemon cheese cake]

''It's Uno-X. Not Uno-X Pro. I used to call them Uno-X pro untill i got told off by someone that it was Uno-X. The ''Pro'' is not part of the name, it's Uno-X pro cycling team.''

5 seconds later

''Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro, Uno-X Pro...''

Would he call the Devo team Uno X Dare or Uno X Pro Dare

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Sounds like you’re describing Kirby and Kelly. That’s the best pairing in many ways.

Backstedt fills the Sean Kelly role very well in the classics and smaller races

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Would he call the Devo team Uno X Dare or Uno X Pro Dare

I liked his mini rant about teams using the Team prefix.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Would he call the Devo team Uno X Dare or Uno X Pro Dare

He would probably just call them Devo

 

[lemon cheese cake]

He would probably just call them Devo

Looks like a rubbish entry to Eurovision!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Looks like a rubbish entry to Eurovision!

"Whip It" (or Weird Al's parody song "Dare to be Stupid") could potentially do well in tele voting these days

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

• "Are we not men, Brian?"
• "What Carlton? Anyway when I was a team manager.of a devo-lopment squad...."

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Who was doing the commentary of Marcel Kint alongside Conor Dunne? I only caught the name Harry.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Who was doing the commentary of Marcel Kint alongside Conor Dunne? I only caught the name Harry.

His name is Harry Dowdney and he's a content manager, previously employed by Rapha/EF before joining GCN. I haven't come across him before (at least not as a commentator).

 

[VeloMaster]

I came of age in the 1960s and early 70s in the States, when it was almost impossible to watch pro cycling, so I may not be typical. But does anyone else find Eurosport/GCN commentary way over the top when it plays to 'patriotic' sentiment around riders?

For example, the endless paeans to Aussie pride on the last day of the Giro, or relentless celebration of Ineos guys doing stuff that other (non-Brit) riders might do just as well... The list goes on.

I choose to follow and respect certain riders as individuals, based not on their national or linguistic affiliation but on what I perceive to be their professional and personal qualities.

Among my current favourites are Roglic, Pinot, Bilbao, JA.... Your mileage will differ.

 

[hayneplane]

I came of age in the 1960s and early 70s in the States, when it was almost impossible to watch pro cycling, so I may not be typical. But does anyone else find Eurosport/GCN commentary way over the top when it plays to 'patriotic' sentiment around riders?

For example, the endless paeans to Aussie pride on the last day of the Giro, or relentless celebration of Ineos guys doing stuff that other (non-Brit) riders might do just as well... The list goes on.

I choose to follow and respect certain riders as individuals, based not on their national or linguistic affiliation but on what I perceive to be their professional and personal qualities.

Among my current favourites are Roglic, Pinot, Bilbao, JA.... Your mileage will differ.

I like Ben Swift but the way Blythe was eulogising over him after the last mountain stage for still being there at the foot of the last climb was ludicrous calling him the man of the match. I would bet Swift himself was embarrassed when told about it and will get mocked for it.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

I came of age in the 1960s and early 70s in the States, when it was almost impossible to watch pro cycling, so I may not be typical. But does anyone else find Eurosport/GCN commentary way over the top when it plays to 'patriotic' sentiment around riders?

For example, the endless paeans to Aussie pride on the last day of the Giro, or relentless celebration of Ineos guys doing stuff that other (non-Brit) riders might do just as well... The list goes on.

I choose to follow and respect certain riders as individuals, based not on their national or linguistic affiliation but on what I perceive to be their professional and personal qualities.

Among my current favourites are Roglic, Pinot, Bilbao, JA.... Your mileage will differ.

I agree it's over-the-top and a strange concept to me. Why would I care if someone has the same passport as me?
IMHO it's mostly Rob Hatch with the constant "For all you X Country fans..." but I think that's just part of his over-the-top about everything schtick.

The Breakaway does have more of an Ineos focus... I liked how the talked about Luke Rowe (lol) and Ben Turner(!!) (and Ganna, too) as potential winners for Ineos of Paris-Roubaix without even mentioning Van Baarle.

OK, Jez Cox as well but he's annoying in general. During the cross season, he was giving Jeremy Powers some "good-natured ribbing" about differences the US and UK. It was easy to tell that Powers thought it was dumb while politely giving a forced laugh. Or repeatedly talking about some England vs Scotland football match with Brian Smith until Smith finally said that he doesn't really care about about football.

For all of Carlton Kirby's quirks, he's not like that.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

His name is Harry Dowdney and he's a content manager, previously employed by Rapha/EF before joining GCN. I haven't come across him before (at least not as a commentator).

I thought he was pretty good - his love of one day classics really shone through.

 

[kingjr]

I agree it's over-the-top and a strange concept to me. Why would I care if someone has the same passport as me?
IMHO it's mostly Rob Hatch with the constant "For all you X Country fans..." but I think that's just part of his over-the-top about everything schtick.

The Breakaway does have more of an Ineos focus... I liked how the talked about Luke Rowe (lol) and Ben Turner(!!) (and Ganna, too) as potential winners for Ineos of Paris-Roubaix without even mentioning Van Baarle.

OK, Jez Cox as well but he's annoying in general. During the cross season, he was giving Jeremy Powers some "good-natured ribbing" about differences the US and UK. It was easy to tell that Powers thought it was dumb while politely giving a forced laugh. Or repeatedly talking about some England vs Scotland football match with Brian Smith until Smith finally said that he doesn't really care about about football.

For all of Carlton Kirby's quirks, he's not like that.

Kirby would be perfect to cover the first 150 km of a 160 km sprint stage.

 

[fmk_RoI]

I came of age in the 1960s and early 70s in the States, when it was almost impossible to watch pro cycling, so I may not be typical. But does anyone else find Eurosport/GCN commentary way over the top when it plays to 'patriotic' sentiment around riders?

You must have grown old with clowns like Phil Liggett and his sidekick, or Bob Roll and whoever .... is Discosport really worse than they were?

 

[lemon cheese cake]

His name is Harry Dowdney and he's a content manager, previously employed by Rapha/EF before joining GCN. I haven't come across him before (at least not as a commentator).

Yeah, definitely not a name or voice i've heard before. While the begininng seemed to be very unnatural due to probably being off a script if it was his first time, he wasn't too bad.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Kirby would be perfect to cover the first 150 km of a 160 km sprint stage.

Haha. I find Hatch worse. He reminds me of horse racing commentators so much that I almost expect to declare it’s only two furlongs to go.

 

[VeloMaster]

You must have grown old with clowns like Phil Liggett and his sidekick, or Bob Roll and whoever .... is Discosport really worse than they were?

No, frankly. Nothing could be worse than Phil!

 

[argyllflyer]

I agree it's over-the-top and a strange concept to me. Why would I care if someone has the same passport as me?
IMHO it's mostly Rob Hatch with the constant "For all you X Country fans..." but I think that's just part of his over-the-top about everything schtick.

The Breakaway does have more of an Ineos focus... I liked how the talked about Luke Rowe (lol) and Ben Turner(!!) (and Ganna, too) as potential winners for Ineos of Paris-Roubaix without even mentioning Van Baarle.

OK, Jez Cox as well but he's annoying in general. During the cross season, he was giving Jeremy Powers some "good-natured ribbing" about differences the US and UK. It was easy to tell that Powers thought it was dumb while politely giving a forced laugh. Or repeatedly talking about some England vs Scotland football match with Brian Smith until Smith finally said that he doesn't really care about about football.

For all of Carlton Kirby's quirks, he's not like that.

To be fair, BS is a football fan and goes to St Mirren games on occasion, despite living in SE England.

 

[VeloMaster]

To be fair, BS is a football fan and goes to St Mirren games on occasion, despite living in SE England.

For the record, Brian generally does a solid job and tries to rein in the excess of his partners in commentary.

That said, here's an idea, given that re-education camp is probably not an option: Limit the word flow or word count for a race, not unlike newspapers or magazine length limits. Today, I was riding my trainer and watching a rerun from the Tour of Norway. Kirby just cannot shut up, and he fills space and airtime indiscriminately, which naturally means drivel will creep in. Most Anglophone viewers of that race are real fans and now the sport; they are capable of watching, observing, and enjoying themselves in silence.

He just can't help himself but always reaches for alliteration or would-be 'clever' turns of phrases, and he shills for UK riders and, to a lesser extent, Aussies and Kiwis. On this broadcast, he was extolling the great attack of TGH in the dying kms of a hilltop finish. Needless to say, it was of no importance to the outcome and was a silly waste of energy, but you would of thought we were witnessing the Second Coming of the Badger, or Eddy.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

I’m not sure Kirby and BS get on or at least work well as a team. They fight each other for air time. For instance during that same Tour of Norway, BS was going on and on about how riders are allocated their numbers when Kirby spotted echelons forming and tried to interrupt but BS kept on going on about race numbers.

My favourite exchange between those two was when during a stage race Kirby asked BS to predict the day’s winner and BS went into a childish strop about not having enough time to think to give a prediction.

The next day Kirby goes “now you’ve had 24 hours to think about it Brian, who do you think will win today’s stage?”

 

[fmk_RoI]

Smith and the Klown talking about why teams choose the Tour de Suisse over the Critérium du Dauphiné and offering all sorts of explanations bar one: the Velon teams still have a deal with the Tour de Suisse for revenue sharing, don't they?

 

[bob.a.feet]

"Welcome back our wider Eurosport family" has got to be the most annoying of Kirby's phrases.