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GCN cyclocross commentators

Mar 10, 2022
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I know I am getting old and less likely to accept stuff but Marty McDonald is driving me absolutely nuts with his constant use of the phrase 'As Well'. He uses it out of context all the time as punctuation or as a verbal crutch just to fill space and often one single sentence will have three 'as wells' stuck in. Josey Been, on the other hand is brilliant in anything she does, as are Rob Hatch and Magnus Backstedt. Does anyone else feel the same way about McD ?
 
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He does seem to use the same phrases throughout a race; and 'hot dog turns'?? It's a hairpin.....

I'd like to see GCN use the same team for each series, like we see in MTB with Rob/Bart for XC, and Rob/Eliot/Tracy for Downhill. So for example, Rob Hatch/ Helen Wyman for the World Cup, Marty/ Jeremy for Superprestige, etc

I do wonder what they're going to do with the MTB World Cup commentary next year.....
 
Mar 10, 2022
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Jed Cox was on good form this week alongside Ian Field....who also has a really annoying habit of punctuating sentences with 'Yeah' all the time. It is very contagious as even with riders whose English is their second or third language. Despite my moans there has been some seriously good racing in the last week or so. Bring it on
 
I tend to take it easy on announcers, but I am really surprised how little the GCN crew pay attention to what is actually happening on the course. Today there were passes by Alvarado past Vos, Van Der Heyden past Betsema, Betsema past Van Der Heyden, and Vos getting passed by a number of riders, none of which were commented on in real time, but only (sometimes) described after they had finished talking about tires, or the course, or the weather, or a particular rider's season. Thought it was really odd.
 
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I tend to take it easy on announcers, but I am really surprised how little the GCN crew pay attention to what is actually happening on the course. Today there were passes by Alvarado past Vos, Van Der Heyden past Betsema, Betsema past Van Der Heyden, and Vos getting passed by a number of riders, none of which were commented on in real time, but only (sometimes) described after they had finished talking about tires, or the course, or the weather, or a particular rider's season. Thought it was really odd.
I'm always seeing things happening that they miss in the moment as they drone on about the venue or someone's plans for the upcoming road season or something. It's almost like they are watching the feed on their phones, or they keep getting up for snacks.
 
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He 's just continuing what McDonald does.
Sure, MacDonald would be ideal to cue him. He did a few races earlier in the season, not sure why he stopped.

Edit: I wrote my original comment immediately after watching Superprestige Boom Women. In the Men's race, MacDonald did cue Dekker and there was some translation in the post-race interviews! Obviously, they traveled into the future, read my post and corrected their behavior from 2 days ago.
 
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I searched but couldn’t find the name of the GCN co-commentator at Hulst a couple of weekends ago. He was great, very knowledgeable and quick to realize and comment on what was going on in the race. I take it he must have been/be a cx rider himself. I guess the other commentator was M mcDonald?
 
I searched but couldn’t find the name of the GCN co-commentator at Hulst a couple of weekends ago. He was great, very knowledgeable and quick to realize and comment on what was going on in the race. I take it he must have been/be a cx rider himself. I guess the other commentator was M mcDonald?
Same co commentator today Ian Field. He's 5 time British CX champ and I think alot of people also know him for leading a few laps of the Koppenbergcross when it was on the old course.
 
Not sure what race Helen Wyman was watching yesterday in Gavere. Today she said Betsema was the only one to miss it when Alvarado and Persico also did not ride it. Then she actually said Alvarado rode well yesterday(despite her not racing). Maybe still getting over the Xmas festivities.
 
Mar 10, 2022
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It has been a while since I last posted and a lot has gone on. Firstly, I have warmed to Ian Field whose knowledge and understanding of what is going on is superb and I think he must have been told about his constant 'yeah's ' punctuating sentences as he is much more fluent and easier on the ear than Jan Dekker who seems to be in a monotone and regularly contradicts many statements from Marty and Jose. Marty is also very knowledgeable but alongside his 'As Well's he tends to ramble towards a question before he has formulated it in his head and it comes out as a string of verbal crutches. However, I am very aware that often they have little to work with on screen. The Exact and Super Prestige series are borderline unwatchable as there are no graphics and the clueless director just stays with the top four or five and if they go clear early then it is a pointless procession. Naively I was hoping for the Dutch and Belgian nationals to be on with English commentary last week but at least we have the worlds coming up.
 
I only just finished watching the GCN Superprestige coverage now. Jez Cox is definitely the closest current cycling commentator to Alan Partridge. There like 10 different occasions throughout the 2 races where he yelled a variation of, "DON'T LOOK BACK! STOP LOOKING BACK!" as if the rider was starting a 4 lap sprint to the finish and looking back would cause a fatal lack of power.
 
Glad to have cyclocross back on GCN and I like Jeremy Powers but I sure hope its not Jez Cox next weekend. I think I'll smash my speakers next time I hear him address Powers as "JPow" or a particular rider as "The Swissman." I mean as annoying some of the GCN road commentators can be, they usually address to their partner as "Sean" instead of his nickname and don't refer to, for example, Pogacar as "The Sloveneman."
 
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