How dumb are the folks at Versus/NBC?

[krismtb]

What? Bob kicks ****. You guys b*tch about everything, jeez.

I take comfort in hearing the voices of Phil and Paul, as they were the first I heard when I first began following the tour back in... I think the late 80s. When Phil quits, watching the race wont "feel" the same ... not having that familiar British accent.

As for Versus, I never saw any version of the delayed show that had results anywhere on the screen. No problems there.

The new NBC stuff seems promising.

And yes, Versus are dumb ... any station that has a spot for bull riding, fishing and hunting is a real waste of "air space".

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

So I sat down to watch Tour De Suisse coverage on Versus......the little info feed at the bottom actually tells you who won the very stage you just started watching and gives you all the results...absolutely incredible...

I should have responded to this before.

This "little info feed at the bottom" is called a ticker, as part of a lower third, as some refer to any graphic in that spot as such. As there are different time zones for the broadcasts, it's in a sense up to a producer to inform a dekocast or master control tech to get the right ticker for the right feed to avoid this. What they did is a huge, shameful industry no-no, for which there is no excuse. I don't care how far they downsized they are, or many interns they hired at minimum wage due to the recession, you simply do not do this.

As Versus isn't some local station in a tiny market where you may see this and shrug, but instead owned by NBC/Comcast, this is even more inexcusable. If you feel the need, call them up and complain, loudly. Keep asking to speak to managers. They love to hear from customers about issues like this. If you're feeling like you're being ignored or they are talking down to you, have none of it, ask to speak to that person's boss. No, not joking.

 

[Parrulo]

so i just saw the versus review of the 2010 tour on youtube and noticed some funny thing. besides all the armstrong love that is expected on that review they "forget" to review the stage to mende where contador cracks schleck so they can focus on the dropped chain and how much of a bad sport armstrong bitter rival( thats what they call contador) is.

i must say tho paul is the one who does all the criticizing, phill actually said, too my surprise, "you can't expect contador to wait for some1 with 20k to go". but the guy doing the review does talk about the "tour de france hidden rules" crap that we ear from the july f@gs

 

[Johnnyg]

New Blood

Phil and Bobke are from the "old school". Cheerleaders for the "old ways" and "old days". VERSUS needs fresh blood that has not been tainted by the LA web and his army of followers.

A few intelligent and non-biased commentators would be nice.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

Different opinions will abound....I loved the CBS coverage with the John Tesh music. It was the only TV outlet giving any coverage of the races this side of the Atlantic, so I was grateful for it.

ABC did a horrible job with their vignettes, music and less than enigmatic on air staff. (1989-1990?) Remember Al Trautwig and Pierre Salinger, anyone? They took the closest race in history (1989) and made it almost unwatchable.

Given a choice, I'd still take the CBS type weekend recap coverage over the Versus crap. I love cycling, but I can't watch it live for hours on end.

I tend to agree with you regarding CBS vs. ABC. In my opinion the CBS coverage was best when Lemond wasn't there. In '85 and '86 they were so focused on the Lemond/Hinault Oedipal drama that they neglected to mention who won half the stages. In '87 and '88, by contrast, they weren't particularly invested in any one rider and could give a more complex narrative with multiple sympathetic characters. They also got rid of Tesh's commentary but kept his music, which was the right balance.

ABC took over the Tour when Lemond returned and so fell back into CBS's old bad habits from '85 and '86. Their music was also much blander than Tesh's. Going back and watching their coverage years later, though, I am struck by the way that Sam Posey (however annoying his voice was) actually seemed interested in the internal tactics and quarks of the sport.

 

[Angliru]

Aside from the Tour de France, this is how most of their cycling coverage is done.

The mistakes do not bother me that much. What is annoying is that for years Phil and Paul have been phoning it in. They do not appear to very knowledgeable about what is going on in the sport. They show up for the broadcast, do their act, and go home. Their act consists of an endless stream of cliches.

I find Bobke to be more listenable than Phil and Paul these days. He is not as smooth but at least he seems like he is trying.

Exactly. They are often unaware of rider's previous injuries that may in fact explain their performances. They simply aren't doing any legwork or maybe their staff isn't to prep for their broadcasts. If they're going to do it halfa55 then don't do it all.

Gogulski is several levels above the Versus crew. I thoroughly enjoy watching cycling when he's behind the mike.

 

[CatsNK]

Exactly. They are often unaware of rider's previous injuries that may in fact explain their performances. They simply aren't doing any legwork or maybe their staff isn't to prep for their broadcasts. If they're going to do it halfa55 then don't do it all.

Gogulski is several levels above the Versus crew. I thoroughly enjoy watching cycling when he's behind the mike.

The cool thing about Gogo is that he speaks with just about all of the DS's and with some of the riders every day during the race. He'll throw out, "I was speaking to so-and-so" regularly throughout the broadcast. He clearly spends many hours building relationships with the DS's and with the riders so that they WILL speak to him and feed him good info.

 

[nowhereman]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but one of my pet peeves is that versus has the need to position their station logo in the lower right hand corner of the screen. During the TdS this would have driven me loco, if it weren't for the fact that I' already seen the stages in real time online on RTL. On versus, the logo blocks the view of the splits, on the time trials. Why do they need to post the logo there constantly? Doesn't anybody from their staff realize what is going on, on screen? For me, I will watch any other way I can, other than versus. I am absolutely disgusted with their presentation. And I agree with those that have enjoyed GoGo and Shlanger, over on Universal/NBC. They are the team of the future.

 

[gustienordic]

Phil and Bobke are from the "old school". Cheerleaders for the "old ways" and "old days". VERSUS needs fresh blood that has not been tainted by the LA web and his army of followers.

A few intelligent and non-biased commentators would be nice.

I have given up on Versus and switched to Eurosport. Sure they love Wiggins & Sky, but they don't say stupid things.

 

[Dedelou]

watching two TDF each year

I would hate Versus and the bunch but i discovered a good use for them. Each year now i get to watch 2 tour de france . See, thanks to my computer i can grab any coverage commented in one of the languages I can understand: French , Spanish , Italian , or even German and then, later on, i get to watch a different Tour narrated by Pee , Pee and B. I am so happy to have double (can't call the night one a treat ) time that I forgive them the time when in the TDS they even almost gave me a different results for the stage than the one i saw live in the morning. (funny reference to them not realizing almost 6 hours later that Soler was not longer in the race results for that day) So let's bless VS for giving me comic relief as long as i get to see the real race in the morning

 

[mewmewmew13]

I have also totally given up on Versus. Last resort option..
If you were to time the actual race footage vs the ads, bs and other fluff that doesn't make part of the race, it is shameful how little racing they actually show.

There is usually far superior live feed on my computer screen...beautiful scenery and very little commercial crap, then, as Dedelou says , I tune in for the highlights and blah blah in the evening.

 

[CatsNK]

I'm watching Eurosport - anyone watching the Vs coverage and if so how is it?

 

[Boleyn]

I'm watching Eurosport - anyone watching the Vs coverage and if so how is it?

It's good. I've been watching the All Access since just before 7am and had no problems.

 

[bobs nob]

How Dumb are the folks at NBC

1st off. I want to see the growth of interest in cycle racing in America by giving it more network TV exposure.

So to see that NBC is carrying highlights of the tdf makes me thrilled. In any way shape or form, I cannot deny that it can only help grow interest by being on a 'real' network rather than Versus which is a very very poor competitor to ESPN. (For those of you who are not in the US.)

So that's out of the way. But my God. The narratives they put forward on NBC is actually even MORE distorted than the distortions that Versus puts out thanks mostly to Bob Troll. (But he isn't the only one.)

That man is truly suffering from sort of dementia that can only come from oxygen deprivation as a result of having one's head up Lance's @$$ for so many years. And Sherwen and Hummer are not much better. Hummer is pretty clueless so he just takes cues from Sherwen and Troll and parrots their crud. Ventura is not much better. Gogelski (or whatever) may actually have a clue. I am waiting to see more from him. Liggett...he knows better but he always has been a company man and will just parrot the narratives as well.

The 'AC is the Devil.' narrative
The ' Radio Shack should be taken seriously' narrative
The 'Horner and Leipheimer are legit podium threats'
The 'America versus the world' narrative. I have little doubt that there is not a person on these boards more jingoistic about America than I am, but geez guys, to view cycling this way is to utterly and fundamentally misunderstand the sport. Just clueless.
The 'Cycling would be clean if we could just get rid of AC' narrative. This is a huge problem on this message board as well. The sport is rotten and getting worse. A true shame.

Ughh....and to think, back to my original point, that THIS crud actually IS progress if you want cycle racing to have more exposure to the masses in America.

Thanks NBC. Thanks So Much... so this is what progress looks like.

 

[mewmewmew13]

This morning I watched a bit on Sporza, then switched over to Eurosport. Both were great.
Then I watched the last hour 1/2 up at my local coffee joint which is promoting the Tour on Versus as usual, and was reminded why it is hard to listen to the audio portion...

At least it is on!!

 

[mewmewmew13]

One thing I forgot to add, unless you do not have an internet connection or maybe need to delay your viewing until later, I can't imagine why you would pay 29.95 for the NBC /Vs feed?
They continue to show it for no cost all throught the day anyway...

 

[nowhereman]

I'm watching Eurosport - anyone watching the Vs coverage and if so how is it?

I had sound going on Eurosport, and television picture on Vs. Later in the afternoon I tivo'd the NBC telecast. Liggett is no longer capable of making the call. He announced, quite erroneously, that Andy Schleck finished besides Contador, and in the post race wrap up the crew corrected the error, but never acknowledged their wrong call. I'd rather listen to anybody but that idiotic crew on versus. If I want to watch comedy, I will watch the appropriate shows. I don't need Bob Roll imposed on my cycling telecasts to satisfy that need. I'm sure that I'm not alone in finding him very UNamusing. Versus has done a good job of exploiting his weirdness, but he, in fact, makes my skin crawl.
Versus would like us to believe that Sherwen/Liggett are indispensible to presenting bicycle racing, that the TdF would be missing an essential ingredient without them. I'm not buying that nonsense. In making that case, they lose me as a viewer. Universal's presentation of The Giro, the Vuelta, and various other races proves that we can have good race commentary, without having to put up with those two, over the hill commentators. Steve Schlanger and Todd Gogulski do a great job for Universal. I recommend sticking with Eurosport. That's where I've parked my bike for the remainder of this years TdF.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Agree with all the others. Versus is trying to play to the masses I guess, but I think Unversial's Todd Gogulski and Steve Schlanger have far surpassed P&P and the Gnome. Gogo really knows what he's doing. The guy should win an Emmy. Though I actually don't mind Craig Hummer in other sports. He was an amateur athlete, and has a good voice. But I preferred him in sports like the America's Cup or triathalons.

I too am nostalgic of the old John Tesh CBS broadcasts. Their coverage was weak, but they did awesome profiles of athletes and teams. We don't really see that today, which is a bummer. And despite his music eventually turning into soft jazz new age schtick, his music in CBS was pretty kickass.

Sam Posey was okay when Versus first got started, as they had him in France talking about the history of the regions where the riders were going, and the history of the Tour there. He was actually quite good at that, and was supposedly a big cycling fan. So that's cool.

I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but one of my pet peeves is that versus has the need to position their station logo in the lower right hand corner of the screen...

This is called a "bug". There are no hard and fast rules with them, but networks and stations have over the years either made them smaller, as HDTV came about, or translucent. It seems that Versus has done neither.

I will say this, Versus does have some nicely edited intros with very good graphics and such. That's it.

 

[mulletCobra]

I don't understand why they have to hype things up.. Professional bicycle racing is exciting enough without false hopes and outright lies.

 

[Boleyn]

One thing I forgot to add, unless you do not have an internet connection or maybe need to delay your viewing until later, I can't imagine why you would pay 29.95 for the NBC /Vs feed?
They continue to show it for no cost all throught the day anyway...

Because you can watch the feed from the start of the stage until all of the podiums are done - without commercials and without all the fluff bits.

 

[montagna lunga]

Wow - is it really that bad to have televised coverage of races? For all those that are *****ing about it - either turn down the sound or switch to "American Idol." Problem solved. I, for one, am grateful to be able to watch the races I am not able to attend in person.

Bingo...when we were svelte and cycling age, the volume on the tv was always off, and the stereo was playing some trippy music while we all got loaded after the races.

Why all the complaints? Seeing it is better than not seeing it, yes? And I have NO IDEA why you boyls would listen to Versus coverage anyways, after all, YOU boyls ALL seem to know more than anyone else right? Why WOULD you WANT to listen to a commentator? Chumps

 

[hfer07]

when I was on my way out- I had a bit glance of the NBC re-play, thinking that I wasn't going to be disturbed by the presence & comments of the Versus crew- I almost threw up as soon as Bob Roll opened his mouth & most of all-the still ongoing praising of LA, despite what has been uncovered by the media,,, damn it was nasty and to top it off, they almost ****ed their pants talking about how Alberto Contador has failed greatly today-even Phil said he's certainly lost the tour today
I mean- that's why Americans won't ever comprehend & like the sport at all since the source of information & promoters of cycling rely on commentators so stupid, biased & out dated as the versus crew......

 

[montagna lunga]

... Americans won't ever comprehend & like the sport at all since the source of information & promoters of cycling rely on commentators so stupid, biased & out dated as the versus crew......

meh, "Americans won't ever compehend" cycling's current crop of fans when they (the fans) continue the still-unique American sports penchant for trash talk, blame, and obsequious histrionics (not to mention backwoods grammar skills)

 

[shadowblue]

One thing I forgot to add, unless you do not have an internet connection or maybe need to delay your viewing until later, I can't imagine why you would pay 29.95 for the NBC /Vs feed?
They continue to show it for no cost all throught the day anyway...

because it is commercial free and has no filler. you get way more actual race coverage, averaging twice as much as what the broadcast shows. for instance, today's stage 1 was 6 hours of live coverage. the versus broadcast didn't start until 2 hours in.

 

[shadowblue]

Liggett is no longer capable of making the call. He announced, quite erroneously, that Andy Schleck finished besides Contador, and in the post race wrap up the crew corrected the error, but never acknowledged their wrong call.

actually, andy finished BEHIND contador in the stage. but, because andy crashed within the final 3km (which allowed contador's chasing group to catch up), andy and that whole bunch was given the same 6 sec time lost, whereas the group that crashed with about 10km to go maintained the 1.20 time gap. so, you see, you were in error here, not liggett.