How dumb are the folks at Versus/NBC?

[turtlesoup]

Thank God for streaming EuroSport, Harmon and Big Sean.

x2

Id be surprised if P&P could say the alphabet once through without stumbling.

 

[ggusta]

I ended up doing the same, watch the feed on my iPad. Only watch the rerun TV on stages that the feed got interrupted, as it did when I was commuting to work.

I guess I was a glutton for punishment a couple times I did watch Versus on TV with the sound...only to wish I didn't!! I hope Bob retires now that he was wrong that Andy would win!!!

Can only hope NBC sports cleans house by next year.

Bob retires when they tell him to get the eff out, they aren't paying him another nickel. He'll do that job for $10 an hour. No one else wants him, not even wal-mart.

It's amazing how some terrible commentators retain jobs because the honchos can't tell cr@p when they see it.

 

[Aleajactaest]

Bob retires when they tell him to get the eff out, they aren't paying him another nickel. He'll do that job for $10 an hour. No one else wants him, not even wal-mart.

It's amazing how some terrible commentators retain jobs because the honchos can't tell cr@p when they see it.

In today's intro, they said it was Bob's last year. Not sure if they were serious. I don't actually mind any of them. I can figure out what I'm seeing and once in a while they say something useful.

 

[rides like a girl]

In today's intro, they said it was Bob's last year. Not sure if they were serious. I don't actually mind any of them. I can figure out what I'm seeing and once in a while they say something useful.

They were joking. The night before, Bob said he would retire if Cadel beat Andy by 3 seconds. The day of the Alpe Bob said he felt Andy needed 3 more seconds, a full minute ahead of Cadel to win.

 

[Gingerale]

the last 2 high mountain stages i actually heard bobke compliment contador...just a blip...and it was gone. but where bob t roll raised his character for a moment, phil and paul fail ...uhg.

the spin these people attempt to push! give credit where credit is due ...contador's excellence bears reporting.

what they conveniently ignore speaks volumes about them too

was attempting to follow VS through the grenoble stage and on to paris but i can't. their collective negative spin 3 years in a row i have watched is so hypocritical given their 2009 and 2010 gushing on about lance. maybe it's about selling and incessant pandering to usa viewers. they try too hard. spin, spin, spin... the words hardly bearing similarity to fact.

i'd be relieved to have gogo and schlanger back for coverage of vuelta d' espana. or find a way to watch delayed coverage from a spanish source. it's incentive to imrove my spanish

then the commercials... 1) done hearing that insurance jingle. it's tough to make me not like a cute cat and dog but i can't take it on mute. not going to "be okay" not buying it. 2) never wearing any i.z.o.d ....**** my ears...3) and please. no. more. ultra life crowd.

 

[Pharazon]

the annoying thing is the other internation english viewers without e/s have to listen to phil and pauls biased droll as well..

at least we don't get the VS studio rubbish as well

i REALLY wish ITV4 would get their own commentators

 

[Highlander]

the last 2 high mountain stages i actually heard bobke compliment contador...just a blip...and it was gone. but where bob t roll raised his character for a moment, phil and paul fail ...uhg.

the spin these people attempt to push! give credit where credit is due ...contador's excellence bears reporting.

what they conveniently ignore speaks volumes about them too

was attempting to follow VS through the grenoble stage and on to paris but i can't. their collective negative spin 3 years in a row i have watched is so hypocritical given their 2009 and 2010 gushing on about lance. maybe it's about selling and incessant pandering to usa viewers. they try too hard. spin, spin, spin... the words hardly bearing similarity to fact.

i'd be relieved to have gogo and schlanger back for coverage of vuelta d' espana. or find a way to watch delayed coverage from a spanish source. it's incentive to imrove my spanish

then the commercials... 1) done hearing that insurance jingle. it's tough to make me not like a cute cat and dog but i can't take it on mute. not going to "be okay" not buying it. 2) never wearing any i.z.o.d ....**** my ears...3) and please. no. more. ultra life crowd.

I don't really understand the support for Gogo and Schlanger because how are they really any different? They just hype up the American/Anglo-riders as well. In 2009, they kept speculating about whether Lance took the yellow jersey in the Giro even though Petacchi won a stage and was already ahead of Lance on the GC. Last year, they insisted that Cadel was a contender for the Giro title and Basso was too old and washed up. I know the results of the Tour make them look right, but Cadel is 9 months older than Basso, so I couldn't understand those comments either.

 

[mastersracer]

Sherwin is an idiot - said Evans' victory was really a team victory for BMC - said the team was always by his side, never left him isolated, and were always there to chase down an attack. WTF? What Tour was he watching?

 

[180mmCrank]

I generally struggle with 'media' trying to make sport more appealing to the masses - to play a ratings game - it's fine with Pro-Sports (NHL, NFL, NBA etc.) but IMHO it doesn't work with non-franchise (non entertainment driven) sports.

I don't buy into the whole 'dumb it down' thing and/or let's focus on the 'personalities' to make it more appealing.

The beauty of a sport like cycling is that the drama unfolds (or not!) and that's the point - attempts to create 'rivalry' and drama where it isn't really there come across as crass and in authentic. Versus have become the epitome of this approach and I can barely watch it as a result. Bob R is a complete twit - I imagine he was once a half decent bike rider but he has nothing to say about cycling now.

Kelly and Harmon are the other end of the scale. Kelly actually understands what is going on and will speak to the complexity and uncertainty in a way that is authentic and informative. He never makes ill-informed and simplistic statements about 'what will happen next' - he enhances the experience of watching - isn't that a commentator is meant to do?

Eurosport every time for me. I get HD Versus but prefer to trawl around the web to find LoDef Eurosport on my laptop. It's a sign of things to come the more converged media becomes and we can choose to watch what we want the way we want ... the more speacific viewer needs will need to be met ... I believe the dumbing it down to appeal to masses will switch to "how do we provide a truly differentiated and hi quality product for a large niche market" - or at least that's what I hope!

We'll see

 

[hrotha]

Sherwin is an idiot - said Evans' victory was really a team victory for BMC - said the team was always by his side, never left him isolated, and were always there to chase down an attack. WTF? What Tour was he watching?

There's a certain undercurrent of dismissing the work BMC did just because they didn't have domestiques for the high mountains. Well, duh, of course. Who did, other than Voeckler and sometimes Basso? BMC still did A LOT of work for Evans.

 

[mastersracer]

There's a certain undercurrent of dismissing the work BMC did just because they didn't have domestiques for the high mountains. Well, duh, of course. Who did, other than Voeckler and sometimes Basso? BMC still did A LOT of work for Evans.

Of the GC contenders, Evans had by far the weakest team support. They were visible at the front mainly chasing down breaks that were meaningless for the GC during the middle stages and were roundly criticized for it. Even Contador had support from Sorensen in key mountain stages taking long pulls between climbs. Evans was left isolated more than any other team leader.

 

[Gingerale]

I don't really understand the support for Gogo and Schlanger because how are they really any different? They just hype up the American/Anglo-riders as well. In 2009, they kept speculating about whether Lance took the yellow jersey in the Giro even though Petacchi won a stage and was already ahead of Lance on the GC. Last year, they insisted that Cadel was a contender for the Giro title and Basso was too old and washed up. I know the results of the Tour make them look right, but Cadel is 9 months older than Basso, so I couldn't understand those comments either.

yeah. to be more clear, i've heard bobke, sherwin and liggett for the past 3 TdF's, a ToC 2011, also TdS bob and paul in june.

i don't buy what they try to sell. the riders themselves are more impressive. gilbert caught my attention last vuelta, nibali too. basso, cunego, petacchi all get positive review from TdF coverage but it was cunego at TdS...i'm a fan.

i listened to gogo and schlanger (universal sports) for the vuelta espana last year. saying i'd be relieved to have them is by comparision: 3 TdF's to 1 vuelta espana.

this was the 1st yr watching italian giro. and i was able to get up early and live stream eurosport - irish guy(name?) and carlton kirby. i thought they were better in general and very funny 'cos every time they said contador wasn't going well, he'd crush, ha!

it's between laughing or cringing at sherwin and liggett. watching VS coverage of grenoble TT right now..i dunno. i get over being annoyed pretty fast with p and p. my bar is set low. all i wish is no more bobke.

also streamed LBL - still learning about the spring races in europe. they are tough to watch in my time zone and keep a job. the stream i had was in french? seems i understand more french (took french in hs) than spanish. but italian is the language i picked for streaming given a choice...not sure why.

er, i did stream the dauphine this year some...yeah, the wiggans love was over the top on VS. i try hard to give a rider a chance. it's not wiggans fault.

 

[180mmCrank]

yeah. to be more clear, i've heard bobke, sherwin and liggett for the past 3 TdF's, a ToC 2011, also TdS bob and paul in june.

snip...and i was able to get up early and live stream eurosport - irish guy(name?) and carlton kirby ... snip...

That 'Irish guy' would be Sean Kelly.

And as many here will know...won 193 professional races including nine monument classics. He won Paris–Nice seven years in a row and the 1988 Vuelta a España. He also had multiple wins in the Giro di Lombardia, Milan – San Remo, Paris–Roubaix and Liège–Bastogne–Liège and among other things was Green Jersey winner in the TDF four times.

He knows what he's talking about and easily the most informed English (Irish!) speaking commentator on TV.

 

[Gingerale]

thanks.

respect to sean kelly. i (almost) feel smart by preferring him

it took me 3 years in a row of making a point of watching TdF to get to this point with bobke. i like cycling enough to want to learn and follow. never been a professional and can't argue bobke's experience - he rode in a pro pelaton but the rider bias is what's awful...beyond...

ew, bobke's laugh.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

That "Irish guy" LOL!

Harmon isn't David Duffield at calling a sprint or any finish, but he's quite good, and Kelly keeps him in check. Feel sorry for the international fans who are stuck with Versus instead of Eurosport.

I don't really understand the support for Gogo and Schlanger because how are they really any different? They just hype up the American/Anglo-riders as well.

Come on, their bias isn't anywhere near the bias, plus nonsense P&P, and especially Bob tRoll spits out.

I think Schlanger and Gogo's bias somewhat comes from their direct audience was originally rooted in US only based, and often covering smaller races to people who had hardly watched the sport before, some not even knowing the Giro or Vuelta existed. I'm iffy on Schlanger, he's just okay, but Gogo is terrific and in the right booth with the right producer could be the best.

 

[Gingerale]

okay. i need to get the english speaking eurosport commentators straight:

during the giro, was that kelly and kirby? the one doing the most talking kirby?

one of them had me laughing...a lot.

 

[mulletCobra]

Sean Kelly and David Harmon

 

[Aleajactaest]

They were joking. The night before, Bob said he would retire if Cadel beat Andy by 3 seconds. The day of the Alpe Bob said he felt Andy needed 3 more seconds, a full minute ahead of Cadel to win.

Then he should have had to retroactively retire 25 years ago. Thx for the clarification, I didn't see the previous show.

 

[mulletCobra]

And Sean Kelly has no sense of humor, he's stone cold.

 

[Aleajactaest]

Sherwin is an idiot - said Evans' victory was really a team victory for BMC - said the team was always by his side, never left him isolated, and were always there to chase down an attack. WTF? What Tour was he watching?

Agreed. This was really a very poor tour for showing good team performance. by the bottom of all the big hills all the main GC guys were alone. BMC was the worst of them all. SB helped AC and then of course, he had the 10th member, Sanchez. AS and FS had the best team support.

Sad, cause when done well, it's a beautiful thing to watch. Radioshack in the ToC the last two climbs showed perfect team execution with 4-5 guys at the bottom and just using them up as they climbed. Brilliant work. None of that in this years TdF by any team.

 

[Gingerale]

ah so, mullet cobra. and ofc the irish accent.

does kirby also commentate with kelly? or...3 of them,

it's a long day if i get up to watch live from europe.

anyone know who will be commentating for vuelta universal sports coverage?

 

[mulletCobra]

ah so, mullet cobra. and ofc the irish accent.

does kirby also commentate with kelly? or...3 of them,

it's a long day if i get up to watch live from europe.

anyone know who will be commentating for vuelta universal sports coverage?

Magnus Backstedt commentates with Kirby, as far as I know. He's soft spoken, but not as quiet as Kelly. Also, he's Swedish.

I could imagine you do wake up early if Idaho is what you mean by the potato state. I live on the East Coast and it's early for me.

 

[BYOP88]

ah so, mullet cobra. and ofc the irish accent.

does kirby also commentate with kelly? or...3 of them,

it's a long day if i get up to watch live from europe.

anyone know who will be commentating for vuelta universal sports coverage?

Harmon and Kelly do most of the big races together(the classics and GT's etc), sometimes Harmon and Maggie Backstedt((x)-pro and former Paris-Roubaix winner) work on some races. Kirby does a few races and those are normally with Maggie B or Brian Smith(ex-pro).

 

[this_is_edie]

I made the mistake of turning on the primetime show on versus - the first time this year - and the idiots are showing a replay of stage 18 (where they laud Scleck) instead of showing the TT.

They did show Tony Martin's ride but then went to this idiocy. Freakin' idiots.

 

[Granville57]

At this moment, the "Primetime" Versus broadcast has cutaway from a replay of today's iTT and is instead showing highlights from Stage 18 up the Galibier.

Sooooo...if you act like you're a "champion," and people around you treat you like a "champion," and others tell you that you're a "champion"...then that makes you a "champion"? Is that how it works now?

Since when does the second place guy get the lengthy replay tribute?

I can't even make this stuff up. I hope at least one moron from that network sees this thread. Joel Felicio? Are you out there?

https://twitter.com/#!/joelfelicio

News Flash: Cadel Evans won the 2011 TdF today!

WTF is going at Versus?!?!