Phil and Paul

[Caruut]

I live in fear of the day when Bradley Wiggins retires, because I can just see Eurosport going "Yeah, hire Wiggo, that'd be a great idea". I think Sean Kelly is possibly the best colour commentator I have heard in any sport. He thinks about what he says, which I think is important.

 

[jens_attacks]

I live in fear of the day when Bradley Wiggins retires, because I can just see Eurosport going "Yeah, hire Wiggo, that'd be a great idea". I think Sean Kelly is possibly the best colour commentator I have heard in any sport. He thinks about what he says, which I think is important.

sean kelly is a legend but he's the worst commentator i've heard in any sport.full of emotions like a rock and not a voice for commentating sport.about harmon,i better not spend my time on that guy.

now perico delgado on the other hand...

the italians right now are the best on the technical side but they turn you to sleep pretty fast.

 

[LaFlorecita]

is it me or does phil really hate contador??

He does.

 

[Caruut]

sean kelly is a legend but he's the worst commentator i've heard in any sport.full of emotions like a rock and not a voice for commentating sport.about harmon,i better not spend my time on that guy.

now perico delgado on the other hand...

the italians right now are the best on the technical side but they turn you to sleep pretty fast.

I like that he doesn't try and hype things up too much. I can do emotion myself, but Kelly's insight is something I don't have. Phil and Paul are the complete other end of the spectrum. Everything is hyped up so much that I can just barely listen, they try so hard to make it exciting that it just loses some of its charm, to me.

I like Irish accents, so Kelly's voice isn't a problem.

 

[hatcher]

And Kelly is bringing out the humour recently too.

 

[Sylvester]

Italian Rai must be one of the best with Cassani, Savoldelli and Martinello for big events like Giro. Sometimes Bugno on helycopter.

Oh yeah. The very best, in my opinion.

 

[therealtimshady]

I wouldn't be surprised if eurosport lose their coverage to sky - no loss as they dump it continuously for that dull sport called tennis. Harmon and Kelly are ok as commentators but harmon never seems to be able to recognise any rider in a sprint finish (except cav)

Phil and Paul are the best - but please itv if you are showing the vuelta this year NO Matt Keenan - awful

 

[Caruut]

As opposed to Phil, who just flat out never seems to recognise a rider.

 

[therealtimshady]

As opposed to Phil, who just flat out never seems to recognise a rider.

Not from what I have seen - he's far better at getting riders names correct than harmon, Kelly has to keep bailing him out

 

[cineteq]

Not from what I have seen - he's far better at getting riders names correct than harmon, Kelly has to keep bailing him out

Of all 4, Paul is the one who does better with names. Kelly is the worse. Just ask cuNEgo

 

[therealtimshady]

Of all 4, Paul is the one who does better with names. Kelly is the worse. Just ask cuNEgo

I don't mean pronounciation - I mean actually recognising which rider is which - harmon seems to make several random guesses in a sprint finish

 

[pedaling squares]

Phil is the runaway leader in terms of failure to recognize the rider on the screen. I would say Kelly is the best of those mentioned. Phil also takes the prize for failure to recognize what is happening on screen. How many times has he called an attack when a rider who is being dropped by the group is pictured alone on screen? Harmless, but funny. He should pay closer attention to the race instead of weaving Armstrong/Radioshack/Trek threads into every situation.

 

[cineteq]

I don't mean pronounciation - I mean actually recognising which rider is which - harmon seems to make several random guesses in a sprint finish

Sorry, then you're on target

 

[robert_c]

I was watching the 2010 Tour yesterday and one of them mentioned Andy was a TT Champ. I thought that can't be, it must be another Phil/Paul mistake.

Boy was I surprised when I checked. How can the TT national champ be so bad at the TT? And he won it TWICE! And one of his wins was in 2010 when his bad TT lost him the Tour.

My apologies to Phil/Paul for doubting their announcing acumen.

In their defense, they have to fill hours and hours of what is typically no action in the peloton.

And now that everyone wears helmets it is much harder to identify riders.

I guess I'm a Phil/Paul apologist.

 

[ElChingon]

Italian Rai must be one of the best with Cassani, Savoldelli and Martinello for big events like Giro. Sometimes Bugno on helycopter.

I wish I understood more Italian but even with my limits if its a flat sprinters stage, I turn them up in the last few K's no matter what. They are the perfect cycling promotional announcers to get people pumped up, the racers would probably want them in their headsets for motivation as well during those last few K's.

Phil and Paul are most likely what the Schlecks are listening to

 

[Caruut]

I was watching the 2010 Tour yesterday and one of them mentioned Andy was a TT Champ. I thought that can't be, it must be another Phil/Paul mistake.

Boy was I surprised when I checked. How can the TT national champ be so bad at the TT? And he won it TWICE! And one of his wins was in 2010 when his bad TT lost him the Tour.

My apologies to Phil/Paul for doubting their announcing acumen.

In their defense, they have to fill hours and hours of what is typically no action in the peloton.

And now that everyone wears helmets it is much harder to identify riders.

I guess I'm a Phil/Paul apologist.

The fact that Luxembourg is freaking tiny also helps. I can only think of 4 pros from Luxembourg, only two of which are of any real note. Andy is obviously an incredible cyclist, his time-trial is poor relative to his overall quality, and to most other GC contenders, in an absolute sense he's not that bad.

 

[xmoonx]

Harmon knows who the riders are. he can guess just by lookong at their faces or styles. he knows their best results from their palmares and im not just talking about nibali or sanchez but also verdugo or grabowsky or leezer. ligget obviously doesnt know any of them not even sanchez but do you think there are more than 7 teams around from whom he can name a rider? Can he name an agr rider besides roche or a fdj rider or a rabo or vacan orkatusha one? and thsts just wt.
I bet my house he hasnt ever heard of androni. harmon meanwhile can probably name their first team

Absolutely agree! by comparison PL knows a handful of top GC riders at best and usually spouts out some erroneous crap about them as well.

P&P is a comedy of errors and misinformation i.e. During the Giro, top GC rider is missing from the front group. Broadcast has an insert stating said rider has a technical problem. A minute or so passes PS says in an excited voice " such and such is gone, he's been droped ", 15 or more seconds pass footage shows a wheel change in progress, lol.

 

[xmoonx]

Todd Gogulski and Steve Schlanger are pretty decent commentators. I watched the Giro last year and they commentated the whole thing for Universal Sports. They handled the Giro tragedy really well, and they actually seem to call out the riders names fairly accurately (though often their last name pronunciations are all over the place). I also like that there are stretches of time when they don't say anything and it is just the road and motorcycle sounds.

Phil and Paul...I could do without them. But, sadly, they cover 90% of the races that are shown in the U.S. market.

I think Gogo and Steve Schlanger are better suited to reality TV game like sports in need of pseudo enthusiasm.

 

[Caruut]

I think Gogo and Steve Schlanger are better suited to reality TV game like sports in need of pseudo enthusiasm.

I could see them lighting up Takeshi's Castle.

 

[hfer07]

sean kelly is a legend but he's the worst commentator i've heard in any sport.full of emotions like a rock and not a voice for commentating sport.about harmon,i better not spend my time on that guy.

now perico delgado on the other hand...

the italians right now are the best on the technical side but they turn you to sleep pretty fast.

Ironically enough - I do believe the Italian & Spaniard commentators aren't as "biased as the English-speaker commentators" yes, they(Italians & Spaniards) are loud & cheerful when their compatriots win-but they also praise the foreigner winners the same -unlike the English media that tend to "always degrade" a foreigner beating their folks...

but going back to the topic- Phil & Paul just need to retire- there is nothing they truly & sincerely contribute to the sport nowadays,other than a continuing set of mistakes, boring commentating & that annoying LA/Radioshack/Andy praise that is so uncalled for....

 

[markjohnconley]

sean 'what a friggin boring annoying drone' kelly

Should only be used rarely for explanatory comments, better still have him sub-titled!

 

[Michele]

I live in fear of the day when Bradley Wiggins retires, because I can just see Eurosport going "Yeah, hire Wiggo, that'd be a great idea". I think Sean Kelly is possibly the best colour commentator I have heard in any sport. He thinks about what he says, which I think is important.

Italian Rai some years ago hired Bettini and put him on a motorcycle from Sanremo till Giro.
I can tell you he was totally crap; ok perhaps he was a bit embarassed but he could never explain what was going on during the race.
So my point is that sometimes a champion doesnt mean he will be surely a good journalist/speaker.

As for Phil and Paul, I agree with hfer07, probably they should consider to retire and get some new guys on board.

 

[Swede1]

I don't actually mind them because they are at least genuinely excited by the races which comes through in their commentating (even if their comments aren't the best on a technical level). I would still rather have them than some very knowledgeable commentators that are boring.

 

[TheEnoculator]

Phil Liggett sold out to the Americans. He's still a great commentator when the heat of the race is on, but his pre- and post-race comments are all pretty much gearing towards American riders. British Eurosport might be boring, but from what I heard, they weren't biased towards any nationality.

PS: I think this thread should be moved to "General".

 

[Boeing]

I don't actually mind them because they are at least genuinely excited by the races which comes through in their commentating (even if their comments aren't the best on a technical level). I would still rather have them than some very knowledgeable commentators that are boring.

I get this same response all the time almost above. really I say?

ok get ready stage 1 is THE Penultimate Stage with beast of a man at the front with his suitcase full of courage looking like a one certain lance Armstrong riding like a man possessed making the other go backwards until the elastic has snapped in the heart of the cycling world in this place they call France ingratiating himself among the lords of state during the heat of summer all over his machine as he puts the exclamation point his legacy and you can bet now he has alarm bells ringing inside the peloton as sanchez has lost big time on the descent.

these guys actually write fiction and believe themselves to be true


no thank you
ill be watching with the stereo on thumping a fat beat for sure