Phil and Paul

[SetonHallPirate]

Sherwen: "The Race Referee will be keeping a close eye on Horner riding behind his team car, and because he had a mechanical incident, they will probably look the other way."

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

They don't have a monopoloy on silly comments: Ned Boulding (ITV4) to Wiggins yesterday said something akin to "In the past, British cycling success has been limited to a few crumbs falling from the table. This year its like loaves of bread falling on your head every day."


Even Wiggins had enough tact to not reply directly to that...

 

[nickalas]

Paul seems to be struggling today. In his pre-race interview with Tomalaris, he managed to string together several sentences that didn't make much sense.

When velits crashed into the barrier before the intermediate, P&P proceeded to repeat over and over that he had crashed into the barrier, that he had cliped the barrier's legs, that he had an impact with the barrier (we could see this because the barrier was sitting sideways towards the road).
Then he finished it off with something along the lines of
"Well he obviously has clipped the barrier, because he's moved the barrier into the road. That would have been due to the impact."

while describing morkov's pedalling style, paul says:
"You can tell that he's a man that has come from a Track Ground on the Back".
Didn't even bother correcting himself lol

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Having called the current stage leader "Morkov" for most of the first week, they then informed us innumerable times during his last participation in a break that it should be pronounced (approximately) "Merkhew": today, he is back to being "Morkov".

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

As Morkov approaches Mont Saint Clair.

Sherwin: The climb will hit him like a newspaper in the face. A rolled up newspaper.

Ligget: Lets hope so!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Liggett: "Kiserlovski for Rabobank"

 

[Racelap]

Yesterday Paul mistakenly referred to Johnny Hoogerland as "Johnny Hooligan", I nearly spat out my drink.

 

[Parrot23]

What about Sean Kelly on Eurosport and how he pronounces the word "calm"?

Seems to be something like "Restoring kaemlllllllllln or kealmeeeeeeeee to the peloton".

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

What about Sean Kelly on Eurosport and how he pronounces the word "calm"?

Seems to be something like "Restoring kaemlllllllllln or kealmeeeeeeeee to the peloton".

What, you mean in the accent of his home area? Appallingly unprofessional of him.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

Or, and this one drives me absolutely insane, Marty McCrossan's insistence on referring to Movistar as "Moviestar", and he seems to accentuate the "Moo" so that he almost sounds like a cow!

 

[Parrot23]

Appallingly unprofessional of him.

Not at all. Good commentator. I like how uncannily well he reads whether or not a break will be brought back before the finish. Experience.

Just an unusual, amusing pronunciation to non-Irish ears. I've not quite heard a word pronounced like that in a long, long time. That's all. I'm on the other side of the pond, which explains a lot. Regards.

 

[joe_papp]

Or, and this one drives me absolutely insane, Marty McCrossan's insistence on referring to Movistar as "Moviestar", and he seems to accentuate the "Moo" so that he almost sounds like a cow!

I thought the same thing watching Poland race coverage lol.

I wonder if there's software that will auto-transcribe a video clip so you could feed into it P&P and out would pop an easily-searched record of the dialogue? oh the possibilities to mock them would be endless...

 

[S2Sturges]

Why can't the SBS feed have commentary by Matt Keenan and Mike Tomalris..? Matt, does half hour or so, he is astute, knows his cycling and better yet, doesn't make silly comments to fill any dead air..then SBS switches to those two old f*rts.. Their commentary seems to run in 3 minute cycles of repetition, unless they get excited by a wheel change or one of the favourites getting a fresh water bottle..I met Phil at TDU two years ago, he seems a very nice chap, but seems always to be in character or something, hard to believe that he could be the way he is on air in life... eeeee ....
I do like the British Eurosport coverage, nothing wrong with Kelly, keeps his mouth shut until he has something useful to say....

 

[Dewulf]

Why can't the SBS feed have commentary by Matt Keenan and Mike Tomalris..? Matt, does half hour or so, he is astute, knows his cycling and better yet, doesn't make silly comments to fill any dead air..then SBS switches to those two old f*rts.. Their commentary seems to run in 3 minute cycles of repetition, unless they get excited by a wheel change or one of the favourites getting a fresh water bottle..I met Phil at TDU two years ago, he seems a very nice chap, but seems always to be in character or something, hard to believe that he could be the way he is on air in life... eeeee ....
I do like the British Eurosport coverage, nothing wrong with Kelly, keeps his mouth shut until he has something useful to say....

on Matt Keanan: i agree, have been saying this for a couple of years, and still stand by it, though perhaps in the phenomenon Bro_Deal talked about re P&P (where as you get to know more about cycling, the less impressive a given commentator seems), I'm not quite enjoying his work as much as i did before. I think the challenge for any commentator is not to fall into predictable patterns, or even a predictable vocal style.

on Tomolaris: he used to **** me off so much with inane, 'sensationalist' questions and commentary. It was like he thought it was his job to ask all the questions someone who knew next-to-nothing about cycling would ask. BUT, this seems to have changed. I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's actually quite good now at setting the scene and recapping before and after the race.

STILL...I wouldn't have him commentating during the race. SBS are obviously grooming Matt to take over from P&P when they retire - I don't think (?) they'll actually get rid of them before that due to the strong association most people make between them and the Tour. But they need to find someone else to work with Matt when the time comes. And for my money it has to be.....JENS!!!!!! How good would that be?!?!?!?!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Why can't the SBS feed have commentary by Matt Keenan and Mike Tomalris..? Matt, does half hour or so, he is astute, knows his cycling and better yet, doesn't make silly comments to fill any dead air..then SBS switches to those two old f*rts.. Their commentary seems to run in 3 minute cycles of repetition, unless they get excited by a wheel change or one of the favourites getting a fresh water bottle..I met Phil at TDU two years ago, he seems a very nice chap, but seems always to be in character or something, hard to believe that he could be the way he is on air in life... eeeee ....
I do like the British Eurosport coverage, nothing wrong with Kelly, keeps his mouth shut until he has something useful to say....

Having Tomalaris commentate would be a disaster. He is better in the host position because that doesn't require a great or logical understanding of the sport. Keenan is great and maybe he and McGrory could do the commentary in the near future. My problem with McGrory is his bias towards track riders. Imagine if he was watching Cam meyer race? He would crap himself with excitement.

 

[Llewellyn]

I haven't heard Paul dip into his suitcase of courage yet during this tour

Agree about Keenan - he's good, and only says something when there's something to say. How about Keenan and Kelly for a truly minimalist commentary .

Tomalaris seems out of his depth even in the hosting role, but I'm sure he's actually interested in the sport so that's something.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

I thought the same thing watching Poland race coverage lol.

It wasn't just Tour de Pologne that I noticed it. Also noticed it during the (Quebec) Challenge Sprint Pro and Worlds last year. Just wasn't sure what the guy's name was until today.

 

[mewmewmew13]

Today in the last few k's...Phil screamed "there's danger around every corner!"

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Not at all. Good commentator. I like how uncannily well he reads whether or not a break will be brought back before the finish. Experience.

Just an unusual, amusing pronunciation to non-Irish ears. I've not quite heard a word pronounced like that in a long, long time. That's all. I'm on the other side of the pond, which explains a lot. Regards.

I'll take that as explaining your apparent failure to recognise sarcasm as well...

 

[BigRingAbuse]

Stage 13

Phil: "There's the Swiss flag for Albasini, the Beligian flag on the right is for the team of Andre Greipel, because he is German."

Paul: "Well if Greipel wins today I think he will be an honorary Belgian because the Belgians will be all over his support"

Phil: "Just look at the face of Vinokourov, Albasini… you've got to take your hat off"

Phil: "And Boyzzen Haaagen is on the wheel of… he's on the wheel of…! W..… Boyzzen Haaagen is sitting on the wheel of…"

Paul: "Bradley Wiggins"

Phil: " Yes Wiggins. I couldn't get it out any more"

 

[Elverde]

I agree with most of the comments and criticisms about Phil & Paul. I imagine them like Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough who played two old women called Ada & Cissie on British Television.
For all their faults I still think that they are far superior to Harmon & Kelly. Harmon frequently shows his lack of knowledge of bicycle racing and has a supercilious attitude. Kelly just drones on and on. I know that Kelly is very experienced and I can remember him when he raced, he was superb. In fact I do not think that Eurosport has one decent English speaking commentator. Probably the best of a bad bunch is Carlton Kirby, he at least entertains us with his outlandish stories.

 

[argyllflyer]

I agree with most of the comments and criticisms about Phil & Paul. I imagine them like Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough who played two old women called Ada & Cissie on British Television.
For all their faults I still think that they are far superior to Harmon & Kelly. Harmon frequently shows his lack of knowledge of bicycle racing and has a supercilious attitude. Kelly just drones on and on. I know that Kelly is very experienced and I can remember him when he raced, he was superb. In fact I do not think that Eurosport has one decent English speaking commentator. Probably the best of a bad bunch is Carlton Kirby, he at least entertains us with his outlandish stories.

Don't really agree, except for the bit about DH being a bit full of himself. The main commentator doesn't have to be an expert on racing per se, from a participating point of view anyway - that's what Kelly is there for. Compare Harmon with some of the other commentators around and for me he's top of the class. Though I do like Marty McDonald from cycling.tv too, he really knows his stuff but I find him and Anthony McCrossan hard to tell apart sometimes, until I listen to what's being said.

It's rare that Dave Harmon says something totally incorrect, or mangles his words. He usually knows who's in the breaks, though doesn't always work out time differences with 100% accuracy. I think he gives viewers a very good experience, far, far better than the other Eurosport commentators. IMO.

 

[waitforme]

The best thing about this thread is that it makes me laugh. Thrice now in the past minute I've laughed out loud reading what you guys have written. And at the same time you begin to realize the awesomeness of P&P if one lets go of the desire for professional commentary aimed at a sophisticated audience and instead revels in the unexpected strange and outlandish P&P-speak.

[/I]

+1 Please keep digging into the suitcase of courageous mangled metaphors, P&P

 

[ExRower]

I wish they'd just hire Robert Millar.

 

[S2Sturges]

on Matt Keanan: i agree, have been saying this for a couple of years, and still stand by it, though perhaps in the phenomenon Bro_Deal talked about re P&P (where as you get to know more about cycling, the less impressive a given commentator seems), I'm not quite enjoying his work as much as i did before. I think the challenge for any commentator is not to fall into predictable patterns, or even a predictable vocal style.

on Tomolaris: he used to **** me off so much with inane, 'sensationalist' questions and commentary. It was like he thought it was his job to ask all the questions someone who knew next-to-nothing about cycling would ask. BUT, this seems to have changed. I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's actually quite good now at setting the scene and recapping before and after the race.

STILL...I wouldn't have him commentating during the race. SBS are obviously grooming Matt to take over from P&P when they retire - I don't think (?) they'll actually get rid of them before that due to the strong association most people make between them and the Tour. But they need to find someone else to work with Matt when the time comes. And for my money it has to be.....JENS!!!!!! How good would that be?!?!?!?!

Yeah, you could be right about Tomalris, he has his moments, I guess it was a rush of blood on my part, it's just all those years of Phil droning on, he's been in the game for so so many years...t hink he helped saw the planks for the Ark
At least we're not stuck with someone like Bob Roll, who has noting of note to say (in anything I've ever heard from him).
Jens would be good, totally, I also heard the name of Robert Millar bandied about, those two, talk about ying and yang... if nothing else we'd all have a laugh as they both have a vicious sense of humour..