Phil Liggert "Voice of Cycling" equals "Voice of Lance Armstrong"?

[mutschi]

Phil Ligget "Voice of Cycling" equals "Voice of Lance Armstrong"?

I wonder if I am the only one that gets tired of Phil Liggert's enthusiasm for LA? The man can't do nothing wrong in Phil's eyes. If he rides strongly its "the old Lance", if he cracks "he defends brilliantly", if he can't follow an attack "he is the perfect team mate", if gets a lucky break "he is so experienced."

No praise for Kloeden who pulled LA up the mountain in Verbier giving away his own podium spot. I wonder if Phil is on the Armstrong paylist? Listen all english speaking TV stations around the world: I am sick of this one-sided Armstrong commentary. Get a more balanced guy in there.

 

[ridley]

+1 - Have to agree there - LA could do no wrong and on more than one occasion Phil did not really care where the yellow jersey is in the tour, as long as all the viewers were updated on the status of LA, then the world was good !!

A bit biased in my humblr opinion, but at least he was a little more awake during this tour and spoke more eloquently and enthusiastically about the tour. The new drugs must be working

 

[Amsterhammer]

Dear God, you can't even spell the man's name but you have to open a topic about him?

 

[mutschi]

OOhps - help needed? How do you spell his name?

 

[Golddigger]

Agree fully. The commentary was so loopy.
--We had a guy in yellow (nocentini) for 8 days and yet not a word, not a short 30 sec interview with or about the guy, because all the time was spent on 3 1/2 yr retirement yada, yada, yada.

--All the silly things about how AC attacked his teammate (AK). Well folks, got to tell you this is not Army Ranges, in cycling you leave your dead on the road. AK was dead--he did not sit up to wait to pull LA up the hill, he was a goner, and if AC had waited, he would have just set himself up for more attacks from LA.

--And after hearing a bazillion times about the "first time since 1913 that all 3 podium spots might be filled from 1 team", can anyone tell me if 2 brothers have ever stood on the podium together? I sure did not hear that from PL or any other commentator (ie la fanboy).

I too would like to have someone in the booth who is a bit more evenhanded.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

He was critical of Lance this year when he was part of the group (if briefly) chasing down the break that contained Hincapie.

He also called Lance's chasing down of Simeoni and zipping the lips gesture a "sinister move", though some took that as somewhat of a compliment.

I don't know that it's only Phil and Paul, but Hummer and especially Bobke tend to wet their shorts whenever Lance shows up on camera. And across the spectrum in the Tour and especially the Giro, an inordinate amount of time on camera was given to Lance. Both in the race, and in interviews. I found it disappointing that Rinaldo Nocentini was given very little attention, and not a single interview I could find, during his eight days in the maillot jaune. And very little on KOM Pelizotti when he made some excellent rides. Maybe it's because these guys don't speak (? much?) English, but how hard can it be to get someone to translate? Or how hard can it be to put together a small package showing their background? CBS used to do fantastic versions of this back whey they covered the Tour 20+ years ago. Now, zip, nothing. It was the Lance/Alberto/Astana show.

 

[RigelKent]

The one thing Paul is very good at is on-the-fly translation. They should be able to broadcast quite a few interviews and have him translate.

 

[Amsterhammer]

I found it disappointing that Rinaldo Nocentini was given very little attention, and not a single interview I could find, during his eight days in the maillot jaune. And very little on KOM Pelizotti when he made some excellent rides. Maybe it's because these guys don't speak (? much?) English, but how hard can it be to get someone to translate? Or how hard can it be to put together a small package showing their background? CBS used to do fantastic versions of this back whey they covered the Tour 20+ years ago. Now, zip, nothing. It was the Lance/Alberto/Astana show.

I must be real lucky with our 'standard' Dutch coverage. I saw interviews with both Nocentini and Pelizotti, the former in English, the latter in Italian. 'Complaints' about the course were also regularly heard.

 

[BroDeal]

Dear God, you can't even spell the man's name but you have to open a topic about him?

Congrats. Way to welcome new posters. Nice to see how a self proclaimed older and reasonable poster acts in actual practice.

 

[scribe]

Ligget was not one to fawn over LA during the early parts of his championship runs. But the man (LA) is a legend, and you can't fault the announcers for acknowledging that during his return campaign.

Sorry these guys probably don't resemble LeBlanc, in opinion. Which would be more acceptable.

 

[uphillstruggle]

He was critical of Lance this year when he was part of the group (if briefly) chasing down the break that contained Hincapie.

He also called Lance's chasing down of Simeoni and zipping the lips gesture a "sinister move", though some took that as somewhat of a compliment.

I don't know that it's only Phil and Paul, but Hummer and especially Bobke tend to wet their shorts whenever Lance shows up on camera. And across the spectrum in the Tour and especially the Giro, an inordinate amount of time on camera was given to Lance. Both in the race, and in interviews. I found it disappointing that Rinaldo Nocentini was given very little attention, and not a single interview I could find, during his eight days in the maillot jaune. And very little on KOM Pelizotti when he made some excellent rides. Maybe it's because these guys don't speak (? much?) English, but how hard can it be to get someone to translate? Or how hard can it be to put together a small package showing their background? CBS used to do fantastic versions of this back whey they covered the Tour 20+ years ago. Now, zip, nothing. It was the Lance/Alberto/Astana show.

The unfortunate problem is that they are trying to promote a fringe sport to the English speaking world; lots of people who don't really care about cycling or the tour have asked me about how LA is doing in the past two weeks. It's the lowest common denominator of this lovely sport I guess - it allows everyone in. I started like that as a kid, asking my brother if Indurain was the best ever cyclist only to here the legend of Eddy Merckx.

It is a problem with modern TV, newspapers, media on a whole really: they tells us what we can relate to rather than what we should learn.

Apart from my digression Liggit and his buddies were quite funny always mentioning Lance thinking he could beat the current crop of riders while we watched him get dropped on a climb - irony is also lost on us Brits it seems.

 

[richwagmn]

Liggett is over the top. Watch the final show wrap up (morning show) if you can. Jaw dropping. Basically called both AC and Schlecklet too stupid to beat LA.

I'd say he's lost it. I understand "rooting" for LA and all. But this was something more. It was almost creepy.

 

[Hugh Januss]

I wonder if I am the only one that gets tired of Phil Liggert's enthusiasm for LA? The man can't do nothing wrong in Phil's eyes. If he rides strongly its "the old Lance", if he cracks "he defends brilliantly", if he can't follow an attack "he is the perfect team mate", if gets a lucky break "he is so experienced."

No praise for Kloeden who pulled LA up the mountain in Verbier giving away his own podium spot. I wonder if Phil is on the Armstrong paylist? Listen all english speaking TV stations around the world: I am sick of this one-sided Armstrong commentary. Get a more balanced guy in there.

Help me out here guys, I think I saw a thread a while back where someone said something to the effect that Phil and Paul were not paid by VS but were actually paid a promotional fee by LAF (or maybe I was drinking heavily that night). I want to say it was Brodeal but that just seems too obvious.

 

[BroDeal]

help me out here guys, i think i saw a thread a while back where someone said something to the effect that phil and paul were not paid by vs but were actually paid a promotional fee by laf (or maybe i was drinking heavily that night). I want to say it was brodeal but that just seems too obvious.

wbt...................

 

[Anonymous]

wbt...................

One for my dead homie! <pours out a sip of King Cobra>

 

[BroDeal]

One for my dead homie! <pours out a sip of King Cobra>

What did WBT do to get banned?

 

[croix_de_fer]

Ligget was not one to fawn over LA during the early parts of his championship runs. But the man (LA) is a legend, and you can't fault the announcers for acknowledging that during his return campaign.

Sorry these guys probably don't resemble LeBlanc, in opinion. Which would be more acceptable.

Fine, acknowledge his past accomplishments and then move on. The American public is clueless about the other great riders this country has produced and were riding in the TdF. I think it is terrible that Christian's efforts went largely unnoticed by the American media and Mr. Liggit as well. And what about Big George! He is an amazing cyclist and one we should be real proud of. Again, little mention by any commentator on this side of the pond. The tour wrap-up on CBS was basically a review of everything Lance did.

As for Bobke, I'm disappointed in his love affair with LA. He has a real opportunity to educate America about cycling and he fritters that opportunity away. Sad.

 

[Maria Szczerba]

Help Needed - How do you spell his name?

OOhps - help needed? How do you spell his name?

Hello Mutschi,

It spelt like this - Liggett (Phil).

Thankyou.
Maria Szczerba
29/07/09

 

[Maria Szczerba]

All on this.


To get this right once more - IT IS LIGGETT!!!! Phil.

Gee! I must be the only female that has picked this up!!!!

Maria Szczerba
29/7/09

 

[sydhancock]

A few years ago, when cortisone was detected in Lance's urine sample during the Tour, I saw Paul Sherwen appearing on French TV with Lance. He was his spokesman to 'explain' how it got there because he spoke good French.

I was pretty surprised to see this. I read later that Sherwen was employed by the team (US Postal as it was called then} as a media consultant. He was of course a commentator then as now with Phil Liggett.

 

[mutschi]

Congrats. Way to welcome new posters. Nice to see how a self proclaimed older and reasonable poster acts in actual practice.

Thanks for your support but his comment doesn't knock me over and he has a point. Could be the end for a more fragile new poster though. I finally found the proper name. It is Ligget, right?

I was dependend on "The Voice of Armstrong" - my only choice of watching was Australian SBS. Overall they did an ok job but really foccus on English speaking cyclists. I am German living in NZ and I guess I have to live with that. But it seems that others noticed it too. Lets hope "The voice" gets the word and can work on it and really becomes "The voice for all cyclists".

 

[Izoard]

He was critical of Lance this year when he was part of the group (if briefly) chasing down the break that contained Hincapie.

He also called Lance's chasing down of Simeoni and zipping the lips gesture a "sinister move", though some took that as somewhat of a compliment.

I don't know that it's only Phil and Paul, but Hummer and especially Bobke tend to wet their shorts whenever Lance shows up on camera. And across the spectrum in the Tour and especially the Giro, an inordinate amount of time on camera was given to Lance. Both in the race, and in interviews. I found it disappointing that Rinaldo Nocentini was given very little attention, and not a single interview I could find, during his eight days in the maillot jaune. And very little on KOM Pelizotti when he made some excellent rides. Maybe it's because these guys don't speak (? much?) English, but how hard can it be to get someone to translate? Or how hard can it be to put together a small package showing their background? CBS used to do fantastic versions of this back whey they covered the Tour 20+ years ago. Now, zip, nothing. It was the Lance/Alberto/Astana show.

Ah, Bobke. While Paul and Phil drive me a little crazy with the over the top comments, inaccuracy, and considerable bias, Bobke is really on another level. It's like he has a crush or something.

 

[runninboy]

Ah, Bobke. While Paul and Phil drive me a little crazy with the over the top comments, inaccuracy, and considerable bias, Bobke is really on another level. It's like he has a crush or something.

Agreed. Probably has something to do with all that time they spent together in the backwoods of North Carolina....riding, riding,riding

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

What did WBT do to get banned?

I'd like to know that too. He was over the top on many posts, but I didn't catch anything along the level of Jackhammer that was enough to warrant a ban.

The tour wrap-up on CBS was basically a review of everything Lance did.

You mean Versus. As antiquated as old CBS clips look now, they actually did a much better job, by far, of trying to expose the average American audience to the sport. They would often show vignettes of non-Americans, and interviews and dissect the race for the lay viewer. Looking back at them, it now looks a bit hokey, mostly just hi-lights with John Tesh and his music, but it least it was more objective.

Agree that it is a shame that Versus can't follow that. They had ample opportunities to interview other riders and profile them. Nocentini comes to mind. But it's like they have NO producer of the show to help facilitate packages. They just run the feed, and track down Lance for interviews, and have Bobke fawn about Lance. Then discuss the Astana soap opera, etc.

Versus is also shooting itself in the foot here. By concentrating so much on one rider, when it comes time that Lance is finally cooked - and that time is going to be sooner before later - they're going to be left with a big void, and having to explain to people who these "new" riders are.

 

[mutschi]

Ah, Bobke. While Paul and Phil drive me a little crazy with the over the top comments, inaccuracy, and considerable bias, Bobke is really on another level. It's like he has a crush or something.

Who is Bobke? Fill me in please. Sounds like he would do my head in so I try to avoid him. But I can't avoid him if I don't know him.