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

[dgduris]

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

Jesus!

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Phil+Liggert

 

[HMacK2010]

No "I" in TEAM

Professional cycling has always been greater than any one individual. Merckx in the forward to a French book published on all the mountain climbs in the TdF states clearly that while he flew through mountain stages as though he were stronger than they, earlier in his career, they eventually reduce cyclists to who they really are - mere mortals while they continue to make and break careers. He sketches out the later failures as his career drew towards its inevitable conclusion.
It has to be observed that Mr LA is in the same situation and has to admit that time is no longer on his side and he is in the process of being reduced to what he is and this is nowhere near in sum total what Eddy and Bernard were as professional cyclists. Therefore, when he criticises Contador as he has done explicitly and by implication on several occasions, he has placed himself as a justified target for criticism himself.
It is evident that he agrees with the team ethos in cycling provided that he is the one who crosses the line first and wears the maillot of honour. Indeed, there is an "A" in TEAM & he thinks it is he who ought to be the centre of attention not his team mates. The images of him on the podium as third best in 2009 irked him endlessly as any psychologist can assess from the body language and his regards towards the victors crown borne by Alberto. His own words afterwards to journalists betray a man who was not really pleased with himself. His absence from the following festivities in the Astana team reveal much more than he is trying to allow us to understand. Thus, it is self-critical of Mr LA to accuse Contador of uttering 'drivel' and forgetting that cycling is team work of which he does neither. Mr LA should know that a good team mate would not make public comments about his team members that are transparently critical during a competition as he has done throughout the TdF this year about Alberto. Had anyone done this to him at US Postal or Discovery we can imagine the reaction from him.
Mr LA has himself attacked during tours that may not have been necessary and he has benefited from the tireless work of numerous teams on his behalf while assuming all the glory with few mentions of those around him who deserved more praise than he actually gave them publicly during his career. It is easy to go on about team work when it is all about one man winning but not so easy to swallow when the mountain you attempt to climb later in your career tells you that your day is over and it is the moment to yield with grace to the younger champion who is now your superior. He is not the only one either. There are others. Andy Schleck is clearly much better than him and once he has improved his time-trialing he will leave Mr LA in his wake on that day as he has done in the mountains.
Yes, Mr Armstrong, your day is done and it is the mountain top telling you to move over. There are others better and stronger than you who deserve the limelight because it is now their era. Yours is effectively done. Alberto has given you enough rope to hang yourself. Had you behaved with more discretion it is difficult to think he would have openly reviled your negative public acts of thoughtlessness towards him, after the Tour was finished as he has done. We can observe your actions and words during the TdF as they stand as a testimony against you where this is concerned. You have earned what you deserve. Your work for cancer sufferers may be worthy but your egoistical behaviour in cycling is not.
My advice to you is to build your new Radio Shack team around a younger cyclist who has championship potential, not yourself, and to desist from dragging us into your personality problems as you have done over the years, and the fact that you find it difficult to accept that the maillot jaune is no longer yours and never will be again.

 

[Johnny Colnago]

look at all them words no one will ever read...

 

[Hugh Januss]

My advice to you is to build your new Radio Shack team around a younger cyclist who has championship potential, not yourself, and to desist from dragging us into your personality problems as you have done over the years, and the fact that you find it difficult to accept that the maillot jaune is no longer yours and never will be again.

No, not next year, Armstrong thinks in his own mind that he can win it. I would disagree, but it will sure be fun to watch.

 

[Archibald]

Keep in mind, they are commenting on the pictures that French cameras are sending. So if anyone is over-focusing on Lance, it is the people actually filming the race.

actually it'd be the directors who select which images get shown - you know the guys who sit in the tv station with a panel of about 15 tv screens and points at which one to show when...
plenty of other images to choose from as there are loads of cameras on the course pointing in all different directions.

i'm actually kinda glad that i've been at work most days of the tour and the CN live newsfeed thing was all i had to go by.

 

[Johnny Colnago]

Phil Liggert

 

[Mr.DNA]

Yeah Liggets accent may have been charming to those on the other side of the pond but the guy has a little trouble with his speech for a commentator. I don't think he pronounced tyler Farrar's name correctly over three weeks.

I cringe every time I hear "Cal-i-phone-ya".

 

[Gamhugo]

You are kidding right/ What do you expect this is VERSUS a USA CHANNEL watched BY USA customers. Should they have focused on Nocentini whould most USA customers watch?
Let's see how about the China Olympics, I guess too much Michael Phelps as well..correct? yeah they should have covered the wins by the russian boxing team.

It's called ratings and LA like it or not was the news during this tour.

 

[Hugh Januss]

actually it'd be the directors who select which images get shown - you know the guys who sit in the tv station with a panel of about 15 tv screens and points at which one to show when...
plenty of other images to choose from as there are loads of cameras on the course pointing in all different directions.

i'm actually kinda glad that i've been at work most days of the tour and the CN live newsfeed thing was all i had to go by.

I was going to point that out, but figured it was obvious. You are right though it is apparently not obvious enough to everybody.

 

[racerralph]

You are kidding right/ What do you expect this is VERSUS a USA CHANNEL watched BY USA customers. Should they have focused on Nocentini whould most USA customers watch?
Let's see how about the China Olympics, I guess too much Michael Phelps as well..correct? yeah they should have covered the wins by the russian boxing team.

It's called ratings and LA like it or not was the news during this tour.

It might be called ratings, as you want to title it. But the 3 weeks of bicycling, through the countryside of France, that we just witnessed, was a purely fictitious journey, as Liggett and Co. portrayed it. One that has absolutely shredded the credibilty of all of the commentators in the Versus broadcast booth. Too bad for them, that all the viewers were not Lance-a-holics.

 

[racerralph]

Professional cycling has always been greater than any one individual. Merckx in the forward to a French book published on all the mountain climbs in the TdF states clearly that while he flew through mountain stages as though he were stronger than they, earlier in his career, they eventually reduce cyclists to who they really are - mere mortals while they continue to make and break careers. He sketches out the later failures as his career drew towards its inevitable conclusion.
It has to be observed that Mr LA is in the same situation and has to admit that time is no longer on his side and he is in the process of being reduced to what he is and this is nowhere near in sum total what Eddy and Bernard were as professional cyclists. Therefore, when he criticises Contador as he has done explicitly and by implication on several occasions, he has placed himself as a justified target for criticism himself.
It is evident that he agrees with the team ethos in cycling provided that he is the one who crosses the line first and wears the maillot of honour. Indeed, there is an "A" in TEAM & he thinks it is he who ought to be the centre of attention not his team mates. The images of him on the podium as third best in 2009 irked him endlessly as any psychologist can assess from the body language and his regards towards the victors crown borne by Alberto. His own words afterwards to journalists betray a man who was not really pleased with himself. His absence from the following festivities in the Astana team reveal much more than he is trying to allow us to understand. Thus, it is self-critical of Mr LA to accuse Contador of uttering 'drivel' and forgetting that cycling is team work of which he does neither. Mr LA should know that a good team mate would not make public comments about his team members that are transparently critical during a competition as he has done throughout the TdF this year about Alberto. Had anyone done this to him at US Postal or Discovery we can imagine the reaction from him.
Mr LA has himself attacked during tours that may not have been necessary and he has benefited from the tireless work of numerous teams on his behalf while assuming all the glory with few mentions of those around him who deserved more praise than he actually gave them publicly during his career. It is easy to go on about team work when it is all about one man winning but not so easy to swallow when the mountain you attempt to climb later in your career tells you that your day is over and it is the moment to yield with grace to the younger champion who is now your superior. He is not the only one either. There are others. Andy Schleck is clearly much better than him and once he has improved his time-trialing he will leave Mr LA in his wake on that day as he has done in the mountains.
Yes, Mr Armstrong, your day is done and it is the mountain top telling you to move over. There are others better and stronger than you who deserve the limelight because it is now their era. Yours is effectively done. Alberto has given you enough rope to hang yourself. Had you behaved with more discretion it is difficult to think he would have openly reviled your negative public acts of thoughtlessness towards him, after the Tour was finished as he has done. We can observe your actions and words during the TdF as they stand as a testimony against you where this is concerned. You have earned what you deserve. Your work for cancer sufferers may be worthy but your egoistical behaviour in cycling is not.
My advice to you is to build your new Radio Shack team around a younger cyclist who has championship potential, not yourself, and to desist from dragging us into your personality problems as you have done over the years, and the fact that you find it difficult to accept that the maillot jaune is no longer yours and never will be again.

Hip Hip Hurrah!!!!!! BRAVO......Wordy, but well said!!!!

 

[racerralph]

Hey, but this was nothing new....

check this out, I happened to find it when I searched for Phil Liggett:
http://fatcyclist.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1pUmGvi9idWgOodsIbhHUOQA!288.entry

 

[BikeCentric]

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.

Yes he was actually - Ligget has always fawned over English speaking riders and he fawned over Armstrong from the beginning. Another thing you'd know, of course, if you hadn't just started following cycling with this years TDF, something you make more and more transparent with every one of your useless posts.

 

[Hugh Januss]

check this out, I happened to find it when I searched for Phil Liggett:
http://fatcyclist.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1pUmGvi9idWgOodsIbhHUOQA!288.entry

Either that charge is absolutely bogus, or it happened in the 1 minute of versus coverage that I nodded off during. As far as I can remember Phil mentioned LA at least 5 times during every single minute.

 

[jamfra67]

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.

Good point. However we must also consider that phil is being paid to do a job for VS and thats not necessarily to be an objective commentator. Its similar to Foxnews television being the mouth piece of the Republican party. I beleive Versus Tv gave him a job description to keep the story focussed on LA and the other American riders at all times. That included making sure that no negative perception is portrayed of LA and his backers. Phil's role can be compared to him being LA communications director in the race for Governor of Texas. The man is simply performing his task as a professional

 

[racerralph]

Good point. However we must also consider that phil is being paid to do a job for VS and thats not necessarily to be an objective commentator. Its similar to Foxnews television being the mouth piece of the Republican party. I beleive Versus Tv gave him a job description to keep the story focussed on LA and the other American riders at all times. That included making sure that no negative perception is portrayed of LA and his backers. Phil's role can be compared to him being LA communications director in the race for Governor of Texas. The man is simply performing his task as a professional

And you make a good point. However, IMHO I think it's time for both Phil and Paul to break the imbecilic......er... umbilical cord with VS, before it wraps around their professional throats, and suffocates their credibility, and tarnishes their otherwise good reputations. I used to really look forward to their commentary (although I am very bored with Paul's truly bad attempts at making poetry out of his commentary). This year I could barely stand them. Sorry, but that playing to an American audience only carries so far.

 

[Captain Kirk]

I got tired of Ligget and Sherwen when I realized that you could listen to four hours of them talking and not remember a single insightful thing that was said. It is just like sound that goes in one ear and out another. They have become caricatures of themselves.

+99
Felt like I wrote that, I was ready to mute the TV and pump some internet audio thru the hifi....

One interview with Phil and Paul summed it up for me, was both of them proudly wearing their yellow braclets in the commentary box.

I am wrong to think of these guys as reporters/journalists and expect some sort code of ethics, or attempt at non biased commentary...

 

[Mr.DNA]

One interview with Phil and Paul summed it up for me, was both of them proudly wearing their yellow braclets in the commentary box.

Phil even felt forced to make an excuse one day when he wasn't wearing his. It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer refuses to wear the AIDS ribbon. But instead of toughing it out like Kramer, Phil caved in to the bracelet bullies.

 

[uphillstruggle]

. Sorry, but that playing to an American audience only carries so far

We got the same commentary on our British ITV4 channel as you did on the versus coverage. I honestly think they are just commenting on Lance so people don't get bored with what the are not familiar with, which, as said by someone else above with come back to bite them when he finally retires or gets to old to be in the front group.

 

[perico]

I kind of laugh about the "Phil is Lance's lapdog" type of comments. Since from 1986-1992 he was every bit as excited about LeMond. He's just selling the top American rider to his audience. When LeMond was out, they did it with Hampsten. One of my all time favorite riders, but he sure got a lot of coverage for a guy who was barely top 20 from 87-89.

 

[yetanothergreenworld]

I'm also very seriously looking for an alternative coverage for next year's Tour...

Thank God for justin.tv and cyclingfans.com . . . now you can watch the Tour in any language you want!

 

[Laszlo]

I don't think it's fair to fault Phil's commentary, as he does have a job to do and a big part of that if to hype it up for the casual viewer who tuned in to see Lance. We saw on the velonews live update constant streams of Lance stuff, and if they didn't mention him people would be asking where is Lance ? I think the where is Lance question probabally was asked a hundred times more than any other rider.

Ask on the street anyone to name two pro cyclists, you might get one or two to say "Lance Armstrong and uhhhh...."

 

[elapid]

Well, Bicycling Magazine asked their readers whether they could honestly name the 2008 TdF winner! So if this reflects the level of knowledge of your average cycling enthusiast, then the general public would know significantly less. But I wonder how much of the Versus audience is general public, ignorant bike enthusiasts, or knowledgeable like the majority on this forum? Universal may have hit the jackpot for the smaller audience of knowledgeable fans interested in races other than the TdF. Let's hope they cover the spring Classics as well.

 

[BikeCentric]

people dont like Kelly because of his dull matter of fact delivery, hard to understand accent but nobody calls it like he does, he is simply the best for true cycling fans.

Couldn't agree more. He never gets excited which I think is one thing people criticize him about but he's spot-on in all his analysis.

 

[BikeCentric]

Professional cycling has always been greater than any one individual. Merckx in the forward to a French book published on all the mountain climbs in the TdF states clearly that while he flew through mountain stages as though he were stronger than they, earlier in his career, they eventually reduce cyclists to who they really are - mere mortals while they continue to make and break careers. He sketches out the later failures as his career drew towards its inevitable conclusion.
It has to be observed that Mr LA is in the same situation and has to admit that time is no longer on his side and he is in the process of being reduced to what he is and this is nowhere near in sum total what Eddy and Bernard were as professional cyclists. Therefore, when he criticises Contador as he has done explicitly and by implication on several occasions, he has placed himself as a justified target for criticism himself.
It is evident that he agrees with the team ethos in cycling provided that he is the one who crosses the line first and wears the maillot of honour. Indeed, there is an "A" in TEAM & he thinks it is he who ought to be the centre of attention not his team mates. The images of him on the podium as third best in 2009 irked him endlessly as any psychologist can assess from the body language and his regards towards the victors crown borne by Alberto. His own words afterwards to journalists betray a man who was not really pleased with himself. His absence from the following festivities in the Astana team reveal much more than he is trying to allow us to understand. Thus, it is self-critical of Mr LA to accuse Contador of uttering 'drivel' and forgetting that cycling is team work of which he does neither. Mr LA should know that a good team mate would not make public comments about his team members that are transparently critical during a competition as he has done throughout the TdF this year about Alberto. Had anyone done this to him at US Postal or Discovery we can imagine the reaction from him.
Mr LA has himself attacked during tours that may not have been necessary and he has benefited from the tireless work of numerous teams on his behalf while assuming all the glory with few mentions of those around him who deserved more praise than he actually gave them publicly during his career. It is easy to go on about team work when it is all about one man winning but not so easy to swallow when the mountain you attempt to climb later in your career tells you that your day is over and it is the moment to yield with grace to the younger champion who is now your superior. He is not the only one either. There are others. Andy Schleck is clearly much better than him and once he has improved his time-trialing he will leave Mr LA in his wake on that day as he has done in the mountains.
Yes, Mr Armstrong, your day is done and it is the mountain top telling you to move over. There are others better and stronger than you who deserve the limelight because it is now their era. Yours is effectively done. Alberto has given you enough rope to hang yourself. Had you behaved with more discretion it is difficult to think he would have openly reviled your negative public acts of thoughtlessness towards him, after the Tour was finished as he has done. We can observe your actions and words during the TdF as they stand as a testimony against you where this is concerned. You have earned what you deserve. Your work for cancer sufferers may be worthy but your egoistical behaviour in cycling is not.
My advice to you is to build your new Radio Shack team around a younger cyclist who has championship potential, not yourself, and to desist from dragging us into your personality problems as you have done over the years, and the fact that you find it difficult to accept that the maillot jaune is no longer yours and never will be again.

This is some nice work right here.