TOC Stage 1: Sunday, May 16 2010, Nevada City - Sacramento, 167.8km

[bobs nob]

Good news and bad news

Good news: I have cycling on my TV instead of grainy zapruder resolution streaming video.

Better News: The commentary is in English.

Bad news: It's The Shack.

Worse News: The English commentary is chamois sniffing LA/JB/RS propagandists.

Yawn.

I gotta go straighten up the fridge before wife gets home.....

Phil: Thanks for reminding me it's not a GT.

I hope these smaller budget teams can get some decent airtime.

Dear Lord, A LL b-roll profile.

I think I can go clean the toilets after I clean the fridge....

 

[Moondance]

Wow.... Those online commentators are bad.

"California is the biggest state, along with Texas"

Alaska anyone?

 

[hfer07]

ohh god- Phil & Paul are broadcasting what happened to Frankie?

 

[Moondance]

Who are Phil and Paul... Who you all apparantly so hate?

 

[bobs nob]

htc is a cell phone...aren't they

A bit ironic that the guy driving the car for htc can't hear Phil (no loss there) on his phone.

I am sure the sponsor is proud of the 'HTC Call of the Day'.

Poor bazdids

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I hope I never have to listen to Phil and Paul again. I'm actually looking for foreign feeds so I don't have to hear them. I hate them. Everything is so intelligence-insulting. It's all well and good to hear if you know nothing about cycling, but it's just hype-hype-Armstrong-thisisagrandtour-rinse-lather-repeat.

I would pay Eurosport the entire cost of my TV licence just for the privilege of having Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen NOT commentating on any races I see. The only good thing I can think of that they've done in the last umpteen years is Phil dubbing the commentary on the highlights of the Women's Ronde van Vlaanderen, and that was more to do with them actually showing women's cycling.

Paul Sherwen just claimed Luxembourg borders Switzerland. My brain hurts.

And the HTC Boredom Train is in operation. I hate HTC too, they suck all of the fun out of these races. Sprint stages are tedious at the best of times, and when they're utterly predictable they become tortuous.

I'm close to giving up on this race.

 

[bobs nob]

Who are Phil and Paul... Who you all apparantly so hate?

An analogy (or an attempted one at least) I think in the Book of Revelation, the antichrist has a yes man of some sort....they are Lance's chamois sniffing yes men...it's beyond bias...it's a crime.

 

[pedaling squares]

im busy playing the lance game.. how many times will the mention lance, armstrong, or lance armstrong in the first hour..

i thought about 22, but with only 2 mentions in the first 10 minutes i could be a bit out.

They've upped the pace. If this were a drinking game, you wouldn't be around for the sprint finish.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Go beyer! Listening to Phil and Paul crap on is hilarious!

 

[jaylew]

I've become so accustomed to watching cycling on a little computer screen. It's so awesome to be able to finally watch a race on a big screen in HD again - looks terrific! If only this was the Giro.

 

[Moondance]

I feel so uncool now... Everyone is in on the Phil and Paul Bash-Fest and I simply have no clue... Ohhh, creul Zeus, why was I born a non-Anglophone?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

So that you might actually be able to watch cycling without being driven into apoplectic rage by the douchebag commentators?

 

[Anonymous]

ive switched to the american feed just to laugh at tweedledum and tweedledee

its like commentary for 3 year olds..lets think of something really obvious and talk about it.. like erm.. armstrong is eating..

and im not sure winning the points competition in romandie makes you a "revelation"

 

[bobs nob]

I feel so uncool now... Everyone is in on the Phil and Paul Bash-Fest and I simply have no clue... Ohhh, creul Zeus, why was I born a non-Anglophone?

Just be happy in this bit of good fortune. I am sure there is soul crushing idiocy in your own culture that we have no ability to identify with.

 

[The Sheep]

So that you might actually be able to watch cycling without being driven into apoplectic rage by the douchebag commentators?

Don't worry we have the senile Mart Smeets

 

[Dr. Maserati]

They've upped the pace. If this were a drinking game, you wouldn't be around for the sprint finish.

Ya- I was thinking that before I got the stream up and running........ LA got mentioned within the first 10 seconds.
I think I would be shitfaced by the end.

Having said the quality of the 'tracker' and the feed is excellent.

 

[Moondance]

So that you might actually be able to watch cycling without being driven into apoplectic rage by the douchebag commentators?

Meh... I don't know exactly how bad these guys are, I only listen for a couple of minutes at a time when Dutch Eurosport decides they need to make money (so different than watching the races, as I usually can do, on public television), but the commentary team in my native tongue I'm listening to can't be much better. I am of course a spoiled brat in this regard since I'm used to amazing comentary team that VRT Een puts on with Sporza....

 

[Moondance]

Don't worry we have the senile Mart Smeets

What?!? You actually watch the races on Nederland 1? Don't you get the VRT where you live? They always have great commentary.

 

[santacruz]

Do you guys have any suggestions for what to shout at some of the riders? My GF and I wanted to yell at the riders coming up Bonny Doon rd, and I was hoping to shout some specific comments... definitely going to have her shout for Cozza to give her a mustache ride, lol.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you guys have any suggestions for what to shout at some of the riders? My GF and I wanted to yell at the riders coming up Bonny Doon rd, and I was hoping to shout some specific comments... definitely going to have her shout for Cozza to give her a mustache ride, lol.

how about "lance your a $^£&*^ $£^&^& $£&&("

 

[The Sheep]

What?!? You actually watch the races on Nederland 1? Don't you get the VRT where you live? They always have great commentary.

Sporza FTW but sometimes I hear him during the sport journaal

 

[theyoungest]

What?!? You actually watch the races on Nederland 1? Don't you get the VRT where you live? They always have great commentary.

Sporza is a bit overrated, IMO. During the Giro it's ok, with Schotte and De Cauwer. But with Wuyts and Vannieuwkerke the chauvinism is just too much to bear.

Eurosport switched to English commentary, that's what I use most.

 

[bobs nob]

Shout "Which one of you is Alberto!!!???"

 

[The Sheep]

Do you guys have any suggestions for what to shout at some of the riders? My GF and I wanted to yell at the riders coming up Bonny Doon rd, and I was hoping to shout some specific comments... definitely going to have her shout for Cozza to give her a mustache ride, lol.

allez allez allez

venga venga venga

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Meh... I don't know exactly how bad these guys are, I only listen for a couple of minutes at a time when Dutch Eurosport decides they need to make money (so different than watching the races, as I usually can do, on public television), but the commentary team in my native tongue I'm listening to can't be much better. I am of course a spoiled brat in this regard since I'm used to amazing comentary team that VRT Een puts on with Sporza....

Worse than anything. Their commentary consists of inane blather, Lance chamois-sniffing, recycling the hype of the race whole, telling us all about how brilliant the race is, how all the big stars are here, how all these Anglophone riders are going to be world-beaters, and then some nonsense for tourist boards, then back to Armstrong, then pretending the breakaway have a chance (they were screaming 'André Greipel is LOSING THIS BIKE RACE!' when people in a breakaway were in virtual ochre in the Tour Down Under), talking about it being good for sprinters, then insisting that the GC riders will be fighting for the seconds on the final stage...