Unofficial I hate Versus thread

[Anonymous]

How about we keep a running tally of idiotic things Phil Ligget says.

From Saturday:

Phil: L.L. Sanchez in the start house now, time trialing not one of his strong points.

Paul: Actually he was the time trial champion of Spain last year.

(Later, as Cancellara was on course)

Phil: The descent is very technical and not well suited to Cancellara's abilities.

(Paul, maybe out of embarrassment, simply commentates as Cancellara destroys the "technical" descent).

Phil mis-identified the second rider on the course yesterday. The SECOND FREAKING RIDER. I am guessing that he had access to the same list of riders and start times we were all privy to, but for some reason chose to try the "look at the guy in the helmet and sunglasses" and try to ID that way. Bad choice.

 

[Christian]

Dude! You need to calm the "eff" down! I am in no way trying to attack you personally or your nationality in general, as for you, I can't help but feel that might be what you're trying to do. I love the US, man! Had some great times there, been there a long time, plus my girlfriend is American. I'd love to go cycling over there some time - Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, Crater Lake ... roads don't get much better than that!

Wheen I said I am "condescending when it comes to cycling" - that was self-irony. It meant to make fun of the attitude many Europeans have toward US citizens. I did say it sounds funny when Americans pronounce French names, but I said the same thing about Germans and about French people pronouncing American names! Everyone's got an accent, even in their own language. Take Laurent Jalabert and Laurent Fignon for example!

As for the 24 hour system (often refered to as "military time"), I'm not going to take that back. I still find it more logical, but at the same time I don't feel "superior" to people who prefer the 12/12 system! That's just as you like it, or maybe what you grew up with and what you're used to!

Let's all be friends and not jeopardize the newly-strengthened transatlantic friendship by argueing about am and pm! Plus, I might add, I already liked the US when President Bush was still in office, and I continue liking the US wiith President Obama.

Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light ...

 

[Anonymous]

Dude! You need to calm the "eff" down! I am in no way trying to attack you personally or your nationality in general, as for you, I can't help but feel that might be what you're trying to do. I love the US, man! Had some great times there, been there a long time, plus my girlfriend is American. I'd love to go cycling over there some time - Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, Crater Lake ... roads don't get much better than that!

Wheen I said I am "condescending when it comes to cycling" - that was self-irony. It meant to make fun of the attitude many Europeans have toward US citizens. I did say it sounds funny when Americans pronounce French names, but I said the same thing about Germans and about French people pronouncing American names! Everyone's got an accent, even in their own language. Take Laurent Jalabert and Laurent Fignon for example!

As for the 24 hour system (often refered to as "military time"), I'm not going to take that back. I still find it more logical, but at the same time I don't feel "superior" to people who prefer the 12/12 system! That's just as you like it, or maybe what you grew up with and what you're used to!

Let's all be friends and not jeopardize the newly-strengthened transatlantic friendship by argueing about am and pm! Plus, I might add, I already liked the US when President Bush was still in office, and I continue liking the US wiith President Obama.

Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLvCM4j2mg

Sorry, I have a button attached to "Someone from Europe presumes all Americans are ignorant xenophobes with little to know knowledge of anything outside of McDonalds and cheap wine" and it has a hair trigger.

Forgive me.

 

[Parrot23]

How about we keep a running tally of idiotic things Phil Ligget says.

From Saturday:

Phil: L.L. Sanchez in the start house now, time trialing not one of his strong points.

Paul: Actually he was the time trial champion of Spain last year.

(Later, as Cancellara was on course)

Phil: The descent is very technical and not well suited to Cancellara's abilities.

(Paul, maybe out of embarrassment, simply commentates as Cancellara destroys the "technical" descent).

I've noticed this the last few years. Phil looks a crotchety fellow and could be acerbic, so Paul has to be careful.

Except when Paul gets to guys "turning themselves inside out" stuff, pandering to heroics etc.

Then I'm ready to switch to the BBC: someone could ride off a cliff, and they would say, "Slight technical malfunction, etc. Tally ho, all in a good day's work. Ready for some tea, now."

 

[Christian]

Eh, no problem.

Here's a little slide show I did of where I used to live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsEuCYO-nQM

 

[marinoni]

Yes, but remember the old days?

I agree with pretty much all the criticisms- the lance icon, the simplistic coverage, and I'd like to punch Bob Roll in the nose. Repeatedly. However, I do try to remember what Tour coverage used to be like. In the 80's it consisted of 1hr highlight packages on the weekend. Then for several years it was a half hour pkg on TSN and ESPN. In Canada it was on at 10:30pm and often was delayed by a baseball game going long. One of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced in cycling was the saturday morning 8yrs ago when OLN brought us the Tour live for the first time. So yeah, Versus sucks but I'll still take it over the old days.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with pretty much all the criticisms- the lance icon, the simplistic coverage, and I'd like to punch Bob Roll in the nose. Repeatedly. However, I do try to remember what Tour coverage used to be like. In the 80's it consisted of 1hr highlight packages on the weekend. Then for several years it was a half hour pkg on TSN and ESPN. In Canada it was on at 10:30pm and often was delayed by a baseball game going long. One of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced in cycling was the saturday morning 8yrs ago when OLN brought us the Tour live for the first time. So yeah, Versus sucks but I'll still take it over the old days.

Yea, I remember going to get the AJC to pick out the stage top 10 from the box scores. There MIGHT be a short 1 inch worth of "coverage." but maybe not even that. I didn't have TV in the late 80's and early 90's...

 

[grimpeur]

I'm watching day 2 recap on Versus... Will someone please bulldoze the Versus set with all of them on board?

 

[Cobblestones]

I agree with pretty much all the criticisms- the lance icon, the simplistic coverage, and I'd like to punch Bob Roll in the nose. Repeatedly. However, I do try to remember what Tour coverage used to be like. In the 80's it consisted of 1hr highlight packages on the weekend. Then for several years it was a half hour pkg on TSN and ESPN. In Canada it was on at 10:30pm and often was delayed by a baseball game going long. One of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced in cycling was the saturday morning 8yrs ago when OLN brought us the Tour live for the first time. So yeah, Versus sucks but I'll still take it over the old days.

There was a time not so long ago without cameras on motorcycles. Only stationary ones on the top of the cols and other crucial places such as the finish line (and none of those live). You got most information from reading the newspaper the day after. Everything is better than the good old days. But that's not really a high bar either.

 

[Cobblestones]

You're wrong, stones--sorry.

Since Contador is represented by the KOM jersey right now, it can't be him. So it obviously must refer to the next best placed Astana rider: Andreas Kloden, of course.

Mr. Tibbs, thanks. You have figured it out.

Now, someone told me the Astana kit stands for Lance. That would make sense as well. How should we keep track of him otherwise? It's not that he will wear any of the other 4 jerseys this year.

 

[Anonymous]

There was a time not so long ago without cameras on motorcycles. Only stationary ones on the top of the cols and other crucial places such as the finish line (and none of those live). You got most information from reading the newspaper the day after. Everything is better than the good old days. But that's not really a high bar either.

Yea, I want lipstick cameras (or smaller, VR technology whichever) on every rider's helmet so we can tune in to whatever view we want. Maybe one under the seat shooting aft with a sticker just in front so that the sponsors will get their time. All of this copter cam and moto cam stuff is soooooooo 2006. Give me real time HR and wattage info along with GPS fixes on everyone year long. I want information my way.

 

[runninboy]

at least VS got rid of that blonde bimbo from a few years ago, Gumm i think it was, Bobke drooled all over her. Now she is doing some stupid show on the travel channel doing the same squealing & bad dialogue, so that is ONE thing VS got right they got rid of her.

 

[runninboy]

but Paul really needs to lose the "completely & utterly"
it is like nails on a chalkboard, but would make a good beer chuggin game

 

[Cobblestones]

at least VS got rid of that blonde bimbo from a few years ago, Gumm i think it was, Bobke drooled all over her. Now she is doing some stupid show on the travel channel doing the same squealing & bad dialogue, so that is ONE thing VS got right they got rid of her.

Then there was Al Trautlip. He went to women's gymnastics. He probably thought it was a step up.

 

[Kennf1]

at least VS got rid of that blonde bimbo from a few years ago, Gumm i think it was, Bobke drooled all over her. Now she is doing some stupid show on the travel channel doing the same squealing & bad dialogue, so that is ONE thing VS got right they got rid of her.

Oh come on, she was great eye candy! No one cared what she was saying!

 

[Benneth]

As a Brit who has spent the last 13 months in North America I feel compelled to post on this thread. I grew up on Channel 4's old TdF coverage before it switched to ITV, and I've always thought both were pretty decent so it was a bit frustrating to follow the race on Versus last year, but at the same time I was glad just to catch the race.

In June of last year the Mrs and I went on a 5 week backpacking trip to Hawai'i... which was good, although the place isnt quite as amazing as a lot of people think it is, and also more expensive than I ever imagined. Anyway that's another story.... but by mid July we were running out of cash so admitted failure and headed for the cheapest hotels in the place which are in Waikiki. The luxury of TV was all the more exciting when I realised I could follow the Tour on Versus, which wasnt a channel I had ever heard of at the time, and actually see some action rather than relying on snippets of information gained from short sessions in extortionate internet cafes.

Although... due to our financial restrictions at the time we couldnt afford a hotel that actually had Versus in their in-room channel lineup.... so I was forced into the grotty hotel bar to catch the daily coverage. So commenced a daily battle with an Asian chap who ran the bar, who obviously was not impressed with me waiting outside for his opening time, to then come in and ask for a small coke to see me through my daily 2 hour stay to watch a sport he clearly had no time for. I was chuffed just to see the race, but day by day it became more uncomfortable, mainly due to the incredibly frequent commercial breaks and the fact that I wasnt allowed any sound on the TV (although that might have been a blessing reading some comments on this thread), and also the odd occasion when I got the time difference wrong and turned up at the wrong time to see the race, having to then make an awkward exit. But the long silences were the worst during commercial breaks... which seemed to get more and more frequent towards the end of each stage? I suppose that's American TV for you. Anyway it was tough going... I dont think anyone in history has made a glass of coke last so long. By the end though I did manage to crack a smile from my barman friend, although that might have been when I announced I was leaving in the morning and wouldnt be back.

This year I'm in Canada, and I dont even have the right channel for the coverage, but thankfully I've mastered the world of torrent downloading and I'm back to good old Phil and Paul on ITV, which is a welcome relief even despite Phil sounding more and more like Murray Walker every year.

Happy days

It has to be said in Versus' favour though that from what I have heard they do cover an awful lot of cycling throughout the season which is brilliant, I'm not aware of any channel in the UK that could compete with that.

 

[Azdak6]

And people who complain about other people complaining should get two lives.

If you had to put up with Versus then you would be hatin' it too. It represents everything that has gone wrong with television in the U.S. It caters to the lowest common denominator. They have reduced the actual content down to the barest minimum that people will put up with; and every year as people get desensitized to how bad it is, they make it a little worse. It is flash over substance.

The channel also represents the homogenization of all television. Channels that used to cater to a small niche have expanded their offerings until there is little difference between what used to be unique channels. Thus the Arts and Entertainment channel now features reality shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter and some garbage about Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. They used to show Masterpiece theater-type content. The Sci Fi channel shows professional wrestling. The Biography channel runs movies like Rocky. OLN shows Jean Claude Van Damme movies. And MTV stopped playing music.

U.S. Olympic coverage is traditionally bad, but it is the work of Martin Scorcese compared to Michael Bay when judged against sports coverage on Versus.

And that is what grinds my gears. I should have put this in the "general" forum.

And it gets harder and harder to keep them damn' kids off the front lawn!!

Based on your complaints, you would appear to be old enough to remember CBS coverage of the Tour during the 1980s.

Versus is no worse--and it's live, and this year it's in HD.

For American coverage of cycling, that's about as good as it's going to get.

And as much as I like some of the programs on Universal Sports, the picture "quality" looks like they are shooting coverage with a cell-phone video camera. Oh well, anything that keeps Dwight Stones off of welfare...........

 

[Azdak6]

I hate them because they have a little Astana jersey icon listed along with the yellow, green, polka dot and white jerseys. Which means when Lance gets dropped we'll have a nifty little icon (along with at least one dedicated camera) tracking his progress (or lack thereof). Yay us!

OK, you got me there--that is pretty sick. When he gets dropped, will they move it farther and farther away from the other jerseys?

 

[Azdak6]

WTF does this have to do with cycling?

I find it's best to just leave some pudding on the table and back slowly out of the room.

 

[Azdak6]

Do I sense some jealousy in that remark? Sorry, I just got am and pm mixed up. I meant 11 am of course. That happens when you're used to the 24-hour instead of the 12/12 hour system ... which is much more logical by the way BUT we're not going to argue about that.

Anyways, I've been reading some complaints about how Versus only focuses on Lance, but let me tell you that unfortunately, this is no different in Europe. Eurosport has a show called "Planet Armstrong" where they tread important subjects such as "Why does Lance always wear black socks?", and during the TT yesterday, France 2 (remember how much the French loathe Lance) had a special camera positioned on him when he was riding a bit on the stationary bike after he finished his race. Every five minutes, they went: What is he doing now? Anything happen down there? No, guess not. Nothing yet ... What about now?? Did he say anything yet? We're gonna check back in a minute, then ...
Actually made me switch to RTL Letzebuerg, can you imagine?

As goofy as it was (French TV following Armstrong and ignoring Leipheimer), I did enjoy seeing most of the TT course from end to end--I found it actually made it easier to figure out where other riders were on the course during the later coverage.

 

[Azdak6]

I agree with pretty much all the criticisms- the lance icon, the simplistic coverage, and I'd like to punch Bob Roll in the nose. Repeatedly. However, I do try to remember what Tour coverage used to be like. In the 80's it consisted of 1hr highlight packages on the weekend. Then for several years it was a half hour pkg on TSN and ESPN. In Canada it was on at 10:30pm and often was delayed by a baseball game going long. One of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced in cycling was the saturday morning 8yrs ago when OLN brought us the Tour live for the first time. So yeah, Versus sucks but I'll still take it over the old days.

I still have some video tapes I made of the CBS shows from 86-90. Because of the way they edited the summary coverage with the same day coverage on the weekend shows, going back 20 years it can really get confusing sometimes. The commercials are great, though.

Every time I watch the 1989 time trial, I still can't believe Lemond won.

And I still can't forgive my ex-wife for taping over the first 2 weeks of the 1986 TdF with Andrew and Fergie's wedding.

 

[BroDeal]

And it gets harder and harder to keep them damn' kids off the front lawn!!

Based on your complaints, you would appear to be old enough to remember CBS coverage of the Tour during the 1980s.

Versus is no worse--and it's live, and this year it's in HD.

For American coverage of cycling, that's about as good as it's going to get.

No, it is not.

It does not matter that we had to watch weekend shows CBS or half hour updates on ESPN twenty and ten years ago. Just as it does no matter that Google did not exist twenty years ago. Technology changes.

The golden age of cycling coverage in the U.S. was six or seven years ago. Coverage is worse now than it was back then. Sometimes things really do get worse. Coverage will get a lot better as Internet streaming improves. Picture quality is currently low quality but the audio is decent. The Giro streaming this year was better than any coverage we have had in the U.S. aside from those few years of OLN's heyday. Streamed audio with a muted Versus is a far superior product than watching AND listening to Versus. Give it five or so years and available Internet coverage will be radically improved.

The overall quality of cable TV in general has gotten so bad in the U.S. that a good argument can be made that a Netflix subscription is not only cheaper but provides a better product. At some point we may hit the same type of transition that we saw with mobile phones and land lines. How many people people do not bother even getting a land line these days? I don't have a home one. At that point of transition the situation will improve considerably.

 

[Azdak6]

Yea, I want lipstick cameras (or smaller, VR technology whichever) on every rider's helmet so we can tune in to whatever view we want. Maybe one under the seat shooting aft with a sticker just in front so that the sponsors will get their time. All of this copter cam and moto cam stuff is soooooooo 2006. Give me real time HR and wattage info along with GPS fixes on everyone year long. I want information my way.

This may be the only thing you have ever written that I agree with. I would like to see the guys who do NASCAR set up the coverage for the TdF. I thought some of the online GPS stuff for the Tour of California was pretty good, although it wasn't always consistent.

 

[Bala Verde]

Genius!

Mediocrity gets rewarded in the pre-show... Passing out the symbolic yellow jersey to a - professional - commentator who picks an obvious favorite to win a stage.

 

[BroDeal]

Genius!

Mediocrity gets rewarded in the pre-show... Passing out the symbolic yellow jersey to a - professional - commentator who picks an obvious favorite to win a stage.

Remember a few years ago when Sherwin would base his picks on careful consideration of how certain riders would have the greatest chance of winning on that day's course. Trautwig would always pick Boonen or one of the few other cyclists he knew by name. Trautwig was kicking everyone else's behind. I thought it was funny how he lorded his lead in the competition over the rest of them.