Unofficial I hate Versus thread

[runninboy]

the other night the late replay signed off with
"and i m Craig Hummer"
straight into "Male enhancement..."


all the promos are ridiculous especially fanarchy, i fell asleep during the tour only to be awakened by some fat jack a$$ claiming poker is a sport....
then i see the same tool belittling the tour because they are riding bikes.
These are not fans just a bunch of network employees
idiots

 

[palmerq]

I thought i wouldnt find any professional commentators as biased as Ian Wright was when he did the england games for the bbc, but versus is quite amazing :S bob roll especially, I´m just amazed by them, it´s the first time I´ve not watched cycilng on eurosport. I have to admit though the actual coverage is very good, better than eurosports anyway but the presenting team are awful compared to eurosport.

Lucky i wake up after they´ve finished talking in the studio, and it´s still quite early in the morning here so i have the volume down low so I dont hear so much, and then I usually go back to sleep for a bit after the stage is done, so I miss most of them talking( i doubt i miss much).

I think if lance has a terrible day on saturday they still be saying how he rose to the occassion, before a mass suicide.

 

[Bala Verde]

Let's give credit where credit is due...


tomorrow's stage will have 60m commercial free viewing time, because it is *ratata ratata ratata*

the Mont Ventoux...

hear hear


(I guess they are putting the minutes in today though

 

[Boleyn]

I thought i wouldnt find any professional commentators as biased as Ian Wright was when he did the england games for the bbc, but versus is quite amazing :S bob roll especially, I´m just amazed by them, it´s the first time I´ve not watched cycilng on eurosport. I have to admit though the actual coverage is very good, better than eurosports anyway but the presenting team are awful compared to eurosport.

Lucky i wake up after they´ve finished talking in the studio, and it´s still quite early in the morning here so i have the volume down low so I dont hear so much, and then I usually go back to sleep for a bit after the stage is done, so I miss most of them talking( i doubt i miss much).

I think if lance has a terrible day on saturday they still be saying how he rose to the occassion, before a mass suicide.

Bob Roll was complaining yesterday that he hadn't picked up any points the last couple of days for their Stage picks. Duh, Bob, you keep picking Armstrong!!

I liked his "Top 7 Climbers" list for Verbier. Armstrong was number 1 (of course) and was beaten by 5 of the 6 Bob picked below him - only VdV didn't finish higher on the Verbier!!

Of course, for yesterday's TT Armstrong was THE man to beat, according to Bob.

 

[Boleyn]

Let's give credit where credit is due...


tomorrow's stage will have 60m commercial free viewing time, because it is *ratata ratata ratata*

the Mont Ventoux...

hear hear


(I guess they are putting the minutes in today though

Ah, but they're probably saving the "Human Interest Stories" for that hour.

The first couple of hours they will probably have "Racing Breaks" amongst the commercials.

 

[Bala Verde]

Ah, but they're probably saving the "Human Interest Stories" for that hour.

The first couple of hours they will probably have "Racing Breaks" amongst the commercials.

Like I was seeing Danny Pate's atlete's profile right now, which basically offered nothing. It would have been nice if they actually elaborated on the man behind the cyclist Pate, or at a minimum, the cyclist Pate himself in a little more than 25s.

I love the race breaks though, they make the ads really interesting...

 

[Boleyn]

Like I was seeing Danny Pate's atlete's profile right now, which basically offered nothing. It would have been nice if they actually elaborated on the man behind the cyclist Pate, or at a minimum, the cyclist Pate himself in a little more than 25s.

I love the race breaks though, they make the ads really interesting...

Today is a day I wouldn't mind the coverage - as it would mean I was not at work! Unfortunately, the firewall here stops all streaming video.

 

[VeloGirl]

Today is a day I wouldn't mind the coverage - as it would mean I was not at work! Unfortunately, the firewall here stops all streaming video.

Even the versus live stream? My work has a heavy duty firewall as well - but for some reason, I have been able to watch the Versus live stream the entire Tour.

I don't have access to any other live stream.

 

[Parrot23]

Various options here (one or other usually work):

http://cyclingfans.com/

http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/#live

 

[fatandfast]

The reason cycling is in the tank in the US is nobody cares about guys who are 3 hours off the back.VS has back stories about guy who are surprise finishers not winners.Without Lance the Gila would have been canned,Phili dodged the bullet with a couple of banks stepping up in the 11th hour.VS is again showing that without Lance we are done. Rock and Ouch is what we are left with without Hindcappie and Armstrong.Now they are comparing Formula 1 with pro cycling,we are lost.Please take Beckham back so we can begin to heal as a country.Let the rebuilding begin at Radio Shack.

 

[Pursuit]

To All you complainers

STOP COMPLAINING. Don't you remember the days of only 30 minutes of coveraged on Wide World of Sports, for three Sundays.??? My goodness give it a rest and go for a ride!!

Maybe there are better stations in Europe, so what!!

Enough Enough Enough!!!

The coverage is good. Daily coverage at that!! Go ahead complain some more...maybe the people at VS will see your stupid ignorant ranting and say.."hey can't make them happy when we carry it, so lets have some more Monster truck shows, and not carry it at all"....


I mean if anything...write them thanks!!!!

 

[TRDean]

The reason cycling is in the tank in the US is nobody cares about guys who are 3 hours off the back.VS has back stories about guy who are surprise finishers not winners.Without Lance the Gila would have been canned,Phili dodged the bullet with a couple of banks stepping up in the 11th hour.VS is again showing that without Lance we are done. Rock and Ouch is what we are left with without Hindcappie and Armstrong.Now they are comparing Formula 1 with pro cycling,we are lost.Please take Beckham back so we can begin to heal as a country.Let the rebuilding begin at Radio Shack.

I personally think that is BS. Vs is showing nothing of the sort. They are utilizing Lance to make money period. It is like Lance has them by the singe of their collective goodie sacks!!! Rebuilding begin...WTF are you talking about? Garmin ring a bell? Columbia? Lance will not save cycling in the US...in the US cycling is what it is...it will never be Europe...so quit thinking it might be.

 

[TRDean]

STOP COMPLAINING. Don't you remember the days of only 30 minutes of coveraged on Wide World of Sports, for three Sundays.??? My goodness give it a rest and go for a ride!!

Maybe there are better stations in Europe, so what!!

Enough Enough Enough!!!

The coverage is good. Daily coverage at that!! Go ahead complain some more...maybe the people at VS will see your stupid ignorant ranting and say.."hey can't make them happy when we carry it, so lets have some more Monster truck shows, and not carry it at all"....


I mean if anything...write them thanks!!!!

Why not complain? I agree at least there is some coverage...but it is so biased it is not even funny!! Even the Lance Armstrong fans would have to agree there!!! So complain I will!!!! And by the way how many times do you miss the good moves during a commercial? Too many!!!

 

[Boleyn]

Even the versus live stream? My work has a heavy duty firewall as well - but for some reason, I have been able to watch the Versus live stream the entire Tour.

I don't have access to any other live stream.

Nope. Not even VS.

 

[Boleyn]

Various options here (one or other usually work):

http://cyclingfans.com/

http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/#live

I use Steephill at home, but here at work they don't work.

 

[Boleyn]

Why not complain? I agree at least there is some coverage...but it is so biased it is not even funny!! Even the Lance Armstrong fans would have to agree there!!! So complain I will!!!! And by the way how many times do you miss the good moves during a commercial? Too many!!!

Or during the Special Interest stories and the non-stop Armstrong interviews.

 

[BroDeal]

STOP COMPLAINING. Don't you remember the days of only 30 minutes of coveraged on Wide World of Sports, for three Sundays.??? My goodness give it a rest and go for a ride!!

Remember the time when wheels were made out of rock. You could not go down to Big O Tires and buy a new wheel. You had to find a block of stone, roll it miles over tundra and ice to your cave, and spend a week chiseling a wheel out of it yourself. There were no rubber tires either. We had to use bear skins stuffed with dried grass. And believe you me, if your tire failed and you forgot your bear club, you were in trouble. The wheels did not work that well, but it was all we had; and we liked it. So all you whippersnappers, with your new fangled smoke signals and that infernal loud music, should stop complaining

 

[Bala Verde]

STOP COMPLAINING. Don't you remember the days of only 30 minutes of coveraged on Wide World of Sports, for three Sundays.??? My goodness give it a rest and go for a ride!!

No, always lived in Europe, so cycling coverage was never really a problem

Maybe there are better stations in Europe, so what!!

Every single one of them. To me, it's just funny an sad (for the fans, and development of a stronger cycling fanbase) to see that they can't replicate that in the US.

Enough Enough Enough!!!

It's the official I hate Versus thread. What would you expect to find here. When you tune in to CSPAN you can't expect to find dirty adult movies either right?

The coverage is good. Daily coverage at that!! Go ahead complain some more...maybe the people at VS will see your stupid ignorant ranting and say.."hey can't make them happy when we carry it, so lets have some more Monster truck shows, and not carry it at all"....

I actually think they do follow it here and there, because at the start of the TdF, I believe they did not have a commercial free 30m at the end...

Perhaps complaining helps a little... In 10 years from now, they might be on a par with Europe's stations.

 

[Anonymous]

Remember the time when wheels were made out of rock. You could not go down to Big O Tires and buy a new wheel. You had to find a block of stone, roll it miles over tundra and ice to your cave, and spend a week chiseling a wheel out of it yourself. There were no rubber tires either. We had to use bear skins stuffed with dried grass. And believe you me, if your tire failed and you forgot your bear club, you were in trouble. The wheels did not work that well, but it was all we had; and we liked it. So all you whippersnappers, with your new fangled smoke signals and that infernal loud music, should stop complaining

Classic Bro, freaking CLASSIC!

 

[Bala Verde]

The quality ads do give me enough time to fire up the Bialetti and brew a fine cup of espresso...

 

[TRDean]

I'm sick of seeing Danica Patrick tell me "yea I get in peoples faces I deserve respect" "strapped to a missle" She can rot in a sack!!

 

[saphblue]

Lance will not save cycling in the US...in the US cycling is what it is...it will never be Europe...so quit thinking it might be.

This is true. If people didn't care to tune in when Hincapie, Levi, and other Americans were riding well during Lance's first retirement, what evidence is there that they'll continue to tune in after Lance's second retirement? I was talking to a group of women who are watching the Tour for the first time ever because they're inspired by Lance. Two of them are breast cancer survivors. From talking to them it was pretty clear that they didn't care about the sport. They wanted Lance to win because it gave them inspiration as cancer survivors. Once Lance is out of the picture they won't give another thought to cycling. And, there's nothing wrong with that. I don't know how Versus or Lance is going to turn a "I only watch for Lance" or "I only care about US teams" fan into a general cycling fan. If it didn't happen over 7 years, I don't know what will make it happen. I think cycling is destined to be a niche sport in the US.

I think the Versus coverage is OK given the alternative. I'd love to be able to listen to the Eurosport audio and watch Versus video, but that hasn't always worked. We just try to tune out the Lance obsession stuff as much as we can or get a laugh out of P & P's earnestness. To be honest, I'm not sure that Versus is really after the hardcore racing fans. From Versus' perspective, they're giving the large number of viewers tuning in primarily to watch Lance what they want. And for the non-casual viewers, at least we can have a chuckle at Bob predicting stage wins for Lance and always being wrong.

 

[Bala Verde]

This is true. If people didn't care to tune in when Hincapie, Levi, and other Americans were riding well during Lance's first retirement, what evidence is there that they'll continue to tune in after Lance's second retirement?

I still think that quality coverage, unbiased and still enthusiastic commentary, expert input, could make a difference.

Perhaps it's comparable to having a good and a bad teacher in a class of kids who still have a lot to learn. A good teacher is capable of winning over the 'hearts and minds' of the students, they can make a very difficult subject or course interesting, fun, as wel as educational. The high entry requirements could be off putting at first, but once you've given it a chance, and have been sucked in, you'd never want to miss a class.

For the already 'educated' cycling fans, the high quality will keep them glued to the screen.

Now, no one learns anything and the ones that are already inducted, are disappointed as well...

The improved coverage could actually increase the 'small US' cycling fanbase, and turn it into a something to stay, and in effect, becomes an entity with a 'demand', a market force, ie is capitalisable. Why would anyone invest in cycling, as much of the fanbase disappears after the TdF is over?

 

[**Uru**]

I have been trying to DVR the live Versus coverage every day but I must have forgot to set the DVR for the time trial. I was forced to watch the expanded coverage. Having been spoiled being able to fast forward through commercials and filler, I found the expanded coverage unwatchable. There was far too little actual coverage of the racing. Seems the producer of "Pros vs. Joes" is now the producer of VS TdF evening show.

 

[TRDean]

I have been trying to DVR the live Versus coverage every day but I must have forgot to set the DVR for the time trial. I was forced to watch the expanded coverage. Having been spoiled being able to fast forward through commercials and filler, I found the expanded coverage unwatchable. There was far too little actual coverage of the racing. Seems the producer of "Pros vs. Joes" is now the producer of VS TdF evening show.

Darn if your not spot on!!