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Will someone please shut Rob Hatch up......!!

May 11, 2022
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I love the coverage of cycling that GCN do but Rob Hatch is the worst commentator of the lot. It makes me want to cancel my account with GCN. He is utterly shocking...
 
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I never minded him early on, but in more recent times I suspect he's been told by those higher up to be more excitable, esp in the finales - so now he's starting to yell himself almost into Kirby territory, nowhere near as bad, but I have found myself muting him on some of the finishes lately. It might not be what he'd personally prefer though, who knows.
 
I never minded him early on, but in more recent times I suspect he's been told by those higher up to be more excitable, esp in the finales - so now he's starting to yell himself almost into Kirby territory, nowhere near as bad, but I have found myself muting him on some of the finishes lately. It might not be what he'd personally prefer though, who knows.

Hatch tries to make everything exciting even when it clearly is not. He needs to work on his banter/library of useless facts for boring flat stages.
I miss Kirby which is something I couldn't have imagined myself saying a year or so ago.
 
Hatch tries to make everything exciting even when it clearly is not. He needs to work on his banter/library of useless facts for boring flat stages.
I miss Kirby which is something I couldn't have imagined myself saying a year or so ago.
Yep. I liked Hatch several years ago but the last few years have been too much for me to handle in large doses. Did you know that the 2020 Giro had 17 "Ride of the Century"s? Or that 83% of the peloton is in the "Form of His Life"? Domestique for the rider 16th on GC gets a puncture with 137km to go on Stage 8, "Dearohdearohdearofdearohdearohdear!"
 
Yep. I liked Hatch several years ago but the last few years have been too much for me to handle in large doses. Did you know that the 2020 Giro had 17 "Ride of the Century"s? Or that 83% of the peloton is in the "Form of His Life"? Domestique for the rider 16th on GC gets a puncture with 137km to go on Stage 8, "Dearohdearohdearofdearohdearohdear!"

I really think that since GCN got more involved the producers/editors have introduced a house style which calls for more faux enthusiasm and much more Ineos.
Meanwhile their YouTube content is unwatchable unless you are a fan of Top Gear.
 
I really think that since GCN got more involved the producers/editors have introduced a house style which calls for more faux enthusiasm and much more Ineos.
Meanwhile their YouTube content is unwatchable unless you are a fan of Top Gear.
And then there's the non-English language streams that combine the best of both worlds. A great service for coverage and mostly really good commentators.
 
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I really think that since GCN got more involved the producers/editors have introduced a house style which calls for more faux enthusiasm and much more Ineos.
Meanwhile their YouTube content is unwatchable unless you are a fan of Top Gear.
It's the same with German Eurosport actually. Their coverage has become Bora TV just like RTL Germany's Formula 1 coverage used to be Michael Schumacher TV back in the day.

They probably want to reach the young tech affine generation with this who are more used to streaming thanks to Netflix & Co.

Problem is that exactly this generation below 35 actually is quite cosmopolitan. So they probably would prefer the more global coverage style Eurosport used to have in the TF1 days, talking about cycling and its stars in general rather than this nationalistic approach known from public TV. Especially winter sports in Germany for example.
 
My impression is that Hatch carries out the required role better than the rest of the personnel.
Hard to imagine Lloyd (for example) building the finishing excitement to exaltation.
Maybe it's the quality of his voice that some find disliking.

Discussions during the "empty" kilometers are a thing of experience, imo.
Forementioned Kirby must've seen and visited the places numerous times during his career which made him prepared. Affinities also play a role.

The broadcast director maps the path commentators follow. Assigning the roles properly shapes the viewing pleasure.
 
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I never minded him early on, but in more recent times I suspect he's been told by those higher up to be more excitable, esp in the finales - so now he's starting to yell himself almost into Kirby territory, nowhere near as bad, but I have found myself muting him on some of the finishes lately. It might not be what he'd personally prefer though, who knows.
It's the voice more than the content while with Kirby its the opposite............
 

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