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

[luckyboy]

Only real annoyances I have with Hatch is pronouncing Drone Hopper like an Italian would do (like, cmon they're English words lol...), and overreacting or being overly concerned over minor things – like some guys 9th in GC drops on a climb and he makes it sound like it's a major race-altering event.

Blythe doesn't add much but he's mostly harmless. McEwen is better talking about what's happening in the race. Both are good analysing the sprints. Lloyd seemingly just takes the piss out of his own career and offers less insight than Blythe.

 

[Sarden]

No, he pronounces them correctly.

He does not. I am a continental European, speak several languages and have lived in four European countries. The pronouncation is forced and over-the-top. The Italian is too Italian, a little cartoonish, even. The same goes for the French. It is dreadful to listen to. Someone trying too hard is always a little embarrasing, a little unpleasant, to listen to. I wish he’d go away.

 

[ciranda]

 

[johnymax]

He does not. I am a continental European, speak several languages and have lived in four European countries. The pronouncation is forced and over-the-top. The Italian is too Italian, a little cartoonish, even. The same goes for the French. It is dreadful to listen to. Someone trying too hard is always a little embarrasing, a little unpleasant, to listen to. I wish he’d go away.

How is "speaking too Italian" when speaking Italian a bad thing?

 

[Sarden]

How is "speaking too Italian" when speaking Italian a bad thing?

Imagine a Neapolitan speaking English and trying very, very hard to sound like Jacob Rees-Mogg ... but failing.

 

[Sarden]

@ciranda You clearly do not and have not ... so resort to petty mockery. How very English of you ...

 

[ciranda]

No no I can respect that as a fellow continental european I too speak several european languages but have only lived in two different european countries. But ok fair enough, it was a cheap shot. Pls change your user name to 'continental european'.

 

[JosefK]

Today, the forum is almost as fun as the race.

 

[Sarden]

No no I can respect that as a fellow continental european I too speak several european languages but have only lived in two different european countries. But ok fair enough, it was a cheap shot. Pls change your user name to 'continental european'.

You can't stop now, can you ...

 

[Big Doopie]

The former pros are generally good.

The pro commentators feel like they need fill up every second of their air time so they constantly make inane or inaccurate comments.

Liggett, however, is the absolute worst. Initially (decades ago) I thought it was because he was “dumbing it down” for the (at the time) ignorant English speaking audiences. It soon became apparent that he knew NOTHING about racing and over all these years he has made absolutely NO EFFORT at all to educate himself. He was also a massive purveyor of the Armstrong fraud as it lined his personal wallet. He is a despicable little man.

I would rather deal with stalling live streams than listen to that f$@cker ever again.

 

[Oscar]

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...

I am lucky to speak Spanish and can change the language. If Spanish were not available I would go for the ambient sound or any other language I can’t speak just to not hear that idiot.

 

[movingtarget]

Sean Kelly has the good sense to not even try to pronounce names properly..............it's all about the calculation.........

 

[normanzo]

Thank you OP, for starting this thread. Hatch turns up the affect on his voice so much, it's as if he thinks we are tuning into the race to listen to him as the main attraction. I've tolerated his obnoxious drama and volume for a long time, but after the first four stages of this year's Giro, I've tapped out... now switched over to Italian audio... even though I only have a smidge of traveler's Italian. Wow, what a relief! I'd rather watch a bike race while having a dentist drill on my teeth than listen to Hatch.

On positive reviews of commentators, I enjoy José Been and Matt Stephens to most.

 

[Potomac]

They have to talk about something for hours. Hatch does a decent job of it.

 

[Salvarani]

They have to talk about something for hours. Hatch does a decent job of it.

Must be the number one critera for the job.

"Can you talk for hours about random stuff, while nothing is happening in a race?"

That woman does a great job at that too. She is so good, she even forgets about the race.

 

[Squire]

As a non-continental European, I really appreciate Hatch's commentary.

He ticks all the boxes I need from a commentator: He can recognize riders, he generally understands what goes on in the race, he's not boring, insulting or repetitive and he doesn't needlessly talk about himself. I guess my tolerance for different commentators is a lot higher than most people here, as I really don't mind most of the GCN people. Even Blythe, who seems to get a lot of stick, is completely fine, I think. A bit of comic relief, and he makes some interesting observations of little things which only former riders can spot. There's only really one English commentator who doesn't tick any of my boxes, and who severely diminishes my enjoyment of the race.

As for Hatch's pronounciation of names, I don't mind him making an effort to get it somewhat correct. I find the extremely low effort in that area from a lot of English-speakers to be borderline disrespectful. But because that's the expectation when you hear native English speakers, it's sometimes not immediately obvious who Hatch is actually talking about when he tries to make for example a Danish name actually sound Danish with his slightly strange Danish pronounciation. You just have to re-wire your brain when he tries to make the name sound like it should instead of how a regular Englishman would say it. And while I don't mind his efforts, I do prefer the Premier League commentators' way, which is to get foreign names as correct as possible while using the 'tool box' of the English language.

 

[red_flanders]

I like Daniel Lloyd and José Been. I loved Hatch's enthusiasm at first, but it's starting to wear on me. It lacks dynamics, moving from soft to loud. If he did it when the race was exciting, great. But he'll make stuff like "Look at the big German moving up in the pack" sound like someone came back from death to win the Tour. Pick your spots, Rob and you'll be great.

Blythe is a complete moron. It's hard to believe he ever raced a bike. Not that anyone actually noticed.

 

[fmk_RoI]

I don't mind his efforts, I do prefer the Premier League commentators' way, which is to get foreign names as correct as possible while using the 'tool box' of the English language.

That is the way it should be done: respectful both to the person and the audience.

 

[tobydawq]

As a non-continental European, I really appreciate Hatch's commentary.

He ticks all the boxes I need from a commentator: He can recognize riders, he generally understands what goes on in the race, he's not boring, insulting or repetitive and he doesn't needlessly talk about himself. I guess my tolerance for different commentators is a lot higher than most people here, as I really don't mind most of the GCN people. Even Blythe, who seems to get a lot of stick, is completely fine, I think. A bit of comic relief, and he makes some interesting observations of little things which only former riders can spot. There's only really one English commentator who doesn't tick any of my boxes, and who severely diminishes my enjoyment of the race.

As for Hatch's pronounciation of names, I don't mind him making an effort to get it somewhat correct. I find the extremely low effort in that area from a lot of English-speakers to be borderline disrespectful. But because that's the expectation when you hear native English speakers, it's sometimes not immediately obvious who Hatch is actually talking about when he tries to make for example a Danish name actually sound Danish with his slightly strange Danish pronounciation. You just have to re-wire your brain when he tries to make the name sound like it should instead of how a regular Englishman would say it. And while I don't mind his efforts, I do prefer the Premier League commentators' way, which is to get foreign names as correct as possible while using the 'tool box' of the English language.

I like his pronunciation game. As a stark contrast you have Brian Nygaard on the Cycling Podcast who insists on pronouncing Mads Pedersen as if it was an English name - even though the guy is a Dane himself! And it's not like he tries to mangle Italian names into some English ridiculousness, so I don't really get what's going on there. Perhaps he is embarrassed of his own language?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Brian Nygaard is terrible IMO as an expert and a commentator on english or on danish. He ruined the Cycling Podcast for me, I always used to especially like their coverage of the Giro with primarily Daniel Friebe who obviously knows his stuff when it comes to Italy. Come to think about it, I actually almost exclusively listened to the Cycling Podcast recently during the Giro, but I can't bear Nygaard for whatever reasons, so Im not tuning in this year unfortunately. Its a step down from former glory IMO, they really had something unique, especially when it came to the Giro d' Italia.

A guy I'd absolutely love in the commentator booth would be Bastian Emil. He knows his cycling, of course he does, but when it comes to culture, history and simply just listening to his voice he's a league of his own at the moment in danish cycling. Hopefully he will get a bigger role relatively soon - the more of him the better, especially as I don't find the other commentators (Worre and Holm) too good. The comparison is almost too obvious to make, but he's a modern Jørgen Leth without flaws. I especially love him when he talks about the former and present greats of the sport or the extensive fascinating history lessons - would be terrific on especially the more mundane days.

 

[kingjr]

Thank you OP, for starting this thread. Hatch turns up the affect on his voice so much, it's as if he thinks we are tuning into the race to listen to him as the main attraction. I've tolerated his obnoxious drama and volume for a long time, but after the first four stages of this year's Giro, I've tapped out... now switched over to Italian audio... even though I only have a smidge of traveler's Italian. Wow, what a relief! I'd rather watch a bike race while having a dentist drill on my teeth than listen to Hatch.

On positive reviews of commentators, I enjoy José Been and Matt Stephens to most.

I can recommend the Dutch commentary, it's much less theatrical and declamatory than English (or German) commentary, in my experience. More relaxed, more silence, but at the same time paying more attention to the race. I learned to appreciate Dutch commentary back during the FIFA World Cup in 2006, when you could still watch NOS on German TV, and have had a weakness for them ever since. Though Mart Smeets was painfully arrogant, of course.
I think the French are quite good too, though I only understand about 50%, but they always seem to enjoy themselves a lot.

 

[tobydawq]

Brian Nygaard is terrible IMO as an expert and a commentator on english or on danish. He ruined the Cycling Podcast for me, I always used to especially like their coverage of the Giro with primarily Daniel Friebe who obviously knows his stuff when it comes to Italy. Come to think about it, I actually almost exclusively listened to the Cycling Podcast recently during the Giro, but I can't bear Nygaard for whatever reasons, so Im not tuning in this year unfortunately. Its a step down from former glory IMO, they really had something unique, especially when it came to the Giro d' Italia.

A guy I'd absolutely love in the commentator booth would be Bastian Emil. He knows his cycling, of course he does, but when it comes to culture, history and simply just listening to his voice he's a league of his own at the moment in danish cycling. Hopefully he will get a bigger role relatively soon - the more of him the better, especially as I don't find the other commentators (Worre and Holm) too good. The comparison is almost too obvious to make, but he's a modern Jørgen Leth without flaws. I especially love him when he talks about the former and present greats of the sport or the extensive fascinating history lessons - would be terrific on especially the more mundane days.

I agree on both parts. Nygaard thinks he is so clever but he is just so inferior to Friebe that it's almost humiliating. Also, for someone who is too snobbish to pronounce Danish names correctly, he has a terrible accent.

Friebe is probably my favourite voice in cycling, though, so I will stick to them but it was such a bummer that Lionel Birnie stayed at home during the Giro.

And yes, the original trio was something unique.

And Bastian Emil is just great, I especially like it when he shows glimpses of humour which shows that he is just much more capable and aware than Jørgen Leth. I recently finished reading his book from last year where he had written reportages (I don't know if this is the right English words) from all the biggest races. Amazing read, he really has a way with words, both written and spoken.

 

[Valv.Piti]

He thinks he's clever because he has some fancy philosopher's degree. Guess what, he's not, and on top of that he really comes with some completely boneheaded takes on cycling which exposes him completely.

Listening to Jesper Worre and Asbjørn Kragh in the studio compared to Bastian Emil is not even funny. The level is just so much different in every aspect honestly. He fits right in next to Bay, or at TV2 where Chris Anker left a big hole that nobody comes close to filling. Vinjebo is completely fine, Moberg is not, but Chris Anker was different. RIP!

He will get his time, but for now I guess this role is decent enough. I wonder if he has the drive to really go for it, because he could be the voice of cycling for the next 40 years in Denmark!

And just to make a relevant comment on Hatch since this is what the thread is for: I figure I too would dislike him in the long term due to his pronunciation and overexcitement, but I deal with it in very limited doses, and for that he's fine. I generally think though that the English speaking commentators are pretty thin on talent. The only one I really like is Magnus Backstedt.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Surprised it took until stage 6 for someone to complain about him. I actually think he's been great so far this giro.

 

[RedheadDane]

I generally think though that the English speaking commentators are pretty thin on talent. The only one I really like is Magnus Backstedt.

The only English speaking commentator you really like is... the Swede?