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crazy-legs.
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July 25, 2014 at 10:38 am #21988
ray silvester
Further on from Ghedebrav’s idea to spot the stupid sayings of ITV commentators Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett i wonder how many of these they can knock off today?
My famous formula of 1 min per 10k
Nesting Vultures
My old team La redoute
The big Queenslander
Cav’s old Leadout man
Since the days of Pulidor and Anquetil
He was a great mountain biker
Fuglsang’s bandages
Flag of Wales flying for Geraint Thomas
feel free to add your own!!
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Joelsim
I really like Kirby, he is
I really like Kirby, he is far more entertaining than Rob Hatch or P&P. To call him the Jonathan Pearce of cycling is a little unfair. He obviously loves the sport, he is witty, he is entertaining and with Kelly next to him they work well together.I admit he is prone to the odd mistaken rider gaffe but it’s not that easy to tell sometimes. I remember in particular the Tour of Turkey when the Yates who wasn’t involved won the stage despite a few subtle reminders.
Colin Peyresourde
cavasta wrote:Colin
cavasta wrote:Colin Peyresourde wrote:The one is hate is when Phil starts talking about GC contenders as ‘heads of State’.‘Heads of state’ aka ‘a very select group’.
Oh really? How can I of missed the obvious bloody comparison?!?….he only makes it 5 times a stage.
Wait, did I forget to thank you for pointing that out to me…..well, thanks.
It’s a tedious, over worn expression he loves to pull out and I hate. He could talk about the ‘elite’, ‘the cream of the crop’, ‘the riding excellence’…..anything but that hackeyed phrase he pulls out. It’s tiresome. And I think you’ve missed the point of the post.
technojim
I only discovered this on
I only discovered this on stage 19 but there is a channel with great commentary. Two good commentators with a current cyclist on hand to offer opinion, they were pretty good at identifying riders and telling you what was going on. Their understanding of the race was good and they didn’t get too over excited. Pronunciation of rider names was so-so, but excusable considering.
S4C My new home of cycling.cavasta
Colin Peyresourde wrote:The
Colin Peyresourde wrote:The one is hate is when Phil starts talking about GC contenders as ‘heads of State’.‘Heads of state’ aka ‘a very select group’.
Flying Scot
I should add that although
I should add that although though that it’s hard to talk constantly on cycling, as often nowt is happening, and I couldn’t do better than any of them, in fact the mistakes and catchphrases add to the interest!Any thoughts on Brian Smith? who was of course a Lance Armstrong team mate….and walked away, he is pretty good, I also like Sean Kelly, but his accent can make it hard listening at times.
Ghedebrav
Colin Peyresourde wrote:The
Colin Peyresourde wrote:The one is hate is when Phil starts talking about GC contenders as ‘heads of State’. Which State’s are these Phil? They’re bloody trade teams you numpty. I’ll never forgive Phil for his pro-Armstrong positioning. It was almost enough for me to turn my back on cycling.Regardless of his personal relationship with Armstrong and his private views, (which he is absolutely entitled to have) it was pretty stupid of him to air them publicly. Not only because should he remain neutral as the race commentator, but also because his opinions suggest either one of:
a) he was lying as part of Lance’s cover-up
or
b) he believed that Lance was clean. Fine, except how anyone could believe that ANY cyclist was/is clean *beyond reasonable doubt* at that time – especially someone making a living from talking about the sport! – and talk stridently in pubic about it shows an extraordinary level of naivety.
notfastenough
ray silvester wrote:It’s a
ray silvester wrote:It’s a shame for ITV because Imlach and Boardman(plus regular little cameo’s from Millar and Jensie) is a good studio team.I know what you mean, there’s a distinct difference in quality between the likes of Ned, Gary, CB etc, and the actual commentary feed.
The one is hate is when Phil
The one is hate is when Phil starts talking about GC contenders as ‘heads of State’. Which State’s are these Phil? They’re bloody trade teams you numpty. I’ll never forgive Phil for his pro-Armstrong positioning. It was almost enough for me to turn my back on cycling.They don’t really work for
They don’t really work for ITV 4, their stream is farmed out across a number of anglophone markets. I expect it’s cheaper for ITV (or rather the production company, who have been doing the job since the Channel 4 days) to buy that in rather than set up their own dedicated guys, as Eurosport do (which incidentally also makes ES more appealing to those of us who ‘second screen’ as they can field questions from Twitter etc. during quieter moments).But who knows – ITV have a slow-burning winner on their hands in their cycling coverage; perhaps they’ll be tempted to give them another shoestring to improve the production?
BikeBud
Agree that it is a difficult
Agree that it is a difficult job. I forgive Phil Ligget most things, but Sherwen often provokes a “FFS shut up Paul” from me.Ned has released Chris Boardman from his wooden style – a good duo which will surely get better.
STEVESPRO 79
This years Tour de France was
This years Tour de France was a great race, without the normal boring ridealong stages that we sometimes get from time to time… and yet the commentary just lacked the same class… they commentate off the same pictures that we see and at times its laughable… Carlton Kirkby should be put out to pasture with the cow that Sean Kelly once won in a race…. I know that fact because so far the repetitive Carlton has told me 1,523 times…. As for Sean, well it just goes to say that great bike riders do not always make great commentators…..Im not saying that its easy, I just think that it could be done much better…. As for the ITV4 commentary, well I am not even going to comment….
Cycling is gathering more fans all the time, and the TV channels need to up their game and keep up with the pace….
It’s a shame for ITV because
It’s a shame for ITV because Imlach and Boardman(plus regular little cameo’s from Millar and Jensie) is a good studio team.jmaccelari
‘The Murray Walker’ team of
‘The Murray Walker’ team of cycling! I just can’t stand Carlton Kirby, so ITV4 was my spot for watching the tour…I should start by saying I
I should start by saying I don’t like ripping into Phil & Paul; they are the historic sound of cycling commentary for me; Channel 4 and all that. But they do actually get worse every year. The misidentification and mispronunciation (among the other factual errors they make) is just ridiculous now. As pointed out above, they get weirdly excited at very minor incidents, plus I think we can all now see through Sherwen’s tactic of naming about twenty-five ‘favourites’ for every sprint stage to mask his general disinterest and lack of knowledge.Sports commentary is a tough job. Commentators (especially I think in football) get too much criticism. But it’s reached the stage now where I legitimately believe that, with a bit of practice, I could do a better job than Phil Liggett. Certainly I seem to have a better grasp of basic facts about the race and rider identification than he does. And the fact that he makes Kirby – the Jonathan Pearce of cycling – sound like a master of understated linguistic poise, accuracy and proportional response – says it all.
Your ideal combo would probably be Hatch and Backstedt. I like Simon Brotherton too, but Rob Hatch is the gold standard for cycling commentary right now. Backstedt has been rightly praised for the quality of his analysis, his ability to correctly identify riders (still much harder than it should be for a TV sport, therefore an essential quality in a commentary team) and of course has pedigree as a winner.
Saying that, I do think Hatch & Kelly have developed a nice chemistry and complement each other well. Let’s not forget that, for all the fun we can have with his speech patterns, Kelly was a pretty great cyclist and – like the proverbial stopped clock – does sometimes provide the real pithy insight only a champion can offer.
cavasta wrote:And from the
cavasta wrote:And from the last stage into Paris:“As they ride past the tomb of the unknown shoulder.”)
I nearly pished myself with that one.
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