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Olympic Commentators |
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Oatsandbeans
Far too distracted from work Joined: 19 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
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Topic: Olympic Commentators Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:02am |
I'd be interested to know what people think of the current crop of TV commentators. Richard Simmonds is starting to really annoy me. I don't care for his style and he makes some real clangers. eg. He is surprisingly unimforned about how they race lasers offwind, as one sailor perfomed a neat transition from bye the lee to broad reach he said " that was a bit of a hand break turn that will slow him down". He also seemed oblivious to the fact that the brit boat had slipped from first to 6th on the first beat and then dropped down to ~ 15th during the race. This hardly seemed worthy of comment, (when the NZ boat climbed from last to ~6th in the same race). If that was not a shocker of a race for the brit what was? He was wondering what his coach was telling him after the race!! ( 4/10)
Leigh Mc Millan has been much better giving good insight and not being overly technical nor facile. ( 9/10) Shirley has been quite good on the interviews ( for an ex sailor!), (7/10) THe last one is the guy who normally does the snooker ( Rob something?), He was awful last time round, really cringeworthy! this time he has upped his game and is much better and even has surpassed Mr Simmonds so he gets 5/10.
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opalspark
Newbie Joined: 07 Aug 12 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:10am |
None off them are commenting on the ridiculous Nothe sailing, and as for the Joker race !!!!
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nutonthetiller
Newbie Joined: 17 Aug 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 30 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:19am |
Richard Simmonds is in my view truly awful. I have found it better to watch with the sound off. He doesn't know the rules or seem to understand much about racing in any of the fleets. When you watch tennis or cricket the commentators are armed with loads of facts and anecdotes to fill in. Richard doesn't even seem to have read the sailing instructions, evidenced by him saying that the wining Chinese sailor should have done two turns when called for pumping.
His "Joker" is just cringe worthy. The medal race is the race where the top 10 competitors are forced to play the joker, there is no choice. If Simmonds was commentating on any other sport he would have been black flagged long ago.
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rodney
Really should get out more Joined: 26 Feb 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 915 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:19am |
Given the considerable differences in the classes I would have thought it would be better to have a professional commentator backed up by a class specialist. The class specialist could be one of the poor guys, or girls, who wasn't selected as they would know all of the characters and also the what to draw attention to in the particular class.
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Rodney Cobb
Suntouched Sailboats Limited http://www.suntouched.co.uk [EMAIL=rodney@suntouched.co.uk">rodney@suntouched.co.uk |
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Bootscooter
Really should get out more Joined: 15 May 07 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1094 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:24am |
Simmons - dumbing it down way too far (Joker????) and misses too much. 4/10
Leigh McMillan - started really well but as the regatta has gone on its as if hes been told to stop being so well informed about what's happening, and has started following the banal platitudes of Simmonds. 6.5/10 Shirley - not too bad on observations, but even my kids are taking the pish out of the apparent contractual obligation to to mention her medals every time she comes on; ".... and now over to double gold medal winner Shirley...", "... When I won my medals in......".... etc. look out for this - it'll drive you nuts in very short order. 5/10 Rob Walker - please! Is this guy a real journalist, or a comedy reporter from "The Day Today"? I saw him interview BA after the medal race on the water and it was totally crIngy - he was literally hanging off Ben (who was obviously in lots of pain) and the body language was screaming "get the f**k off me!". Horrible to watch, as are the knobish over- enthusiastic interviews with people on the Nothe. 1/10 Simon Bornhoft - breath of fresh air and has provided intelligent, educational and interesting comentary on the RSXs. Pitched his level just right for all levels of knowledge and very eloquent. 9/10 So who should we have instead? Not heard her myself, but my brother saw something recently with Sarah Ayton commentating - apparently she was excellent, and very funny. |
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alstorer
Really should get out more Joined: 02 Aug 07 Location: Cambridge Online Status: Offline Posts: 2899 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:24am |
Simmonds neads loaded into a cannon at the fort and fired in the general direction of France.
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Al |
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tgruitt
Really should get out more Joined: 02 Dec 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2479 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:39am |
He's sat next to me and might have just caught a little glimpse of this thread... oops! Edited by tgruitt - 07 Aug 12 at 10:39am |
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Needs to sail more...
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r2d2
Far too distracted from work Joined: 29 Sep 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 350 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:39am |
Richard Simmonds is truly awful - we need to send this message loud and clear to the BBC and anyone who will listen.
"the stick at the back of the boat" arrgh!, "playing the joker" arrgh!, "great Dane" arrgh!, "wind from the right of the boat" arrgh!, the list goes on and on - it is so so painful to listen to him. he is so patronising to the audience - please don't dumb it down so much (I hadn't seen the previous post when I wrote this)
Edited by r2d2 - 07 Aug 12 at 10:49am |
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G.R.F.
Really should get out more Joined: 10 Aug 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 4028 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:52am |
Is he (Richard Simmons) the one that really embarrassed Ainsley, putting his arm round him, hugging him telling him how wonderful he was?
Is he the one that plays the joker? That failed to tell us why Ireland went from first round the mark to next to last in one run in the Radials? Or what happened to cause NED to penalty turn in the Finn final (I still don't know the exact reason, was it a luff by Slater or an unlucky collision or pumping when not permitted?) In windsurfing if they let him ,we get Simon Bornhoft who knows his stuff, but there doesn't appear to be a sailing commentator with the remotest clue as to what's going on or why.
Edited by G.R.F. - 07 Aug 12 at 10:54am |
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r2d2
Far too distracted from work Joined: 29 Sep 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 350 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:55am |
"
but there doesn't appear to be a sailing commentator with the remotest clue as to what's going on or why. "
couldn't Shirley R do this (if she wasn't consigned to an immobile rib all day)? [the one with his arm round Ben is Rob someone who does the snooker intros]
Edited by r2d2 - 07 Aug 12 at 10:56am |
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