J24 (Sail No. 4239) Dartmouth |
Laurent Giles 'Jolly Boat' Exeter |
29er GBR 074 Tynemouth |
List classes of boat for sale |
Olympic Commentators |
Post Reply | Page <12345 11> |
Author | ||
Oatsandbeans
Far too distracted from work Joined: 19 Sep 05 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
Post Options
Quote Reply
Topic: Olympic Commentators Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 11:59am |
|
My favourite Simmonds quote must be when he was doing the Americas Cup race between The cat and the tri. On the first beat we had just seen the Oracle wing masted tri sail from 200 m. behind and dead to leeward of Alinghi, to 50m. abrest and to windward of Alinghi. Simmonds then says " its neck and neck between the 2 boats its going to be a great race". He must have been really surprised when Oracle did a horizon job on Alinghi! I can't work out if he is clueless or just trying to hype it up! - I suspect the former.
|
||
mongrel
Far too distracted from work Joined: 27 Aug 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 304 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 3:39pm | |
Agree with all of that, spot on!
|
||
Teamvmg
Groupie Joined: 26 Feb 06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 99 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 8:55pm | |
How many times must he say "From a British perspective........" What does he think the first B in BBC stands for!!!!
That said, we are all experts in what we know and will always spot stuff that the commentators miss, but they have to sit there for hours on end and have been charged with trying to make sailing exciting for everyone. It would have ben great if BA had done a Cavendish on gropper Rob tho! Turn the sound off and read the Y+Y live feed - we seem to be able to get away with quite a lot on there!
|
||
Xpletive
Far too distracted from work Joined: 28 Jan 06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 320 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 9:16pm | |
|
||
Roger
Really should get out more Joined: 23 Mar 04 Location: Somerset Online Status: Offline Posts: 524 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 07 Aug 12 at 10:21pm | |
Work for them... he was....
Managing Director 1992-1998
Head of Development 1987-1992
ref: http://www.sunsetvine.co.uk/ where Richard Simmonds is currently Joint MD.
According to this http://sport-onthebox.com/london2012/bbcolympics/richardsimmonds/ he still competes in a Laser.
For all the criticism he has got here, commentating is a very difficult job, producers will have issued instructions and I guess a commentator has to follow those.
All the top commentators in other more widely broadcast sports say that the key is research and preparation, every time you refer to your notes it comes over in the commentary, so commit to memory all you can, plan what you'll say in the breaks and have something to say about every competitor should the need arise.
The real question for me is why it's all been dumbed down on the live broadcasts, I can't see too many non sailors spending several hours in an afternoon watching live, I would guess (and it is a guess) that 90% plus of the audience are very knowledgable about sailing.
Much as I'd like to think I could do it, I doubt very much I could, maybe worth turning the sound down, record yourself commentating for an hour or two from the pictures, then play it back and see if your worth listening to,
I chatted online to the guys commentating on the medal races at Sail4Gold a couple of years ago, they had come from covering AC and other events, but said that commentating on just 10 boats in a Medal Race was far harder than they had anticipated and way more difficult than any big boat stuff they had done.
|
||
GybeFunny
Far too distracted from work Joined: 27 Oct 09 Online Status: Offline Posts: 403 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Aug 12 at 7:00am | |
Simon Bornhoft has been great for the RSX commentary, the others didnt give him much of an opportunity to chat during the medal races but when he did he gave good insights, explaining the holding the uphaul technique and in the womens race about the centreboard up/down decision. I agree with getting class specific experts such as the training partners, afterall they will be there in the background so why not get Giles Scott for the Finns, etc?
in Beijing Ben Ainslie commentated on the Star medal race, that was good, maybe he could do a few of the medal races this time?
|
||
nutonthetiller
Newbie Joined: 17 Aug 08 Online Status: Offline Posts: 30 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Aug 12 at 8:04am | |
Roger, thanks for the biog of Simmonds.
If he ever knew anything about sailing he seems to have forgotten it now. I wonder where he sails a laser? Can anyone help us there? Rob Walker was having his first sailing lesson at the last olympics. I doubt he knows any more now!
|
||
DiscoBall
Far too distracted from work Joined: 03 Jan 05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 305 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Aug 12 at 9:35am | |
Thought that was the case - he seems to be unable to leave his desire to sell lasers behind too, really labouring it in the commentary.
|
||
ColH
Far too distracted from work Joined: 11 Jan 06 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 242 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Aug 12 at 2:25pm | |
Yep, Simmonds is really doing my head in by now - screaming every time he repeats how the scoring system works, or what "left hand side of the course" means. I can appreciate a desire (by him and/or BBC) to educate/inform non-sailors, but does he have to trot out the same things several times in every race?? As Roger says, it's doubtful whether many of the viewers need this; and even so there's plenty of places people can go to find out the terminology etc if they're puzzled.
Much prefer it when Leigh is speaking - at least he comes out with relevant-to-the-moment info and explanations, without excessive 'dumbing down', and commentates on what is happening. Please Mr. Simmonds - find, or fight to use, a better style! |
||
bustinben
Far too distracted from work Joined: 15 Oct 06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 288 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 08 Aug 12 at 3:18pm | |
Complaint filed
I'm not judging whether he knows what he's talking about but has been told to dumb it down to a 10-15 IQ level, or whether he actually doesn't have a clue (I find that hard to believe), but it doesn't matter. The commentary is awful and needs to be sorted out.
|
||
Post Reply | Page <12345 11> |
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |