Tour de France SBS

"Jammer" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I am wondering if it is just me or do others also find the commentary on
SBS so repetative and downright boring. I assume the commentators are Phil
Liggert and Paul Sherwen, my god these two just keep repeating the same
mantra over and over, " the back of the group is the most dangerous", "the
peloton may have left their run too late to catch the breakaway". It seems
their whole commentary centres around these two issues and they do them to
death, and then if they pick up on another one they do it to death also.
Last night if we heard about the bloody wind becoming a tail wind once
they turned the corner once we must have heard it 20 times. I would love
to hear some info on what gearing the guys are riding, tyres, a bit about
the bikes, what they eat while riding, just SOMETHING to get away from the
same old stuff year after year from these two.

Cheers

Apart from the actual sport itself, it's hard to say which commentarys are
more boring...cycling, Golf, Cricket,lawn bowls, tennis and pretty soon
we'll have all those microphone experts @ the Olympics.
At least in Footy they get wound up from time to time!!

cheers

DJ

"Jammer" wrote in message
...

I would love to hear some info on what gearing the guys are riding, tyres,
a bit about the bikes, what they eat while riding, just SOMETHING to get
away from the same old stuff year after year from these two.

Just to demonstrate that there's plenty of easy-to-find and interesting
technical info about the bikes being used on the tour (that Phil and Paul
could be discussing to make their commentary more interesting), have a look
at this story about Cadel's time trial bike on cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008..._ridley_dean08

On Jul 8, 10:52*am, "Jammer" wrote:
Hi,
I am wondering if it is just me or do others also find the commentary on SBS
so repetative and downright boring. I assume the commentators are Phil
Liggert and Paul Sherwen, my god these two just keep repeating the same
mantra over and over, " the back of the group is the most dangerous", "the
peloton may have left their run too late to catch the breakaway". It seems
their whole commentary centres around these two issues and they do them to
death, and then if they pick up on another one they do it to death also.
Last night if we heard about the bloody wind becoming a tail wind once they
turned the corner once we must have heard it 20 times. I would love to hear
some info on what gearing the guys are riding, tyres, a bit about the bikes,
what they eat while riding, just SOMETHING to get away from the same old
stuff year after year from these two.

Try the fuggin mute button! Or volunteer your commentating services
for next year and then we can slag you off. How the hell do you expect
new stuff when the racee goes for 5-6 hours a day for 21 days, and has
had commentators for 100 years.

Theo

"theo" wrote in message
...


Try the fuggin mute button! Or volunteer your commentating services
for next year and then we can slag you off. How the hell do you expect
new stuff when the racee goes for 5-6 hours a day for 21 days, and has
had commentators for 100 years.

What, so we should all be content to put up with mediocre quality in
exchange for our tax dollars (not to mention $10m in advertising revenue)?

I agree with the OP that SBS could do a helluva a lot better in the way it
presents the Tour - its just plain lazy and lacking in imagination. The
time involved is just a constraint, not a justification for banality. Of
course its better to have SBS's telecast than nothing, but that shouldn't be
the test. Near enough isn't good enough. There's heaps more the
commentators can discuss/analyse than just read out the Ministry of
Tourism's handouts on historic buildings (see my post above for one
suggestion). The producers and management at SBS need to get on the job!

Claude wrote:
"theo" wrote in message
...


Try the fuggin mute button! Or volunteer your commentating services
for next year and then we can slag you off. How the hell do you expect
new stuff when the racee goes for 5-6 hours a day for 21 days, and has
had commentators for 100 years.

What, so we should all be content to put up with mediocre quality in
exchange for our tax dollars (not to mention $10m in advertising revenue)?

I agree with the OP that SBS could do a helluva a lot better in the way it
presents the Tour - its just plain lazy and lacking in imagination. The
time involved is just a constraint, not a justification for banality. Of
course its better to have SBS's telecast than nothing, but that shouldn't be
the test. Near enough isn't good enough. There's heaps more the
commentators can discuss/analyse than just read out the Ministry of
Tourism's handouts on historic buildings (see my post above for one
suggestion). The producers and management at SBS need to get on the job!





I agree with Theo that they're doing a pretty good job.
You have to remember that only a few years ago we had very little Tour
coverage and the SBS sections are basically produced out of the back of
a station wagon. Why not write to SBS directly and lobby for more
resources for the TDF crew, that way everyone's a winner.

In aus.bicycle on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:10:39 +0800
Davo wrote:

I agree with Theo that they're doing a pretty good job.
You have to remember that only a few years ago we had very little Tour
coverage and the SBS sections are basically produced out of the back of
a station wagon. Why not write to SBS directly and lobby for more
resources for the TDF crew, that way everyone's a winner.

Even better... Write to them with suitable scripts.

Give them lists of things to talk about, useful facts, anecdotes,
keyed to the various stages.

If you know what you want to hear, tell them. But if you don't make
it easy for them then you won't get it because there's no money for
them in being better than they are now.

The way to get any kind of journo to do what you want is to make it as
easy as possible for them.

Zebee

On Jul 8, 11:55 pm, "Claude" wrote:
Maybe they need a few guests with specialist skills to drop
in on a frequent basis.

Like maybe some regional cooking?

(Gabriel Gate must die)

Donga

On 2008-07-10, Donga (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
On Jul 8, 11:55 pm, "Claude" wrote:
Maybe they need a few guests with specialist skills to drop
in on a frequent basis.

Like maybe some regional cooking?

(Gabriel Gate must die)

The interview today was amusing in a cringe-inducing fashion.

Combine the hardest-to-interview-in-an-interesting-way rider (Cadel),
with a really awkward interviewer (wattsisname).

--
TimC
'Vegetarian' -- it's an old Indian word meaning 'lousy hunter'. -- Red Green
'tofu' -- Old Eskimo word. Means "whale snot". -- GB in ASR

On Jul 10, 9:34*am, "Claude" wrote:
"theo" wrote in message

Try the fuggin mute button! Or volunteer your commentating services
for next year and then we can slag you off. How the hell do you expect
new stuff when the racee goes for 5-6 hours a day for 21 days, and has
had commentators for 100 years.

What, so we should all be content to put up with mediocre quality in
exchange for our tax dollars (not to mention $10m in advertising revenue)?

I agree with the OP that SBS could do a helluva a lot better in the way it
presents the Tour - its just plain lazy and lacking in imagination. *The
time involved is just a constraint, not a justification for banality. *Of
course its better to have SBS's telecast than nothing, but that shouldn't be
the test. *Near enough isn't good enough. *There's heaps more the
commentators can discuss/analyse than just read out the Ministry of
Tourism's handouts on historic buildings (see my post above for one
suggestion). *The producers and management at SBS need to get on the job!

Jammer and yourself appear to be under some misunderstanding how the
tour coverage works. The only actual SBS content is the pictures at
the end showing Mike Tomalaris interviewing someone. The rest is
purchased from Liggett and Sherwin's bosses. They, in turn, have
little or no input as to the pictures they receive, video is supplied
by the race organisers. The only variable in all this is how much time
SBS buy.

Sherwin and Liggett are both ex-riders and Phil has competed in one
more Tour than me, and I suspect, you. Not sure if Paul did, but I
think so. Phil is considered to be, and has been for more than 25
years, the best English language cycle commentator in the world. Most
people listening to an English language commentary on the Tour will be
listening to Phil Liggett. I personally have been watching the Tour
since 1985. Phil was the commentator then too, and his style has
changed very little since then. Back then SBS only bought 15 minutes
of the Tour and padded it out to 30 minutes with ads and local
commentators.

I believe the coverage we get here now is first class, and even the
Chalets are informative. Of course, if you're aiming at becoming a
cycle race commentator..... go for it. Phil needs some competition.

Cheers
Theo

Theo, I've no problem with either the pictures or the cycling expertise of
Phil and Paul, but being a cyclist does not necessarily make you a great
commentator. As it happens I like most of what they do - they have a style
which is both engaging and authentic - but over such a long race they could
and should do more. Mind you, the buck really stops with SBS - they need to
give these guys a more expansive vision of what can be achieved (even within
SBS's limited budget)