Bob Roll

[DogBoy]

Every time I see this thread title I hear "Tour DAY France."

Ugh.

[Iron Chef]

So.....

It's not like they ever ride at night anyway.

[superdex]

I bought and ripped through his '04 Tour de France Companion (2005 ed. on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076113798X/ref=pd_sbs_b_1/002-8070684-3592025?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance) --the airport bookstore had the 04 version. Doh!) and now I hear Bobke speak everywhere...

[soda]

I wonder if he's changed his on-tv behavior at all since last year. Tie those damn hands to the desk.

[hi565]

ahemm its "Bobke" get it right

I need my chapstick
no napolean
But my lips hurt real bad!
gosh IDIOT!

[lemurhouse]

Bobke! Hes da man!

[lotek]

he says "tour Day France" just to annoy people.
I can put up with his annimations, his pronounciations
because he has probably forgotten more about pro cycling
than Al troutwig and Kristdem Guns will ever know.

marty

[DogBoy]

he says "tour Day France" just to annoy people.
...

It works. In general I like him, but this just kills me every time I hear it, and now every time I READ it!

[Didi Senft]

I think it was in 2003 when he said something like,
"I would rather be a lightpost in New York than the French national champion".

Bobke is awesome!

http://www.olntv.com/images/bobkewithburns.jpg

[kokodeselavy]

I think it was in 2003 when he said something like,
"I would rather be a lightpost in New York than the French national champion".

Bobke is awesome!



He's a poet. Besides, he pronounces "Giro d'Italia" perfectly.

Ever read his description of the Gavia Pass stage that Hampsten won? Bobke should never have to pay for a glass of Chianti for the rest of his life.

[skydive69]

Every time I see this thread title I hear "Tour DAY France."

Ugh.

That's funny, that was my first thought when I saw it. I saw on OLN last weekend that you can go to their website, and ask him a question. I went there, but could not find the feature. I wanted to ask him why the hell he can't pronounce the French word "de" after being there so much. I'm starting to wonder if he fell off his mountain bike once too many times. One person opined that he does it just to put us on. I don't think so - I think he is simply a retard!

[skydive69]

he says "tour Day France" just to annoy people.
I can put up with his annimations, his pronounciations
because he has probably forgotten more about pro cycling
than Al troutwig and Kristdem Guns will ever know.

marty


Not true, because he says "day" when pronouncing other tours also I recently have noticed. You give him too much credit. Furthermore, a broadcaster's job is not to annoy people - it's to report. Having said that, I enjoyed his book, and I enjoy him except for that one thing. That one thing, however, is enough to make me want to ***** slap the mofo!

[superdex]

It's all part of the Color Guy Schtick. Think Madden or Bill Walton, for example. You have the color guy be a little quirky, and the fringe viewers are happy because he's cutesy and humorous along with all the expertise. Of course, Bobke is naturally quirky and can communicate the sport like noone else. Can you imagine Frankie Andrieu doing the color? Zzzzzzz ....

[DieselDan]

It's all part of the Color Guy Schtick. Think Madden or Bill Walton, for example. You have the color guy be a little quirky, and the fringe viewers are happy because he's cutesy and humorous along with all the expertise. Of course, Bobke is naturally quirky and can communicate the sport like noone else. Can you imagine Frankie Andrieu doing the color? Zzzzzzz ....
You must have missed the USPRO Championship with Bob Roll and Frankie Andrieu. It does seem that Frankie has improved. That man had finished 9 straight Tours de France.

I have heard Roll call the TdF by it's correct pronuciation, he just does it for kicks and giggles as a trademark. I've also heard Tour DAY Georgia come out of his mouth too.

[Smoothie104]

Bobke and I

http://img78.echo.cx/img78/4071/bobke1lh.th.jpg (http://img78.echo.cx/my.php?image=bobke1lh.jpg)

Frankie and I

http://img78.echo.cx/img78/4594/frankie1ba.th.jpg (http://img78.echo.cx/my.php?image=frankie1ba.jpg)

I got to hang out and ride with Frankie all night, Bob was way to busy, so I never really got to talk with him. Both super cool.

[lotek]

Geez people,
go out and listen to his commentary of other races.
Giro D'Italia pronounced correctly.
I too have heard Tour de France correctly.
Listen to his pronounciation of the Cols, the "de" is correct.
Read his book, its in there, it was started to piss off the french riders.

given he is a huge lance supporter I would have thought that
you would just love him.

[KrisPistofferson]

Save your ire for Trautwig.

[skydive69]

Geez people,
go out and listen to his commentary of other races.
Giro D'Italia pronounced correctly.
I too have heard Tour de France correctly.
Listen to his pronounciation of the Cols, the "de" is correct.
Read his book, its in there, it was started to piss off the french riders.

given he is a huge lance supporter I would have thought that
you would just love him.

I must have missed that part in his book. I really do enjoy him, and I am not quite sure why it just rubs me the wrong way everytime he says "Tour day France." Looks like he will have his full mutton chops in time for the Tour Day France.

[lemurhouse]

I remember when he was riding for 7-11, and threatened to "bust up" any riders that got close to Andy Hamsten -- this when Hamsten was leading the (?) Tour of Switzerland or some such. Then his great articles in Velo News. I love the guy.

[phinney]

Roll is the best thing to happen to cycle broadcasting in a long time. He's articulate, knowledgeable, and entertaining - that's a pretty rare combination.

[holicow]

Why are the Americans suddenly burning up the roads of Europe? One reason is Tour “Day” France fever!

Case closed. He does it "on purpose".... :)

Link, if you don't believe me (http://www.olntv.com/htmlpage.asp?htmlid=307)

[HigherGround]

I remember Bobke interviewing Lance after a stage of last year's Tour de Georgia. The interview was proceeding relatively normally, then Bobke asked, "Who loves you?" The look on Lance's face was priceless as he was momentarily thrown. I guess the US Postal team's training for how to handle the media didn't include a session on Bobke. Lance recovered and said, "You do!" with a big grin, but his initial reaction was a Kodak moment.

Bobke has also once described Johan Museeuw before the start of Paris-Roubaix as "a subhuman mutant of epic proportions," if I remember correctly. (This was before Museeuw's drug allegations.)

Say what you want, but I'll take Bobke over Pierre Sallinger talking about the wine vinyards of Bordeaux any day. Guys like Pierre Sallinger (fromt he CBS coverage, I think) and Barry Tompkins (from ESPN) made me want to gouge my eyes and ears out with a sharpened spoke.

[HigherGround]

I think it was in 2003 when he said something like,
"I would rather be a lightpost in New York than the French national champion".


I remember when he was riding for 7-11, and threatened to "bust up" any riders that got close to Andy Hamsten -- this when Hamsten was leading the (?) Tour of Switzerland or some such.

More reasons to love Bobke! :beer:

[skydive69]

Case closed. He does it "on purpose".... :)

Link, if you don't believe me (http://www.olntv.com/htmlpage.asp?htmlid=307)

You win! :D You have saved me endless irratation my good man!

[lemurhouse]

I do remember the "who loves you" thing...it was great. Bobke is sly... Lance was in "official/defensive interview" mode, and Bobke pulled him right out.

Another funny one was at the beginning of last years tour (I think) the commentators were doing their pre-race thing, and there were french sirens in the background. Trautwig (or some such) turns to Roll and asks "When you hear the sirens, how do you know they are not coming for you?" It was hilarious.

[kokodeselavy]

I remember Bobke interviewing Lance after a stage of last year's Tour de Georgia. The interview was proceeding relatively normally, then Bobke asked, "Who loves you?" The look on Lance's face was priceless as he was momentarily thrown. I guess the US Postal team's training for how to handle the media didn't include a session on Bobke. Lance recovered and said, "You do!" with a big grin, but his initial reaction was a Kodak moment.


When I saw that I thought Lance replied "Bobke!"...pronounced kinda like "boobkah" which I think is how it's supposed to be pronounced. They've known each other a long time.

[caloso]

Is Bobke growing the muttonchops again? He's got some weird facial hair going on lately.

[timhines]

Everyone needs a trademark.... This is his (sadly)

[soda]

yeah... I noticed that on Sunday. I enjoyed his comment about American cyclists vs. European cyclists. Once I get past his hand gestures I like the guy.

And WOW!!! Kristen Gum is looking good. Did you happen to catch her when she did her other series for OLN? I like the black hair.

[Brillig]

Bobke rocks.

Listen carefully to his commentary, when he gets on a roll (pun noted) he'll be disguising devastatingly insightful commentary on the strategy of the race as a joke one second and then riffing off of translations of the rider's last names the next ("Tiralonga is going out front for a long pull").

[squeegy200]

Davis Phinney described in his book his first encounter with Bobke. It was in an airport in France, He had heard there were other Americans racing in Europe.

Bob Roll was in the same airport wearing a large cowboy hat and a pair of roller blades. This occurred long before anyone had ever seen rollerblades. He then proceeded to skate around the airport creating confusion amongst airport security until his team arrived to pick him up.

Bob had the skills, the experience, and the respect of the european professional peloton. His American brand of humor was tolerated by the European cycling community. Everyone knew he was an asset. You wanted him to be on your squad.

[JohnSFO]

Bob had the skills, the experience, and the respect of the european professional peloton. His American brand of humor was tolerated by the European cycling community. Everyone knew he was an asset. You wanted him to be on your squad.

I think that's exactly it. Of course Bobke knows how to speak Francais - he was a part of the peloton after all. Perhaps his hand mannerisms leave something to be desired but they're still a trillion times better than the black&white emotional montages with new age music playing in the background that the CBS "coverage" of Le Tour is known for...

Bobke et hyper-cool :D

[alpe d'issaquah]

I know exactly what you mean. I went on a ride called Tour de Alpa and the leader pronounced it day and half the people there went of on a friendly rant about Bob. It angers me everytime he says day. French isn't hard and you should picka little more up or at maybe take a class or two, especially if you spend at least 3 weeks there every year.

Pfffffff Bob

[teamawe]

Correcting Bob is like reminding a guy that did multiple tours in battle that its not 'bullets' but 'rounds'. He EARNED the right to mis-speak it.

The guy can speak french, the french know it, we know it, they know that we know it, thats why its funny!

[G-Unit]

I heard he's the Next Food Network Star... Grilling with Bobke

[Kehaar]

Say what you will about Bob, but the guy knows his stuff. He doesn't always show it, but he ALWAYS knows the tactical and strategic stuff about the teams and the tour. None of the other guys on the team can touch him on that stuff.

AND he's freaking hysterical! In what other sport would this guy even have a job?? None! The commentating on the Tour is one reason it's so special. The team is great!

I remember two years ago, there was a commercial about Bob slaughtering the "Tour DAY France" pronunciation. It's still a joke between my sister and myself. The first time I saw that commercial is when I became a big Bob Roll fan. That was only reinforced when he asked Lance "who loves you"? You can't get that anywhere else.

If OLN has any brains, they'll keep Bob doing Tour coverage forever.

[Ostuni]

...Tie those damn hands to the desk.
annoying. what he's saying with his hands usually seems to have no relation to what he's saying with his mouth....

[HigherGround]

What do you call Bob Roll wearing mittens?

Speech impaired!

I don't care - I still think he's great!

[HigherGround]

When I saw that I thought Lance replied "Bobke!"...pronounced kinda like "boobkah" which I think is how it's supposed to be pronounced. They've known each other a long time.

It is possible that he replied "Bobke". I am going by memory, but I thought he said, "You do!" - now you have me curious! Then there's the perpetual "boobkah" vs. "bobkey" debate... :D

[Geoff326]

he must've been in some cool gang to be able to bust out all those cool hand signs

[Cranks]

I bought and ripped through his '04 Tour de France Companion (2005 ed. on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076113798X/ref=pd_sbs_b_1/002-8070684-3592025?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance) --the airport bookstore had the 04 version. Doh!) and now I hear Bobke speak everywhere...
I was disappointed to get the 2005 edition (after having the 2004) and finding it was mostly the same book. Same stories and breakouts, etc.

[Bockman]

Bob's fluent in French, I've heard him both interview and translate going both ways. Although his accent is only passable, the 'day' is indeed a trademark-- just last week he commented that he pronounces it that way to piss off the French waiters and as means of getting back at their collective atrocious service.

[spingineer]

Bob's a character, and definitely keeps the show entertaining. Plus, it's a jab at the french, saying with a very american rounded accent "Too-wer dayyyyy frannnnce"

[1955]

I said to my 8 year old daughter the other day we were going to watch the Tour de France for awhile before we when some where and she corrected me by saying "it's not the Tour de France dad, it's the Tooower DAY france! We both love Bob.