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How good was he when he raced in the TDF? His hand's gesture on OLN is so f****ing annoying. His commentator is also annoying but no where close to his hands.
Magic Johnson quits NBA and become the best analyst on TNT, Bob Roll is just so suck.
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He was a solid domestique/support rider.
One year on the 7-11 team he was the top placed american finisher for the team, 63rd I think. That was a question on OLN. I honestly like bob. He's gotten me laughing out loud a handful of times. Al Trautwig is far worse than bob. He is only on to try to get more stick and ball game loving americans to watch and 'understand' the tour.
They crack me up and have a ton of insight. It must be hard to talk about something on the screen and it switchs,the FRENCH feed i mean.
I think they said he was in TdF 4 times?
I think they said he was in TdF 4 times?
Twice, I believe. 1986 and 1987. He placed 67th in GC in '86. He was a DNF in '87.
Roll, though his mannerisms and attitude may be annoying to some, has real credibility. Trautwig doesn't. I like Roll well enough for the pre-race stuff. OLN should leave the "play-by-play" call to Phil and Paul who do it so well.
Bob, if you read his book(s), is a real card. Tough as nuts on the bike. He played a key role in 7-11 and Motorola as a bouncer of sorts. If you wanted to get to the team leader (at that time Hampsten) you had to go through Bob to get there.
Dave
How good was he when he raced in the TDF? His hand's gesture on OLN is so f****ing annoying. His commentator is also annoying but no where close to his hands.
Magic Johnson quits NBA and become the best analyst on TNT, Bob Roll is just so suck.
I've got to disagree with you on Bob. Bob's comments come from being there. He was a fantastic rider. I remember seeing him at a mountain bike race in Colorado and the guy was just ripped. He was in incredible shape. He had some good results. Not only that but he took everything with a grain of salt. He always seemed to be having fun! You should read his books. I'll bet you'd like them.
I liked the OLN TDF coverage better when it was just Bob, Phil and Paul. The rest of em are just "filler".
How many times have YOU ridden the Tour? 'Nuf said.
This article says he was there 4 times:
link (http://www.durangotelegraph.com/03-12-25/second1.htm)
This article says he was there 4 times:
link (http://www.durangotelegraph.com/03-12-25/second1.htm)
I've been wrong before. :)
How good was he when he raced in the TDF? His hand's gesture on OLN is so f****ing annoying. His commentator is also annoying but no where close to his hands.
Magic Johnson quits NBA and become the best analyst on TNT, Bob Roll is just so suck.
I respectfully disagree that he sucks...he actually has an opinion...you might not like his style, but he knows bike racing...and he was one of those hard men who rode in Europe when there wasn't any money and the Euro riders absolutely hazed and abuse gringos...
The man deserves some respect.
I think Bob rocks. He's funny, especially at making sly fun of Trautwig, and Trautwig doesn't even realize it. Bob deserves respect, and he has mine. Oh, and my husband and I make fun of his hand motions, so those are worth extra laughs too.
Bob can be annoying be he is funny at times... Al sucks...and I would take EITHER over Magic Johnson....ugh...his commentary is just terrible... imo.. :)
Bob is great! I WOULD like to nail his hands to the desk though (either that, or give him better gestures (hands in a temple, point right hand at you, bring hands back together in a temple, pull in towards the chest :p )). Bob is just so much fun and underneath that "Aw shucks" demeanor is someone with a staggering amount of race knowledge. On occassion, I think he even has insights that Phil and Paul lack (though not the panache with which to deliver them). Personally, I'm thinking of joining the Bobke Fan Club :D
I think a lot of Bobs knowledge is watered down when he is placed along side Al and other fools.
Magic Johnson quits NBA and become the best analyst on TNT, Bob Roll is just so suck.
I think you mean Charles Barkley.
Magic doesn't work for TNT, and as far as commentators go, he's about 100 times more annoying then Roll could ever be.
I'm a fan of Bobke and agree with most of what's been said here. I also think that the style of cycling commentary tends to differ from popular ballgame commentaries. It's more closely akin to say yacht racing commentary. Personally, listening/watching baseball commentators makes me feel patronised. They cast such artificially pumped "excitement" that I'm insulted.
Bob is great! I WOULD like to nail his hands to the desk though (either that, or give him better gestures)
Did you catch Phil Liggett's impression of Bobke with his hands taped together during the pre-race show one morning? It was my best laugh of this year's Tour.
I enjoyed Roll's interview with Lance during this morning's pre-race show, too.
BR: "Who still loves you?"
LA: "Bobke."
Bob Roll adds a unique, but experenced and maybe skewered, view of the Tour DAY France that Phil and Paul, and most definatly Al, just can't delivar. Sure his hands are annoying, and so were George Bush's.
How many times have YOU ridden the Tour? 'Nuf said.
Ha good point Good Point. Personally I think that they put bob up there to get the non-riding younger aged crowd. Who flips. They see some Nerd who Does funny Hand things and cracks stupid comments they stay.
My favortie thing that ive heard bob say would be: "Lance is Better because he peddles faster" Duhh :rolleyes: But i knew what he meant so yea. Bobs there live with it :-P
Liggett is one of the most experienced and respected commentators working. He's done the last how many tours? Thirty? Something like that. He's also a race organiser and commissaire and is head of the biggest grass-roots cycling organisation in the UK.
Sherwen had a long career as a trusted domestique in France. He specialised in northern cobbled one-day and short stage races (his team was based in Roubaix for years)but rode (somebody correct me) nine tours and finished seven.
Bob had a short but lively european career, beginning as Sherwen's was ending. His roles on TV are as the insider with the irreverent angle and as the American connection. The Americans who raced before the Seven-Eleven team was formed had to conform to the old conventions of training and behaviour- to fit in with French, Italian, Belgian and Spanish ways of seeing and doing things. Bob represents the views of those who dissented from that and tried to forge their own, American way forward. Even in the comparatively liberal 7-11 camp, I think Bob pretty quickly decided that the grind of a long European season was not for him, hence the switch to mountain biking.
The three guys together represent a tremendous pedigree- experience, integrity and seperate but respectable viewpoints. Isn't that what the network and the viewers want? Looks like a dream combination to me.
Bob Roll is great! I love his enthusiasm and humor. In fact, I think OLN does a fabulous job with the tour. Compare the Tour to the Super Bowl, World Series, or Basketball playoffs. There is no comparison. Those other sports are way overrated and they are so boring and their commentators suck. I say this as one that played a lot of basketball and baseball in my life, thinking (incorrectly) at one time that it was only a sport if it involved a ball.
"OLN should leave the "play-by-play" call to Phil and Paul who do it so well."
Agree wholeheartedly. Wish this year they had shown much more of the racing. In previous years didn't OLN have a live feed that was start to finish? Maybe 6 hours is asking too much, but you read about things in the cycling news that happened and you just think "where was that."
Gotta love Phil and Paul's knowledge - they can look at a guy's pedaling style and tell you who he is long before seeing a number or a face. That's real dedication, and their race calling is so much more concise and informative.
I've got it made, though. My wife loves the tour so much (mostly because it is in France), she has decided to forego some purchases for the next year so we can go again in 2005 (we went in 2002). I'm not sure if I'm using her or she's using me, but neither one of us cares.
I like Bob and think he adds a lot to the understanding of what is going on. See unlike you guys I've never raced in the TdF and like the insights.
joe
How good was he when he raced in the TDF? His hand's gesture on OLN is so f****ing annoying. His commentator is also annoying but no where close to his hands.
Magic Johnson quits NBA and become the best analyst on TNT, Bob Roll is just so suck.
Maybe he's doing with purpose...I can tell you his Tour "DAY" France pronounciation is a dig at the French attitude of properly speaking French, I hear the guy is quite smart.
I hear the guy is quite smart.
He's a fantastic writer, that's for sure.
Bob Roll adds a unique, but experenced and maybe skewered, view of the Tour DAY France that Phil and Paul, and most definatly Al, just can't delivar. Sure his hands are annoying, and so were George Bush's.
"Tour DAY France" LOL, that's hilarious. Yeah he's a great commentator, funny hand movements but you can learn a lot from him. You can only have respect for someone that's ridden in the Tour 4 times.
Roll lost 17 lbs in the first TdF he finished, from his TdF guide. I was a little disappointed he didn't say that when one of the AOL questions asked how much weight the riders lose over the Tour on yesterday's pre-race show. (He did explain they look much gaunter by the end, and had some great lines about the riders' eyeballs popping out and their teeth dripping blood - he's such a character!)
Liggett is one of the most experienced and respected commentators working. He's done the last how many tours? Thirty? Something like that. He's also a race organiser and commissaire and is head of the biggest grass-roots cycling organisation in the UK.
Sherwen had a long career as a trusted domestique in France. He specialised in northern cobbled one-day and short stage races (his team was based in Roubaix for years)but rode (somebody correct me) nine tours and finished seven.
Bob had a short but lively european career, beginning as Sherwen's was ending. His roles on TV are as the insider with the irreverent angle and as the American connection. The Americans who raced before the Seven-Eleven team was formed had to conform to the old conventions of training and behaviour- to fit in with French, Italian, Belgian and Spanish ways of seeing and doing things. Bob represents the views of those who dissented from that and tried to forge their own, American way forward. Even in the comparatively liberal 7-11 camp, I think Bob pretty quickly decided that the grind of a long European season was not for him, hence the switch to mountain biking.
The three guys together represent a tremendous pedigree- experience, integrity and seperate but respectable viewpoints. Isn't that what the network and the viewers want? Looks like a dream combination to me.
I like all of them..Bobke, Frankie, Sam, Phil, Paul and Charles Barkley, even though I don't watch hoops...Trautwig's there to help introduce new fans to the sport, so that's why he acts like a novice...he's the straightman.
Bobke to me is the essence of cycling...a little different in a good way!
All of this coverage of the TDF is ever so much more than I could have hoped for. In the 70's, it generally consisted of 3 lines of typed results in the local paper, then much later, a weekly watered down version of the week's stages on Wide World of Sports. To have OLN now is simply great...now if we could only get it in high-definition!
Roll lost 17 lbs in the first TdF he finished, from his TdF guide. I was a little disappointed he didn't say that when one of the AOL questions asked how much weight the riders lose over the Tour on yesterday's pre-race show. (He did explain they look much gaunter by the end, and had some great lines about the riders' eyeballs popping out and their teeth dripping blood - he's such a character!)
"Your brain explodes, your eyeballs pop out, and even your teeth bleed!"
;)
Phil and Paul are Kings. The new guy this year Al Trautwig sucks. Bob Roll I like for his exiting descriptions and explanations... he uses many adjectives and superlatives that enhance coverege. :)
Roll, though his mannerisms and attitude may be annoying to some, has real credibility. Trautwig doesn't. .
You've missed the point of Al Trautwig's presence. He isn't there to lend cycling credibility. That's what Roll and Liggett and Sherwen are there for. Al's there to provide some professionalism to the broadcast. If he weren't there, Roll would be off on tangents all the time and Liggett would never stop talking. Don't get me wrong, I think Roll and Liggett are worth listening to, but someone has to facilitate. That's Al's job, and I thought he did it pretty well.
The improvement this year was letting the blonde woman appear from time to time without getting in the way, as she did last year. I can't even remember her name. She's cute, and I'd follow her on a century ride, but her commentary was best left to "what's for dinner" and "ooohhh, look at these mountains."
Let the Trekaholic-bashing commence!
Trekaholic
I for one, love Bob Roll.....
Bob Roll is a great commentator. At least he's been there and knows what he's talking about. Some of the bone heads they've had on wouldn't know a top tube from a down tube from a chainstay. Bob is funny, witty, and knowledgeable!
Not sure I'd call Trautwig "professional". I listened to him at the Olympics and he actually spends more time talking than the commentators. He talks over them, asks questions that are WAY off-topic or tremendously speculative and/or makes statements that are plain wrong: "Oooo. he'll lose big points for that" "Not really. He'll lose .1" or "He's out of medal contention now" "Actually, he could easily get bronze". I hear he's going to commentate something else big soon. I pity whoever has to follow that broadcast...
Al's only purpose is to fill dead air. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize when the dead air is over and it's time for the pros to speak...
For Avid Cycle racing fans Bob may not be everyone's cup of tea. I personally prefer Phil Liggett for the play by play. However Bob is great when it comes to those unintiated with the TDF or cycling in general. For those die hard cycle fans to keep watching the tour on US TV we need viewership to increase and that means more non die hard cyclefans to start watching. To attract those you need someone who can talk to the blue collar worker and get them enthused in the sport, Bob excels there. Bob's book was a good read this year as well. (guide to the tour) and I referenced it several times when explaining to co-workers/friends what was happening with the tour. Bob is not for everyone (who really is?) but when it comes to talking the Tour to your average overweight american sport's fan sitting on the couch Bob will draw more than Phil, Al, Paul all wrapped together. And TV ratings are what it is all about.
Chris
How anyone think of that blonde chick as even closely resembling hot is beyond me.
How anyone think of that blonde chick as even closely resembling hot is beyond me.
Last night I couldn't think of her name. Now I remember. She's Forrest Gump's sister Kirsten.
And yes, I'm afraid she is hot. She's sitting next to Bob Roll for crying out loud --- Roseanne Barr would be hot if you compared her to Bob.
Bobke's a fine writer, chronicler and poet. Would you recognize genius if it dressed in cowboy boots, black jeans, and a black tee shirt, rode in on a bike, and gestured with its hands?
To be great is to be misunderstood.
I'm not even sure why this forum is still active, but what the heck. . .
I'm squarely in the Bobke fan club, but then I'm old enough to remember
when he was an amateur riding against the stetinas, grewals etc.
One thing no one has mentioned about bobke is his connection to mountain biking.
How many MTBers do you think he pulls in? I'd say a good many tune in just to see
gonzo bobke, and get hooked by the races.
Speaking of Gonzo, Bobke is the Hunter Thompson of cycling literature and commentary.
he has stated more than once his affectation of Tour DAY France is purely to annoy the
french. if you listen to his commentary he will use the term "de" correctly in everything
french but TDF.
Kirsten Gum is much better than last year. If you watched any of the other races
that oln carried (spring classics, Giro etc.) she learned quite a lot, give credit where
credit is due, Trautwig makes her look like a cycling encyclopedia.
Marty
has stated more than once his affectation of Tour DAY France is purely to annoy the
french. if you listen to his commentary he will use the term "de" correctly in everything
french but TDF.
I wondered about that... :D
Trautwig makes [Kirsten Gum] look like a cycling encyclopedia
Amen
When I first saw Bob Roll, I thought what a crappy commentator, using more hand gestures than words.
His credibility soared after learning that he did ride the TDF. Before I was like yeah this guy has no idea what he's talking about.
Here is a little story about Bob Roll.
He grew up in the same area (Northern California) and used the same bike shop as me. One Friday he came into the shop with his race wheels and asked the owner to bring them to the race the next day which was a good 100 mile ride. He rode his bike to the race in the morning (PRO 1/2), pulled a bunch of “prems” and then rode home. He was also the team leader of a team (Name??) during the Coors Classic. The guy was an awesome road racer.
I respect the man.
How good was he when he raced in the TDF? His hand's gesture on OLN is so f****ing annoying. His commentator is also annoying but no where close to his hands.
Magic Johnson quits NBA and become the best analyst on TNT, Bob Roll is just so suck.
Spoken like a true edidiot.
very loyal teamate
wasn't he the highest 7 eleven rider to finish paris roubaix one year? only 7 eleven rider to finish?
watching my old tapes of the tdf (cbs coverage)
very protective of hampsten in the tour of switzerland
Bob Roll was there when 7Elelven first went to Europe, He was there during the Good racing of the late 80's, he rode tour of Italy when Andy Hampsten won, he went to Europe and lived with nuns so he can stay and race in Europe, he was a die hard rider for 7 Elelven, he was there when Alex Stiena took the yellow jersey.. He rode help shape those early years of American TEAM cycling in Europe. He did other races both here and abroad.
His stories in Velo News were cool. He has been there and done that.
S/F,
CEYA!
Last night I couldn't think of her name. Now I remember. She's Forrest Gump's sister Kirsten.
And yes, I'm afraid she is hot. She's sitting next to Bob Roll for crying out loud --- Roseanne Barr would be hot if you compared her to Bob.
She may be hot but what did she know about cycling?
She may be hot but what did she know about cycling?
As much as the women commentators know on Monday Night Football.
Bob Roll is a ******-bag. I guess he has cred, but I just wanna look at some T/A when I hear my sports-CNN style!
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