Ken Brown

For years I have said that Phil Ligett and Paul Sherwin are the best announcers in any sport, but Phil has become prone to mistakes so Paul has to bail him out. (Such as stage 1 of the Tour of California when Phil said Degenkolb had won when it was so close it would take the photo to determine that Cavendish beat him by about an inch).

Recently I have decided that Carlton Kirby and Dan Lloyd are the best team. I like them both and I hope they will be on the broadcast here in Canada. It has always been Phil and Paul but the race is changing to a different cable channel so they might pick up a different feed.

Worst commentator is Magnus Backstat, who ums and hesitates repeatedly. Not crazy about Schlanger and Godolsky either. And then there are announcers who never say their name, such as the guy who did the tour of Turkey and maybe Switzerland. I think Backstat's partner is Rob Hatch but he never announces his name either.

Sorry, but I haven't checked spellings. Bagstat?

sprince

Magnus Backstedt

Giacomo 1 

I'm a fan of Phil and Paul to.

They remind me of Phil Rizzuto and Bill White doing Yankee games in the 70's and 80's. Phil was always making a fool of himself, and I say that lovingly, and Bill would always bail him out. It was pure fun. No science, not technical, few stats, just fun, and that's what is missing from sports announcing these days - fun! Ligett and Sherwin make the Tour fun, just like the lovable Scooter did for Yankee games...

Ken Brown

My question is answered, in Canada we get Phil and Paul again.

Giacomo 1 

I've got nobody!

I have no audio! No sound! No announcers!

It seems that NBC/SN's audio feed isn't in synch with my cable provider, Time Warner. Can you believe that? I'm watching a silent TDF! This is awful, especially considering I don't have this problem with any other channel but this one.

They are "working on the problem"...

RDW3261

Phil's time has passed. He needs to ride into the sunset.

Jakedatc

yep, and every year they have to re-explain how racing works for all the people just tuning in for TdF. I Stick to Eurosport feeds online for Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly. They actually know the riders, tell what is happening without explaining it like a 3 year old, have much better side stories for the lulls in the action.

HardyWeinberg

Or Dave Niehaus and Rick Rizzs for the Mariners. Can't say the same for Ron Fairley, he was always a totally bizarre buffoon/straight guy hybrid.

LongT

I wonder if NBC is maybe starting to try to phase out Paul and Phil. It seems like they are giving Bob, Christian, sorry I don't remember the other guys name, more air time. Maybe they are just trying to vary the broadcast a bit more.

crad159

This is the first tour that I have started streaming Eurosport's coverage online and I really like the commentators there. For one stage, I actually flipped between them and Paul and Phil to see the differences in their commentating and I couldn't agree more. I love Paul and Phil's enthusiasm and there are even qualities about their voice which I find soothing to listen to but I can't stand having to be explained things every stage like I don't know the difference between the peloton or the break away. The Eurosport guys also add so much more news and information about the riders that you will never get from the NBC crew, just comments on how the race is unfolding.

They have always had the American guys chirp in for an American audience because god forbid, NBC has an all English broadcast pair explaining a foreign sport to people from the US.

jeirvine 

Yeah, Kirby is great, and I can put up with Kelly: not the greatest speaker but he knows his stuff.

mattm

kirby is too dry for my tastes.

love ligget with his quirks.

magnus is good too, b/c he's been there.

LongT

It just seems like they are doing more this year. Maybe my memory is going a bit.

lsberrios1 

I used to have the same thing happen with every single cycling race. However, commercials would play sound. The problem? The Cable Box language settings were in spanish which led to mute broadcasting. Check that out and see if it works. Turns out my mom had changed it when she came for a visit.

ericy

Years ago I had a problem with some channels that was caused by having the TV set for SAP sound, and that's along the same lines as having the thing set for Spanish.

Leinster

I'm a bit shocked that American audiences can understand Kelly's Carrick accent.

I was discussing this with a co-worker today; Phil got the gig because he was covering the Tour in the mid-80s when Channel 4 started to cover it in the UK. He's since become the voice of Le Tour for a lot of the English-speaking cycling world, but like Murray Walker and Bill McLaren before him he's passed his sell-by date.

gpsblake

I like their revolving announcer coverage on NBCSN this year on Primetime coverage. Don't know if they are doing it for the live coverage or not.
Christian Vande Velde has been really good on the air especially for being a "rookie".

Giacomo 1 

Well, my neighbor has the same problem, so what are the chances of both of us having this setting problem? The replays that are on later in the day actually have sound, so I am DVR'ing the replays and watching that. It's seems to be something with their live feeds, and not only for cycling, their IndyCar and F1 broadcasts have the same problem.

Anyway, my cable guy is coming today. I'm paying them big bucks, so I'll let them figure it out! I'll bring it up with him though. Thanks!

Anyway, my cable guy is coming today

crad159

Just thank god they don't have Tyler Hamilton on as a commentator - this guy can't talk for his life.

cafzali

Kelly had a stroke a few years ago that impaired his speech, which is why he can be hard to understand. I like his commentary a lot, but I've never been a fan of Carton Kirby's need to say "yes" every few seconds. The best commentators I've come across are Matthew Keenan, who you can hear in the U.S. if you purchase the full Tour stream until the Phil/Paul show comes on, and Marty MacDonald from Cycling.tv

hueyhoolihan

interesting about Kelly. i have to say i never found him difficult to understand, unlike my brother-in-law (for reasons, i think, that have to do with content rather than delivery ). and yes i agree, Kirby can be a little OTT at times. a little too precious.

my favorites, Paul Sherwin and Chris Boardman , were at work today on the version of the TDF i watched.

cthenn

I'm sorry, but BUWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA **********GASP********** HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Eh hmm, there we go, that's better now, thanks for the laugh!

gpsblake

Well, we all have our opinions don't we? That's cool.

sprince

I'm not a big fan of the revolving filler, err coverage. Phil, Paul and some occasional Bob is plenty. Christian, with that thick Chicago accent, is just too hard to understand. Jens Voigt was great, NBCSN should sign him before someone else does.

ericy

I can make the observation that this year is the first year where they seem to televise the entire stage. In prior years, they would come on the air after they had been racing for an hour or so. So I would think that splitting it up like they are doing will give Phil and Paul a chance to take a break in the middle and not have them call the entire thing for 4+ hours straight.

It used to be that when I would put the Tour on TV, my wife would give me a "just shoot me now" kind of look. But this year I have been catching her watching the Tour - it helps that we were in London in February, so they were riding past places we had just been. She says she likes Phil & Paul because their voices are fairly soft and they help her get to sleep, but she is actually paying attention to what is going on.