baj32161

Hey gang!

After watching my taped coverage of this year's TdF I got to thinking that of all of the sports I watch, and of all of the commentators I listen to, Phil Liggett has got to be at the top of his profession. I am a huge NFL and NHL fan and really enjoy listening to John Madden's NFL analysis ans the NHL play by play of Mike Emrick...with all due respect to those two gentlemen, Phil Liggett tops them both. His witty banter with Paul Sherwin makes me chuckle, but it is his unique insight into bike racing that continues to fascinate me. Am I the only person who thinks this?

Brian

I saw Elvis

Could be.....

Actually I think PL does a very good job when compared to other sports, I just wish Shagger Sherwen wouldn't try to sound so posh...

EventServices

Is he best at what he does? Do you mean as a cycling commentator? Or sports broadcaster in general?

He's far and away the best cycling presenter.

Watch out for Dave Towle. The guy who does the Tour de Georgia live announcing has openly said he's aiming to be the TV voice of choice.

RockyMtnMerlin

I love the guy. Very interesting that on some other forums I've read they really dump on him. They say he makes too many mistakes, is repetitive and screws up the pronunciation of the rider's names. I have heard other English speaking commentators who make more mistakes and leave lots of dead air time. I watched the Giro on Italian TV this year and they were no better at pronouncing the names of the riders (except, of course, the Italian riders). So I think much of the the criticism is off the mark.

baj32161

Sorry ES...I was referring to his abilities as a sports broadcaster vs. all others at their chosen sport.

bvfrompc

is he: Yes
are you the only one: No

He spoke at a function the night I proposed to my wife, priceless.

DXchulo

Dick Enberg is pretty good, and he can cover multiple sports. He's one of my favorites.

A lot of people hate him, but my favorite of all time is Marv Albert. I don't care who's playing....if Marv Albert is doing the game I'll watch it.

People who suck: Joe Buck, Bob Costas

It's a whole different experience watching cycling on cycling.tv when Liggett isn't doing the commentary. In that book that makes him damn good at what he does.

HigherGround

I've been a cycling fan since the mid 80's, and suffered through some extraordinarly painful commentary during those decades. Does anyone remember Barry Tompkins on ESPN? The guy made me want to shove a letter opener in to my ear drum! As I was watching Paris-Tours on OLN last month, a thought that I've had many, many times before popped in to my head yet again: it will be a very, very sad day when Phil Liggett retires. He's not always perfect, but in the overall picture, he's damn near close.

YMCA

I like announcers who are the calm within a storm. Nothing worse than somebody raising his voice real big as though that is going to bring the excitement. Just call the action, tell stories, and enjoy the day. Phil is #1 at all that.

merlinextraligh

I think Phil is very good. However he does have weaknesses. His predictions within stages are very often wrong. Some of his phrases get a little shopworn. But given the difficulty of what he does on the fly I think he's very good.

I've listened to a fair amount of the TDF on Eurosport. If you set aside the fact that you can barely understand Sean Kelly ( is he really speaking English?) I think the Eurosport commentators are about as good as Phil and Paul.

I think American cycling fans tend to worship Ligget because he has no peer, when compared to the others that we get in the U.S.

jpearl

I remember when Sam Posey and Al Trautwig came alongside Ligget and Sherwin when ABC started to cover the Tour de France in 1989. Posey would take about ten minutes to struggle through the names of European cyclists that Ligget would ramble off effortleslly in half a breath. It was a joy to listen to Posey fight his way through names like Ghert-Jan Thuenisse, and I particularly remember the first time Posey took a crack at the name of a Spanish rider whose last name was Indurain. Posey pronounced it as "In-dur-ah-een". I could've gone out for a bathroom break and returned, and Posey would still be on the name.

DieselDan

I watch, or have watched, football, baseball, hockey, auto racing, and cycling with some regularity. Liggett seems to be the best out of everyone I've heard. Close second is the lead announcer from Motor Racing Network, Barney Hall. The worst would have to be Joe Buck from Fox baseball. Darrell Waltrip just needs to go away and leave everyone alone.

dolophonic

Phil is the man .

Devil

Phil is the best cycling broadcaster, bar none. And he ranks very high on my sports broadcasting list overall, I have him as #2. My #1 pick, which will NEVER change, is John Sterling, the broadcaster for the New York Yankees radio network.

caloso

To American cycling fans like me, Phil is simply the Voice of Cycling. No question. But my all-time favorite announcer is Jon Miller of KNBR and ESPN. Even when the Giants are terrible, as they were this year, it is pure joy to listen to Jon describe the game.

thewalrus

I'd pay money to hear a NFL commentator attempt pronounciation of many european names in the peloton.

gcasillo

Only guy that gets me excited about what I'm watching other than Phil Liggett is Gary Thorn. I'm not a huge NHL fan, but Thorn ups the fun factor of any MLB or NHL game by a factor of ten.

caloso

Oh, and there's Andres Cantor (the !GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! guy). Even if you don't speak Spanish, it's so much fun to listen to him call a futbol game.

jpearl

I personally enjoy the guys who "commentate" on WWE professional wrestling. I'd love to here Phil Ligget commentate there.

"Hulk Hogan, I dare say it, is fried. This man must dig deep into his suitcase of courage, but the engine room hasn't the power left to give. He truly is in a spot of bother now, can he keep the WWE championship by the end of the match? And there's a body slam, I do believe he's cracked, the man has lost it! Can you believe THAT?"

cyclezen

The Guys who do MotoGP and World Super Bike are also quite good. The guy who has been the English Voice of The Dakar (Toby Moody I think?) is also great.
Can't really take any announcer out of his 'element' and plop them into something else and expect it to work, though.
As good as Phil is alone, Having him and Paul Sherwin together is a combo thats impossible to beat. Add in Bobke and the trio/team is the 'Mississippi' of verbal flowage.
Not sure why OLN thinks they need anyone else to 'anchor' that mix. When Trautwig tries to pipe in itz like gettin zapped by 'static' from the rug, and hez not even bad.
But then maybe hez bein prepped for the OLN 'Bull' pen...

acape

I love Phil Ligget. As for others, here are my favorite sports analysts on TV:

Doug Collins (NBA)
John Madden (NFL)
Kirk Herbstreit (CFB)

Flaneur

I like Gary Thorne's versatility- he also calls a good College football or baseball game. I still like Madden but he makes more mistakes than he once did.

Liggett is more of a specialist- and a very good one. I think I prefer Hugh Porter's insider insight for track cycling commentary but Phil is pretty much the doyen of all Tour journalists by now, not just the english speakers. He's also very active and respected in the British cycling community.

2wheeled

Phil is the man, Sherwen does bring out the best in him. It pains me when anyone else does cycling commentary, it's almost like riding with no clothes on.

zzzwillzzz

phil is good but chick hearn (l.a. lakers) was the best ever. period.