flyefisher

Maybe I missed something, but where did Kristen Gum come from on this TDF preview show? I'm used to Phil, Paul and Bob. I did searches on google for any of them and there was all kinds of stuff about them relating to cycling. Searching 'Kristen Gum' comes up with lots of Kristens and lots of Gums, but none together.

What's the deal?

shaharidan

lol i did some searches too. she doesnt appear to have anything to do with cycling, she's just a sports reporter. it sure seems like she's just reading from a teleprompter, with out having done any research what so ever. i hope she's not too involved in the actual race comentary.

Guest

It's weird. For some reason, all these sports shows are getting non-sports people to act as commentators for the shows. I saw Matthew Perry (I think- one of those clueless, overpaid non-actors from Friends) on the Wimbolden highlights show on NBC commenting on who he thought was going to win with John McEnroe. Then the other day, on ESPN, they were doing a sports show, and they had that American Idol winner- Ruben Studdard- commenting on the sports news!

I can't help but roll my eyes half the time at the instant celebrities and the non-sports people who all get a crack at acting like they are experts in the sports field. Shoot, Ruben needs to get out there and PARTICIPATE in some sports himself, fat as he is... and I'm not being mean either!

Koffee

flyefisher

Seems to me that Paul, Phil and Bob were slighted a bit. If I were either of them I might be a bit peeved. She was even a bit condescending to them. I suspect OLN is trying to de-mystify cycling to boost their ratings so they hauled in a real salesy type person. It's all speculation. At least find someone with good knowledge of the sport and not a generic sportscaster!

Revenig

I'm glad to see I am not the only one who feels this way. When the Pre Tour show started, I was so disappointed, especially when the guys were dressed in their blue outfits and Kristen was in her green outfit-what was up with that? It was strange not seeing Phil in his lead role.

During the Giro, it was just Phil, Paul and Bob and they didn't waste a lot of time with lead-ins or side-show commentary. They got right to the issues of the race.

It appears in OLN's efforts to increase ratings they have actually watered down the quality of reporting. Wouldn't it had made more sense, if OLN felt that they had to have a MC, to have the co-host of Summer SportsZone, Brett Haber? Brett's been covering sports since the 80's, is a nine-time Emmy winner and worked for ESPN and CBS Sports.

Merriwether

I was put off by Gum too.

Since OLN has had the Tour, it goes for a Yankee interface between Phil/Paul and the American audience. The idea must be to broaden the audience in the U.S., something OLN seems to be afriad won't happen if a channel surfer comes across some british accent and flashes of foreigners on a bicycle. They seem to fear that, without an American accent reassuring the viewer that this really is worth looking at, the typical viewer is just going to put the cycling into the rugby/soccer column without a second thought. And who knows? OLN might be right.

Varsha in 2001 was an attempt to get a smooth unaccented commentator into the mix, while still having an experienced sports commentator. He was all right, he just didn't know that much about cycling.

Gum seems to be an entirely new direction. Eye candy, without much pretense of any other reason for this woman to be on there. Granted, she's done her homework; she has crammed on Tour information for a while. But she's obviously not knowledgeable about the sport, and worse, she seems nervous and fills up air time with the cliche verbal tics: "obviously we'll here more from him later", etc. She's a professional hottie, and doesn't do much to hide that fact.

And, she doesn't speak during the races. So, she's not supposed to be pulling in casual viewers during the race.

So what is the idea for OLN here? Who knows? We'll see, I guess.

I hope OLN's ratings are all right for cycling, though. I'd hate to lose such a great outlet, and coverage that is, all things considered, pretty good.

fore

i'd rather listen to her than bob roll and his crappy jokes. not to mention that he's just not a good speaker. he constantly stumbles over his speech and his half-assed attempts at trying to say a foreign word with it's accent are more annoying than classy.

sure, kristin may not be as knowledgable when it comes to the who's who of cycling and all the important numbers and facts and figures, but in her position (not doing any commentary) that's not as important.

Revenig

What is her position? When introducing Bob Roll she made an attempt at being funny and failed badly and then didn't know where to go with it and left a moment of uncomfortable silence. She doesn't know what to do with unscripted time. I agree with Merriwether, she's a professional hottie.

khuon

I rather like Bobke because he injects a bit of lightheartedness. Yes, one has to roll (no pun intended) their eyes at some of his cheesy analogies but even then I find the act more amusing than annoying.

By chance, has anyone seen his latest commercial where he pokes fun at himself for saying "Turr Day Frantz"? It left me giggling for several minutes after it ended.

khuon

What I want to know is what happened to OLN's past "hotties" who actually knew their cycling stuff. In the past there was another Kirsten (Kirsten Begg) who is a well-respected triathlon and cycling reporter. There was also Jessica Greico who was a former road racer. I actually think they're more attractive than Gum.

From a little research, it looks like Gum came out of the ESPN and Fox Sports world where she previously covered outdoor sports like fishing and NASCAR.

bac

That's what I LOVE about Bobke!!!!! Bob Roll for President!!!!!!

lotek 

I'd take 10 Kristen Gums over 1 Bill Patrick.

Bobke is funny, especially his mispronunciations
which are the focus of a few commercials.


Marty

flyefisher

I just have a hard time with her because she has no background in cycling. None. So when she talks it's just nonsense as far as I'm concerned. I let her roll on about nothing and then listen to the cyclists talk.

talkdj

Hey you guy's...what about the "babe" who is taking us on the tour of France....Now there's kuality with a "k"! Also, dem french engineers need to work on the sat shots a little better. Lot's of black screen with only chyron on this first stage.

Now if Eisner could only be convinced that this Tour de France stuff would get some big ratings on ESPN..well then....can you say "Are you ready for some cycling"??!!! (would love to see Hank Jr's rendition of a cycling opening for ESPN coverage.

-Wynn

"Take two....ready for three shot on Four....take four.....cue announce....go announce"!

Revenig

I did a search on Kirsten Gum and this is what I came up with:

CHARLOTTE'S SEXIEST WOMAN: Kirsten Gum, WCCB-TV (Best of Charlotte 2000)
The new news team on Fox 18 features a woman the men on our panel hope to be seeing a lot more of. This doesn't mean we don't respect the great work she does in her job, but, well, you know how it is.

She was a NASCAR reporter and co-hosted a show call "Totally NASCAR" for FSN.

Up coming show:
July through September 2003, "Sporting Dog Chronicles" will air at 10:00 a.m. ET Sunday mornings on ESPN2 Host Kirsten Gum takes us into the lives of the owners, handlers, trainers and breeders who know and love these dogs.

RonH

Eye candy??? Hottie???
I must have missed something. She didn't do anything for me.

Anyone can read from a teleprompter. If they want to put a woman in that spot, why not get a pro or amateur woman cyclist. At least she could talk intelligently about cycling and the riders.


Am I being too critical or was Phil Ligget "upstaging" Paul Sherwen (sp??) by being slightly in front of him and at times looking back over his shoulder at Paul when they both were speaking?

bac

See - she does know about cycling. Erh, ah wait a second!!

dragracer

LOL...Yeah I was wondering who the heck this chick was too. Think she could have used a little more homework before the start of le Tour. There are enough women in the sport you'd think they could have found one of them for the job instead of this Gum chick. I like Bobke too......he's making fun of himself in the commercial about how he pronounces Tour Day France. Anyone that can do that and laugh at themselves is ok in my book. He cracked me up when he said something like "pour yourself a cool cup of shut the hell up" the other day. LOL Don't remember exactly what he was referring to but it was pretty funny.

flyefisher

Actually she's much hotter in the pic here. I think the plain Jane haircut and the denim OLN shirt just don't turn on the appeal. Perhaps we could get her doing one of those MTV beach parties or something!

roadbuzz

Related thread on the VeloNews Tech Forum. Andy Farrand's second post confirms suspicions.

khuon

You should read the OLNtv discussion boards.

CycleMagic

this is from the velonews 'phorum'.....very very funny!!!! (thanks for the link!)

Talking about Ms. Gum...

I suppose someone corrected her before she got on the air with these "facts".!