sprince

When you are 69 years old and have reported on 40 tdf's and 13 olympic games, then you can criticize Ligget. So what network is it where can I find the Racer Ex commentary? He and Sherwen are the only reason I bother watching the crappy NBC coverage. And to be fair, those Aussies are pretty sneaky in the sprints and it was hard to tell which way it was going to go from what I saw on tv.

dprayvd

Regarding real-time narrative, I prefer the British personalities. I feel their dialog engaging. I also like any non-English commentary during exciting racing moments. The feeling/meaning comes through despite the not-well-understood (to me) language, being that the activity is the commonality.

I really, though, just rather enjoy watching men strongly riding bikes. As many of us must, commentators included.

Racer Ex 

Okay. I guess the 3 National Championship and 16 State Championship jerseys I have sitting in a pile in my closet got there through luck. Hey sweetums, you know best!

Proceed to explain why he called Ted King as a big asset when he was riding with a broken shoulder on a road bike today. And ended up time cut in a time trial.

:

cthenn

You seem angry. Over bike racing commentary.

Racer Ex 

Angry? Hardly. That was the other guy. Appalled and simultaneously amused is probably a better description. I guess I need to be Phil to criticize Phil. That would seem to be an odd paradigm. Carry on.

:

Astrozombie

It looked like it was going to be close idk why he said Sagan was going to take it (Also i'm looking at Sports science to look into that lean at the finishes to see if it is actually faster than just cotinuing with your pedaling. In baseball we learned that diving into first base can actually be slower than just running through the bag regularly) But these announcers are a breath of fresh air from other mainstream sports. I can listen to them for hours as i read while having races on in the background ala Vin Scully. (Now if only this blasted DLP didn't have a bunch of white dots all over it)

I find their accents charming, but hey you can always unplug your Center channel and just get the game/race sound.
+1, and the guys from formula 1/MotoGP

sprince

My mistake, I was not aware they awarded those jerseys for journalism and broadcasting excellence. Perhaps you should send NBC your resume?

gsteinb

actually, I can criticize liggett right now. the idea that folks can't hold or express opinions on how well a public figure does their job is a total fallacy. You may choose to discount their opinion, or even hold one that runs counter, but that still doesn't impinge on their their ability to hold or express the previously referenced opinion.

carry on

your friendly moderator

tennisets

I don't have any strong feelings toward Phil and Paul, but Phil does produce a lot of real head scratchers. Case in point: during the TTT yesterday he stated Contador is a pure climber, and wondered if he could keep up with his teammates for the TTT. Whaaaaaaa? Go home Phil, you're drunk!

In contrast, the wrong calls on riders attacking or being dropped don't bother me as much, as long as they're quickly corrected.

gsteinb

a classic phil moment back in the day was him going utterly berserk over a ron kiefel attack on a mountain stage. only kiefel was OTB and was struggling to connect with whatever was in front of him.

it's tough calling a race from a TV screen, but phil's track record of knowing what's going on isn't very good.

Giacomo 1 

Phil Rizzuto called Yankee games for many years, and he often didn't have a grasp on things either. But it didn't matter to his legions of fans, nor his co-announcer Bill White, as the Scooter was beloved by everyone because he made the game simple, brought up interesting stories and kept that statistics to a minimum. He was fun and he made the game fun. He entertained us. The new generation of announcers do not entertain, they kill us with slickness and stats, stats, stats.

The Scooter - Holy cow, that ball is deep, that ball is going, going...Uhhh, Horace Clark makes the out at second...


That's the way I feel about Phil and Paul. Maybe they miss some things now and then, but who cares? (OK, apparently a lot of people here do!) but they not only call the race, they entertain. When the riders go by a monastery, they know all about the monastery, or a mountain or a statue or town. They give us enough of the strategy and stats, but they don't kill us with it. All-in-all, they are easy on my ears and they entertain me for 4 hrs., just like the Scooter used to...

HardyWeinberg

It struck me this morning that Phil and Paul are more like the 'complicated creatures balancing witty repartee with past concussions' but over some fine French wine instead of low-carb macrobrew. More power to'em.

mustang1

Got it. Makes many mistakes, good at what he does. Wait... Whut?

reef58

When I say he is good at what he does I was referring to the filling of 4 hours of commentary. Yes he gets some facts wrong. I think I stated my position on this. I like the guy. Watching a bike race is entertainment not life and death. I find him entertaining. Others don't. The spice of life.

CrankyFranky

^^^some folks hate nutmeg, go figure!

CrankyFranky

C'mon! He's gotta be angry. Avatar, sig, etc.

sprince

Yes. Entertainment, not the end of the world. Without Ligget, cycling coverage in the US would consist of an article in the OSQ. But with Ligget the network adds a few new viewers, advertisers line up for the TDF and for three glorious weeks a year the US has cycling on TV. I don't like the alternative, and I happen to like Phil and Paul. It's not about the rabid fans, or the grumpy old retired racers with long forgotten fermenting jerseys in the back of their closet. It's entertainment.

Zinger

He well knows his stateside audience.

Six jours

Like I always say on these threads, you kids don't know how good you've got it. Anyone complaining about Liggett should be subjected, Clockwork Orange style, to a dozen consecutive hours of Sam Posey and Al Trautwig, with color from Pierre Salinger.


At least today's bike race coverage includes footage of actual bike racing...

Rowan

If you want a demonstration of how ignorant Americans are about pronouncing other countries' words, try Liquigas on for size.

sprince

Is that Bob Roll with hair at 4:40? Love that background music.

Homebrew01

Those were dark days indeed.

cthenn

So I'm realizing there is something in Liggett that's annoying me. He keeps interrupting the Moto dude by shouting at him, thereby cutting him off. It's really annoying to hear these guys shouting over each other, and have Phil continually interrupt him "EXCUSE ME STEVE EXCUSE ME I SEE MARK CAVENDISH SHUT UP FOR A SECOND HOLD ON". He's done that repeatedly, and it's getting to the point where I cringe when that guy is talking, expecting Phil to all of a sudden break into his report with unnecessary shouting.

BTW, I think NBC got this one right, putting a guy on a bike to report from inside the race. Really digging that.

waikikihei

Yes, that's Bobke. And the first musical tune on the video is on the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange. Excellent album by the way.

I say Phil and Paul are fine. Let's hope their replacements are as good. Not an easy job. Who cares if he calls Sagan the winner. Maybe he was looking out the window and had a bad angle. We saw what happened - that's just Phil.

Sagan riding for 'cannon ball' was priceless. My mom talks like that all the time. So do I on rare occasions.

gpsblake

I don't buy that unless you apply to all sports and athletes. So you can't criticize a reliever for blowing a save or an NBA player for missing that free throw.

Okay, other then that, I do think Phil Liggett is a great announcer and has forgotten more about the Tour de France then we will ever know. The job him and Paul do to identify riders just based on a TV screen is darn good even when they can't see the numbers.

But we should be allowed to criticize him (and praise him too!!)