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Phil can't even get the winner right (stage3 spoiler alert)

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Phil can't even get the winner right (stage3 spoiler alert)

Old 07-01-13, 08:54 AM
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Phil can't even get the winner right (stage3 spoiler alert)

Great job on the mic today.

After trotting out a win for Peter Sagan and espousing his greatness it turns out that the crafty little wheel sucker Gerrans (after a great lead out from his teammate) pips him at the line to win another stage of the TDF. Which is pretty much what I saw as it was happening. And Paul wasn't jumping on the bandwagon either.

After totally screwing the pooch the best Phil can come up with is "sometimes dreams do come true". Is he shilling for Disneyland?

So I'm going to wish upon a star that this dottering Lancesucker gets strep throat this evening.

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Old 07-01-13, 09:36 AM
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I disagree.

So Phil missed a call, no big deal IMHO. I think both Phil and Paul bring a dignified class to the Tour. They are old-school cool, without the gitchy, glitzy, catch phrases we're forced to listen to from the NFL, NBA, and MLB announcers and without the in-your-face, street attitude so prevalent in our sports calls today. They call the race well, give interesting facts and figures without overwhelming us like so many modern era announcers do, they tell good stories and are just easy on the ears. I might feel this way because I'm abit of an old school guy myself and miss the simple and fun call of Phil Rizzuto announcing Yankee games.

I was actually on the way to starting a thread on just how well NBC SportsNetwork has done on their coverage, but I'll just put it here. They have really stepped things up and have treated this Tour like the important sporting event it is. They have pretty much dedicated their whole day to live coverage and tape delay. Everyone gets a chance to watch. And their helicopter coverage is simply beautiful, as they show the gorgeous scenery and the movement of the riders. I've been highly impressed, especially when you look back at just how bad their cycling coverage has been before this!

Kudo's to NBC!
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Old 07-01-13, 09:40 AM
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Oh, and I think that Gerrans just surprised the heck out of Sagan with a beautiful inside move. Sagan went a hair late and just missed him at the line. Had the race gone another 50 ft., I think Sagan wins...
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Old 07-01-13, 09:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Giacomo 1
I disagree.
How dare you.

Originally Posted by Giacomo 1
So Phil missed a call, no big deal IMHO
That's what he's paid to do. If he was a doctor he'd be killing people right and left.

Originally Posted by Giacomo 1
They are old-school cool, without the gitchy, glitzy, catch phrases we're forced to listen to
Both of them are nothing but catch phrases and jimmicky gibberish at this point. Plus Phil is wrong so often it's silly. Count how many times Paul says "the sport of professional cycling" over the next three weeks. "Dancing on the pedals" Blah blah blah. Really, I've been listening to these guys for years and the last five have been a downhill slide into pomposity and cliches.

Originally Posted by Giacomo 1
I might feel this way because I'm a bit of an old school guy myself and miss the simple and fun call of Phil Rizzuto announcing Yankee games.
I'm 53. I'm also a racer with more than a few championship jerseys. A lot of what they feed the audience is malarky. Guy cramping on a descent is "shaking the lactic out of his legs". Everyone descends in excess of 70 MPH on a technical descent. Er, OK.

There was an old Mad Magazine spoof on learning how to speak with a British accent, because then you could be a complete idiot and people would still believe you knew what you were talking about.

The guys who are doing the smaller races and the Eurosport crew do a much better job.
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Old 07-01-13, 10:08 AM
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Just adding to my post count.
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Old 07-01-13, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Racer Ex

There was an old Mad Magazine spoof on learning how to speak with a British accent, because then you could be a complete idiot and people would still believe you knew what you were talking about.
Speaking of how dare you, how dare you let people in on my secret. Only works in the States, unfortunately, I should spend more time over there.

The guys who are doing the smaller races and the Eurosport crew do a much better job.
Agree about this. The Eurosport team of Kirby and Kelly (David Harmon is suffering from depression, apparently) are altogether more informative and less inclined to hype it up. It's a pity about Phil, he seems to be more and more prone to recycling a few stock and oft- repeated phrases.
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Old 07-01-13, 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Giacomo 1
Oh, and I think that Gerrans just surprised the heck out of Sagan with a beautiful inside move. Sagan went a hair late and just missed him at the line. Had the race gone another 50 ft., I think Sagan wins...
It didn't go another 50 feet though.

No surprise move either. Gerrans was in front of Sagan from around the 500m mark, with his guy on the front drilling it. Gerrans timed it perfectly, as did his teammate. Sagan just didn't have enough punch to come around in time.
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Old 07-01-13, 10:12 AM
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We don't get EuroSport
Phil makes a lot of mistakes, but he is not a doctor, no loss of life
He is actually pretty good at what he does. If the broadcast is 4 hours much of that time is uneventful, and he makes it interesting enough. That is an underrated skill
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Old 07-01-13, 10:14 AM
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Originally Posted by chasm54
Speaking of how dare you, how dare you let people in on my secret. Only works in the States, unfortunately, I should spend more time over there.
You could be king.
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Old 07-01-13, 10:27 AM
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How dare you.
Sorry, didn't mean to get up all in your grill yo! (Geez, why can't Paul and Phil call the race like that?)


That's what he's paid to do. If he was a doctor he'd be killing people right and left.
Ummm, he's not a doctor, you drama queen...



Both of them are nothing but catch phrases and jimmicky gibberish at this point. Plus Phil is wrong so often it's silly. Count how many times Paul says "the sport of professional cycling" over the next three weeks. "Dancing on the pedals" Blah blah blah. Really, I've been listening to these guys for years and the last five have been a downhill slide into pomposity and cliches.
jimmicky gibberish? How dare you say that! Ummm, what does that mean exactly?


There was an old Mad Magazine spoof on learning how to speak with a British accent, because then you could be a complete idiot and people would still believe you knew what you were talking about.
I do! And it's very easy on the ears to...

The guys who are doing the smaller races and the Eurosport crew do a much better job.
Maybe, but I'm just glad to have such extensive coverage and to see NBC do such a fine job. The simplicity of Phil and Pauls call is for an American audience that rarely watches "the sport of professional cycling"..
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Old 07-01-13, 10:42 AM
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Originally Posted by reef58
He is actually pretty good at what he does. If the broadcast is 4 hours much of that time is uneventful, and he makes it interesting enough. That is an underrated skill
Completely agree.

It certainly takes a different skill set than calling a hockey game and it is not always easy to keep somebody glued to a 4 hr. stage, something I think both Phil and Paul do well...
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Old 07-01-13, 10:51 AM
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the few folks (based on the ratings) that remain glued are likely a set of folks that would be glued if they dubbed animal noises over the entire four hours.
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Old 07-01-13, 11:48 AM
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Phil and Paul are to me like Madden and Sumerall in football. They were not the best technically, but their voices signified a big game, and I found them entertaining. I miss Bob Roll calling the evening coverage. He wasn't bad.
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Old 07-01-13, 12:10 PM
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I would just like to interject that I am not thrilled w/ nbc sports unless I just haven't been watching closely enough, but yesterday at least they showed the stage trophy presentation and the yellow jersey presentation but seemed to show coming attractions of other stuff entirely during the other ones. Not that that's a crucial part of my viewing experience.

Mostly I'm glad when the stages end in time for me to leave the house and bike to work and not be much later than I would be on any other day. That's a tribute to start times and time zones of course.

Another maybe nbc maybe general hassle is, my wife was pointing out how many things Phil was wrong about and with the time lag between audio and video we had to wait to see what he was describing before figuring out if he was wrong or not.

I have no real complaint about the degree to which Phil is wrong, it reminds me of Dave Niehaus' Mariner game calls.
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Old 07-01-13, 12:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Racer Ex
Great job on the mic today.

After trotting out a win for Peter Sagan and espousing his greatness it turns out that the crafty little wheel sucker Gerrans (after a great lead out from his teammate) pips him at the line to win another stage of the TDF. Which is pretty much what I saw as it was happening. And Paul wasn't jumping on the bandwagon either.

After totally screwing the pooch the best Phil can come up with is "sometimes dreams do come true". Is he shilling for Disneyland?

So I'm going to wish upon a star that this dottering Lancesucker gets strep throat this evening.
Be careful ehre...the Philophiles will have your skull for this.

I too am tired of Phil's coverage.

I was at Doger Stadium last night to watch the Dodgers pummel the Phillies. Phil should take broadcasting (and diction) lessons) from Vince Scully.

But like a slightly demented old uncle, Phil can be amusing at time. For instance, on today's coverage Paul was commenting on how the race organizers used a boat to ferry people from one side of the island ot the other.

Then Phil pipes in: "and that is not a row boat we are talking about, it is a proper boat, it can even carry lorries."

Really Phil? Was that your attempts at being funny? Was there anyone who thought that Paul was referring to a row boat? Or even a Roman galley?

I get it that he is English and all of that and that he can't bring himself to say "truck" instead of lorrie so that those of us on this side of the pond can figure out what he is talking about. But when is he ever going to learn to properly pronounce the name "Los Angeles?" It is so annoying every time he says "Los An-che-liz."

Oh well, there is always the "mute" button.
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Old 07-01-13, 12:47 PM
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Originally Posted by eja_ bottecchia
I get it that he is English and all of that and that he can't bring himself to say "truck" instead of lorrie so that those of us on this side of the pond can figure out what he is talking about. But when is he ever going to learn to properly pronounce the name "Los Angeles?" It is so annoying every time he says "Los An-che-liz."
LOL. I'm no Ligget fan, but of all the criticisms that can be levelled at him, this is the funniest to English ears. Americans' insistence on mangling British place names is notorious over here.
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Old 07-01-13, 01:29 PM
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Originally Posted by chasm54
Agree about this. The Eurosport team of Kirby and Kelly (David Harmon is suffering from depression, apparently) are altogether more informative and less inclined to hype it up. It's a pity about Phil, he seems to be more and more prone to recycling a few stock and oft- repeated phrases.
Bring back David Duffield!

Phil and Paul aren't bad. Phil's good for the occasional English eccentricism. On last year, the tour was passing a nuclear power plant, Sherwin points out "I'm not too happy about that, because they use water from the English channel to cool the reactor." Ligget pipes up; "Well I'm sure when they're done with it, they put the water back." Paul; <stunned silence...>.
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Old 07-01-13, 02:02 PM
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Originally Posted by chasm54
LOL. I'm no Ligget fan, but of all the criticisms that can be levelled at him, this is the funniest to English ears. Americans' insistence on mangling British place names is notorious over here.
That is perfectly fine. But I am watching the Tour in the USA not in England. NBC is broadcasting to a USA audience. I live close enough to Los Angeles where it offends my ears to hear Ligget's utter failure to even try to get it right. And, finally, Los Angeles is a Spanish name, at the very least the old coot should try to pronounce it the way it is pronounced in Spanish.

Again, using announcer Dodger announcer Vince Scully as an example of fine broadcasting He is 85 years old and has no problem whatsoever pronouncing ballplayers' names. These are ballplayers that come from all over the world, including Japan, Korea, Cuba, etc. It is just a question of being attentive to the task at hand. BTW, when I finally make the trip to the other side of the pond, I will definitely make the effort to get your names correctly pronounced.
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Old 07-01-13, 02:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Leinster
Bring back David Duffield!

Phil and Paul aren't bad. Phil's good for the occasional English eccentricism. On last year, the tour was passing a nuclear power plant, Sherwin points out "I'm not too happy about that, because they use water from the English channel to cool the reactor." Ligget pipes up; "Well I'm sure when they're done with it, they put the water back." Paul; <stunned silence...>.
Priceless!!!!
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Old 07-01-13, 02:07 PM
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Originally Posted by eja_ bottecchia
That is perfectly fine. But I am watching the Tour in the USA not in England. NBC is broadcasting to a USA audience. I live close enough to Los Angeles where it offends my ears to hear Ligget's utter failure to even try to get it right. And, finally, Los Angeles is a Spanish name, at the very least the old coot should try to pronounce it the way it is pronounced in Spanish.
I'm sure if Mr Ligget knew where you lived, he'd make a special effort.

Try to ditch the notion that the USA is the centre of the universe. You think NBC is the only network in the world picking up Ligget's commentary? And as for pronouncing Los Angeles in the Spanish style, let's consider American commentators' concern to pronounce Paris in the French style, or Seville in the Spanish...
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Old 07-01-13, 02:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Racer Ex
There was an old Mad Magazine spoof on learning how to speak with a British accent, because then you could be a complete idiot and people would still believe you knew what you were talking about.
You ever watch "Arrested Development"? They did a great version of that with Mr. F.
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Old 07-01-13, 02:23 PM
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Originally Posted by chasm54
I'm sure if Mr Ligget knew where you lived, he'd make a special effort.

Try to ditch the notion that the USA is the centre of the universe. You think NBC is the only network in the world picking up Ligget's commentary? And as for pronouncing Los Angeles in the Spanish style, let's consider American commentators' concern to pronounce Paris in the French style, or Seville in the Spanish...
I am sure that Ligget would make the effort. He seems like a very polite and well-mannered bloke; like most British folks are. The USA iS the center of my Universe. If American commentators were broadcasting in France or Spain, I would call them out if they mispronounced Paris or Sevilla.
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Old 07-01-13, 02:35 PM
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Whatever his many faults I'd personally still prefer him to the guys I hear from on my free feeds.
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Old 07-01-13, 02:55 PM
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I haven't watched today's leg yet, so that totally qualifies me to make a statement without resorting to facts, but I did read an interesting article this morning bemoaning the fact that the tour hasn't taken advantage of some modern technology such as RFID tracking that would make it a lot easier to identify the cyclists. This was in reference to stage 2, where apparently race radio had the identity of the rider wrong and was thus misleading everyone who was going off of the race radio.
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Old 07-01-13, 03:09 PM
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He is just calling it from a small screen in the press tent. Nobody died.

I can choose between Eurosport or ITV4. Phil and Paul are on the latter. I like their style. Yes, they use a lot of clichés, but try to talk for a full stage without repeating yourself.

Liggett has done a huge amount for cycling, helping to popularise it the way Murray Walker did for F1.

As for pronunciation, I found that funny as a few years ago I heard Bob Roll (I think) and he kept referring to the Tour DAY France!
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