Olympic Commentators

[Sotonian 608]

2 hours ago, chunky said:

Yeah, but that's not why football was better back then. It's the quality of the footage and extra camera angles that makes watching modern sport (particularly speedway) so wonderful.

The reason football was better back then is because it was played by men. No playing for penalties, diving, playing balls back to the keeper, reluctance to attack and take on defenders, and general niggly crap... I watch old matches on YouTube regularly.

And no running to the touchline seemingly every 5 minutes for an energy drink.

[chunky 6,068]

8 minutes ago, Sotonian said:

And no running to the touchline seemingly every 5 minutes for an energy drink.

Of course; they need their hydration breaks. And gloves when there's a slight chill in the air...

[uk_martin 1,606]

On 2/18/2022 at 4:29 PM, keepturningleft said:

If anyone is watching the Winter Olympics you may find yourself never complaining about Nige or Kelv again.

Even curling, yes curling has suffered from commentators seeing fit to shout and scream in states of near hysteria.

Just imagine how exciting the sport would be to watch if the late Dan Maskell or the late John Arlott had been doing the commentary. Sales of sleeping pills would have plummeted. 

[Bruiser 120]

I have not seen much of the Winter Olympics but I have no problem at all with Nigel Pearson and Kelvin Tatum…at least they sound enthusiastic and try and promote racing to a casual viewer….and producers want enthusiasm in commentary now, times have changed from old style commentary so if you don’t follow then you are replaced.

[Tsunami 10,219]

I thought Steve Cram and Rhona were brilliant with the curling commentary knowing and explaining what shots were on to not on, and why. Once again Curling, after a major completion, will be the talk of people who never go to the rinks to watch it. Fascinating sport, played in a good and fair competitive sport, where the tactics and their execution are unbelievable. Pity there is no rinks beside me where it is played.  

Edited February 22, 2022 by Tsunami

[IronScorpion 1,405]

Steve Cram has been a bit hit & miss with his commentary, even though he is not a curler. This weekend, whether it was in the men's or women's, I can't remember, but he said "there's 6 stones in the house(full target) even though GB had only sent 5 & Rhona never picked up on it.

[jenga 2,998]

1 hour ago, Tsunami said:

I thought Steve Cram and Rona were brilliant with the curling commentary knowing and explaining what shots were on to not on, and why. Once again Curling, after a major completion, will be the talk of people who never go to the rinks to watch it. Fascinating sport, played in a good and fair competitive sport, where the tactics and their execution are unbelievable. Pity there is no rinks beside me where it is played.  

look outside tomorrow morning , you may get your wish for a local ice rink,  good luck in finding any stones to play with in this weather !

[Bagpuss 10,744]

4 hours ago, Bruiser said:

I have not seen much of the Winter Olympics but I have no problem at all with Nigel Pearson and Kelvin Tatum…at least they sound enthusiastic and try and promote racing to a casual viewer….and producers want enthusiasm in commentary now, times have changed from old style commentary so if you don’t follow then you are replaced.

I'm all for enthusiasm and generally don't mind Pearson myself but I understand why people don't like him, he is at times too shouty and loud. There are others out there I prefer to listen to and would be quite happy to see replace NP if the need ever arose. There was a guy in the 90s and 00s who did the videos from Coventry and Peterborough, he was a very fast commentator, almost horse racing style, I really liked him. Always made races sound exciting even if they weren't

As for Tatum though, I would never get rid of him. His knowledge and experience as a former rider makes him very good at what he does IMO.

[steve roberts 9,242]

7 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

I'm all for enthusiasm and generally don't mind Pearson myself but I understand why people don't like him, he is at times too shouty and loud. There are others out there I prefer to listen to and would be quite happy to see replace NP if the need ever arose. There was a guy in the 90s and 00s who did the videos from Coventry and Peterborough, he was a very fast commentator, almost horse racing style, I really liked him. Always made races sound exciting even if they weren't

As for Tatum though, I would never get rid of him. His knowledge and experience as a former rider makes him very good at what he does IMO.

I think that was Colin Martin (?) once of Tape 'o' Sport...never liked him to be honest.

[topaz325 1,853]

Commentating is not a easy business , but Cram came over sometimes as stating the obvious. and a pretence that he was a curling expert.

[iainb 4,962]

3 hours ago, steve roberts said:

I think that was Colin Martin (?) once of Tape 'o' Sport...never liked him to be honest.

It was Colin Martin... I always like his style, for video at least, was never polished enough for TV imo

[steve roberts 9,242]

18 minutes ago, iainb said:

It was Colin Martin... I always like his style, for video at least, was never polished enough for TV imo

Used to like Chris French (?) on Screensport/Eurosport.

Edited February 21, 2022 by steve roberts

[keepturningleft 588]

When a race is in progress, you have to question if you need commentary at all - we can all see what's happening and after all we don't need commentary whilst watching live in the stadium.

The most annoying commentary of all at the Olympics is for ice skating.

Ice skating isn't really a sport, it's performance art, the same as dancing and is often an elegant and graceful  spectacle which is ruined by intrusive commentary, and you can't mute that because you need to hear the music.

[steve roberts 9,242]

43 minutes ago, keepturningleft said:

When a race is in progress, you have to question if you need commentary at all - we can all see what's happening and after all we don't need commentary whilst watching live in the stadium.

The most annoying commentary of all at the Olympics is for ice skating.

Ice skating isn't really a sport, it's performance art, the same as dancing and is often an elegant and graceful  spectacle which is ruined by intrusive commentary, and you can't mute that because you need to hear the music.

Peter York used to do a commentary form the centre green at Cowley during the last lap and I found it irritating to say the least!

[ch958 2,389]

2 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Peter York used to do a commentary form the centre green at Cowley during the last lap and I found it irritating to say the least!

hate that