Ken Brown

That is the coverage we are getting this year in Canada. Where does it originate? We used to get the US coverage with Bob Roll and company but now it is Matt for the first 30 to 90 minutes, then Phil and Paul take over. Paul is solo for many periods so I presume Phil is doing stuff with the others. Do they still do their predictions of who will win the stage?

XTR

There has got to be a good drinking game for the Phil and Paul show

Stamping his Authority - Drink
Dancing on the pedals - Drink
Professional Bicycle Rider - Drink
Doing Damage - Drink
Protecting their rider - Drink
Every time they predict an attack that does not happen - Drink

Oh yea, this is doable...

Caretaker

That's news to me. Is it in his auto-biography? Can't find anything about it online and if anything his diction has improved over the years IMO. His pausing and constant 'eh' is common here in Ireland.

Maybe you think this just because he supports a heart & stroke charity?

PatrickGSR94

I prefer Kirby/Kelley also. I think it's funny how Kelly always pronounces "classifi-KAY-ush-on"

Caretaker

And 'sang-wich' for sandwich. He hasn't lost any of his accent and I find him perfectly intelligible but then I'm Irish. He speaks fluent French and Flemish I believe so wonder what French and Belgians make of him. There's no sign either in his speech or physical activity of ever having had a stroke.

Homebrew01

Where's David Harmon these days ? He was good.

sprince

I prefer Kirby/Kelley as well and have never found Sean Kelley difficult to understand.

Liggett/Sherwin are enjoyable for the one race a year, but the tour tends to be more spectacle and soap opera than racing anyway. With the 12 lane roads and 40km long climbs it's not like you would miss all that much if you turned the sound off.

Giacomo 1 

Nobody has mentioned Bobke.

I like his commentary and he seems really comfortable behind the mic. He also seems like he would be a cool guy to have a beer with. I miss those quirky commercials that he was doing last season to.

Hey, where did that "cool" Michelob Ultra guy go this season?

peter_d

Agreed on Matt Keenan, he's one of the best I've ever heard, incisive, mistake free and seems to know all the riders by sight. Robby McEwan did a guest slot recently and he's going to be really good if he starts commentating full time. My favourites though are Kirby and Lloyd, always entertaining and good for a laugh.

Chicago Al 

Christian Van de Velde is getting better as the Tour goes along; he doesn't have a particular 'way with words' but who knows, maybe he'll read a lot of books during his downtime. He was pretty flat during the ToC coverage and has come a long way already.

Also I find that his very neutral accent makes him easy to understand.


More seriously: I have only been watching for about five years, my wife even less. Phil and Paul are kind of a 'gateway drug' as are the other NBC guys, they make it easy to understand, explain things over and over, etc. Personality wise Phil and Paul are dry and a nice contrast to the American commentators who tend to push harder. I watch a lot of other races through other channels and am finding other commentators bring a different perspective, usually more in depth. We watched the SBS (Australian) coverage of the Giro and one of the guys there got quite emotional during final sprints!

NBCSN seems to be making more of an effort this year, bringing Van de Velde on as a regular and with Jens and Cancellara as guests in the 'Primetime' show in the last few stages. Hopefully this means more serious coverage of races going forward, maybe even (someday) they'll carry all three Grand Tours?

Also it seems pretty obvious that they are auditioning Jens, having him do a short interview with his young teammate the other day, frequently chatting with him though he's obviously not a contender. He is a very big personality, quick on his feet (verbally) and obviously has a great knowledge of the sport. His accent is not much thicker than Arnold Schwarzenegger's, and that's not been a problem for American audiences. If he goes 'pro' as a commentator he could really help expand the US audience for cycle racing.

dbf73

did Murray do TdF announcing in the past or are you just referring to his working past his sell-by date in F1 commentary? I only know him form the F1 side but if he did cycling, I can only imagine the Murrayisms that would result

Leinster

I was talking about his F1 work. If Phil could throw in a few Murrayisms I'd like his cycling commentary a lot more.

David Duffield is the great missing link there. The random stream-of-consciousness stuff he could weave into his stage commentary...

Sailor73 

With regards to Christian, I have to keep reminding myself Bobke was a train wreck when he started at the desk. There are times it seems like Christian is listening to whats going on in his earpiece while trying to talk. That takes some getting used to.

Rhinelander

I also prefer Kirby/Kelley... except for Kirby's "such lovely men" (hehe). Have no trouble understanding Kelley. And I was quite fond of Phil and his castle tours. Not so much Sherwin who's not beyond uttering pure nonsense occasionally, often without due corrections which made him sound aloof and above (not a good sign for a reporter). Miss Roll... pure character. The Kirby/Kelley team does seem to have better access to relevant current data and are more capable to convey it.

gardnertoo

I'm thinking the Jensie and Bobke Show! How great would that be!