curiouskid55

Do you think anyone at NBC is listening to the incompetent announcing team they have hired fot the TDF? The Brit boobs are now beyond emabarassing for a network broadcast. They cant identify riders even in a TT where they race in order. Continuosly failing at trying to out guess the clock. Just shut up until they cross the line.

ruindd

Are you talking about Paul and Phil? Yeah, they often call out the wrong riders, but I think they were having trouble with the feed today. All year long NBC Sports has been doing a terrible job cutting to commercials, I think it's messed up a lot of timing for Paul and Phil.

turtletwins2002

Looked like some of the bibs were being traded. I love Paul, Phil and Bob, like an old pair of shoes, anything else just doesn't seem to fit.

theseriouswhale

Exactly. I wouldn't enjoy the Tour a bit if they weren't there.

dstrong 

Paul: "Something's gone wrong with Sagan's machine!"
Phil: "The World Champion has lost the Prologue!"
Paul: "I reckon he's lost 20 seconds with that change!"
Phil: "Something's wrong with the new bike too!"
Paul: "I believe that's the replay Phil!"



I like 'em...but I am looking forward to following Eurosport on mornings when I'm working.

curiouskid55

i'd take gogo and schlanger over the gang of clowns for any event

DLBroox

It's just those kind of exchanges that make me love them. They are very human, and yes they get it wrong sometimes. But they are very knowledgeable and call it right more times than not. And I love all the extra info about the castles and countryside. It sets the scene.

Sorry, but it wouldn't be the same without them for me.

shoota 

Who did the announcing for the dauphine? They were pretty good.

slcbob

Growing up near Boston, we used to watch the Celtics games on the TV with the sound turned down and the radio up for Johnny Most's play by play. It was like getting two games for the price of one. He was absurdly opinionated and biased to the point of becoming unhinged . That's very different than being moderately confused / confusing like P&P (esp Phil), but the net for me is the same. A decent percentage of my enjoyment value of the broadcast is realizing and appreciating just how "off" the call is. And, at other times, it's enjoying the time with two gentlemen who love the sport whether they're on or not. That's a big difference, as no one could ever accuse Johnny Most of being a gentleman.

Homebrew01

Yes, I much prefer Eurosport, even if I have to wait to download it later.

sci_femme

From Stage 1 today:

"Oh, look! A helicopter... taking a photograph of...aah....a.....another helicopter!"

On one of the crashes:"It happened in reasonably slow motion, although we are showing it in slow motion"

On Oscar Freire: "man had an enigmatic career" WTF is enigmatic career?

Thwap

You can learn so much, Phil today, in a very serious voice let us know the cows are sitting down.
The always sit down before it rains.

This stuff is priceless.

I love these guys....

curiouskid55

Amother day of complete senile gibberish

kleinboogie

They're still the best team commenting any sport.

JoelS

Part of the problem is that they have to come with stuff to say for several hours during a stage. That is a far from easy task, especially when the peloton is just cruising along and there's nothing going on.

curiouskid55

There are plenty better. Gogo and Schlanger actually have some idea about modern tactics in racing. Some of the aussies and younger brits i have heard are also far superior. Their time is behind them. Do they have to degrade into complete slobbering before they are turned out?

Homebrew01

huh ?

Well I sure couldn't do it, but other commenters do a better job with the same video feed.

thenomad

And what happened shortly after? It rained a little on the camera lenses...

I'm not new to this so I don't "need" them to let me know anything other than the names, but I love them. I like others too, but its the classic 'sound' of the tour for me.

How many others think they should do a "throwback day" for the music soundtrack? That'd be awesome during an epic mountain stage to hear the classic 80's John Tesch music!

curiouskid55

I am not critisizing the color commentary and the hours of air they have to fill. What i am critisizing is the inabillity to call anything acurately in the event something is actually happening.Sprints are hard enogh to comprehend without a deluge of misnformation, tired cliches and total bull****. And quit guessing what is about to happen, just give information about what has just happened and throw in some asstute analysis. Happens routinely in other cycling broadcasts or any other sports broadcast for that matter.

kleinboogie

True and they're doing an Internet and TV Broadcast at the same time. When Paul is talking online you can usually hear Phil doing the TV break transition in the background. Then Phil will jump back into the Internet commentary. Once they come back from commercial they jump into TV mode. It's like juggling and yeah, they mess-up but even the best jugglers drop a ball now and then. And like you said about the length, I'd like to see a juggler go for 3.5 hours.

thenomad

Well this has GOT to be better than that...

MMM.PWR

where can i download stage 2 from eurosport ? or anywhere (in english)

don't want to wait until tonight to watch it on nbc

DXchulo

Not sure how soon things have been going up, but the main torrent site is cyclingtorrents.nl.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ScumbagwithChromebag is a good YouTube channel to keep your eyes on.

DXchulo

I'm not sure how you can say that if you put aside your love for cycling and any sentimental feelings you may have towards P&P. They aren't even the best in their own sport at this point (Harmon & Kelly are better.).

What is the best commentating team in sports? That would be a fun debate. I'd say Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy (NBA).

chasm54

I agree that Harmon and Kelly do a better job on Eurosport. To be fair to all the commentators, though, they are working from a feed over which they have no directorial control. Quite often the shots they are looking at make it well-nigh impossible to identify the rider involved in a particular piece of the action.