BBC Commentators

M johnson is diffrent gravy as a pundit, just squatted john mac in a second.

almost as bad as the lady at the Open golf last week

cringeworthy

Mac is a quality pundit IMO. Johnson too.

Lineker a smug lightweight.Clare Balding very good.Hansen and Lawrenson both cringeworthy on Thursdays match.

Gabby looking quite horny tonite although you would be disappointed with her tits.

Michael Johnson
John McEnroe
Ian Thorpe
Vialli and Klinsmann in the Euros (v Shearer and Dixon)


Quite a trend forming here

Chris Hollins absolutely FULL of himself as he always is on Breakfast TV as well. One of the people I loathe most on television.  Otherwise, the usual mix of veiled racism, British triumphalism and sour grapes. We lost the cycling because of the other countries !!!!  Just wait until McNeeley and Woodhall get going in the boxing. Can only see the punches thrown by British fighters.

they've already hung two gold medals around tom daleys neck....he'll probably come away with one silver.

Agree about Hollins,odious little toad with the same habit as Lineker of making everything appear to be about him.On a positive note I think the BBC red button coverage of multiple sports is fantastic.

Was that Tanni-Grey Thompson?

Isn't she a Baroness now?? (A PC appointment if there was ever one)

Utter cretin

Are you suggesting that Tanni Grey-Thompson is less deserving of the accolade than, say, Sayeda Warsi?

If so, I'll be polite and just say we disagree

Where did I mention Warsi ffs?????

Shes even worse imho

Tanni Grey-Thompson is an inspiration. She does so much for sports away from what you see.

i think she's one of the very few who has deserved her peerage

It was disgusting and disrespectful yesterday to Vinokourov.


She may well be inspirational to you and a few others.....i fail to see why should be made a Baroness because of it. It stinks of PR

Why shouldn't she have a damehood? Should Kelly Holmes for example?

Explain how her involvement in sport leads to her getting a position in Parliament where serious social decisions are made.


Its not just her....the House of Lords is abused in order for political parties to score PR points with "Media friendly" appointments

Kelly Holmes received an Honour from the Queen, she is not a Baroness and has not been appointed to political office.
I have no issue with Tannis Damehood. I have an issue with her appointment as a Baroness

Sorry misunderstood that bit.

Anyway, she's more deserving of a position than religious figures and life peers. Though I suspect you might kind of agree with that.

Absolutely Darlo.

Seb Coe is another

Hereditary peers I meant. Although life peers might come into it sometimes.

At least Seb Coe and Tanni Grey-Thompson give sports a voice in parliament beyond vacuous political scoring.

fair enough, we all have opinions.

Sue Barker looking increasingly like Barbara Cartland.

I dislike a lot of commentators in sport but it's hard to think of a more inept duo than Jameson and Moorhouse in the swimming

I agree with a lot of this, but we should be more grateful for what we get.

If you want a good laugh look on twitter for #nbcfail

The yanks are seething about their coverage, and I mean SEETHING. They're on six hour delay, but even the nbc twitter feeds and news are covering the results and spoiling it. Add in sh1t comms and thousands of ads.

Result - the more clued up yanks are loading up proxies to watch the bbc's live channels, and they love it.

The worst part is the majority of these commentators are complete failures in their own career.



You can even see the likes of Thorpe, Johnson looking at them with disdain

The commentators are a mix of career journos, most of whom are pretty good, and ex-sportsmen who are much more mixed, but please don't post idiotic comments suggesting the likes of Adrian Moorhouse, who won an Olympic gold medal, was a failure in his sporting career.  A lot of the analysts are excellent and really aid enjoyment of the events, including the fencing where they have pointed things out that I would never see, the dressage (Ian Stark) and the sailing where they highlight the impacts of taking different positions in the wind conditions.  Enjoy this for what it is, sport being played at the highest level, with all of its inherent passion and unpredictability, with coverage that is unlikely ever to be surpassed with 24 live feeds.

The bias towards the home competitors ruins the coverage. A little bias is expected obviously but it has been way overdone in most of the sports so far.

I have no problem with ex 'failed' sportsmen commentating if they're articulate, humorous and insightful.

Sadly this is rarely the case.

Patronising and pants as usual. The five live medal predictions look shaky. 27 golds, 25 silver, 43 bronze. The Clare Balding kiss of death is weaving its magic.

5 Live just then 'But we don't really care about that' referring to the tight finish instead opting to cream himself over Adlington coming 3rd

Bet Clare would like to get it on with Becky.

somebody tell moorehouse to stop doing the 'computer says' joke when he's waiting for the timings, he's done it 2 nights running

5 years since little britain was popular ffs

I flicked over to football to hear for the 2nd GB game on the trot, Jonathon Pearce saying "George Best, what a player he was" Just commentate on what you see or feck off!

george best was a great player, and would have been an asset to team gb at say mexico 1968

along with the cream of the 1966 world cup team, and that of scotlands brilliant team of that era

giggs and bellamy playing in a major tournament, but 2016 we wont enter a team.


seems a valid comment to me

Thorpe is good but he loves the word look.

He likes the word c0ck too.

ledgard commentating on volleyball is cringing. he is so clueless about the sport and also thinks serving is an advantage! :(

This women commentating on the gymnastics has got some voice.

Matt Baker is good though. Knows his stuff and has enthusiasm for the sport too.

I like the passion of the commentating. Makes it more exciting.

Agree Baker is good...hitherto i thought him a numpty especially after the golden jubilee debacle

Hugh Porter had a tough job in the Road Race with the lack of information, but still could have done much better. Kept complaining about how everyone was wearing white, said he'd never seen Boonen (who'd sat behind the Brits for most of the race), had about 3 stabs at the nationality of the bronze medallist and still got it wrong. To be fair, CB didn't help much.

David Coleman,Ron Pickering,Alan Weeks,David Vine,Harry Carpenter,Stuart Storey ... now they were PROPER commentators.

The manly baritone now blaming the crowd for making Gandy nervous. That was a poor performance, the medal hope didn't make the semis. BBC hype makes the performances appear dismal.

Jonathan Legard on the volleyball - 'the problem with them is that they don't like getting up early'. Htf does he know? That's just his assumption.

And how long has the word 'medal' been a verb?
It's not possible to 'medal', one can only win a medal (noun).
I could understand it from the Yanks, but every time a Brit says it my skin crawls.
That, and the relentless touching of fists among competitors (even after ones team-mate has dropped a bollock of immense proportions) is in danger of sending me into meltdown.
Rant over, I thank you.

I'm sure I just heard interviewer say that Beijing was previously known as Hong Kong...God help us

Watching and listening to the sailing on the red button with Ainslie struggling you would think there is a tsunami about to hit Weymouth.

Along with the sport, the commentators are providing us with almost as much entertainment. Just love the Olympics. At least as countries we're no longer killing each other. Well, mostly not anyway.

Jul 31, 2012 -- 1:05PM, posy wrote:

I'm sure I just heard interviewer say that Beijing was previously known as Hong Kong...God help us

No, he was referring to the fact the Beijing Olympic equestrian events were held in Hong Kong due to quarantine regulations.

The problem is many commentators are determined to show how knowledgeable they are and spend an inordinate amount of time talking about what the
competitors need to do instead of commentating on what is happening in front of them. I've watched races where the commentator either didn't have a clue of the positions during or at the end of the race or couldn't be bothered to let us know.They spend more time cheerleading the Brit in 5th place than letting us know who's 1st,2nd,3rd,etc.

It's not really the biased BBC that bothers me, i'm used to that. It's the pathetic excuses they're coming out with when one of "theirs" gets snotted..

Jul 30, 2012 -- 11:44PM, Mystic Wind wrote:

Hugh Porter had a tough job in the Road Race with the lack of information, but still could have done much better. Kept complaining about how everyone was wearing white, said he'd never seen Boonen (who'd sat behind the Brits for most of the race), had about 3 stabs at the nationality of the bronze medallist and still got it wrong. To be fair, CB didn't help much.

His worst bit was saying the sprint for fourth place even though about 15 riders had already finished.

The absolute nadir though are Herbert and topolski in the Rowing.

Incapable of getting basic facts right; instead of describing what is happening they go with a pre-assumed plan and stay with that until it's impossible to say otherwise. Karsten was at no point overtaking the Danish woman in the Single sculls today, yet toplski had her pushing through her from 1000m util about 200 metres from the line.

Forgot Anna Watkins name and is obsessed by the catch in sculling - technospeak and trying to confuse the viewer with coaching trivia that is well beyond most (I'm guessing) occasional viewers, are their default modes.

Alan Green, Martin Cross and James Cracknell on the radio are far better than these pair of clowns.

On the plus side, I think Mark Foster has been a revelation in the swimming. Knowledgeable (and not just about the Brits), enthusiastic, good insights and has developed a great professional double-act with the incomparable Claire Balding.

Alan Green. There's a good name to bring up. I hate him on the football, despise him to the point I normally just turn the radio off, but when it comes to the Olympics, he comes into his own.

Jul 31, 2012 -- 1:50PM, rogerthebutler wrote:

The absolute nadir though are Herbert and topolski in the Rowing.Incapable of getting basic facts right; instead of describing what is happening they go with a pre-assumed plan and stay with that until it's impossible to say otherwise. Karsten was at no point overtaking the Danish woman in the Single sculls today, yet toplski had her pushing through her from 1000m util about 200 metres from the line.Forgot Anna Watkins name and is obsessed by the catch in sculling - technospeak and trying to confuse the viewer with coaching trivia that is well beyond most (I'm guessing) occasional viewers, are their default modes.Alan Green, Martin Cross and James Cracknell on the radio are far better than these pair of clowns.On the plus side, I think Mark Foster has been a revelation in the swimming. Knowledgeable (and not just about the Brits), enthusiastic, good insights and has developed a great professional double-act with the incomparable Claire Balding.

I agree, Claire Balding is by far the best commentator on the BBC. Even though you know she is not knowledgeable on everything, she makes it interesting to listen to anyway.

Jul 31, 2012 -- 1:51PM, Darlo Bantam wrote:

Alan Green. There's a good name to bring up. I hate him on the football, despise him to the point I normally just turn the radio off, but when it comes to the Olympics, he comes into his own.

Totally agree.  He's very good on the rowing commentary.  Heard his Sydney 2000 Redgrave gold again the other day and captured the mood perfectly.  Just shows what he can do if he sticks to commentary rather than his ranting, opinionated football persona.

Fair play Balding is well researched, properly prepared and asks the right questions of the expert.

Clare Balding is a vey good broadcaster and commentator. Her radio programmes on rambling and the history of various sports were excellent. Too many of the younger sports presenters, male and female but particularly the latter are chosen for their looks alone.

Even the BBC's sports correspondent on the BBC news referred to Bradley Wiggins as the Tour de France champion instead of winner.
Pretty basic stuff.

Stick to Eurosport - very few interviews, no endless analysis of what just happened, straight on to some more action even if there aren't any Brits involved.

As much is Balding is well researched she's still extremely grating.  She obsesses and fondles over athletes as if she's there best friend.  Her Wimbledon tennis commentary involved her lauding over Federer's appearance half the time and naming each ball person in turn because she'd just met they before they went on when nobody gives a ****. Sort of person who tries to love everyone and needs to find out what they're up to but she's brash and up herself imo

their*

Eurosport v BBC for cycling. No contest.

Love the way Herbert in the rowing just ignores other teams. Had the GB Men's 4 up in 2nd in their semi when to all and sundry they were being kept in 3rd place by the Aussies. Can't wait for his GB finals coverage, hope they have paramedics on standby. At the same time, you can forgive his jingoism, such infectious commentating, the guy really loves his rowing.

didn't he just say something like "the French team look round in awe and amazement" after they finished second to GB in the pairs semi. Only 8 seconds slower than the other semi

The thing with Claire Balding is that she doesnt talk the viewers through the sport as if they are dimwits, nor does she assume the viewers know everything about the sport. And I think that is because she is in the same position as many viewers in that she knows about the sport she is commentating on, but is not an expert. And when she doesn't know, she asks her co-commentator instead of just guessing.

for example, in the volleyball the other day, the male commentator would say the score, for example 19-17 and then he would say, 'so they are just two points behind now' as if the viewers were incapable of simple maths.

One of my favourites is "this next point is important. It's the difference between being level or two points behind".

David Vine on weightlifting was legendary

the exchanges between Olga Korbut and John McEnroe last night were reminiscent of the Alan Partridge Christmas Special