MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Firstly, top effort from the BBC for putting on around 20 extra channels, if you have Sky/Virgin etc etc, you can watch pretty much all the events live however obscure the sport.
However, the quality of presenting and interviewing is awful.
Virtually no specialist presenters relative to a particular sport....the F1 guy trying to do different sports earlier was painful....this morning's BBC1 anchor presented as though she's been poached from CBeebies, all street talk and hand gestures....christ knows how anybody over 40 was supposed to understand her.
The interviews are horrific, the interviewers seemingly pushing for tears from the sportsmen and women with absolutely no subtlety....the judo guy this morning was in bits, nothing more needed to be said and yet the crass idiot with the mic asked him how he felt having let down those around him!....one of the horsey women lost her dad earlier in the year....you guessed it, the imbecile from the BBC asked how she felt losing her dad this year!....how do you think she felt you dribbling idiot!?
Cavendish got it spot on when he asked if the person firing questions at him knew anything about cycling.
Great coverage, poor presenters.
How many presenters do you think they have available?
Loads, seriously.
And one of the main occupations for ex-sports people seems to be moving into the media and presenting.
Find an ex pro in that particular field and get them to host alongside the achingly trendy half wit the BBC have chosen to use....instantly better coverage than BBC presenters going solo who dont usually cover sport suddenly being thrust into mainstream Olympic coverage.
All the stuff I've watched has an ex-pro pundit, I think...
I quite liked the bloke who thought it was a good idea to talk like David Attenborough last night when presenting the mens gymnastics, was disappointed however that he never discussed the breeding habits of pandas 😆
Just to clarify about the channels, a lot of people seem to be using the red button, unaware that they are available as proper channels as well. You may think it makes no difference, but you can't Sky+ record on the red button, but you can if you go to the proper channels 🙂
There are reasons that presenters are presenters and pundits are pundits. Not many pundits have the ability to "present". Yes, some do, but not all.
Jesus, the broadcasting effort required is massive. The beeb has to work with the pictures they're given. They have to present sports, many of which you won't watch for another four years. And you expect Match Of The Day quality for everything?
Jesus wept, some people are never happy.
Personally, I'm disappointed that nobody seems to be using "medal" as a verb much this time round - I always look forward to seeing the usual suspects getting sandy fannyitis over that particular one.
The Olympics is a great excuse to exhume Barry Davies for the hockey.
Most of the stuff Ive watched has been excellent. refreshing lack of crap punditry on the judo, boxing, weightlifting and gymnastics
a lot of people seem to be using the red button, unaware that they are available as proper channels as well.
please enlighten me as to how cos I didn't know this.
If you have Sky mrsflash, they're at the end of the sports section.
there have been a couple of clangers - I also saw the uneccesary question to Tina Cook about her father. no need.
but on the whole the standard of presenting is very good.
on Virgin it's channels 550-599
IMO, the more fringe sports have had better commentary since they have been forced to rely on experts. There have also been some quality double acts (eg rowing) and I also think Foster and Balding work very well. I am impressed with Balding as she really seems to work hard in an attempt to master whatever she is covering despite her specialisation being equestrian events. After a few early horrors (eg, J Doulgas), I think coverage has been really good in past 36 hours especially in the context of so much going on at the same time.
Keep it up Auntie!
(p.s. agree that its nice to get Barry Davies back.)
If you have Sky mrsflash, they're at the end of the sports section.
Thanks for that, useful to know, some sports need a pause button
Balding is one of those few that have made the transition from pundit to presenter really well. She's clearly mad into sports and can seemingly turn her hand to anything. Saw her in a pub in chiswick a few weeks back and should have got her autograph or something. I think she's great.
Oh and Cavendish can't have been too bothered by Auntie's questions. He's coming to help present track cycling when it starts. His personality and all round enthusiasm for life are sure to shine through.
A lot of the beebs "anchor" presenters are pretty good
Gary Lineker seems to be able to ask reasonably sensible questions about most sports. Claire Balding - although clearly as mad as a bag of spanners is good too.
I also like they way the buy in some foreign talent, Thorpe for swimming, Johnson for athletics etc
Cav's punditing? Nice, I'll look forward to that!
BBC's channels start at 450 for HD coverage through SKY.
That Matt Baker annoys me. A lot.
Matt's a bit, erm, enthusiastic. He was GB junior gymnastics champion in his day too wasn't he? I enjoyed his commentary during the men's team event. Nice to see a little bit of partisanship every so often.
Some of those Sky/BBC/Olympic channels don't even have any commentary. It's great!
Thorpe is interesting!! Dress sense, manner, posing at the cameras etc has us all in fits of laughter. Did the Beeb get him under the pretence that he was actually on Big Brother? 😉
Look, the thing about Ian Thorpe is his annoying tendency to start each sentence with "look".
Look, he does know his stuff though which is important.
That's a bit of an Australianism mol. Ah, yeh know, look...
If an Irish person starts a sentence with "Lookit...", then, in general, be on your guard. Anything could happen.
😀 Is he saying "look" to himself?
ie, look/pout at the camera first, then add insightful comment? Good value either way. Wonder why he is not on Aus TV?
The Beeb do a great job of obtaining pundits.
Thorpe is good, Michael Johnson on the atheltics is great, and I also like McEnroe on the tennis along with the other famous names they have. Some of the biggest stars around.
Ok, the swimming tonight: which one is the gooseberry? Great triple act and great to watch the body language etc
McEnroe on the tennis along
McEnroe on the beach volleyball was interesting though.
Look, the thing about Ian Thorpe is his annoying tendency to start each sentence with "look".Look, he does know his stuff though which is important.
Didn't Radio 1 do a thing about this?
Thorpe very funny tonight.
Watching Foster watching Thorpe and vv, it's like a reality TV show. It's lovely. Cracking me up!
I play water polo but will concede it is far from the most interesting sport to watch. The commentary however has been great, despite being on about the 20th channel. They just need to keep Reggie Yates away.
Claire Balding is great, as said above totally into sports and really does try to learn a bit about whatever she's presenting. Mad as a box of frogs too though 😉
Ian Thorpe has the same effect in our house teamhurtmore, funny as ....
Reggie Bloody Yates or whatever his name is. Awful.
deviant...get over yourself, although watching poor presenting is never pleasant (i watched some poor presenting as a young man) the standard of presenting is hardly communist state television standards....i worked in many television studios and outside broadcasts and the level of presenting is more than adequate to pass on the relevant information to the viewer....in 5 years of working in the television industry ive only ever seen two genuinely awful television presenters, a button to change channel is available either on the remote or the television set should you wish to use it, there is also a button to turn the sound off or down should that be your preferred option. Blankets and cushions are usually available on sofas for comfort.
A mistake was made in your particular case, perhaps rather than getting angry with the BBC you might want to direct your ire at mps who have cut the beebs spending on behalf of their News international paymasters... i would think this is a very clear example of the damage NI are doing to the bbc, wouldn't you?
There also seems to be some confusion on here regarding the offenses some presenters are committing, its important to know that the bbc would be criticised by the Murdoch press if they employed a full time archery or cycling reporter for an event that happens every four years.
Reggie Bloody Yates or whatever his name is. Awful.
I've just checked, and according to [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Yates ]Wiki[/url] his middle name isn't Bloody, in fact it would appear that he has no middle name...
I'm currently putting up with 9 world of sports (the thing that used to look like a joke on a sunday afternoon)
It's controlled by a hyperactive kid who gets bored very easily 🙁 2 mins here then off there then oo look aussie over there then back to where we started.
However the local commentators won't give up till the medals are actually round someone elses neck.
Really missing the beeb, watched loads of Bejing online. Being able to watch one thing and catch up is missed!
Have you lot got Phil doing the cycling? Think we are sharing commentators.
Claire Balding will never be forgiven for the debacle that was her Olympic snowboarding coverage a few years back.