Minor rant – Have really enjoyed the Winter Olympics but……..

If I ever have to watch those two stupid, vacuous, grinning, idiots Graham Bell and Ed Leigh again I might just have to go out and commit mass murder.

Not the commentaries as such, which at least have been informative, it's all the other bits: Ed and Graham on a slackline. Ed and Graham try the skeleton. Ed and Graham try and grin themselves to death etc, etc. God, it's overexposure on a scale not seen since David Tennant at Christmas.

If I want to watch overpaid, middle class self-indulgent media darling attention whores and failed pro skiers attempting to out-stupid each other, I'll go to Klosters – at least there I can blag drinks off them and insult them to their faces.

And they've ruined Ski Sunday – it's all about them, you're lucky to get 10 minutes of actual racing in between them quipping themselves into gales of helpless laughter.

And relax………………

off button perhaps?

Nah, too exciting. Much tea brewed when they're on.
Eurosport helps.

Nice rant, obviously heartfelt.

I think they're quite watchable and seem much less scripted than the Top Gear goons, but I don;t know anything about winter sports. Maybe that's the point?

Haven't watched any Beeb cos they've had no hockey on. I subscribed to Eurosport, hockey coverage is reasonable with them. Looking forward to tomorrows final, missus at work & telly to myself.

I'm no fan of that braying horse racing commentator or the whiny Canadian ex-skier either. What with the commentary team and the insistence on really fast cutting for all the highlights I've been disappointed with the coverage from start to finish.

Haven't watched any Beeb cos they've had no hockey on.

They've had plenty from what I've seen – I've been watching Eurosport because the BBC haven't shown the most exciting spectator winter sport (which also happens to be the sport which normally attracts the highest viewing figures for Eurosport in the UK).

Gotta say I find them quite a laugh to watch, and I think the fact that they so obviously really enjoy what they're doing helps. Sports programmes presented by boring, monotonous presenters, that sound like they're reading a script, do not make good viewing.

Gotta agree with Raindog though, WTF is Claire Balding doing there (they might as well have sent Gary Lineker, he works for the Beeb too!), and the Canadian woman (forgotten her name) just is not fit to be a TV presenter… Nobody's taking away the fact she's an ex olympic medallist, but she is about as interesting as watching (or listening to) paint dry!

But I don't want to watch someone I don't care about hamming it up worse than Peppa Pig whilst plotting their rise to meeja 'stardom'.

I want to watch the Winter Olympics, presented by someone knowledgeable (which they undoubtedly are) but who doesn't make me want to rub their faces up and down a dry stone wall.

Disagree with all your comments, maybe it's because I'm a woman!
I've really enjoyed listening to and watching Graham and Ed. As for them being failed pro-skiers, are you joking? Did you watch 'Artic man'? one of the toughest ski races in the world, Graham at the age of 44 came in 4th. Ed (on a snowboard) aged 35 came in 4th too.
Clare has been highly professional, she's an all round sports woman and not a bad skier. The worst one was Ed commentating on the boarder 4X with some boring, no personality, girl, who soon got kicked off.

I've enjoyed every minute. If you live in America they're up in arms,
as the media have only been televising events that the Americans are in.

2/10 rant rating 🙂

With all this bad news in the world a bit of fun can't hurt us.

i lik Ed Leigh. But then I would because I snowboard.

Quite like them as well, so it ain't just a woman thing.

claire balding is jay leno putting on a deep voice.
that's all.
the others are okay.

Haven't watched any Beeb cos they've had no hockey on

I agree, there's been no coverage of the hockey on the BBC so far, but then the World Cup has only just started.

There was some ice hockey on the BBC recently, though.

There was some ice hockey on the BBC recently, though

The Beeb's coverage of the 'ice' hockey (is there another form?) is shocking. Saying that, I know they have to cram as much as possible into a short time.

They've brought the olympics alive compared to the normal football / horses / crap focused normal sports presenters. The more of them the better. They've also made ski sunday about a billion times better.

So in short. I disagree.

hockey of both forms would be great to have on the BBC, especially because i dont have eurosport.

I disagree [sorry]

I have really enjoyed the Winter Olympics but my beef is with that t*** Alain Baxter now he IS a nobody skiier! Who doesn't know what to say and has a mullet! But I've still enjoyed the coverage just wish it was on at a more reasonable hour, but that's not the Beebs fault.

I disagree too. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have commentating on snowboarding than Ed Leigh and Graham Bell is great too. Anyone who can ski a downhill course at 80+mph, holding a camcorder and giving a running commentary as they go is OK by me.

OK, some people want nothing but as much olympic action packed into the programmes as possible, and want to watch every person run in every heat. Most people don't know or care a lot about many of the sports, so humanising it in their way can be a good thing.

As for Claire Balding, she shouldn't be allowed anywhere near it.

I like Ed and Graham, not keen on Claire Balding, and Alan Baxter was awful in the brief bits I saw with him.

Disagree, really like them both and have enjoyed the other programmes that have been on the last couple of weeks with them presenting.

As mentioned above Baxter is rubbish and don't get me started on Hugh "Box of tricks" Porter

At least good old Hazel in the studio was as reliable as ever

Could have been worse and sent the Irish bloke who did the Darts this year

I've enjoyed the Olympics coverage bits by Ed and Graham, but probably because they're in small doses. Probably for the same reason as Rusty Spanner, I find alot of the 'adventure', wilderness programmes by them a bit nauseous. Same way I disliked MBR mag under John [Kitch] Kitchiner (and previously Trail mag under JK).

I like them- two people who know what they are talking about – your comment about graham bell being a failed downhill racer, is very unfair. He did better than the current crop of british Downhillers are doing.

Ok, the 'failed pro skier' bit might have been a bit harsh (but aren't all Brits, apart from, funnily enough Alain Baxter?) but I stand by the rest of it.

Now THAT was the face of Ski-Sunday.
I used to like it when it was just reportage of the sport – if I want a magazine, there are loads out there.

And Top Gear was miles better with William Woollard 😀

I thought last nights programme with them was good,up in northern canada,and then the 3 day trek to whistler.

So they got the only British skier ever to fail a dope test to commentate. Deary me. Commentary on free Europsort in German was about the best of the bunch IMO.

Okay I want to correct my earlier comment Ed Leigh ISN'T mmmmmm tis Graham that's yummy 😉 crumbs just want to get that straight, Leigh has silly hair and I occasionally find him irritating!

Leigh does wear some extraordinarily silly outfits sometimes too!

WTF was going on with the men's slalom? Everybody looked really shit!

Munqe-chick, good to see you saw sense. Graham's brother Martin is yummy too.

Thank **** it was all on at silly o'clock and I slept through most of it. Can't stand the horsey dyke, the Canuck skiing tooth-monster was televisual Mogadon and that grinning idiot Bell looked like an escaped window licker. It was soul destroying to see Whistler Bike Park covered in bloody snow too. Apparently, according to a text from a mate, the Brit that won the Gold at sledging was 'worth one', so I suppose it was appropriate for the BBC to send the 72-man crew to cover this over-hyped borefest afterall.

I hope I sleep through the bloody football this summer too, but no doubt there'll be saturation coverage from the whole of the British media until England get beaten on penalties by the Erics or Portugal again and the Jocks can actually celebrate some sporting-success-by-proxy…

Bunnyhop it wasn't a case of seeing sense! I was at work when I posted earlier and wasn't thinking straight! Mr MC pointed my error out as he knows I think he's actually minging! LOL!!

Claire Balding is a shaved Chewbacca