Rugby commentators suck...

I'm sitting here eating my breakfast with some netball in the background
Usually I'd ignore it - but in the 60 seconds I've been watching I've heard 2-3 technical tips/pieces of indepth analysis

Which is 2-3 more than I get watching an entire ITM cup/All Blacks game

Why are our rugby commentators so afraid/unable to give us real analytical insight into techniques/formations etc?

Are you listening to Telfer? he is very good at that sort of thing and a completely different type of broadcaster than the usual meatheads

Ray Warren is the greatest TV commentator anywhere, at least in English. Our guys seem to think that being all blokey and chummy and giggling at inside jokes constitutes good TV commentary.

Justin Marshall is pretty good though.

I was sitting on the couch watching a couple of games of rugby yesterday and one I thing I noticed was the ridiculous number of times Grant Nisbet (sp?) gets the players names wrong. He always seems confused as to who has the ball.

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Actually some chicks... they were discussing some sort of hand tehcnique and how something could have been done as it was close to the sideline... then they discussed something else as well. It all slips out pretty fast but at least if I had been concentrating I'd understand more

i'm a bit spoiled I guess. Most NFL commentators are technically proficient. However, if you watch MLB it's like rugby: pointless crap, historical stories and very little explanation of how/why the last pitch was a slider/curve/whatever.

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Ever noticed how EVERY single player in the ITM cup is "great" or "special"?
Where are the figures to back it up?
We keep stats on tackles, line breaks etc... so let's see them actually use them.

Yep, most rugby commentators are fuckheads. In particular Grant Nisbet. I do like TJ, Ian Smith and Ken Laban though. The rest can go fuck themselves.

And re: Warren... I used to love big Rabs, he was someone who I took great pleasure in hearing over the airwaves. Unfortunately he has slid downhill with age, ala Richie Benaud. He says lots of pointless things now, offers little insight, and he and Gould constantly team up together to bag the rules, like they're bigger then the game itself. Time for both of them to move on IMO.



gc.

yeah they ruined parts of the GF yesterday by constantlybleating about the refs/rules

Until you've had to put up with Tommy Smyth with a Y and th rest of the dross that make up the ESPN's sawker commentery team you don't know what bad commentary is. Tommy Smyth seems to think that commentary is about disagreeing with your co-commentator as much as possible as though it's some sort of competition, he also has his issue of the week which he bleats on about like like potato munching c**t all f**king game. Jaynis Mihailic or however it's spelt is down right stupid and whilst he alledgedly is an ex-pro he's never said anything to suggest he is. Plus he constantly gets things wrong, like mistaking offsides for goal kicks. The Scottish guy (Derek something maybe) also suffers from retardedness, he was talking to fans on the street after Spain won the World Cup asking Japanese and South African fans wearing Spain shirts how it felt to win the World Cup? He doesn't seem to know anything and thinks his only job is too ask others what they think. Shaka Hislop can barely speak English so quite what made ESPN think he'd make a good commentator is beyond me. Robbie Earle is about the only half decent one, and he's just that, half decent nothing more.

They're made 1000x wrose by the fact that they are NEVER at the games they are calling so it's difficult for good commetnators to good a good job under those conditions, let alone the world's worst. Plus there's the ultra low definition of the ESPN signal just to cap it all off.

Best quote ever... by a coach I love
Someone asked Bill Belichick (PAtriots coach) how he felt about some officiating mistakes in a game
He said (I paraphrase): "We made a lot more mistakes out there than the officials, so I have no complaint"

FACT: players make 10x more mistakes than officials do.