I stopped counting the number of my complaint emails to "[email protected]" regarding the inferior quality of commentary when the number exceeded 1,000. Simon Crafar is awesome, Matt Birt is OK, the others are huge negatives.
I was reading Nick Harris’ blog last night and omg do I ever miss him. I wish he’d come in and talk some times. I wish Motogp would hire Jonathan green. He was f’ing exciting and awesome in WSBK. I think he went to MotoAmerica but not sure where he is now. He spoke alongside Steve Martin. They were very good together I thought.
I didn’t like when Moto GP hired new announcers. I thought Simon Crayfar was awful, but I have changed that opinion 180 degrees. I believe your 1000 emails is probably an over statement. But if you sent more than 2 ... 3 Max . You need some serious direction in your life . Just My opinion.
I’m guessing it doesn’t live up to your standard of wearing a pussy hat and marching for rights people already have.
Fuck man don’t wish that evil was on us. Green is as bad or worse than Ralph Shaheen and Robby Floyd. Somehow after a whole career announcing motorcycles, he still managed to not know shit and constantly either talked over or contradicted his partner, even though his partner was usually either a former pro racer or just someone who actually knew a thing or 2. The current crop of guys for GP don’t bother me. They’re not as great as some of the ones from the past but after having to listen to Robby Floyd every other weekend, they seem pretty alright. Count me as another one who didn’t like Simon at first but he’s really grown on me and I thoroughly enjoy his insight.
I dig Simon. I don’t mind the broadcast commentary. I think they’re solid. Something about the British accent that lends some sophistication and legitimacy to it. I don’t get the Greg White hate. He’s a true enthusiast, and you can tell he enjoys what he does. Sometimes he steps across JPs commentary but I never thought it to be disruptive. Maybe I’m in the minority but I like those guys in the booth. I do, however, miss Dave Despain...
Unpopular opinion: Nick Harris wasn't that good either. I thought maybe the last couple years he was talking out of his ass so often because he was getting old and losing his edge but going back to watch the 2006 season he's about the same. Confusing riders on the same team with each other, missing obvious passes and commentating the old order for multiple laps in a row, etc etc...
I have really warmed up to Simon. He has really upped his game. An poking the Puig bear is just icing.
Hey, I miss Chris Carter! And I thought Dave Sadowski was one of the best "rider commentators". Anyhow... Announcers are always a bit of a personal taste thing, but I do feel some parts of the commentary are pretty lame for being a paid "official" service. I do kind of feel like I'm are getting "B-team" coverage when I clearly see many organizations interviewing riders on the grid and in the pitbox with cameras on them, and Simon isn't apparently allowed to be seen on camera! It was really frustrating during one qualifying session when Simon was trying to explain some technical detail of a launch control system verbally when he was *looking right at it* at the time. A phone camera picture would have even been nice at that time. Crazy considering the helicopter camera and super slow-mo stuff that costs a fortune to operate. Having a camera guy along with Simon would improve the coverage for a relatively small investment. I do appreciate that there is a minimum of "fake story creation" in the coverage. One of my least favorite coverage things is when the announcer tries to be the center of attention by creating a made up story about what is going on in the rider's heads on the track. Watched a BBC special about Murray Walker on the occasion of his 95th birthday the other night. What a great guy! It was all geared to be about Formula 1, but he made it clear a few times in the special that motorcycle racing was really his first love. Some of the best commentating I've seen was the BBC coverage of F1. I really miss that. The F1 TV stuff is poor by comparison, and they *really* make you feel like "B-Team" after you cough up all the money for F1TV-Pro. Long bouts of them chatting about replays on the "Sky Pad" (Sky TV coverage) that you aren't allowed to actually see. I get that it is part of the network coverage, but geez I'm paying big bucks for this... Throw me a bone!
Harris declined pretty badly in the last two years commentating ... Mixing up riders names, repeating phrases by the minute. go re-watch some of his last races and compare it to today, it's almost painful to watch sometimes. you can let a mistake slip here and there, but i think it became too much.
