The commentary is probably the best its ever been across all the championships that I watch (GP, WSBK, MA). Everyone has continued to improve over the past couple of years and things are solid now.
I know I’m in the minority but I liked J.Green and Steve Martin. When the racing was good I could tune it out. When it wasn’t , the bickering was entertaining
I get he wasn’t for everybody but I enjoyed him until his decline. Especially the riders meetings. I barely watch them now. I always watched them in their entirety when he hosted them. I guess to each their own but there was something about his true excitement for the sport that I always felt. Like Drebber used to make me feel when he’d call a race. He truly loved the sport.
Mostly dittos, especially for the very last comment, but.....how "solid" is it when the child British commentator explains that the reason a bike backs-in to a turn on entry is because the rear wheel is spinning faster than the front wheel? And then neither the stone or the model corrects, or even understands, the error?
I said them earlier and a couple of guys panned me. I really liked them in wsbk. Jonathan had the excitement and Steve had the knowledge.
I can't stand it when he gets all worked up about some "drama" on track that isn't there or some pass that obviously isn't going to happen.
ZERO: the amount of meaningful commentary by the child birdwatcher, the stone and the model concerning what was occurring on-track during Moto3 and Moto2 FP at Misano today, other than occasionally reporting lap-times and crashes, of course. The paddock gossip/drivel was world-class, though, as always.
Ya know, at first I was like "damn, is this guy going on again about his hate boner (yes, I taxed that from Dave K) for the GP announcers?" And then I realized at least it's not talk about lacrosse or how the coof is shutting the world down. In fact, it's even motorcycle related so that's a bonus.
If the MotoGP commentators you're all talking about are the two I mentioned in a different thread regarding their screaming incoherence on the final bend of the last GP, well I'd rather listen to Greg White all day long than those clowns. As mentioned before, Harris was OK but he did seem to lose it in the last few years. Murray Walker, good author, lovely bloke but f'in awful commentator, Jonathan Green was another from the shout out loud a load of bollocks school. All the years I've watched motorcycle racing the only ones who I've found tolerable were Julian Ryder and Keith Huewen.
"Hate" is a bit too strong. Angry is more accurate. And it didn't develop suddenly. I have been a MotoGP and WSBK subscriber since they first offered subscriptions for viewing over the internet. As such, I believe that I am one of their best and most loyal paying customers. I began early on requesting to Dorna, repeatedly, respectfully and politely, that they staff the MotoGP commentary booth with a former world championship level rider alongside a qualified broadcast journalist. I complimented Dorna for what they do extremely well: broadcast video. I also complimented them for hiring Simon Crafar and have sent many emails complimenting his progress and contributions. I made the point to Dorna that virtually EVERY OTHER professional sports broadcast team consists of a former pro athlete/sportsman and a qualified broadcast journalist. WSBK commentary was great when Steve Martin was in the booth, but then he was gone, replaced with one clueless journalist after another. My requests to Dorna then evolved to include MotoGP AND WSBK commentary. I was told that my recommendations would be considered seriously. My head gasket blew when Dorna hired the clueless social media and bird-watching expert boy as a Moto2/3 commentator and sent the model to pit lane to agitate race team managers with her ridiculous questions.
Thanks for the advice. Please know, however, that the value that I derive from advice I receive is proportional to the amount that I pay for the advice.
