Our comments are here:
Our comments are here:
I like both Dwight Stones and Rawson...very good broadcasters...I don't need them to be subject matter experts, I don't care if Stones knew anything about tauro or not...We need guys like Stones and Rawson for background noise.
And that is important..I am glad they are there. A friend of mine and I were at a meet once and ran into Stones, he talked to us as if he knew us. Great guy.
I hope to see them in further broadcasts and after years and years in this sport am puzzled as to why we critique the jobs of broadcasters so much......As important as they are, if I don't understand the nuances of the game/event...that's my problem.
it's your problem if you don't understand what's going on or if you hang on every word these guys utter.
Thanks Dwight and larry
"I hope to see them in further broadcasts and after years and years in this sport am puzzled as to why we critique the jobs of broadcasters so much......As important as they are, if I don't understand the nuances of the game/event...that's my problem.
it's your problem if you don't understand what's going on or if you hang on every word these guys utter."
I'm sure they're great guys, but that doesn't mean that the fans and participants of track and field can't critique their broadcasts. If nothing else, their professional responsibility is to convey the nuances of the game/event, to engage tv viewers in the culture and complexity of whatever sport we're watching. Part of this, IMO, is to add a little color commentating, even if we do cringe at those painful high school track analogies...but at least get them right! Geez...
I'm not saying that the usual commentators need to be replaced, but I am suggesting that the quality of their commentating DOES matter. I've certainly been in enough pain watching conference, NCAA, and Professional races that I want to mute my tv from time to time. That's not exactly good for our sport. The only way to see the quality of these productions increase, is to give credit where it is due and criticism where it is needed. Brojos, keep the discussion of these televised events coming
Did Larry Rawson get a facelift over the off-season?
Something just doesn't look right...
If I remember the broadcast, I think one of them said the 400 was like running around your local high school track FOUR times. Other than that, they do a good enough job. Maybe some telestrator work or something would be interesting?
Ooops...guess you pointed that out (500 - FIVE laps???). As fasr sa when they choose to air it. I honestly don't give a crap when they show taped or tape delayed coverage. I have the TiVo set to record all that stuff and never watch it right away anyways. Most everyone I know who actually watches this stuff does the same thing. If they showed it live, I would not be any more inclined to watch it.
WiscMarathon wrote:
Did Larry Rawson get a facelift over the off-season?
Something just doesn't look right...
He had throat cancer, buddy.
Cancer tends to alter your appearance just a wee bit, if you didn't realize that already.
...We need guys like Stones and Rawson for background noise.
Noise is the operative word here. It's peculiar that there can never be more than a second of silence during a sports broadcasts. It's always got to be filled with some blather. I find it distracting and mindnumbing. Just let the camera tell the story a bit once and a while.
And I've yet to hear anything of value or importance in those out of breath after-event interviews.
Pay per view or whatever it was...during the olympics...geez...what year?????
I liked it...didn't go over well, no commentators....cable companies didn't do that again..I guess it didn't sell well.
I find it ironic that a web page which has errors (grammatical and factual) on the front page that sometimes aren't fixed for days is criticizing someone for making a slip up in the heat of the moment.
In fact there is an error in the sentance mentioning the "blunder". "Read about getting drunk with Craig Mottram and Dwight Stones comical blunder talking about his Larry Rawson's favorite local high school track."
"his Larry Rawson's"??????
That's some good englich.
See even I'm not immune to a slip up - but at least I'll admit it - "sentence" : )
irony watch wrote:
I find it ironic that a web page which has errors (grammatical and factual) on the front page that sometimes aren't fixed for days is criticizing someone for making a slip up in the heat of the moment.
Feel free to email us at
letsrun@letsrun.comif you find any mistakes. We want the mistakes to be corrected and you'd be surprised how often we get emails (very little). We actively want feedback on the website.
If you read the article, we admit to making mistakes and even poke fun of ourselves. But if being perfect was criteria before you could comment on something then the world would be silent. I don't see what the problem is with pointing out the good and bad of a broadcast. The reaction today in American is to shoot the messenger instead of listening to the message.
Track broadcasts generally I think are of good quality, but that does not mean the announcers get a free pass. Hopefully, this thread will help them do their job better. I got some private emails on the Millrose meet thread and people associated with the meet appreciated that thread.
ugh, I can't remember the no-commentator OG's either.
I should say I want SOME commentating, just less of it and fewer words.
Did not know he was dealing with that.
Since I've had it I do understand how it can
alter things. Thanks for the info "buddy".
For me the highlight of the Millrose Games came from behind the scenes as I was standing just outside the track on one of the turns.
Before the Elite Mile the lights were turned down in the arena and a spotlight was put on the middle of the track, and the National Anthem was sung. Standing on the track in the dark, Bernard Lagat stood at attention with his hand over his heart while the anthem played while some of the other runners still jogged in place, stretched, and payed no attention. I thought this was a great display of how he feels to be an American. He did not do this because people would see him, as it was dark in the arena, but I believe because he is proud to be a citizen.
Just my observation.
and be up to speed on everything...This critisism is like listening to parents bitch about coaches. It mostly comes from people who wouldn't coach or runners who complain at road races, who wouldn't dream of trying to direct a race.
It's something that isn't that serious of a thing. Who cares if these guys don't have encyclopedic? minds.
Just show the distance events and buzz on about anything...I just need the background noise and someone who can prompt the commercial so I can use the bathroom.
I think the people who know more than these guys, should step up and take the mike. But when they do, I'll bet most would just FREEZE over.
Maybe I overreacted a little bit. But, I do feel like you might have been a little bit hard on the broadcasters. As you said, everybody makes mistakes. And instead of being a thorn in the side of broadcasters we should find ways to be more supportive of the events when they are televised.
Let's say you have a bunch of Let's Run people e-mail their various complaints to ESPN. ESPN probably was somewhat skeptical of airing the meet in the first place and if all they get are complaints than maybe the answer they'll come up with is to just cut track.
When we react with anger we should realize that instead of getting better quality broadcasts we might just cause networks to do the opposite of what we want - which is to just ignore running like they usually do.
How about several rounds of chemo can effect a person and how the look physically. Larry has been battling cancer as some or most of you know... When I talked to him at Millrose he shared that the last scan he had revealed that all the tumors were gone and there was no cancer that showed up in his body. He was very glad to share that news and I was pleased to hear it.
WiscMarathon wrote:
Did Larry Rawson get a facelift over the off-season?
Something just doesn't look right...
I didn't see Milrose specifically, but I have a thought on track coverage in general on TV. For the throws and the horizontal jumps, could we get one of those yellow lines that football has to show the first down to show where the leading throw or jump is? That way you could really see if a new jump or throw busts open the competition or just misses taking the lead. The camera angles used on TV make it hard to keep this perspective.
Two more random thoughts. For longer races, how about a split screen. A close up of the leaders and maybe a longer shot that shows the whole pack. Also, I think televised meets should take advantage of the chip used in road racing. If all runners in the meet wore one, then exact splits could be calculated by computer for everyone instantly. If in some alternative universe an xc meet were ever on TV, I think the same chip technology could be used to calculate the team scores at certain points along the course, like every mile.