Kara Goucher’s announcing

I think she's a knowledgeable announcer, but she is kind of boring. She could work on her delivery and enthusiasm to take it to another level.

Talks WAY TOO MUCH! I like to watch the race, see the split times. We do not need biographies etc DURING a race!

OK, there are times when she (and more often the other guy) drone on about some irrelevant story while a move is being made or they're completing a lap and the split is available.

I think she did a great job.

I disagree a bit with what you're saying but think there's some sentiment behind your statement I can definitely get behind. This is a problem with track diehards (this includes myself) – we obsessively follow these runners, know more than the average person does before each race, and often want to focus on the splits. Others who follow more casually (or even European fans who aren't as dialed into US indoor races) greatly benefit from hearing the commentary and background of each runner. It makes the race accessible to the average person, at the small cost of disappointing a few fanatics. Now, where I DO think Kara and others could improve is get most relevant background out of the way earlier, then save pure race analysis for the latter half of these races where big moves are being made – splits, positioning, strategic moves, etc. I do not think the commentators were bad, but there is something to improve.

This is almost always the other guy. You can feel the tension of Kara wanting to interrupt them to talk about the move. Mostly I’m just happy if they show the move, many times they cut to commercial or a field event when it is happening.

Except is there actually a such thing as a "casual viewer" in the US in track and field? The only people who care enough to watch these things ARE knowledgeable viewers...

Side note: did anyone count how many times Goucher said "confidence/confident" this time? Seriously. Start a tally. It's quite entertaining.

I love her commentating... she knows her stuff and she knows how to communicate with casual fans. Second only to Rupp.

I think she's awesome, esp when she gets excited as she does in some of the record breaking races. There hasn't been really good American announcers since Marty Liguori and
Craig Masback two former world class runners. Some of the current English announcers seem pretty knowledgeable as well. Also pretty good are Tim Hutchins and Jenny Meadows. I've also enjoyed Brendan Foster.

I'm pretty sure that casual viewers would like to know who is leading the race, something she never mentions unless it is the person or persons she is fixated on.

I second that she is very good. Can we get rid of Leigh Diffey? He ran his course 6 years ago. No pun intended. The hypocrisy that Kara lives in is interesting to say the least. She makes money off of announcing track and field and every day she lets us all know who has been caught cheating. When will she realize that she is making money off of races that cheaters run in????

There are just not as many as maybe football or baseball. But there are so many options now that there are fewer and fewer casual viewers for every sport.

Isn't the point to get rid of the cheaters?

Man I have mixed feelings. I think she is just fine and is as legit as they come. But when Hiltz runs, I actually turn off the volume. Ive just tuned in to her saying "they" so much i cant take it.

So, you can read men's minds? No, you're wrong. We don't like Kara because she doesn't tell us the information we want to know about the race that is unfolding in front of our eyes. She goes into every race with a preconceived notion and sticks to it, whether it pans out or not. And as a commentator, she should be able to pronounce words ending in ing. I'd rather hear just about anyone else. The British commentators are so much better. I love when I can get their feed.

"If it wasn't for Swangard we wouldn't have known who led..." You do know the difference between play-by-play and color commentary, right?

Sometimes you need to obviously state the obvious because obviously not everyone spectating knows everything that's obvious to obvious hobbyist.

She falls all over herself to say "they" and "them" and "their" about a woman in the women's race.

You are right. The problem is, giving us the facts of the race like who is leading IS Swangard's job as you implied. The commentators job is filling in the spaces which Goucher does very well in a very time limited space.