Brendan Foster should retire from commentating

The BBC athletic commentary team is just like a private club, they just tell each other how fantastic they all were. How did Paula get a job, certainly not on her ability to commentate, more likely she's big mates with Bren and Crammy, it's nepotism at its absolute worst.

The official ratings are in:

Cram - good

Foster - good

Lewis - ok

Edwards - ok

Jackson - bad

Paula - bad

...and Tom Hammond and NBC never gets any commentary right, they were awful just now. I say thank God I can watch and listen the BBC nepotistic commentators.

Used to love watching Brendan run, but, like many BBC commentators, he's gone on too long. However, the others are no better - as with football, I'd rather hear intelligent journalists than ex-pros who don't want to get a real job.

Retiring after the London Marathon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/39651551

Correction - commentating on his last London Marathon on Sunday and retiring completely after the WCs this summer.

Equity wrote:

I will trade you Carol Lewis for Brendan Foster any day

And throw in Larry Rawson from down at your local track for free. Drives me nuts, his weird sentence structure does.

Foster can be a bit irritating especially with his banter with Crammie but please save us from Colin Jackson (just turned 50 so wouldn't call him that young) and especially Denise Lewis the most banal athletics commentator on the planet.

Tim Hutchings is very good I agree, but I don't have Eurosports.

I like Foster and Hutchings because they have competed at the highest level. When track is on NBC I mute the sound.

Crikey, Foster needs to cut back on the bangers and mash and the pints of Newcastle Brown Ale down at his local.

To be fair, he's 69 so I guess he's earned the right to eat whatever he wants

Sir Bastion Newbold wrote:

To be fair, he's 69 so I guess he's earned the right to eat whatever he wants

Hogwash. At what age is it OK to let yourself go?

I agree that Jackson and Lewis are awful. Their banality is unspeakable which I find surprising considering how professional both of them were with respect to their events during their track career. Foster is also tedious, predictable and adds no value. His greatest spooge wasn't over MoFa but John Ngugi in the 1988 OG 5k final.

Cram's commentary on the 1995 Morceli WR on EuroSport was one of his greatest moments: "Here he goes! Steaming away down the backstraight! Come on Nourreddine, you can do it!" etc. And Cram appears to get genuinely excited by the field events unlike Foster and the others.

I think Cram is the best of the regular bunch but he's not top of the line.

For US viewers, Carol Lewis is also very bad.

Michael Johnson is better, much less gushy and more critical with an eye for technical detail that escapes the plebeian T&F commentary.

The greatest commentators combine passion, knowledge, excitement and the ability to clearly and accurately delineate what's happening in the event in real time not just for one competitor.

I would like to have heard Peter O'Sullevan deliver a track commentary.

But, Andres Cantor is the best. "Aqui...ahorrrra....Carliiii-ii Llloyd... la delantera de los estados unidos... GOOOOO-ooooo-OOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOO-LLLLLL!!! etc.

Just keep the Brits on their island and stop foisting them on the rest of us, please.

El Keniano wrote:

Just keep the Brits on their island and stop foisting them on the rest of us, please.

Our worst comment is superior to your best. I've heard them on YouTube - fake excitement does not cover up their lack of athletics knowledge.

ukathleticcoach wrote: Our worst comment is superior to your best. I've heard them on YouTube - fake excitement does not cover up their lack of athletics knowledge.

No, no, no need to be a Brit snark.

Kiptanui did some impromptu commentary on EuroSport during the 1995 season. Do you remember his analysis of Haile towards the end of the 12:44WR run?

"Ah, yes... he is in.... good shape."

Can't beat that! LOL!

Even in his prime, Foster had to fight to keep weight down when not running monster miles. I was acquainted with him and he's a great guy but Geordies do not make good commentators.

David Coleman is/was the global gold standard.

The problem with foster is that he keeps stumbling on words, and talks about mo in every single race, be it the men 1500m or the women 10000m.

Cram is the best.

Foster is OK. He just isn't shy about reminding millennials and others about what total wusses they are these days, unable to run times Foster hit 40 years ago while being scared to death of Kenyans, Ethiopians, Moroccans, Algerians and others. That's why so many people dislike Big Bren. He's telling the truth.