Rawson

My wife couldn't know less about track & field, and even she thinks Rawson is bad. She watched this meet with me and kept asking me why these guys (except Stones) don't know what they're talking about!

"For the average Joe, pull out your pole and stretch it as far as it will go. That is about how much Jenn Stuczynski just missed the world record by."

almost like yoda wrote:

I agree about not dumbing it down too, the pole vault commentary was fairly advanced as far as analyzing the technical aspects of Jen's attempts and I enjoyed it despite having no connection to pole vault. There's no reason the track commentary can't be the same way.

I also liked it last night when he called bernard Lagat, "Kiplagat" after the race..

hahaahahaha wrote:

I also liked it last night when he called bernard Lagat, "Kiplagat" after the race..

Um, i need to defend Larry on this one...Lagats nickname is Kip.

bootsie wrote:

i think track and field coverage has gotten a *little* better in the last decade or so. at least they show a decent portion of the distance races now. i remember back in the late 80's/early 90's, they would show the last 8 meters of anything longer than the 1500, and dwight stones would spend literally half the show talking to or fawning over jackie joyner-kersee, whether she was competing or not. even after she retired, i think he still spent a good 15 minutes on her. horrible. horrible. he's kind of a prat.

Cripes, that was true (maybe not about Kersee, but fawning and "stories" instead of race coverage) was true up to like 2003! It HAS got better though like you say.

Avocados Number wrote:

He has to go, does Larry Rawson. Either that, or he has to change his syntax, does Larry.

Thanks for that! I was about to post something similar, but I couldn't have said it better. He has a number of verbal tics, does Larry; but that one may be his most annoying.

I thought the coverage was much better than the past.

The reason? No Carol Lewis. I'd take Rawson any day, any day.

I had a chance to get to know Larry at the Olympic Trials last year. Admittedly, I had always been a critic of his, even as I introduced myself. I really enjoyed speaking with Larry and learned a lot. The man knows the sport better than most give him credit for. There is a series of five videos that you can find on RunnerSpace.com, on the 2008 US Olympic Trials page, under Videos, in the Community Events & Interviews folder. Or I suppose you could just do a video search for Rawson. I hope you find them useful in this discussion. This link may help (you'll see Larry in the video list on the lower left as you scroll down):

http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&event_id=50&folder_id=401&act=search&pg=2

Kevin - RunnerSpace

I've often thought the American public could understand some of the more technical aspects of T&F in the same way John Madden used to used a telestrator in the NFL. Actual examples of how/why the US screws up 4x1 handoff, GOOD descriptions/illustrations of hurdle form, distance tactics, and a whole bunch of stuff a knowledgeable commentator could add for the viewer's enjoyment. Ato Bolden comes close, Carol Lewis is the antithesis.

No one is saying that Larry isn't a nice guy or that he doesn't know anything about track anf field. Many of us are saying that his presentation during broadcasts aren't good and that the coverage suffers because of it. I'm as big a track fan as anyone and I'm tempted to bypass ESPN's coverage for this reason.

I think he does great. He is just background noise like a bass guitar in a band.....

He does fine and to sharpshoot a guy trying to call a meet and remember every detail about the competitors is tough..

quit sharpshooting the guy or go after his job.

He does that very well and I look forward tohis broadcasts.

"Bernard

Tommy2Nutts wrote:

hahaahahaha wrote:

I also liked it last night when he called bernard Lagat, "Kiplagat" after the race..

Um, i need to defend Larry on this one...Lagats nickname is Kip.

yes, but he definitely said "Bernard Kiplagat" and it was in a way that did not make you think bernard "kip" lagat...just sayin'

Rawson has a real job on weekdays. At least he has a good 1,000,000 person audience for each TV show he works. The little websites may have 100 or 200 people watching because that's all those free services can technically handle.

When a preconceived storyline fails to materialize they(all current domestic announcers) often can not switch horses in midstream well.

An example from Carson when Shalane Flanagans`AR attempt became a chose jugee and they were forced to comment on the front of the race(ohmygoodness!)they continued their comments about a runner no longer in medal contention(or even in view)at the expense of the actual unfolding of events on the track.

Saddle cloths assist in the calling of a horserace so maybe T&F should do the same. Really, when was the last time you heard a grandstand racecourse announcer misscall a race?

Rawson has his shortcomings. But ...is there some vastly superior track/running broadcaster out there who is being kept off the air by his presence? I'm not aware of such a person.

Umm The wrote:

Rawson has his shortcomings. But ...is there some vastly superior track/running broadcaster out there who is being kept off the air by his presence? I'm not aware of such a person.

Of course you're not aware...because they're not on the air.

Scott Davis and Garry Hill do great work for stadium announcing. I can't imagine they wouldn't be huge improvements over the in-booth teams we have right now.

us

jsquire wrote:

Of course you're not aware...because they're not on the air.

Scott Davis and E.Garry Hill do great work for stadium announcing. I can't imagine they wouldn't be huge improvements over the in-booth teams we have right now.

seconded they do great in stadium work, exactly how they would do at color commentary is unknown but both are quickwitted conversationalists no matter if the topic is Athletics or fahrvergnugen.

I like Carol Lewis she's very good.