The obligatory "The Announcers Sucked" thread

Rawson reminds me of Phil Simms...they both seem more concerned with impressing THEIR listeners with their dazzling knowledge and wit than communicating the action.

I think I'm like most Americans....kilometers don't mean a thing to me. If he has a need to talk kilometers, he should translate it into miles for those of us who are less intelligent (or pretentious).

I even find the sound of his voice irritating, but I'm a West Coast guy.

During the pre-game on the UNiversal Sports network, the blonde contradicted Frank every time he opened his mouth. He could have said 26.2 and she would have disagreed. ReMinds me of ChRis Evert talking about tennis, but unlike Benson, Chris has done some winning.

I doubt people from metrical countries think in 1600 meter increments so everyone is saying WTF is Rawson babbling about?

I first heard Rawson make the "Go to your local high school track" comment in 1981. So he has been using this same comment in every broadcast for at least 34 years. Why do they even pay this guy? Just record it once, and play it back, because that is all he is doing.

On the other hand, he will never be as annoying as Dick Vitale or Lou Holtz. Ever.

Yeesh, tough crowd here. I thought the announcers were totally fine. If track/road racing is ever going to gain widespread appeal, you're going to have to get used to "regular" sports announcing. I don't know what you guys were looking for, but I was happy enough that they were able to give me splits and correctly identify the runners in the race. The same can't be said about too many other broadcasts.

I also think they did a good job making it exciting for your average hobby jogger. It was an incredibly exciting race and the announcers seemed genuinely excited about the performance. I think they conveyed that well to the audience and hopefully the audience was excited in turn. Honestly, what else are you looking for?

Rockgip wrote:

Yeesh, tough crowd here. I thought the announcers were totally fine. If track/road racing is ever going to gain widespread appeal, you're going to have to get used to "regular" sports announcing. I don't know what you guys were looking for, but I was happy enough that they were able to give me splits and correctly identify the runners in the race. The same can't be said about too many other broadcasts.

I also think they did a good job making it exciting for your average hobby jogger. It was an incredibly exciting race and the announcers seemed genuinely excited about the performance. I think they conveyed that well to the audience and hopefully the audience was excited in turn. Honestly, what else are you looking for?

You run for TNT, don't you.

WHO ARE WE EVEN KIDDING?

The only people watching that stupid feed outside of Boston residents were us. No one else even cares. You either had to stream it on the internet, live, or tune in to Universal Sports, which I don't even get anymore... and I get like 7000 channels.

That is the more pressing question... why don't I get Universal Sports anymore. Did Time Warner strip it from cable? Do you need sportspass now?

In all honesty, T&F announcers are just terrible. Terrible. They are always dorky old white guys who sound like they have sinus infections. Even when they have old champs like Rogers and Shorter, it is just embarrassing. I had such high hopes for Willy Smith, but that just didn't work out.

Kelly Lundy wrote:

Rockgip wrote:

Yeesh, tough crowd here. I thought the announcers were totally fine. If track/road racing is ever going to gain widespread appeal, you're going to have to get used to "regular" sports announcing. I don't know what you guys were looking for, but I was happy enough that they were able to give me splits and correctly identify the runners in the race. The same can't be said about too many other broadcasts.

I also think they did a good job making it exciting for your average hobby jogger. It was an incredibly exciting race and the announcers seemed genuinely excited about the performance. I think they conveyed that well to the audience and hopefully the audience was excited in turn. Honestly, what else are you looking for?

You run for TNT, don't you.

No, just used to garbage like this:

If Larry Rawson had a british accent all you americans would be sucking his d*ck. /thread

Two things:

1- They do have kilometer markers at each K up to 10k. After that, it's every 5k. There's also clocks at the half mark and with 1 mile to go. There's signs after that (1200m, 800, 400, 200?)

2- I think the old school splits would be a cool idea.

3 - Of COURSE the announcing was predictably ... whatever it is. I do not understand how these guys can so consistently have a lack of insight into the race dynamics, competitors, history, etc. considering it's their job to talk about it on TV. If you've ever read the media guide for these things, it's fricking dense and full of information. It's like the LetsRun preview on steroids. It's not like they're calling a horse race - they should refer to it. They should also be waaaay more familiar with the other races out there.

4 -That being said, it's hard to balance the storylines that they want to tell (and that many people want to see) and the running-politics points they want to make with enthusiastic commentary right on the spot. This is a much bigger audience than the Flotrack guys saying, "Oh my God! Solinsky is beating Rupp like the incorrigible child he is!" (Along those lines.) And for some reason, they still don't have a great handle on talking about race and nationality, so they probably err on the side of vanilla commentary a lot of the time. You can only say "Kenyans are good at running" so many ways before you put your foot in your mouth. ("I always pick the one from the more impoverished village down the stretch, Larry.")

5 - Bring back the 1600m.

Best was when he started talking about Altitude and mentioned they trained at high high high altitudes at 5-7,000 METERS!! ( not feet, meters)!

and then went on to say there is 23% less oxygen at those altitudes lol

How about Tony Reavis, He was on our WBZ TV station announcing,

I just thought that he talked too much !

The announcers were competing with each other to get in the

last word on every little aspect of the leaders during the race, too much

info !

Duh maths wrote:

20 Second PR wrote:Back to back 3:02 Ks means nothing to me until you say that's 2:07 pace.

Ummm, 10x: 3:02 = 30:20 10k pace. That should have some meaning to a runner.

Advanced Mental Maths:

- 3:02 x 10 = 30:20

- 30:20 x 2 = 60:40

- 60:40 + 3:02 ~= 1:03: 40

- 1:03: 40 x 2 = 2:08 pace +/-

Why dont you just 3:02 x 40 plus the additional 2.19 km?

Even less advanced mental maths

One Normal Guy wrote:

WHO ARE WE EVEN KIDDING?

The only people watching that stupid feed outside of Boston residents were us. No one else even cares. You either had to stream it on the internet, live, or tune in to Universal Sports, which I don't even get anymore... and I get like 7000 channels.

That is the more pressing question... why don't I get Universal Sports anymore. Did Time Warner strip it from cable? Do you need sportspass now?

In all honesty, T&F announcers are just terrible. Terrible. They are always dorky old white guys who sound like they have sinus infections. Even when they have old champs like Rogers and Shorter, it is just embarrassing. I had such high hopes for Willy Smith, but that just didn't work out.

Better questions is why doesn't Xfinity care Universal Sports. Comcast and NBC are now one in the same and Universal is an NBC network is it not?

Positive Contribution wrote:

Duh maths wrote:

Ummm, 10x: 3:02 = 30:20 10k pace. That should have some meaning to a runner.

Advanced Mental Maths:

- 3:02 x 10 = 30:20

- 30:20 x 2 = 60:40

- 60:40 + 3:02 ~= 1:03: 40

- 1:03: 40 x 2 = 2:08 pace +/-

Why dont you just 3:02 x 40 plus the additional 2.19 km?

Even less advanced mental maths

Most peeps panic when presented with "hard" maths probs: x 40, where's my calculator!

x 10, double that, then double again, then add 2x is easier for peeps fearful of maths.