Anyone else find NBC's commentary of Boston Marathon disrespectful?

It was the same old, unqualified commentators. They have no clue how to pronounce names of foreigners. Kawauchi last name was butchered over, and over, again. I thought I heard his first name pronounced as Yuri by a commentator at one time.

Yuri Kuiruchi*

At one point the idiots mentioned that Kirui is the holder of two Boston wins and a World Championship win in one 12 month period.

The guy who did the finish line interviews was certainly unprofessional. He first called him Yuri, and then Yuki's translator corrected him. Then he finished the interview by calling him Yugi. DUDE, HIS NAME IS ON THAT PIECE OF PAPER IN YOUR HAND. Christ.

It was indeed an "Ugly American" broadcast.

As usual wrote:

It was the same old, unqualified commentators. They have no clue how to pronounce names of foreigners. Kawauchi last name was butchered over, and over, again. I thought I heard his first name pronounced as Yuri by a commentator at one time.

They even called Kirui Karuchi at one point, confused Evans Chebet with Wilson Chebet multiple times and kept slurring their words. I really wonder if they were drunk.

They also made fun of his right arm movement, commenting that it was as if he was encouraging others to join him.

Just watched the replay (ran yesterday)... Awesome race. The joy of Des and Kawauchi at the end said it all.

The arm swing does look weird.

The announcers did make fun of him for going out so fast.

Hopefully the announcers learned from their mistake.

Had the front runner been a relatively unknown Kenyan or Ethiopian I have a feeling

the announcers would not have made fun of him.

The man was great on Monday and was/is tougher than everybody who showed up at the starting line.

elviejo wrote:

At one point the idiots mentioned that Kirui is the holder of two Boston wins and a World Championship win in one 12 month period.

In their defense that's because they'd already awarded KIrui the title with 10 miles to go.

Why would you expect anything more from Rawson and crew?

Yea, crazy how bad it was. I mean, if you follow running slightly, I think you would end up lurking on letsrun. By googling about something related to running, you would stumble across here. Kawauchi gets enough running coverage to have article on runners world.

I understand it’s hard to just hire someone to do just running commentary few times a year, but they should be prepped a little more.

There is a good chance Rawson will have forgotten all about Yuri Kariuchi by the time the race rolls around again.

vivalarepublica wrote:

Why would you expect anything more from Rawson and crew?

Did he do his "Hey everyone. Go on down to your local track and see how many laps you can do at the pace these guys are going. It is really fast.

Please make sure that you get your heart checked by a doctor (for example: Coach-Doctor Alberto Salazar) before you go out and try this at your local track, because you might go into cardiac arrest and have your heart stop for 14 minutes (for example: Doctor-Coach Alberto Salazar).

Craig Masback is also an absolute moron.

Craig thought that "the timing mats are off because the stupid Japanese runner is running too fast compared to the women."

Masback also has a brain which is the size of an uncooked grain of basmati rice.

In 2006, working with organizational sponsor Nike, Masback initiated a rebranding exercise that resulted in the creation of a new USATF logo and imaging system still used today.

Masback is only tiny bit better than...Tom Hammond at NBC

Masback joined Nike as the Director of Business Affairs for the Global Sports Marketing division in March 2008. In July 2009, he became Central & Eastern Sports Marketing Director in addition to his Business Affairs responsibilities, based out of Nike’s European headquarters in Hilversum, The Netherlands. In the beginning of 2012, he became Nike’s Vice President of Sports Marketing for Greater China, Japan & Global Business Affairs. He works in Nike’s Beaverton, Oregon world headquarters.

It turns out that Tim Hutchings is WAY BETTER and than the really stupid Craig Masback.

Tim Hutchings also has more knowledge about everything than Masback.

Tim Hutchings is also a much better 5000m runner than the really slow Masback.

Tim Hutchings has a 5000m PR of 13:11.5, while Craig Masback can't even run for 5000m.

Tim Hutchings

Personal information

Born 4 December 1958 (age 59)

Medal record[hide]

Men's athletics

European Championships

Representing Great Britain

Bronze medal – third place 1986 Stuttgart 5000 m

Commonwealth Games

Representing England

Bronze medal – third place 1986 Edinburgh 5000 m

World Cross Country Championships

Representing England

Silver medal – second place 1984 East Rutherford Long Course

Representing Great Britain

Silver medal – second place 1989 Stavanger Long Course

Timothy ("Tim") Hilton Hutchings (born 4 December 1958 in London) is a former middle- and long-distance runner who represented England and Great Britain internationally.

Hutchings' track events were the 1500 metres, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. His main championship performances in track and field were a 5000 m bronze medal in the 1986 European Championship and a bronze medal in the 5000 m at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He also finished fourth in the 1984 Olympic Games.

In cross country running, he twice earned a silver medal in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, in 1984 and 1989. He also won the 1985 edition of the Belfast International Cross Country race.[1] In 1989, he picked up a hamstring injury that put a premature end to his career.

After retiring from competition, Hutchings co-founded the Brighton Marathon in 2010 with Tom Naylor.[2]

Tim Hutchings was educated at a boys' independent boarding school: Worth in West Sussex.

Nowadays, he works as an athletics commentator for British Eurosport.[3]

Yuri Borzakovsky wrote:

There is a good chance Rawson will have forgotten all about Yuri Kariuchi by the time the race rolls around again.

I can't wait to see who gets the designated piano on the back next year!

igoigohohgouhv wrote:

It was indeed an "Ugly American" broadcast.

Not to mention- everything was dropped to make sure Linden's podium ceremony with the national anthem was broadcast in its entirety (because 'Merica), while they interviewed Linden over Kawauchi's podium ceremony and national anthem. But hey, at least they backtracked and showed it a few minutes later on delay.

I have been watching a replay of the race and Rawson and whoever is with him are ragging on Yuki every time he made a surge to the front, talking about how he was just going to get swallowed up again and he wasn't going to win. What an f-ing joke to not respect Yuki's ability. Those guys should seriously offer a public apology.

As a long time Yuki fan, that made the win so much more satisfying to watch.

vivalarepublica wrote:

I have been watching a replay of the race and Rawson and whoever is with him are ragging on Yuki every time he made a surge to the front, talking about how he was just going to get swallowed up again and he wasn't going to win. What an f-ing joke to not respect Yuki's ability. Those guys should seriously offer a public apology.

As a long time Yuki fan, that made the win so much more satisfying to watch.

They were making fun of him for the entire race, until the last few meters, when Kawauchi crossed the finish line to WIN THE BOSTON MARATHON.

They made fun of his racing schedule.

The old white man experts on internet television said:

"Yuki does everything WRONG."

"Yuki runs too many marathon races to be a great marathon runner...because you can only run 2 good marathons per year."

"Yuki Kawauchi has HORRIBLE RACE TACTICS because he took the lead early in the race and ran 2:07 marathon pace."

"the piano story"

blah blah blah

They were in total shock when Kawauchi DESTROYED THE ENTIRE FIELD.

Larry Rawson:

"Whoops."

"What is going on????

Ha Ha Ha

Why is it any surprise a network that clearly knows nothing about running would continue to use those old fossils as announcers? It's been well posted here how bad the coverage of running is on tv.

Larry Rawson sucks. He needs to hurry up and retire.