Eurosport Commentary Team | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Eurosport Commentary Team

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Mmmm. I was just going through the list of threads in “The Edge”, and just noticed that I missed that this thread had been revived a couple of weeks ago!


Since I started this thread, there has been a major development. You know the way I was saying that Simon already had a lot on his plate, what with running Eurosport’s commentary department, as well as commentating on tennis. Well, British Eurosport has lost the UK rights for the women’s tennis (as well as MotoGP) from the start of 2014 to British Telecom’s new sports channel.

So, that is one less thing taking Simon away from his figure skating! :biggrin:

…There again, Simon was commentating on the BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon, so there is always the possibility that he could follow the tennis and switch to BT Sport. I really hope not! It would be a great loss not only to Eurosport, but a massive loss to our sport!

He’s the best figure-skating-commentator-who-has-not-been-a-skater-themselves that there is!


Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to explain a bit further why I was going with Jenny.

Firstly, Jenny Kirk was a very good skater when she was competing. Plus, she has the benefit of having competed under both judging systems, and so can give a more balanced appraisal than those that have just competed under one or the other.

Secondly, since she retired, Jenny has transformed herself into a very competent journalist.

Although it has not been going for long, “The Skating Lesson” has already got a cult following. OK, so there are things I don’t like about it, but it is impossible to please everybody all of the time. Yes, Jenny and Dave frequently make me cringe with the way they go on. But they can be serious, and when they are, they are as professional an interviewer as you can get.

Personally, I think the serious Jenny would fit in perfectly with Simon, Chris and Nicky.

Oh, and Jenny has made no secret of how much she admires the British Eurosport commentators, especially for how unbiased they are. I remember one time she posted a link to a YouTube video of a routine on her Facebook profile. It was one of those routines that had controversial marking (I can’t remember now which one it was, as there have now been so many controversial scores…), and she did nothing but praise the way in which Simon and Chris reacted to it.


A few people have commented in various threads that Jenny’s “new accent” is hard to listen to. And, I do tend to agree. Of course, being hard to listen to is not a good thing for a commentator. But, given how good a journalist she is, I was willing to overlook that in this instance.

Every year, I watch the Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals. Now, it is not because I am one of these people that are crazy about Eurovision! Rather, it is because the current voting system means that a lot of the good acts get knocked out before the Final.

Usually, the BBC have 2 of their Radio 1 DJ’s, Scott Mills and Sara Cox, commentating on the Semi-Finals. I like Scott, but Sara is VERY hard to listen to. But, this year, Scott was instead joined by Ana Matronic from the Scissor Sisters. Before this, I had only ever heard Ana when she was singing. But, after hearing her talk normally, I absolutely fell in love with her accent! :love:

So, can anybody think of any female skaters from Oregon who might be interested in commentating for a TV channel in the UK…? ;) :biggrin:

CaroLiza_fan
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Frabjous news!

TSL are interviewing... Chris Howarth!

The Skating Lesson‏@SkatingLesson16h
We had a great conversation tonight with Chris Howarth of British Eurosport previewing the upcoming Olympic season pic.twitter.com/rMMcxiOVx8

Oh, be still my heart! I adore Chris Howarth!
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
Frabjous news!

TSL are interviewing... Chris Howarth!

The Skating Lesson‏@SkatingLesson16h
We had a great conversation tonight with Chris Howarth of British Eurosport previewing the upcoming Olympic season pic.twitter.com/rMMcxiOVx8

Oh, be still my heart! I adore Chris Howarth!

I also adore him! I'm curious of that interview!
 

aftertherain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Frabjous news!

TSL are interviewing... Chris Howarth!

The Skating Lesson‏@SkatingLesson16h
We had a great conversation tonight with Chris Howarth of British Eurosport previewing the upcoming Olympic season pic.twitter.com/rMMcxiOVx8

Oh, be still my heart! I adore Chris Howarth!

Oh, really? Very excited for that interview!
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
When this thread started, it was *before* Kirk disgraced herself with those increasingly "mean girls" videos with Dave Lease. I think they've gone too far and become too unprofessional for any major network to consider them now.

Have you never heard of Joan Rivers? Or tons of others like that who are far more biting than Jenny + Dave?

There is nothing unprofessional about it. It's a form of expression/entertainment.
 

RABID

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
My French is pretty well non-existent but the little I "gleamed" from the French Eurosport announcers for Yu-Na Kim's last performance was pretty funny, (I think). First the woman was absolutely quiet during the whole skate and as Yu-na was finishing her free skate it was like the woman just realized the performance was coming to an end and she asked out loud in surprise, c'est complete? (I think) Obviously she was completely bowled over and then her male counter part had fun with her teasing her by inferring Yu-na cheated (I think) by telling her during the slow-motion recast of her jumps that she was relying on magic to do her jumps where the woman good naturedly accused him of being a meany. (My interpretation and I am probably way off on this)
Anyway I think most of all those Eurosport announcers are pretty interesting.
 

mikiandorocks

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
One of the things I like the most about Nicky Slater is that he is open minded in ice-dance.
Reed, Howard and Slater are awesome.
 

3T3T

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Country
Ireland
Normally I love Eurosport commentary but I have found Nicky and Simons knowledge/lack of research at Nebelhorn very poor and dissapointing. They have no idea of the qualifying rules and numbers to qualify in each discipline. Nicky claimed this evening that Isadora Williams didn't make the Olympics, and that the Germans could get extra spots in dance.
 

A.H.Black

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
Normally I love Eurosport commentary but I have found Nicky and Simons knowledge/lack of research at Nebelhorn very poor and dissapointing. They have no idea of the qualifying rules and numbers to qualify in each discipline. Nicky claimed this evening that Isadora Williams didn't make the Olympics, and that the Germans could get extra spots in dance.
Thanks for your comment. I just watched Jason Browns short. At the end of it the commentators said that if Jason finished in the top six, the US would get 3 men in the Olympics - that now the US has only 2. I thought, "WHAT!? What have I missed?". I'm assuming the commentators just don't know how the Olympic spots work.
 

Binthere

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
While the Eurosport team have plenty of experience, and are knowledgeable enough about figure skating as a sport, I find their lack of understanding of the details and nuances of the CoP scoring system to be yet another glaring example of how poorly understood the system is more broadly speaking. As commentators, I DO think they some responsibility to try to explain the system to viewers - fans and the casual audience. In this regard, they fall short. In my book, that is disappointing.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Have you never heard of Joan Rivers? Or tons of others like that who are far more biting than Jenny + Dave?

There is nothing unprofessional about it. It's a form of expression/entertainment.

TSL is trying to do proper journalism which is to be compensated for news reporting and analysis. Joan Rivers is paid to be a *****. Big difference.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
An update for my fellow Chris Howarth fans:

Czar Josh Ventura‏@theczarisalive18h
@SkatingLesson Guys, I am dying to watch your interview with Chris from Eurosport! When will you be uploading it?

The Skating Lesson‏@SkatingLesson16h
@theczarisalive We will post it on Monday. There were quite a few issues with our connection, so it will be the audio version only.


At last! I was beginning to think they'd forgotten all about it...
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
An update for my fellow Chris Howarth fans:

Czar Josh Ventura‏@theczarisalive18h
@SkatingLesson Guys, I am dying to watch your interview with Chris from Eurosport! When will you be uploading it?

The Skating Lesson‏@SkatingLesson16h
@theczarisalive We will post it on Monday. There were quite a few issues with our connection, so it will be the audio version only.


At last! I was beginning to think they'd forgotten all about it...

I'm really curious, too. So tomorrow they will post it...Thank you. :)
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
NOTE: I originally posted this 3 hours ago, but I never thought and made the mistake of including the link. So, here is the same post, only without the link.


I'm really curious, too. So tomorrow they will post it...Thank you. :)

Good news and bad news.

Good News: They've posted the interview and, judging by the comments of the TSL Facebook page, it was a good one!!!

Bad News: The TSL website is down at the moment. There is a message from WordPress saying "Sorry, we couldn't find the domain you're looking for."

Typical!!! I've been really looking forward to this interview since it was announced. Grrrrr!!!!! :mad:

On the plus side, there's a nice picture of a squirrel... :p

CaroLiza_fan​


EDIT: The site is back up again now. But, I just spotted that the interview is only 15 minutes long. :disapp:

I'm sure Chris has more stories in him than 15 minutes-worth! Maybe he's saving them for the Eurosport commentary this season! ;)
 

YesWay

四年もかけて&#
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Simon + Nicky = Priceless

I think Simon Reed is the lynchpin. Simon + any of the others just works so well. Without him, the commentary feels a bit dry to me.

In my opinion, the ultimate is Simon + Nicky. I was so pleased to see (hear) Nicky back in the seat for Nebelhorn, and many moments of pure (untintentional) commedy followed. Although perhaps it is peculiarly British comedy, I don't know if it "works" for other nationalities. For example, apart from their usual amusing "banter", there was Simon's classic "brother-and-sister ice dance teams" comments... Nicky's "you just don't" comments (ice dancers arguing, and sticking tongues out at the judges)... Simon's "oookaaaay" after Nicky's views on the old compulsory dances... etc etc.

By the way, Japanese skate fans clamour for translations of the Eurosport commentary - since they often heap praise on Yuzuru Hanyu (especially Simon), Daisuke Takahashi, Akiko Suzuki etc. Also, when commentating live, they often go places that other commentators fear to tread eg. blurting out that the 2012 Worlds Men's was ruined by the judges, and they gave the gold medal to the wrong guy... (popular in Japan, because the Eurosport guys thought the REAL winner was Takahashi). Perhaps they feel they can say what they like, because the UK has no serious contenders on the world stage? Whether their views are right or wrong, I think the way they deliver them adds such a lot to the TV experience :-D They are the kings of skating commentary to me.

They really ought to learn to pronounce the Japanese skaters' names properly though, haha :-D
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
:laugh: I don't expect Nicky to master Japanese names any time soon. Nicky Slater still can't pronounce Shpilband, and he's had many, many years to practice that one. He usually says something like Shipblad.
 
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deedee1

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
I love British Eurosport team so much, too. And their commentary during the recent Skate America in Detroit has saved me from the botton of the sea so to speak. ;)

They really ought to learn to pronounce the Japanese skaters' names properly though, haha :-D

:laugh: But I actually love and admire it whenever they call Dai's name as "Daisuki Takahashi", which can be literally translated to "I loooove Takahashi" in Japanase. ;)
He's been one of top skaters for so long that they should have known/learned by now how to call his name properly. But they just keep doing so (calling 'daisuki') purposely, I would suspect. :biggrin:
 

YesWay

四年もかけて&#
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
:laugh: But I actually love and admire it whenever they call Dai's name as "Daisuki Takahashi", which can be literally translated to "I loooove Takahashi" in Japanase. ;)
He's been one of top skaters for so long that they should have known/learned by now how to call his name properly. But they just keep doing so (calling 'daisuki') purposely, I would suspect. :biggrin:
Yes, I have to wonder if they aren't deliberately doing it. I just got back home from Skate America last night, did a quick check that the Eurosport coverage recorded OK... and some of Nicky's pronunciations are SO bad, he MUST be doing it on purpose! haha.

Who was the lady commentator? I checked Mao's FS (to spot myself in the audience haha), and she was saying that Mao's FS consisted of skating from one end of the rink to the other and back... "with nothing in between"... and she'd like to see Mao putting in more content o_O Erm... WHAT?! If that was a joke, it went over my head. I was not impressed by her general tone and manner, and she is no kind of substitute for King Simon.
 

cinnamon

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 13, 2010
Yes, I have to wonder if they aren't deliberately doing it. I just got back home from Skate America last night, did a quick check that the Eurosport coverage recorded OK... and some of Nicky's pronunciations are SO bad, he MUST be doing it on purpose! haha.

Who was the lady commentator? I checked Mao's FS (to spot myself in the audience haha), and she was saying that Mao's FS consisted of skating from one end of the rink to the other and back... "with nothing in between"... and she'd like to see Mao putting in more content o_O Erm... WHAT?! If that was a joke, it went over my head. I was not impressed by her general tone and manner, and she is no kind of substitute for King Simon.
I was wondering the same thing, who is she?
 
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