Who exactly are the British Eurosport guys?

CaroLiza_fan said:

I come in here to warn you that I am about to edit the Predictions Game spreadsheet, and that the scores will be up the creek for a while. And what happens? I end up straying into The Edge, and replying to this thread!

I knew I wouldn't be able to resist posting for long!!!




Here is a video Nicky (Twittter profile pic) put up on YouTube of him and Chris at Europeans in 2011:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7KGOFo-0HQ

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"Are we allowed to eat chocolate this time, do you remember last time they did not let us eat chocolate?"

HAHAHAHA. I love them.

BlackPack said:

True. But in the Anglophone commentator world, they are better than any Anglophone commentator I've heard so far. The North American ones are pretty horrifying. It's pretty easy to be a better commentator compared to the likes of Sandra Bezic, Scott Hamilton, Tracy Wilson, Kurt Browning, Tara, Johnny, etc. The only light in the tunnel was Susie Wynne, Uncle Dick on a good day, and Terry Gannon who appreciates good skating more than some of the aforementioned.

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I agree on that. :thumbsup::yes:

Who are the Eurosport Italy commentators? Former skaters?

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One is Angelo Dolfini. He is a former skater for italy, competed in Salt Lake City 2002. He is also ISU Technical Specialist. The other one is Massimiliano Ambesi, he used to do speed skating. He is a journalist for winter sports, and extremely prepared about FS, especially single and Pairs disciplines.

I have few videos with them on youtube. I wanted to register the Europeans and Worlds with them, but Sky Italia (where Eurosport is) has put an encryption or something to their package, so I can't record from an external device as I used to. :disapp:

Some of the videos I could record were difficult, but I did manage somehow.

Fernandez SP+LP - CoR2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXkn5kjcwM0
Tuk SP - CoC2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITFDW3IIef4
Yulia SP - CoC2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L8Ro_4ZsZs
Stolbova&Klimov SP - CoR2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LUZ5MDcUhA
Stolbova&Klimov LP - TEB 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gqFhYViMyk
Ladies SP - TEB2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkF3syF3Dtw
Ashley, Yulia, Elena LP - TEB 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XqA2EXi4D4

If someone is interested about the translation pick a program and I'll try my best.

Many of you might have seen this great video, but for those who haven't enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYt0QKNCoqA

This is a Tribute video to Vanessa Riley, Simon Reed and Chris Howarth from good old days (Oh I miss them ). Vanessa Riley was a lengendary judge (I think she still works as a referee now) who used to stick to her scores without a care in the world of who you were. She wasn't always right but I loved the fact that you could see her giving a 5.8 for the technical mark and 4.9 in artistic, or viceversa.

Simon is very funny whe he says at a certain point: "I really don't understand what's going on with the british judge tonight (she gave Lu Chen 5.4 on Tech and ! I must be missing a point, I'm afraid."

You can see Vanessa Riley here (from 3:50), during 89 Europeans when there was this big scandal about the costume of Usova&Zhulin, and Fadeev. She gave to Fadeev 5.6 on artistic impression because of his costume: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ECupWBess

I have to say that I agreed with her about Fadeev costume then, and I agree with her now.

Usova&Zhulin costume in question (caused a huge media furore) is this one, CD2 rhumba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6QNE_a5Lpo

A couple of funny moments from British Eurosport off the top of my head:

2015 Worlds Joshi's Spirit Fingers commentary.

Or 2014 Worlds, "I wish you hadn't said donut. I'm hungry." (4:24 mark)

I learn most from the B Eurosport analysts, which is funny since they talk the least (of english broadcasters).

Also, they seem to be more aware of the excitement/drama during a competition and have a very engaging style which really glues you to the event.

Alba said:

Many of you might have seen this great video, but for those who haven't enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYt0QKNCoqA

This is a Tribute video to Vanessa Riley, Simon Reed and Chris Howarth from good old days (Oh I miss them ). Vanessa Riley was a lengendary judge (I think she still works as a referee now) who used to stick to her scores without a care in the world of who you were. She wasn't always right but I loved the fact that you could see her giving a 5.8 for the technical mark and 4.9 in artistic, or viceversa.

Simon is very funny whe he says at a certain point: "I really don't understand what's going on with the british judge tonight (she gave Lu Chen 5.4 on Tech and ! I must be missing a point, I'm afraid."

You can see Vanessa Riley here (from 3:50), during 89 Europeans when there was this big scandal about the costume of Usova&Zhulin, and Fadeev. She gave to Fadeev 5.6 on artistic impression because of his costume: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ECupWBess

I have to say that I agreed with her about Fadeev costume then, and I agree with her now.

Usova&Zhulin costume in question (caused a huge media furore) is this one, CD2 rhumba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6QNE_a5Lpo

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So you're another one of those angels who tirelessly upload videos for us, grazie!

Is Vanessa that judge who poorly marked Lu Chen in Nagano? Didn't Lulu get a 4.9 for a wonderful clean performance? :disapp:

I guess I would be curious to have the Italian Eurosport pundits' opinions on more "controversial" events. Even though not everyone is happy with 2015 World's results, it has been a much less controversial event than past events. I would be curious to know how they reacted to 2012-13 Worlds when Chan won. I wonder how they reacted to P&C's win in Shanghai. I know there's a risk of re-opening old wounds, but it would be nice to hear experts' opinions, especially since you think their commentary is superb.

BTW, I would wear Fadeev's shirt. Minus the white pants, but it's very avant garde.

sabinfire said:

A couple of funny moments from British Eurosport off the top of my head:

2015 Worlds Joshi's Spirit Fingers commentary.

Or 2014 Worlds, "I wish you hadn't said donut. I'm hungry." (4:24 mark)

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Poor Joshi. She's not the worst offender of meaningless choreography in the history of FS, that's for sure.

I also recall one of them being mesmerized by Anna Cappellini's beauty and made some, uh, interesting comments. I don't remember the exact words. They said Luca is OK because he doesn't "get in the way" of blocking Anna from their admiring eyes or something.

It's a hoot to watch an event with the "barflies." I laugh a lot.

BlackPack said:

Is Vanessa that judge who poorly marked Lu Chen in Nagano? Didn't Lulu get a 4.9 for a wonderful clean performance? :disapp:

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In the video that's Lu's LP in Albertville and dhe didn't get a 4.9 from any judge. She got 4.9 Tech. in Nagano in the SP from the AUS judge. Low in artistic too, only 5.1. Simon and Chris didn't agree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFt3bDPar60

I would be curious to know how they reacted to 2012-13 Worlds when Chan won. I wonder how they reacted to P&C's win in Shanghai. I know there's a risk of re-opening old wounds, but it would be nice to hear experts' opinions, especially since you think their commentary is superb.

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I didn't watch that championship so I don't know. About P&C in Shanghai they agreed. They new before the FD though because of the GoE's and the PCS they received in the SD. They got the highest scores and GoE from the judges. They loved that FD though, like many I guess. But as I said, their are much more knowledgeable about singles and Pairs tbh.

I love listening to the British Eurosport guys. Yeah, sometimes they make laughable technical or detail errors. But, without exception, they always find something nice to say about every skater, no matter where from. I love them so much.

BlackPack said:

Poor Joshi. She's not the worst offender of meaningless choreography in the history of FS, that's for sure.

I also recall one of them being mesmerized by Anna Cappellini's beauty and made some, uh, interesting comments. I don't remember the exact words. They said Luca is OK because he doesn't "get in the way" of blocking Anna from their admiring eyes or something.

It's a hoot to watch an event with the "barflies." I laugh a lot.

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Was it this moment, when Simon replied to a comment from Nicky, that you are referring to? I thought it was funny too!

(I don't know why, but for some reason Frida's videos from Worlds have come out in mono rather than stereo).

Miss Ice said:

"Are we allowed to eat chocolate this time, do you remember last time they did not let us eat chocolate?"

HAHAHAHA. I love them.

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Here is another video of Chris and Nicky (also from 2011 Euros) that you might find entertaining:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhmBGUE5hI0

In fact, here is a whole playlist of them from 2011 Euros:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL63C8EDBB968BCD2C

Thank you so much to Nicky for uploading these! They are brilliant!

CaroLiza_fan

Joanne is great, she sees it as it is, her comments are very justified, she knows her craft - wish Joanne could do more, Joanne was one of my idols when i was skating - along with Robin and Torvill/Dean.

Being patriotic here as I am British.

BlackPack said:

Poor Joshi. She's not the worst offender of meaningless choreography in the history of FS, that's for sure.

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I also recall one of them being mesmerized by Anna Cappellini's beauty and made some, uh, interesting comments. I don't remember the exact words. They said Luca is OK because he doesn't "get in the way" of blocking Anna from their admiring eyes or something.

Actually I think Simon missed the point on the choreography of her SP, the waving of the hands was in fact the Blackbird flying - hence the name of the music 'Black Bird"

karne said:

*horrified gasp* Oh no, CaroLiza_fan. I had hoped, with your taste in Russian ladies, that you had better taste than to like him! :no:

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Well, I have always tended to have a soft spot for the German drivers, ever since watching Frentzen and the Schumacher brothers when I was growing up. (I was a massive fan of Michael).

To be fair, there are very few of the current crop of drivers that I actually dislike. In fact, I can only think of two. Alonso, who did a lot of things I didn't like when he was driving for "Team Enstone" (under their various guises), and hasn't done much to endear me to him since. And Maldonado, who is a dirty driver (and I would nearly go as far as to say a dangerous driver), and the only reason he is still in the paddock is that he brings an awful lot of sponsorship money with him.

As for my favourites, I would probably say Massa (how can you not like him?! Plus, I have always had a soft spot for the Brazilian drivers as well) and Raikkonen (he may tend to get cranky at times, but I still consider him to be the best driver on the grid).

And the rookie drivers from both last season and this season are already all looking very promising.

I was supporting Rosberg for the Championship last season. I used to really like Hamilton, but last season he really turned me against him. He was yapping far too much, and when he wasn't he was far too cocky. Which is a shame, as he is a very talented driver.


Getting back onto the topic of figure skating commentators...

Firstly, thank you to Alba for letting us know about the Italian Eurosport commentators.

Before I checked out the videos you had linked to, the only Italian videos I had ever watched before were from RAI. And my complaint was always that the RAI commentators tended to talk too much. But, these Eurosport guys do not seem at all bad in that respect.

Is Franca Bianconi still commentating, or is she too busy coaching nowadays? (By the way, when looking her up there now to get the correct spelling of her name, I got a shock. I never realised Victoria Manni was Franca's daughter!)

I too like the Teledeporte coverage. Not least because the person who uploads their coverage to YouTube does the videos in full High Definition! But, although I have no idea what they are talking about, the Spanish commentators do seem to have got the balance right between talking and not talking.

BlackPack said:

The Russian commentators talk way too much, constantly throughout the program. When I'm on Youtube, I tend to skip the Russian videos because I can't hear the music.

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At least I'm not the only one that thinks the Russian commentators talk too much! But, I would still watch them if there were no better alternatives.

I have often wondered who the main commentator on Спорт is, and if he is a former skater. So, can anybody enlighten me?


And on a similar note, who all was commentating on the livestream sabinfire recorded for us during US Nationals, before the TV coverage kicked in?

I particularly liked the lead commentator, but every time he was doing the introductions at the start of each broadcast, he said his own name too fast for me to catch it!

Although they weren't quite as good as the British Eurosport guys, on the whole I liked this commentary team.

That said, there was one female commentator that I didn't enjoy that much. (I can't remember if it was during the Ladies or Dance competition that this person was commentating).

And the worst of it is, there is a possibility that it might have been Tanith Belbin that I am talking about. (I really liked Tanith when she was competing, and I still think she is THE most beautiful woman in figure skating EVER! )

russell30 said:

Joanne is great, she sees it as it is, her comments are very justified, she knows her craft - wish Joanne could do more, Joanne was one of my idols when i was skating - along with Robin and Torvill/Dean.

Being patriotic here as I am British.

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I'm from the UK too, but from the part on the other side of the Irish Sea. But, I just couldn't take to Joanne at all.

It's not that I have anything against Joanne as a skater (6 National titles says everything that needs to be said about her on that regard), or the fact that she's a Geordie (OK, so I don't like Cheryl Tweedy. But I love Ant and Dec, and one of my favourite teachers at school was a Geordie).

But, Joanne's style of commentary was just too critical for my taste.

Maybe we have been spoiled by all the other British figure skating commentators (be it on Eurosport or the BBC) being nice towards the skaters. They do criticise when they need to, but it is nearly always constructive criticism. At times, you got the impression that Joanne was being catty just for the sake of being catty.

But, each to their own.

CaroLiza_fan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhmBGUE5hI0

OMG CaroLiza_Fan, did they just say "We didn't do the ladies, we *watched* the ladies?"

The moment Chris or Simon rhaspodized about Anna's beauty was sometime ago. I think they were skating to Carmen then.

Last year, some Russian fans posted an interview with one of the Russian commentators who was livid that that he thought Sotnikova was overmarked in Sochi. He was very vocal. He said he was so disillusioned he would quit. I don't know what happened to him. But he seemed like a very loquacious guy, consistent with the constant chatterbox commentary. Way too distracting.

I never noticed the Italian Eurosport commentators. The Italian videos I encountered were usually from Rai and they are chatterboxes too. I think Babs chatted a lot. I hear them gushing over every little thing... with their favorites. If Alba didn't tell me to pay more attention to Italian commentators, I wouldn't have paid much attention to them based on what I heard from Rai. From what I can tell, the quality of the commentary varies widely between Rai and Italian Eurosport.

I remember listening to them at work (years and years ago).

It was the end of a particularly trying set of women's short programs that one of them said: "Now is a good time for a lie-down, or a drink, or both."

Still makes me laugh.

I do find Simon's voice very sexy

BlackPack said:

The Russian commentators talk way too much, constantly throughout the program. When I'm on Youtube, I tend to skip the Russian videos because I can't hear the music.

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During the GP series, there were at least a couple of times where the Russian stream I watched had commentators who didn't talk much. The main guy also talked more slowly, so I was able to understand almost everything he said. But more recently there's someone who just jabbers on and on so you can't hear the music. And to make it even more annoying, he talks too fast for me to understand most of what he's saying - and from what I do catch it seems like half of what he's talking about doesn't even have to do with the performance that's going on. Ugh!

Weathergal said:

I also would like to hear more about the Italian Eurosport commentators. I've often wished there was a YouTube translate, like Google translate, so I could watch the videos in other languages and hear what they say about the different skaters.

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With how bad google translations can be, I'm not sure that would be at all helpful

peg said:

With how bad google translations can be, I'm not sure that would be at all helpful

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Sad but true--Google translate seems to do especially poor with Russian, which is a such a bummer because I often see articles I'd like to read on Russian sites.

CaroLiza_fan said:

To be fair, there are very few of the current crop of drivers that I actually dislike. In fact, I can only think of two. Alonso, who did a lot of things I didn't like when he was driving for "Team Enstone" (under their various guises), and hasn't done much to endear me to him since. And Maldonado, who is a dirty driver (and I would nearly go as far as to say a dangerous driver), and the only reason he is still in the paddock is that he brings an awful lot of sponsorship money with him.

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You object to Alonso, but not to Vettel? Vettel who would bawl down the radio any time his teammate got too close? Vettel who would demand team orders ("Maintain the gap, Mark", "Mark is too slow! Get him out of my way!" "How the **** is Mark in front of me now? How is that possible?") but who would refuse to follow them in return ("Multi-21, Seb. Multi 21."). Vettel who never showed a single ounce of respect towards a teammate respected by the whole paddock for his skill, nous and car development ability? Vettel who once deliberately crashed into his teammate because he couldn't bear the thought of being beaten by him for the third race in a row? Vettel who, when he got a new teammate who proceeded to kick him from pillar to post, reacted by throwing all his toys out of the pram and quitting the team that had done everything for him?

That just seems...well. Vettel makes Alonso look like an angel of light.

CaroLiza_fan said:

As for my favourites, I would probably say Massa (how can you not like him?! Plus, I have always had a soft spot for the Brazilian drivers as well) and Raikkonen (he may tend to get cranky at times, but I still consider him to be the best driver on the grid).

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I like Massa (and all the Brazilians too, big fan of Bruno Senna), but I can't stand Raikkonen. I have no patience for someone who is only fast when he feels like being fast.

CaroLiza_fan said:

And the rookie drivers from both last season and this season are already all looking very promising.

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DAAAAAAAAAAAN. (And Daniil.)

CaroLiza_fan said:

I was supporting Rosberg for the Championship last season. I used to really like Hamilton, but last season he really turned me against him. He was yapping far too much, and when he wasn't he was far too cocky. Which is a shame, as he is a very talented driver.

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I'm still in Rosberg's corner for this year's championship too. Hamilton and Vettel have a lot in common.

Another Eurosport bit I just recalled from last year that had me in hysterics... the only time I found myself re-watching a Satoko program.

https://youtu.be/K_2Dh8uJB2w?t=351 (5:51 mark)

"She can't have smaller boots if that's the size of her feet!"

"I know -- but they look like Wellies!"