It’s the sport what matters Wilksy…
I have been following the Athletics World Championships this week, as I am sure many of you have too.
I hadn’t realised until I went to tune in for the first time that Channel 4 had snaffled this from the Beeb – and taken Michael Johnson with them.
My view, and that of other fans in the office, is that the production, presentation and analysis are all a bit of a mess. Johnson too often is wasted, or falls foul of the ad breaks; one presenter has been dropped already; the other guts it out but never seems comfortable; one of the race commentators appeared to lose his voice on day one, and in every event since; and the highlights half hour only gives time for a handful of events to be shown fully – it is one thing to package up a long shot putt final, not so good to cut up the 400m.
Given timezones it surely warranted a longer round-up show. There is no comparison with Sunset and Vine’s splendidly packaged cricket highlights (now departed en bloc to Channel 5).
Yet despite this, live coverage audiences grew steadily over the bank holiday and the 7.30pm half hour highlights slot topped a million viewers by Tuesday so Channel 4 may well be pleased with the numbers. Especially once catch-up and online are added in.
The motto appears to be that sports fans will moan, but tune in anyway. Andy Gray’s departure from Sky to be replaced by every footballers best mate Ray Wilkins, is another case in point. Right-angled Ray draws reams of Twitter vitriol for his inane “analysis” but if you want to watch the match you watch anyway.
But Gary Neville – who it seems everyone detests – looks set to become a “popular” pundit. He actually uses his expertise to ADD to the game. Rare!
Nev was a brave decision by Sky – now they just need to swap him with Ray so we only hear Nev and can admire Butch’s suits whilst ignore his comments. The BBC Grand Prix team has seen some inspired personnel decisions too – although sadly their input has been to less avail as the beeb simply can’t afford to keep GP live.
As it is Friday… my hastily assembled sports commentary dream team over the years might include these: Des, Gray, Aggers and Boycott as a package, Brendan Foster (sorely missed in the 10k this week), Sid Waddell, Hansen, Mike Ingham from 5 live (but not the whining Green), O’ Sullivan, Coleman and Wolstenhome of course, for posterity and class. Nev as a fresh blood first reserve. Try it. You quickly realise how much talent there is out there. Just not at the World Champs right now.
Your Comments
Substitute Richie Benaud’s insightful analysis for the ever irritating Boycott and find room somewhere for Raymond Baxter – the calm voice of Grand Prix in the days of my childhood.
Laura Esposto: http://www.lauraesposto.it/
Missing from your dream team… surely the best sports presenter EVER?!
Thought Richie was there – I think he disappeared in the final edit somehow. So Benaud for Hansen I think.
I really thought the BBC ‘nailed it’ at Silverstone a couple of months back when Murray Walker did a cameo stint during qualifying. Talk about memory lane! Admittedly, my interest then waned shortly after he handed back to Brundle (who I don’t dislike), so I turned to BBC2 where I was greeted by the dulcet tones of Peter Alliss. More vintage stuff! I think the Beeb have always produced the best voices for sport such and my all-time favourite is Barry Davies; always captures the mood perfectly and I miss his football commentary. He’d definitely be in the dream team. I like a bit of Boycott too when he gets upset!
Derek – I enjoyed your piece on sports commentators, I have been feeling aggrieved myself at the limits of channel 4’s coverage this week. Have you seen any of eurosports coverage? I feel it is comparable with the BBC, and use some of their commentators. The big loss I feel is that the bbc would have given it more coverage and prominence, building up some excitement before 2012. Whether that would have improved the performances is another matter!