New BBC cycling presenter

RichN95.

The BBC have announced they have added another expert summarizer for the Olympic Track races: Mark Cavendish.

I'm not sure they thought this one through properly.

alihisgreat

Screw Cav... I'll do it.

Apart from the fact I know nothing about Track cycling I think i'd be quite good... I could explain to the audience what actually happened in the road race rather than the dumbed down version that the BBC projected.



But in all seriousness I don't see any problem.. I think he'll do a good job. (as long as no one mentions winning, gold medals, the road race etc. )

Yellow Peril

"now then" meets "well, you know"

Lichtblick

RichN95 wrote:

The BBC have announced they have added another expert summarizer for the Olympic Track races: Mark Cavendish.

I'm not sure they thought this one through properly.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/oly ... acing.html

He doesn't suffer fools gladly either though, and fellow pundits will hope to not receive an acid-tongued rebuke from the Manxman.

As in, if someone underperforms IHO, "WTF was that? Next!"

deejay

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

I don't see any problem.. I think he'll do a good job. (as long as no one mentions winning, gold medals, the road race etc. )

I thought the Track problem for him was the Madison. (if it still in the program)

alihisgreat

deejay wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

I don't see any problem.. I think he'll do a good job. (as long as no one mentions winning, gold medals, the road race etc. )

I thought the Track problem for him was the Madison. (if it still in the program)

they don't do it any more do they?

RichN95.

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

But in all seriousness I don't see any problem.. I think he'll do a good job. (as long as no one mentions winning, gold medals, the road race etc. )

He has a tendency to say 'sh1t' on live TV.

tailwindhome

RichN95 wrote:

He has a tendency to say 'sh1t' on live TV.

Yeah. The BBC eh? Talk sh1t and you get a big juicy contract, say sh1t and you're sacked

Cumulonimbus

What does he know about winning Olympic medals?

As i read it though he won't be there talking on the live coverage but just be there for the back to the studio bits?

oldwelshman

You will get value for money with him and he knows his stuff for sure.
cav said he would never do track again after last olympics, can see his point as it would take too much time out of his road schedule to prepare, you can see this with Kennaugh and Thomas.
If Cav did want to ride he would do well in omnium.

RichN95.

oldwelshman wrote:

If Cav did want to ride he would do well in omnium.

I was thinking the same.

simona75

Cumulonimbus wrote:

What does he know about winning Olympic medals?

As i read it though he won't be there talking on the live coverage but just be there for the back to the studio bits?

If he's used like the other BBC experts (McEnroe etc) he will be asked to provide analysis on all sports.... "your thoughts on that stunning end to the beach volleyball final Mark?"

inkyfingers

Sounds like the BBC responding to the critscism of their cycling coverage so far, fair enough.

Cavendish doesn't always come across as the most eloquent speaker, but if you get over the delivery then his insights are usually quite good and he can actually be quite charming and funny.

I can't remember where I heard it but I did hear some mention recently that at some point he'd like to have another crack at the Team Pursuit, with the road race in Rio 2016 likely to be too hilly for him I wonder whether he might be thinking about a return to the track for what would probably be his last crack at an Olympic gold?

rick_chasey

inkyfingers wrote:

Sounds like the BBC responding to the critscism of their cycling coverage so far, fair enough.

Cavendish doesn't always come across as the most eloquent speaker, but if you get over the delivery then his insights are usually quite good and he can actually be quite charming and funny.

I can't remember where I heard it but I did hear some mention recently that at some point he'd like to have another crack at the Team Pursuit, with the road race in Rio 2016 likely to be too hilly for him I wonder whether he might be thinking about a return to the track for what would probably be his last crack at an Olympic gold?

That was a BBC interview.

Basically he said he'd like to do it but he'd have to skip the Tour to do it and that ain't gonna happen. IIRC

inkyfingers

Rick Chasey wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

Sounds like the BBC responding to the critscism of their cycling coverage so far, fair enough.

Cavendish doesn't always come across as the most eloquent speaker, but if you get over the delivery then his insights are usually quite good and he can actually be quite charming and funny.

I can't remember where I heard it but I did hear some mention recently that at some point he'd like to have another crack at the Team Pursuit, with the road race in Rio 2016 likely to be too hilly for him I wonder whether he might be thinking about a return to the track for what would probably be his last crack at an Olympic gold?

That was a BBC interview.

Basically he said he'd like to do it but he'd have to skip the Tour to do it and that ain't gonna happen. IIRC

Cheers Rick.

Shame, would be good to see him have a crack at something else. Guess the commercial reality that his team will always need him to ride the Tour de France.

gsvbagpuss

But if he continues with this punchier one day type rider thing he's got going instead of just pure speed, maybe the Tour becomes less of a priority?

Regardless, I'm loving that he'll be on BBC. One man crush there, if only they can get Tom Boonen as well...

rick_chasey

Cav's a bit mumble mumble mumble great guy mumble mumble really fast mumble mumble something outrageous mumble mumble all down to the team mumble mumble - big grin for the ladies - mumble mumble

inkyfingers

Rick Chasey wrote:

Cav's a bit mumble mumble mumble great guy mumble mumble really fast mumble mumble something outrageous mumble mumble all down to the team mumble mumble - big grin for the ladies - mumble mumble

I think that's a bit harsh actually Rick. As I said, his delivery isn't great, but if you get beyond that his insight into the racing can be very good. I'm not talking about his post stage interviews (they are pretty formulaic) i'm talking about proper sit down interviews.

No really related, but what always impresses me about him is how much detail he can remember about the finale of the stage, quite impressive when it all happens so fast.

Monty Zoncolan

I get the sense Cav tends to overthink things, leading to long pauses and sometimes convoluted answers.

Pross

RichN95 wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

If Cav did want to ride he would do well in omnium.

I was thinking the same.

Yep me too. If he ever feels he really wants an Olympic medal for his palmares then it would be his best bet.

KentPuncheur

Rick Chasey wrote:

Cav's a bit mumble mumble mumble great guy mumble mumble really fast mumble mumble something outrageous mumble mumble all down to the team mumble mumble - big grin for the ladies - mumble mumble

To be honest, I'll take anyone over who they have at the moment. I was on the Mall for Saturday's road race and they had two former (/failed) soap actors commentating on the action for some reason...this lead to the horrific quote, "So this isn't just about a bunch of blokes on bikes then, there seems to be more to it than just that." *shudders*

oldwelshman

Pross wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

If Cav did want to ride he would do well in omnium.

I was thinking the same.

Yep me too. If he ever feels he really wants an Olympic medal for his palmares then it would be his best bet.

Too late now though as it is youngsters track, within 4 years the next crop will be ready and Cav would need a few months even to be able to compete UK level, he can't affor the time. This is last go for Thomas also, he stated this.

Frank the tank

Think Cav ought to stick to cycling,he's a decent enough bloke but TV presenter/pundit he is not.

sunburntknees

Yes, not great as a pundit.

Did I hear right? I think he said earlier when on with Lineker that he wanted to ride the team pursuit in London, but he wasn't able as he hadn't done a World Cup event or something???

alihisgreat

Frank the tank wrote:

Think Cav ought to stick to cycling,he's a decent enough bloke but TV presenter/pundit he is not.

Cav wasn't awful (at least the bits I saw)

but Its still quite odd how some sportsman can be the best in the world at what they do.. but can't string two sentences together when talking about it.

Gary Neville is the only standout ex-sportsman pundit that springs to mind. the rest of them are boring and offer very little insight.

Boardman isn't too bad though.. works quite well as a commentator and the pre-recorded stuff with Humphrey.

greasedscotsman

Didn't watch very much of it, but thought that Jamie Staff was very good. Don't see why they need Cavendish.

RichN95.

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Gary Neville is the only standout ex-sportsman pundit that springs to mind. the rest of them are boring and offer very little insight.

There's loads of them. Michael Johnson is excellent, McEnroe is great for tennis, Ian Thorpe has been good, Steve Cram is a very good commentator (rather than pundit). Cricket is full of good ex-player pundits.

rick_chasey

RichN95 wrote:

ALIHISGREAT wrote:

Gary Neville is the only standout ex-sportsman pundit that springs to mind. the rest of them are boring and offer very little insight.

There's loads of them. Michael Johnson is excellent, McEnroe is great for tennis, Ian Thorpe has been good, Steve Cram is a very good commentator (rather than pundit). Cricket is full of good ex-player pundits.

Cycling aside the commentary's pretty good.

Rowing has been good for a while,(ex Cox will always be good value - love it when he slips into coxing mode "keep it firm and long boys" etc), the gymnastics has been good, swimming is good too (if a little flippant at times ) and the rest I've enjoyed but know so little about I can't really gage whether it's good or not.

Thorpe gets stick from the homophobes, and when he was in the studio he was a little cliche ridden, but he adds a fair bit of value at the pool. Think Balding gets more out of him than Linekar.

jim453

Thorpe is a legend, and a good analyst when comfortable. I think Balding puts him at ease. He was visibly uncomfortable next to Aaron Piersol during the day with Jake (I think), (who's also pretty good).

gattocattivo

Monty Zoncolan wrote:

I get the sense Cav tends to overthink things, leading to long pauses and sometimes convoluted answers.

Which wouldn't necessarily be a problem for the right audience (e.g. an interview shown during the ITV Tour de France coverage), but could be an issue when asked a question by Gary Lineker (who seems totally lost when talking about any sport other than football) to fill 30 seconds for an audience which is 99% made up of people who know next to nothing about cycle racing.

From the little I've seen of him, I think Cav's been alright.

RichN95.

Rick Chasey wrote:

love it when he slips into coxing mode "keep it firm and long boys" etc

You can all make up you own jokes here.