Carlton Kirby

mididoctors

he has got reasonable at recognising the riders but when he tries to explain the whats and the whys it's cringworthy.

improving another few years he may be bearable

afx237vi

GSVBagpuss wrote:

ddraver wrote:

The obvious answer is that you have to pay 4 commentators not 2...I think TMS is a very very special case as it is sold worldwide by the BBC

TMS is not that special in numbers terms; Five Live swap commentators halfway through each half, and the horse racing has loads of speakers. Two more commentators doesn't sound like a massive increase in costs to me but I'm no expert. I suppose you could argue that why spend more when we watch Eurosport anyway, there is no alterntaive so why offer a gold-plated service.

The solution is to get rid of the incredibly tedious studio stuff on British Eurosport and send Dan Lloyd and Magnus B to France (rotating co-commentary with Kelly).

I know I've said it before, but the studio completely sucks the atmosphere and excitement out the race, especially when they go back to it so soon after the stage has finished. They even did it last night. What would people rather see, riders being interviewed and DS reaction on the spot, or Sean Yates mumbling in a deathly quiet studio 300 miles from the action?

ddraver

I don't always get the Studio stuff as it depends where my dodgy feed comes from. The Non British Eurosport channel just throws to the interviews and keeps going with the standard ASO feed...

If you think you re also paying 2 extra commentators for a whole month and them transporting and hotelling them around france on a tour of the most expensive hotel rooms available that night in the world (probably)

TheBigBean

You only have to suffer the studio stuff for the tour though.

Mikey23

I wince every time he says 'putting the hurt on'...

deejay

mididoctors wrote:

he has got reasonable at recognising the riders but when he tries to explain the whats and the whys it's cringworthy.

improving another few years he may be bearable

Oh god, we had to wait for Harmon to come from his motor bikes and fill the above description.
With all the work that Sean Kelly put into Harmon's education of bike racing and now you expect him to start over again with a guy who was doing Le Mans 24 Hour a week before the Tour.
Kirby / Harmon are (were) general dogsbody in ES-HQ for Highlight evening programs on scripted multi sports and their knowledge of languages.

I've just been watching the Tour of Wallonie with Rob Hatch (I think) commentating in a knowlegeable style and a great improvement to those two Jerks.
Expert this time being Smithy.

Mikey23

And I'm sure he must have been itching to say 'for Froome the bell tolls' for weeks...

doug5_10

I can't listen to him anymore, he is god awful. By the 2nd week of the Tour started gravitating toward Pinky and Perky on ITV4 being slightly less cringing. Imlach, Boardman and Rendall filling in early on the stages were really good. On Eurosport Harmon is sadly missed, Rob Hatch should have done Giro and Tour despite the Radio Topshop vocals; a country mile above Kirby and Quigley. Plenty of good summarisers in Kelly, Maggie, Dan Lloyd and Brian Smith but no equivalent quality lead commentators. Best of the bunch are Simon Brotherton and Rob Hayles on 5live IMO.

Vuelta95

Kirby doesn't bother me in any significant way at all and he certainly doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the racing. The only thing which I found slightly frustrating was his tendency (when there was a break up the road) to look at the time gap, and then get very animated when it would drop by a second, before announcing 'they are pulling them in Sean'. Technically they are (not accounting for potential variances in the timing), but it's one second Carlton, don't blow your beans.

timoid.

Its a thankless task, but he really hasn't got a clue what is going on. He can't identify anybody but the most obvious riders and will babble on about what might happen at the finish while ignoring the action unfolding in front of him. Also as a poster said above, he needs to let the pictures do the talking sometimes.

But its still better than anything involving Sherwen and his BIG cliches.

PS: how funny was it when Kelly had to be anchor for a minute while Kirby was returning from the can.

outsider78

I listened Carlton lost it completely on the Stage 7 of Tour of Turkey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ru3vGR8nck (goes all crazy around 6:50)

Since I watch this I have nothing but respect to Carlton. All comes from heart

How can you not like a guy who's so passionate about cycling!

gethinceri

He's great, if you don't like him turn the volume down and see how you get on yourself. Think how little fun it would be if you couldn't rejoice in the fact that you've spotted something the commentators missed, in any sport.

ms_tree

I really got to like him by the end. I even laughed along with his jokes. I thought there was a good rapport between him and Sean and he let him get several words in edgeways and asked his opinion. I liked his chat about where they had stayed the previous night and what they had eaten. At least we didn't have to put up with show-off Harmon and his riding the bike the last bit of the stage while Sean had to drive the car.
I agree about the studio bit although I do like James Richardson but where was Tony Gibb (lust!) :oops: this year? I would prefer to have the Tour extra with interviews and such. I have to put up with idiot Phil and Sgt Maj Sherwin (bike race! machine!) on the ITV highlights although I do like quirky Gary Imlach.
Still it all comes down to having these commentator and loads of races - or (horror!) little or none at all. I know which I prefer.

rick_chasey

I think anyone who is saying anything positive is clearly suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

Turfle

He might just be the worst commentator on any sport in any country. Of all-time.

Gazzetta67

At the start of the tour i gave him the benefit of the doubt, by midway i was shouting at the tv for him to shut up. last night i had to mute him as he seemed to laugh at every sentence he came away with. You could almost hear Sean under his breath "fooking shut up you turrrd" - Eurosport scored an own goal this year esp with Mike Smith in paris. Is it me or is James Richardson just making it up as he goes along ? you can see Magnus,Yates & Lloyd looking at him. Did i hear Rob Hayles name get a mention ??? are you joking, Imagine having to listen to that drone boring voice all day along with another "life & soul of the party" Alex Dowsett The word Dull is a compliment.

pete54

I turned on Eurosport a while ago and Carlton Kirby was commentating on weightlifting. I think that says it all. As a cycling commentator he is completely useless.

cogidubnus

Rick Chasey wrote:

I think anyone who is saying anything positive is clearly suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

That probably sums me up...

I normally (as I have posted many times before) can't stand CK. but this tour he wasn't as bad as I anticipated and better than Quigly at the Giro.

I do anticipate the return of DH mind

adr82

Turfle wrote:

He might just be the worst commentator on any sport in any country. Of all-time.

Hugh Porter? Would take Carlton over him any day.

argyllflyer

Carlton Kirby: the Richard Whiteley of the commentary box!

Cowdaddy

Just about tolerated his commentary during TDF, he seemed to get the best out of Sean Kelly (possibly because Kelly was so embarrassed about Kirby's ineptitude) but this weekend have listened to possibly the worst ever commentary on a sports event during the Tour de Pologne from Carlton Kirby.

The man hasn't got a clue and continually spouts drivel, his commentary totally spoiled my enjoyment of both stages.

I realise the Eurosport don't have a big budget but surely they can find someone better than this.

joelsim

I don't mind him at all

salsiccia1

Cowdaddy wrote:

Just about tolerated his commentary during TDF, he seemed to get the best out of Sean Kelly (possibly because Kelly was so embarrassed about Kirby's ineptitude) but this weekend have listened to possibly the worst ever commentary on a sports event during the Tour de Pologne from Carlton Kirby.

The man hasn't got a clue and continually spouts drivel, his commentary totally spoiled my enjoyment of both stages.

I realise the Eurosport don't have a big budget but surely they can find someone better than this.

You are Declan Quigley and ICMFP

Mikey23

I just love his drivel though. I've really enjoyed him and Magnus in the pologna, they seem to get on well together and some of the banter they throw at each other is quite amusing. And let's face it, the race itself isn't really that interesting or important is it? Sitting at home right now watching a repeat of yesterday with arm in a sling and dosed with happy pills thinking this has got to be better than homes under the hammer or heir hunters!

Pross

He's really annoying me but in his defence they are getting absolutely no information of what is going on. I was trying to do my own time checks on Saturday but the pictures were jumping between the groups so often that getting a reference point was virtually impossible. Magnus commented on Twitter that the race needs to be sponsored for a stopwatch as they cannot get any timings and he had no feedback from the race to answer Luke Rowe who was asking how Danny Pate was doing in an early break. That said Kirby somehow missed Wiggins going out of the back door at the start of the final climb. If Harmon is going to be away from the job long term or permanently (which I hope he isn't) then Rob Hatch has to be given the big races to cover. I watched yesterday's stage at 30 x fast forward on Sky + as the coverage as a whole on the ToP is so bad even ignoring the commentary.

Cowdaddy

Each to his own - the key word is "drivel" - he spouts it without stopping and just constantly fluctuates from one subject to another.

I actually think that Declan Quigley is better than Kirby although in my opinion Rob Hatch is streets ahead of all of them, at least he can recognise the riders and talks as if he knows what he is on about rather than Carlton's moronic scattergun approach.

I agree that the visual coverage from Poland is pretty poor but it is certainly exacerbated by the awful commentary.

Mikey23

Nice scenery though... Oh, wait a minute that's still Italy innit...

jimmythecuckoo

I like him...

viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12929312

thegreatdivide

Cowdaddy wrote:

Just about tolerated his commentary during TDF, he seemed to get the best out of Sean Kelly (possibly because Kelly was so embarrassed about Kirby's ineptitude) but this weekend have listened to possibly the worst ever commentary on a sports event during the Tour de Pologne from Carlton Kirby.

The man hasn't got a clue and continually spouts drivel, his commentary totally spoiled my enjoyment of both stages.

I realise the Eurosport don't have a big budget but surely they can find someone better than this.

I’ve never once switched to the Eurosport and thought ‘Oh no it’s Kirby commentating’.

If he’s that bad why don’t you write to the channel offering your cycling expertise? Your expertise being fuxk all.

jimmythecuckoo

I am still loving his quote about Italian brass bands from the Giro.