Carlton Kirby

vinnymarsden

I think by now Eurosport must have got the message that CB is not well liked, yet still they keep him.
I personally think he's annoying, but then again it must be very difficult to find stuff to talk about for that length of time.
Give him a break, if he offends you so much , and you could do better, mute him and do your own commentary !!

rick_chasey

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think by now Eurosport must have got the message that CB is not well liked, yet still they keep him.
I personally think he's annoying, but then again it must be very difficult to find stuff to talk about for that length of time.
Give him a break, if he offends you so much , and you could do better, mute him and do your own commentary !!

What's to say I don't already?

yourpaceormine

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think by now Eurosport must have got the message that CB is not well liked, yet still they keep him.
I personally think he's annoying, but then again it must be very difficult to find stuff to talk about for that length of time.
Give him a break, if he offends you so much , and you could do better, mute him and do your own commentary !!

But therein lies the problem. Viewers shouldn't have to put the commentary on mute. It is CK's job. He is getting paid to enrich and inform. Yes, it is difficult to talk and fill space for hours on end, so I don't mind the local epicurean anecdotes. I DO expect him to be able to identify riders and their teams. I don't expect to hear sexist, and borderline racist comments. I would hope he allowed viewers to hear the in car comments from the team DSs rather than talking over most of them (as he did for RVV). I also don't want to hear him go into commentator faux excitement at the end of every race/stage unless of course it really is a neck and neck finish. Whilst I do expect some Anglophone bias I'd also like to hear about other riders, rather than the handful of Antipodean athletes that he is pretend mates with.

Rob Hatch can do it. Phil and Paul could do it. Millar and Ned have learnt to do it. CK can't. But still he gets the gigs.

slim_boy_fat

yourpaceormine wrote:

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think by now Eurosport must have got the message that CB is not well liked, yet still they keep him.
I personally think he's annoying, but then again it must be very difficult to find stuff to talk about for that length of time.
Give him a break, if he offends you so much , and you could do better, mute him and do your own commentary !!

But therein lies the problem. Viewers shouldn't have to put the commentary on mute. It is CK's job. He is getting paid to enrich and inform. Yes, it is difficult to talk and fill space for hours on end, so I don't mind the local epicurean anecdotes. I DO expect him to be able to identify riders and their teams. I don't expect to hear sexist, and borderline racist comments. I would hope he allowed viewers to hear the in car comments from the team DSs rather than talking over most of them (as he did for RVV). I also don't want to hear him go into commentator faux excitement at the end of every race/stage unless of course it really is a neck and neck finish. Whilst I do expect some Anglophone bias I'd also like to hear about other riders, rather than the handful of Antipodean athletes that he is pretend mates with.

Rob Hatch can do it. Phil and Paul could do it. Millar and Ned have learnt to do it. CK can't. But still he gets the gigs.

^ This.

Add to that I don't get coverage for free and so can surely expect what you have described as a minimum and definitely shouldn't just put up with CK because it's a tough gig.

blazing_saddles

I don't even get the "he's entertaining" or "he can find stuff to talk about on long stages" argument.
That doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as what he does when the racing is on.
He always works to the simplistic formula of going on and on endlessly, naming half the peloton as possible winners on the day, whether they stand a chance or not.
Rinse and repeat, over and over, notching up the hysteria level, as the kms come down.
He does this because he doesn't understand enough of what is happening in the race to base his commentary.

bobmcstuff

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think by now Eurosport must have got the message that CB is not well liked, yet still they keep him.
I personally think he's annoying, but then again it must be very difficult to find stuff to talk about for that length of time.
Give him a break, if he offends you so much , and you could do better, mute him and do your own commentary !!

As per discussions further up thread, if you go on Twitter lots of people seem to like him. Even when you point out all his obvious mistakes.

A lot of people who watch him presumably don't know all that much about the sport and don't notice all his stupid mistakes.

kingstongraham

I was sure Alan Partridge had done cycling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D568_-2E2Uo

DeVlaeminck

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I don't even get the "he's entertaining" or "he can find stuff to talk about on long stages" argument.
That doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as what he does when the racing is on.
He always works to the simplistic formula of going on and on endlessly, naming half the peloton as possible winners on the day, whether they stand a chance or not.
Rinse and repeat, over and over, notching up the hysteria level, as the kms come down.
He does this because he doesn't understand enough of what is happening in the race to base his commentary.

The worst for me is when someone goes to the front to keep the pace high in the final few Kms and he says they are trying to go for a long one themselves. I don't believe he really thinks the rider is opening their sprint 2kms from the finish so why say it, pretty certain he did it this week with Allaphilipe at Pais Vasco. Even my daughter who only watches cycling when she is waiting for it to finish so she can put Prison Break on Netflix could see he was talking nonsense.

takethehighroad

On that point, my 5 year old thought Richeze (or "Tom Boonen's teammate" as he knows any QS rider) had won until I had to correct him before CK could

yourpaceormine

50p says CK will manage to use the word 'smorgasbord' inappropriately during his commentary today

Pross

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think by now Eurosport must have got the message that CB is not well liked, yet still they keep him.
I personally think he's annoying, but then again it must be very difficult to find stuff to talk about for that length of time.
Give him a break, if he offends you so much , and you could do better, mute him and do your own commentary !!

I really don't get this argument. In what other profession would people say 'Yes, but it's a difficult job maybe you should just do it yourself'. If he was an enthusiastic amateur doing the commentary for a free web service then yes, it would a fair comment but on the above rationale we should all forgive a surgeon for leaving us scarred for life on the basis he was trying his best and we couldn't do it any better ourselves.

ellerslierd

Last year a mate and I were watching the Route du Sud and got sick of the Eurosport commentary - so I recorded my own whilst watching it live

https://youtu.be/7HLOsOc5zJM?t=7m14s

RichN95.

Pross wrote:

VinnyMarsden wrote:

I think by now Eurosport must have got the message that CB is not well liked, yet still they keep him.
I personally think he's annoying, but then again it must be very difficult to find stuff to talk about for that length of time.
Give him a break, if he offends you so much , and you could do better, mute him and do your own commentary !!

I really don't get this argument. In what other profession would people say 'Yes, but it's a difficult job maybe you should just do it yourself'. If he was an enthusiastic amateur doing the commentary for a free web service then yes, it would a fair comment but on the above rationale we should all forgive a surgeon for leaving us scarred for life on the basis he was trying his best and we couldn't do it any better ourselves.

Well, I for one can't tell the difference in quality between Raging Bull and Dirty Grandpa because I've never made a film. (They've even got the same star actor).

argyllflyer

'Vuelta of Spain' was my favourite Kirbyism today.

takethehighroad

Ha I noticed that too.

He's a clown, a real clown. Matt Stephens went down in my estimation when he called David de la Cruz a "Cruz missile"

yourpaceormine

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Ha I noticed that too.

He's a clown, a real clown. Matt Stephens went down in my estimation when he called David de la Cruz a "Cruz missile"

Matt Stephens is much better when supporting any other commentator. CK manages to coax the worst out of him, almost to the point of bringing out his alter-ego KvV.

DeVlaeminck

yourpaceormine wrote:

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Ha I noticed that too.

He's a clown, a real clown. Matt Stephens went down in my estimation when he called David de la Cruz a "Cruz missile"

Matt Stephens is much better when supporting any other commentator. CK manages to coax the worst out of him, almost to the point of bringing out his alter-ego KvV.

He's awful with Carlton, not sure he's any good with anyone else but he's certainly awful with Carlton. He slips into commentator mode far too often so instead of just Carlton going a million miles an hour we have two of them - when one stops for a breath the other steps in to make sure no second goes without their stream of consciousness style of BS.

He also shares with Carlton the illusion that he if he wasn't a cycling commentator he could make a living as a comedian and worse than Carlton he couples it with that annoyingly soft voice he puts on to commentate to make himself sound intelligent. Maybe I'm being unfair but he makes me miss Maggy Backstedt and that's saying something.

argyllflyer

Thing about Matt Stephens is that unlike the other co-commentators, he does lead occasionally. Not yet this year though. I remember a few years back Brian Smith did lead comms (with Maggy i think) at KBK for Cycling.tv. Experiment not repeated afaik.

DeVlaeminck

argyllflyer wrote:

Thing about Matt Stephens is that unlike the other co-commentators, he does lead occasionally. Not yet this year though. I remember a few years back Brian Smith did lead comms (with Maggy i think) at KBK for Cycling.tv. Experiment not repeated afaik.

What was he like? I must admit I prefer the Sean Kelly approach to punditry, assume the audience are bike racing nuts and throw in the odd line when you have an observation to make. Stephens likes to talk so maybe he'd make a better commentator.

kingstongraham

I'm more of a Richie Benaud style commentator fan myself. If there's nothing worth saying, say that. Not many around like that any more.

epc06

DeVlaeminck wrote:

argyllflyer wrote:

Thing about Matt Stephens is that unlike the other co-commentators, he does lead occasionally. Not yet this year though. I remember a few years back Brian Smith did lead comms (with Maggy i think) at KBK for Cycling.tv. Experiment not repeated afaik.

What was he like? I must admit I prefer the Sean Kelly approach to punditry, assume the audience are bike racing nuts and throw in the odd line when you have an observation to make. Stephens likes to talk so maybe he'd make a better commentator.

i like kelly, but with regards to co-commentators Millar for me is better than anyone

milton50

KingstonGraham wrote:

I'm more of a Richie Benaud style commentator fan myself. If there's nothing worth saying, say that. Not many around like that any more.

I wish a Bill Lawry of cycling existed. Someone who has a deep knowledge of the sport allied to a great commentating voice and style.

I don't really get the hate for Rob Hatch to be honest. I think he's pretty good.

RichN95.

Milton50 wrote:

I don't really get the hate for Rob Hatch to be honest. I think he's pretty good.

Is there any? You must be looking in different places to me.

milton50

There was a guy a couple of days ago saying he was rubbish but he could have been trolling.

yourpaceormine

Just watching yesterday's stage, I really do worry about CK's blood pressure. The frenzy he worked himself into can't be healthy (plus whilst it did look a bit touch and go for a few seconds for DdlC, it really wasn't in doubt).

As it appears that Eurosport aren't that interested in reviewing their commentary teams, maybe they'd listen to an argument based upon Health and Safety?

argyllflyer

DeVlaeminck wrote:

argyllflyer wrote:

Thing about Matt Stephens is that unlike the other co-commentators, he does lead occasionally. Not yet this year though. I remember a few years back Brian Smith did lead comms (with Maggy i think) at KBK for Cycling.tv. Experiment not repeated afaik.

What was he like? I must admit I prefer the Sean Kelly approach to punditry, assume the audience are bike racing nuts and throw in the odd line when you have an observation to make. Stephens likes to talk so maybe he'd make a better commentator.

I think Stephens is good as a lead.

Last race he did was Paris-Tours which ended up being a solo show as Graham Jones was not alongside him as advertised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVw-RaEQeDk

he also did lead comms in 2016 at:

Handzame
Milan-Sanremo
UK Championships
Tour de Wallonie
Quebec & Montreal

blazing_saddles

The lack of action in Pais Vasco is proving too much of a temptation to Kirby to spout even more of his giggling gibberish.

sherer

yourpaceormine wrote:

Just watching yesterday's stage, I really do worry about CK's blood pressure. The frenzy he worked himself into can't be healthy (plus whilst it did look a bit touch and go for a few seconds for DdlC, it really wasn't in doubt).

As it appears that Eurosport aren't that interested in reviewing their commentary teams, maybe they'd listen to an argument based upon Health and Safety?

Im toying with the idea of an OFCOM complaint if he does any more racist comments.. I did tweet Eurosport about it last year but never got a reply back

argyllflyer

Just watching Flanders as I missed it at the weekend - CK waffling away at the start about the distance raced so far and how much was left "we're just over the halfway mark, lets put it that way, we've got about 120 kilometers to go on very rudimentary maths" - ticker at top of screen says 145.2km....

Turfle

But as you know, Carlton has an innate sense about distances, and all tickers are wrong at all times. And he apologises for it, but it's not his fault.