ISU video commentator?

[temadd]

He was pretty benign until he started commenting on skaters appearances. When he called Wakaba stocky and insulted Junwhan's hat, I drew the line and decided that the gloves needed to come off. This guy is an idiot with zero knowledge of figure skating. Just about any of the fans on golden skate forums could have done a better job.

He was so bad that I was almost wishing that Tara and Johnny were there instead. But at least he didn't blab over the entire program like Tara.

 

[TontoK]

They so are! But then I went onto Twitter where they're really piling on the poor guy.

Jackie Wong who I thought was a nice person is being downright malicious to the point I'm thinking of unfollowing him.

Is SBSman the greatest commentator who ever lived? Definitely not.

Is he working for hours on his own, commentating for the benefit of newcomers to the sport and trying to be informative. Yes, yes he is.

He's also a human being who doesn't deserve these mean and belittling comments. People can be so nasty, imagine for one second it was you people were talking about.

Doesn't feel so funny now I bet!

To be fair, I didn't mind him that much. I was just grateful to have a feed at all.

As for hardcore fans demanding that he be fired... that's laughable. Fire him, OR WHAT?

Are these hardcore fans going to refuse to watch skating in the future? Of course not. Like me, they'll be scrambling for whatever feed they can find.

Not to say that constructive criticism is out of bounds, but tweet ranting at the ISU is immature.

 

[tafattsbarn]

Who is the woman that usually commentates the Olympics for the Olympic channel? I want her to do the ISU commentary, she's always factual and lovely to listen to.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Who is the woman that usually commentates the Olympics for the Olympic channel? I want her to do the ISU commentary, she's always factual and lovely to listen to.

PJ Kwong, who Dreamer57 and I were talking about in this thread yesterday. :agree:

And I totally agree with what you say. That is why I wish we had her commentating more often, instead of her doing rinkside announcing.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[NanaPat]

PJ Kwong, who Dreamer57 and I were talking about in this thread yesterday. :agree:

And I totally agree with what you say. That is why I wish we had her commentating more often, instead of her doing rinkside announcing.

CaroLiza_fan

I really like PJ. She may actually be available, as I believe she only freelances for the CBC.

 

[balabam]

I quite like Catherine Whitaker. She understands figure skating on a reasonably technical level - she skated at an amateur level herself, but is also an experienced multi-sport broadcaster.

Other than her, many of the commentators I've heard are one thing or the other: either a skating specialist, who doesn't have the broadcast experience or on-air charisma to be comfortable to listen to on their own, or a multi-sport commentator without the technical knowledge to point out useful details, though in some cases, those have learnt a fair amount. Often, partnering a skating specialist with a non-specialist works well.

SBSman has a pleasant, relaxed delivery, but seems to have virtually no technical knowledge, so when he commentates alone, it descends into stream-of-consciousness wibbling.

I think the European and 4C champs are a tough gig for a solo commentator commentating all the way through. Euros, especially, with the large fields. I thought he sounded quite tired by the end, and had exhausted all he had to say.

This. Certainly this. Catherine is the very best mix of announcer with proper english pronounciation and a properly resonant voice (aka best of the best), further with real life skating knowledge (although rather amateur than world-class), moreover with woman charm, alongside with dignity and praise for all competitors aka Ted Barton style and furthermore the best match to cooperate with second announcer. Just listen to her for a minute or two here at 2018 WC (forget her generic counterpart announcer):

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6grtk7

And I would suggest like an co-host expert another great announcer lady, Belinda Noonan, who did Olympic channel coverage of 2014 Olympics (as the main announcer with Chris Howarth) and 2018 Olympics (as co-announcer of some generic guy), it was really priviledge to hear her, just listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgXKJvTVW9g

So we can have two great woman commentators for ISU (appreciating that Tracy Wilson is great announcer, but she is more needed in coaching) So I' am for those women, but like the Eurosport guys, too.

This our current guy, Paul Alster, isn't bad for casual fans, but ladies mentioned above can be really,much much better for passionate fans as well as some explaining force for casual fans.

 

[tafattsbarn]

PJ Kwong, who Dreamer57 and I were talking about in this thread yesterday. :agree:

And I totally agree with what you say. That is why I wish we had her commentating more often, instead of her doing rinkside announcing.

CaroLiza_fan

Actually, i was thinking of Belinda Noonan.

Maybe she wasn't the one doing he olympic commentary, i might be mistaken. I really like Belinda though, and would actually pay money just to get her specifically.

 

[MGstyle]

Astoundingly, he shut up for once for the entire performance of P&P's Vincent during the gala. This goes to show the magical power of this masterpiece. I am already missing it, probably the Montreal gala will be the last occasion. :sad21:

 

[Greengemmonster]

That was the only time I was like "Dude no". I mean apart from the fact Jun looked fabulous in the hat, you could see it was the same as the mascot was wearing! Therefore it was probably a traditional Korean accessory.

All in all, I feel like writing to SBSman to let him know how to improve. Some of the info he gave on the skaters was stuff I didn't know, so I liked that , and he definitely cut down on the talking today, which may have been tiredness, but it did allow the programs to be at the forefront.

He genuinely enjoyed the Gala and had fun there

He did! I was feeling very jubilant after watching Rika's Gala performance and I think SBSman was feeling the same vibes so it was rather nice.

I just caught up with a few of the male performances I missed and found this gem about Yuma Kagiyama:

This little guy has made a great start.

haha I died of laughter! If he thinks you are little, he will say it!

 

[Princessroja]

This. Certainly this. Catherine is the very best mix of announcer with proper english pronounciation and a properly resonant voice (aka best of the best), further with real life skating knowledge (although rather amateur than world-class), moreover with woman charm, alongside with dignity and praise for all competitors aka Ted Barton style and furthermore the best match to cooperate with second announcer. Just listen to her for a minute or two here at 2018 WC (forget her generic counterpart announcer):

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6grtk7

And I would suggest like an co-host expert another great announcer lady, Belinda Noonan, who did Olympic channel coverage of 2014 Olympics (as the main announcer with Chris Howarth) and 2018 Olympics (as co-announcer of some generic guy), it was really priviledge to hear her, just listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgXKJvTVW9g

So we can have two great woman commentators for ISU (appreciating that Tracy Wilson is great announcer, but she is more needed in coaching) So I' am for those women, but like the Eurosport guys, too.

This our current guy, Paul Alster, isn't bad for casual fans, but ladies mentioned above can be really,much much better for passionate fans as well as some explaining force for casual fans.

Actually, i was thinking of Belinda Noonan.

Maybe she wasn't the one doing he olympic commentary, i might be mistaken. I really like Belinda though, and would actually pay money just to get her specifically.

Belinda Noonan is the commentator I mentioned upthread that did the 2014 Olympics. She's incredible and I learned a ton from her. I'd gladly listen to her any day!

 

[Scrufflet]

Wow. 6 pages of piling on this guy? I found him to be bland pretty quickly and just tuned him out. If he said anything controversial or rude later on, I missed it as I just wasn't listening. I was thrilled to be able to get any feed.

 

[rollerblade]

The way he kept droning on and on and on about the virus, you'd think his boss gave him a Corona quota.

I wonder if it's possible to have a stream with multiple audio feeds for users to chose from? It is a thing in eSports, but maybe the technology just isn't there yet for ISU. (I wonder if anyone here gets this haha. )

 

[hippomoomin]

The Youtube streaming was blocked but I assume the QQ stream most of time was showing the feed with the British commentator, and I definitely agree it was a torture for me. I almost gave up watching because of the unbearable commenting. His tone was super annoying.

 

[Makemi]

So I finally got through all the 4CC streams and I will say that this commentator was the most bearable on the men and least bearable on ice dance. He seemed to be mostly positive for the men and I was shocked that he knew who Max Aaron and Joshua Farris were and that Keegan had recently gotten married. That said, some of the nice comments were offset for me by some of the more negative ones especially for the early groups. And I did not appreciate the comment of Jun's hat. He kept butchering Nam's name too which made me

It was clear he had no idea what to do with ice dance. I think at one point during the review for one couple's routine he even said "and now we are watching a review of all the key elements" but could not explain what those elements were. At most he could just say "they're skating well" or "they brought the goods."

Seems like he thought he had to do a play-by-play for radio (like in baseball "The pitcher winds up....batter swings...strike! Right in the zone!") Although even then it ended up being "he/she is skating beautifully" or "that was an awkward landing" (which was used for everything, step-out, spin, lean, ur...). Also he kept bringing up the empty arena and the corona virus (we get it already).

So overall I give this guy credit for effort but I really don't think his commentary was necessary nor added to the experience. The commentator-less 4CC stream last year was fine. In fact I really liked the fact that the streams don't have commentary (I DVR the NBC TV broadcasts if I need commentary). I cringe if they bring him back for Worlds. Can we petition for a commentary-less Worlds feed?

(Confession: I did enjoy Jackie Wong's unhinged commentary on the commentator though on retrospect I do think he maybe went a little overboard.)

 

[el henry]

All the piling on this commentator just made me feel sorry for him.

At first, I was like, yeah, he could do this better, and then I started feeling c'mon folks, this isn't brain surgery, I'm just thrilled we have a feed. Save this much "inside baseball" talk for the actual comp rather than the commentator.

And I was disappointed in Jackie Wong's harping on it. One or two, funny. Continuously, not so much. I muted Jackie for the men's FS.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I actually wondered that too, because so much of what he says is so obvious. "Now our skaters are taking the ice. They're getting into their starting positions." "Now they've finished their program. They're taking their bows." It wouldn't be so bad if the rest of what he said had some substance, but it feels more like a narration than a commentary. Or, "Bradie's heading into her jump here; she has to be absolutely perfect if she wants a medal." 20 seconds later, "Here comes another jump. She's looking for a medal, so she can't afford any mistakes." :dev2:

I hesitate to say all this since I know visual description is really important and is obviously necessary by many people. However, I think it's also realistic that most figure skating viewers are not going to need the service, and it's pretty frustrating to listen to as "commentary." I think it's great if the ISU/NBC wants to offer it, but if they're going to, it needs to 1) be real visual description (which would be way more involved and comprehensive), and 2) not serve as commentary. I kept finding myself screaming, "Yes, I know, I can see them taking their bows!!!" after a while.

Really, people paying for Sports Gold or who are on the ISU stream are already knowledgeable fans, so commentators should be picked with that in mind. But this stuff isn't even appropriate for new fans. I remember watching the 2014 Olympics as a newbie and being so happy that the commentating trio was so good. I learned a ton from them! This is just pratter.

Its like you took a downhill ski announcer or racetrack announcer and said, "The figureskating announcer didnt show up...you fill in....."
Someone needs to take him off to the side and say, "Look...listen to Ted Barton, Tanith and Charlie. The less you say during a performance, the better.....those people who watch NBC rabbit ears Tara and Johnny are not hardcore fans....you dont talk during an opera or ballet performance....dont dribble out factoids during a performance.

The really odd thing about the SportsGold presentation was that the audio levels of the music and the announcer were terrible. And the music had a hollow sound. NBC rabbit ears tara and johnny, I presume, was the world feed and the music sounded great.
Was SBS man actually on site? He said he was....certainly Tara and Johnny werent. NBCSPORTs needs to get its act together....

 

[CoyoteChris]

All the piling on this commentator just made me feel sorry for him.

At first, I was like, yeah, he could do this better, and then I started feeling c'mon folks, this isn't brain surgery, I'm just thrilled we have a feed. Save this much "inside baseball" talk for the actual comp rather than the commentator.

And I was disappointed in Jackie Wong's harping on it. One or two, funny. Continuously, not so much. I muted Jackie for the men's FS.

You are a much nicer person than I am. I paid good money for NBC Sports Gold. Surely someone at NBC Sports saw how bad a job he was doing and said something as he dribbled out less factiods during performances as the week went on. I dont really hate the person ...I think he would have done the right thing if he had been made aware of how annoying he was to real fans who were his audience. Heck, if he would have not said anything during the performances, I would have enjoyed him much more than I ever enjoyed J. Weir.

 

[Interspectator]

I was well into an alcoholic beverage while watching the mens LP with a friend --this made the commentary sound utterly hilarious to us. Some how, it sounded like he thought that the contestants were horses in a race. We laughed a lot. So in that way it wasn't bad, we were really nervous about the last group and this made things less intense. When it came to his comments on Jun we were like oooooh nooooooo.

But what should the ISU do about this in the future. --Maybe these guys aren't a lost cause. With feedback they can improve.

 

[NanaPat]

Was SBS man actually on site? He said he was....certainly Tara and Johnny werent. NBCSPORTs needs to get its act together....

He was definitely on site. He told us about how many times he had had his temperature checked as he went into the stadium. He was clobbered by mis-thrown toys. He apologized for/complained about the sound of the photographer's shutters because he was right next to them and he had to leave the mic open (otherwise the music cut out, as during the first few pairs SPs). He was there, all right, or doing a very good job of pretending he was. I don't think he's that good an actor. He was there.

And I don't think NBC sports had anything to do with it. SBS man was on the ISU youtube feed, and I think if you heard SBS man on NBC it's because NBC got the feed straight from the ISU.

 

[Harriet]

And I was disappointed in Jackie Wong's harping on it. One or two, funny. Continuously, not so much. I muted Jackie for the men's FS.

I muted Jackie a solid year ago. He is far more annoying at his best than Paul Alster ever is at his worst.