Let's see. There is Channel 9's and C7's. So if they are better than Chan 9's they are the best Aussie line up. There are lots of overseas commentators when C7/Fox Sports takes the overseas feeds that are better
> Poor Commentry through out this season - and some very poor effort on the behalf of channel nine > technical.
People react very personally to the commentators and have their preferences and dsilikes. I listen reasonably closely and trying to be objective I think there is a good mix on Nine.
What do I want in cricket commentary? 1. Someone with some broadcasting ability... by this I essentially mean the ability to think on his feet and not rely on pat phrases or making meaningless comments that just fill in time. 2. Someone not afraid to speak their mind. 3. Someone who makes an interesting point that I hadn't thought of before and gets me thinking. 4. Someone who can entertain. I don't want a stand-up comic but it is after all just a game and the occasional one-liner that is genuinely witty or a bit of bamnter can loven things up... as long as the commentator knows when to let it go.
By these counts I reckon the Nine team compare well. Richie Benaud is still the best and I will stop what I am doing to listen to him. Ian Chappell and Mark Taylor seem to be modelling themselves on Benaud and I rate them almost as good. Chappell especially often makes points I hadn't thought of before and is almost always worth listening to.
Bill Lawry and Tony Greig are less my cup of tea personally. But both are excellent broadcasters. Greig in particular is an entertainer, and you need someone to provide a mix.
Ian Healy I am less sure of. He seems to me to be less likely to make an interesting point and he doesn't yet seem a natural broadcaster to me.
Ian Smith has been very good over the summer, making incisive remarks and has a bubbly humour.
When I compare this as a team to NZ's current TV mob it's a hands-down win to Nine. Gavin Larsen and Martin Crowe always rely on pat phrases, will never say anything critical about the home side and never have an interesting comment to make. Any humour extends far too long. (notice how Richie's one liners are always just one line?) Ditto Willie Watson and Danny Morrison. Larsen in particular is just not a broadcaster. He is like someone doing an imitation of a TV commentary without a game to watch. Having heard the English teams on Sky and C4 I wouldn't say they were better than Nine either. There are some good individuals of course. Geoffrey Boycott, love him or hate him, has guts, thinks hard about the game and has that broadcasting ability. Sunil Gavaskar I enjoy. There are others.
At the end of a summer it's natural to get a bit tired of these voices... but I'd swap the Nine team for our NZ Sky team any day.
> > > In the 80's? I think you mean in the early 70's. They used to share > > > coverage with the ABC I think.
> > The last season I can recall Channel 7 covering international cricket > > in Australia was the 1975-76 series against the West Indies. Richie > > was the head of their commentary team in those days, Bill Lawry was > > there - less emotional than in his later channel 9 persona - and I can > > recall Doug Ring, Victorian Test leg-spinner from just before Richie's > > time, being there as well.
> Was it 10 or 7 who covered the Gillete Cup in that season? Do you > know? I think it might have been 10.
I can recall channel 10 showing the Gillette Cup in 1976/77 because that is where I saw that unforgettable game where Western Australia 77 all out defeated Queensland 62 all out. They showed the Gillette Cup right up till 1978/79.
I am inclined to think the ABC had the 75/76 Gillette Cup all to itself, but I could be wrong...
> On Mon, 4 Feb 2002 11:30:52 +1000, "Razor" > <NOSPAM_agwebb@NOSPAM_optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> >> I am not saying the SUperbowl is on ESPN...your the dilusional one
> >I'm watching it on ESPN. It's in stereo, SBS is not. Fox Sports cable is > >not, my neihbour cannot get it and has never got Fox Sports in stereo. Mono > >only. He watches lots of fta stuff in stereo so don't say it is his TV
> It must be his TV because I watched the Superbowl on Fox Sports and it > was definitely in stereo.
> Actually, I'm wrong, it's not his TV, it's just you bullshitting.
After making a very simple telephone call to Fox, they confirmed that Fox Sports is in stereo on both cable and satellite
> > On Mon, 4 Feb 2002 11:30:52 +1000, "Razor" > > <NOSPAM_agwebb@NOSPAM_optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> > >> I am not saying the SUperbowl is on ESPN...your the dilusional one
> > >I'm watching it on ESPN. It's in stereo, SBS is not. Fox Sports cable is > > >not, my neihbour cannot get it and has never got Fox Sports in stereo. Mono > > >only. He watches lots of fta stuff in stereo so don't say it is his TV
> > It must be his TV because I watched the Superbowl on Fox Sports and it > > was definitely in stereo.
> > Actually, I'm wrong, it's not his TV, it's just you bullshitting.
> After making a very simple telephone call to Fox, they confirmed that > Fox Sports is in stereo on both cable and satellite
> Colin Kynoch
I get stereo loud and clear as well, but this is Razor, making more instantiated claims again.
>> I am not saying the SUperbowl is on ESPN...your the dilusional one
>I'm watching it on ESPN. It's in stereo, SBS is not. Fox Sports cable is >not, my neihbour cannot get it and has never got Fox Sports in stereo. Mono >only. He watches lots of fta stuff in stereo so don't say it is his TV
that makes absolutely no sense for anybody to do on commercial or technical grounds.
It makes so little sense that I can only assume that he is lying to you to amuse himself or you're lying here to try and score points. -- "Hope is replaced by fear and dreams by survival, most of us get by." Stuart Adamson 1958-2001
> On Mon, 4 Feb 2002 11:30:52 +1000, "Razor" > <NOSPAM_agwebb@NOSPAM_optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> >> I am not saying the SUperbowl is on ESPN...your the dilusional one
> >I'm watching it on ESPN. It's in stereo, SBS is not. Fox Sports cable is > >not, my neihbour cannot get it and has never got Fox Sports in stereo. Mono > >only. He watches lots of fta stuff in stereo so don't say it is his TV
> that makes absolutely no sense for anybody to do on commercial or > technical grounds.
> It makes so little sense that I can only assume that he is lying to > you to amuse himself or you're lying here to try and score points.
Meet "Razor" aka Anthony Webb aka a host of other nick names, you should read his banta in aus.tv.pay, if you need anymore convincing
