Brendan Foster must be the worst sports commentator ever.

Speer

Foster has the most boring monotone speaking voice.Could there be a worst sports commentator anywhere? I think he's the worst(purely for that dull voice).

Sandwich

What about the RTE GAA match commentator who always sounds like he is being strangled and comments on every moment in the game as if it is the defining moment in the game (if not all time in all sports). Has a great repertoire of 'heroic' GAA catch phrases : 'doing battle', 'proud' Galwaymen, 'the men from the Premier county', 'clashing' of two 'great' counties' etc. And my favourite "they really love their football/hurling in {insert any county of choice}"- used in all matches without fail.

Speer

I heard him on the radio a few times.He never shuts up.Gets really annoying after a few minutes.

mike65

Flat Georgie is tough alright, Steve Cram is better dispite being only from down the road.

Mike.

Speer

mike65 wrote: »

Flat Georgie is tough alright, Steve Cram is better dispite being only from down the road.

Mike.

Cram isn't bad but poor old Foster is abysmal.Granted he knows his stuff but he drives me into a coma.He's a bit like that boring teacher from the 'Ferris Bueller' movie.He'd make a great co-commentator for Brendan.

dango

My vote would have to go to that rowing commentator whose voice goes up about 4 octaves when team GB are coming in to win finish. It sounds like he's orgasming when they finish and he always comes out with ridiculous statements too. Cringeworthy indeed.

gordon_gekko

give me foster anyday over tony ( we never see his face and only hear his voice in track and field ) o donnohue anyday of the week

Seifer

The horrendous guy they have doing the basketball for the olympics. Can't take him seriously at all. What county is he from?

Dudess

I presume Cork.

People were texting Ian Dempsey the other morning about what a legend he is for sounding as passionate as an Italian football commentator. The latter might be true but I still think he just sounds dreadfully unprofessional.

BroomBurner

He's not as bad as Kevin McStay.

Toto Wolfcastle

I love the guy doing the basketball. (Presume you're talking about Timmy McCarthy?)

Seifer

We have a new contender. For anyone that was watching the olympics highlights with Bill O'Herlihy this evening. The guy commentating the women's hockey. He was unreal. So bad it hurt. So bad in fact that Bill took the piss when it cut back to him.
"That was FRAAAAANNNNK"
Icing on the cake: after the basketball he says something like, "wouldn't it be great if we could get Timmy and Frank on the same commentary team".
Bill

Oh and the piece with Marty Morrissey on the women's beach volleyball was so bad I wanted to gouge my eyes out.

elurhs

I think RTE were having a laugh with the Marty goes to the beach volleyball bit. They weren't taking it seriously, which is no harm.

Billo has actually surprised me during the Olympics, he's laughing and joking all the time, seems way more relaxed than usual. Also seems a little scattered at times. Maybe this will be his last Olympics, he'll be topping 70 in 2012. More likely he'll hang on for the "home" games in London though. Saw in an interview with him in some paper recently that he's never actually been to an Olympics or a World Cup, he's always stuck in the studio in Dublin.

Amz

Bill is a complete and utter moron. Whoever thinks he's good for a general sports program like that should be shot. He was guffawing the other day at Liu Xiang and his withdrawal from the 110m hurdles. Was totally incapable of even feigning some empathy with the guy. I was completely disgusted. George Hamilton likewise. Both should stick to soccer where they can chortle away at his own jokes with their various sidekicks and I won't have to look at or listen to them.

Also, their athletics pundits leave a lot to be desired, Jerry Kiernan is one of the worst I've ever encountered, yet they trot him out for every major athletics meet, the man is a distance runner, yet they treat what he says about sprinters like it's gospel. That's almost akin to getting a rugby winger to talk about what goes on in the front row, with some kind of expertise. He's so incredibly pessimistic and I really cannot stand the way he goes on.

Sonia, while yes she was a great athlete and I'm a huge admirer of her athletics achievements, is as dull as dishwater and it's almost impossible to get any way enthused about what she's saying.

At least the guy that does the basketball seems to know what he's talking about and seems to be a basketball aficionado.

I'm watching the Beeb for the most part their coverage is fantastic, sans ads and such a great variety of events.

Seifer

elurhs wrote:

I think RTE were having a laugh with the Marty goes to the beach volleyball bit.

Yeah they were and it was so unfunny it physically hurt.

elurhs wrote:

They weren't taking it seriously, which is no harm.

Except to the sport of women's beach volleyball of course...

Amz wrote:

He was guffawing the other day at Liu Xiang and his withdrawal from the 110m hurdles. Was totally incapable of even feigning some empathy with the guy.

I was with him on that. The guy had to pull out because of injury. So what? Loads of athletes do. And Liu had known he was injured for months. Big deal over something that had no relevance to anyone outside China.

Amz

It was of interest to anyone who enjoys athletics. He was the Olympic champion his progress was naturally of interest to many people outside of China. It was blatantly obvious that the guy was there because he felt a huge amount of pressure from Chinese authorities and the Chinese people. The fact that he lined up at all while clearly in immense pain and was still prepared to at least try and run was terrible to watch, it was hard not to feel sympathy for the guy. The fact that you can't see that and see why some people wouldn't find that particularly amusing is beyond me.

This is the same Bill who was nearly in tears when Sonia had "The Big D" back in Atlanta and pulled out of her race.

Toto Wolfcastle

That hockey guy was hilarious I have to say.

I don't understand why people give out about Sonia and Katie's lack of enthusiasm. Yeah they keep the same voice for most of it but I really enjoy listening to them. Possibly just me!

Seifer

Amz wrote:

see why some people wouldn't find that particularly amusing is beyond me.

Who said it was amusing? No one was laughing. All he said was that it was a big soap opera over nothing.

Amz wrote:

This is the same Bill who was nearly in tears when Sonia had "The Big D" back in Atlanta and pulled out of her race.

Sonia is Irish. He probably met / interviewed her. Liu to him is the same as any other foreign olympian. You can't feel empathy for the whole world or you'd be a pretty depressed individual.

Amz

Seifer wrote: »

Who said it was amusing? No one was laughing. All he said that it was a big soap opera over nothing.

That was trivialising it completely, it was also said while he laughed and smirked about the whole thing and proceeded to make a joke with whatever dolt they had in the studio to keep him company.

Sonia is Irish. He probably met / interviewed her. Liu to him is the same as any other foreign olympian. You can't feel empathy for the whole world or you'd be a pretty depressed individual.

Bit of perspective here then, she's Irish yes, but she clearly went out to run a race with a stomach upset. By your logic she should have stayed in her hotel and not bothered showing up. So why feel more sympathy for her public misfortunes than Xhiang? She wasn't running at a games down in Cobh, she could easily have kept the head down and avoided the media glare had she chosen not to compete and I'm sure many people would have been happier to see her not put herself through the mental anguish. Xhiang on the other hand almost had the hopes of 1 billion+ people resting on his shoulders, home Olympics, defending his Olympic title.

I can see though that you're not really interested and I've just wasted my time.

Seifer

Amz wrote:

I can see though that you're not really interested and I've just wasted my time.

Interested in agreeing with your view point? No, I've got my own opinion on the matter thanks.

Amz wrote:

By your logic she should have stayed in her hotel and not bothered showing up.

If you could make up a quote to support your made up conclusion that'd be great.

All I said was that I agreed with Bill that too much was made of an athlete withdrawing from a race. There are probably lots of other athletes out there withdrawing we haven't even heard of.

Amz wrote:

So why feel more sympathy for her public misfortunes than Xhiang?

A lot of people would find it bemusing that you can't see the difference between having stronger support for an athlete from your own country as opposed to some randomer.

ccyy123

Watched that part of the programme the other night. I thought Bill was kind of insensitive calling it a “soap opera” and having a laugh at it, then Eamon Coughlan dismissing it all as Chinese propaganda. Fair enough, I mean the coach bawling his eyes out was a bit much, Jesus, he was injured what could he have done and really shouldn't made such a big deal out of it. Just thought it was in bad taste that they were laughing at this (they were actually laughing). If that was the case, stop talking about it and stop showing the clips(Liu kicking the wall repeatedly, him on the track grimacing etc.). Could have just inform the viewers regarding this news and get on with it. I mean that's all I need to know.
I mean you probably wouldn't want anyone laughing at Sonia, no? Just some middle ground...

Speer

Bill O'Herlihy has played a blinder during these olympics.He's superb.Best sports anchorman by a mile.

KJ_2008

Amz wrote: »

Bill is a complete and utter moron....George Hamilton likewise.....their athletics pundits leave a lot to be desired, Jerry Kiernan is one of the worst I've ever encountered...Sonia is as dull as dishwater

Is there anyone on this earth you who can tolerate Amz, or do you just enjoy being miserable? :rolleyes:

Amz wrote: »

The fact that he lined up at all while clearly in immense pain and was still prepared to at least try and run was terrible to watch, it was hard not to feel sympathy for the guy. The fact that you can't see that and see why some people wouldn't find that particularly amusing is beyond me.

Your naivety is comical. And your lack of knowledge about Liu Xiang's recent 'track' record pitiful. Why do you think he's hardly raced at all in the last year or so? Two words: Dayron Robles. Think about it Amz, think about it. Maybe only then should you post

gordon_gekko

Speer wrote: »

Bill O'Herlihy has played a blinder during these olympics.He's superb.Best sports anchorman by a mile.

bill o herrlihy,s style is that of aimiable gob****e which is a charechter that people in this country like

hes a smart man bill , so clever that he appears stupid

Speer

gordon_gekko wrote: »

bill o herrlihy,s style is that of aimiable gob****e which is a charechter that people in this country like

hes a smart man bill , so clever that he appears stupid

You name a better sports anchorman then him.I don't think you can because he's a class act.