Who will RTE replace Jimmy Mcgee with ?

lucozader

one of the all time great boxing commentators

truely world class

doesn't look like rte will be able to fill his shoes when he gets past it in 10 or 20 years

Vintagekits

lucozader wrote: »

one of the all time great boxing commentators

truely world class

doesn't look like rte will be able to fill his shoes when he gets past it in 10 or 20 years

my grandmother who is dead 15 years could do a better job then that fruitcake!

Kristopherus

Should this topic not be in After Hours. Judging by the tone so far, I'm sure some mod would find a corner for it there:D:D:D

x PyRo

Hopefully someone who can commentate properly and isn't retarded.

He's the worst "commentator" ever. I'd do a better job and come out with less bullsh*t quotes than him. Can't wait until they replace him. It'll be one of the happiest days of my life.

KeithM89_old

^ Cud do a better job

eagle eye

lucozader wrote: »

one of the all time great boxing commentators

truely world class

doesn't look like rte will be able to fill his shoes when he gets past it in 10 or 20 years

Learn how to spell

Vintagekits wrote: »

my grandmother who is dead 15 years could do a better job then that fruitcake!

You too!

x PyRo wrote: »

Hopefully someone who can commentate properly and isn't retarded.

He's the worst "commentator" ever. I'd do a better job and come out with less bullsh*t quotes than him. Can't wait until they replace him. It'll be one of the happiest days of my life.

I pity you so much if a new boxing commentator on RTE would make that day one of the happiest of your life.

Jimmy Magee is a legend and a lover of the sweet science for probably more years than all of you combined have been on the planet.

x PyRo

eagle eye wrote: »

I pity you so much if a new boxing commentator on RTE would make that day one of the happiest of your life.

Jimmy Magee is a legend and a lover of the sweet science for probably more years than all of you combined have been on the planet.

I'd like to be able to watch a fight on RTE with the sound on for once. Despite his love for the sport etc etc he's a terrible commentator. In my opinion of course.

Vintagekits

eagle eye wrote: »

Learn how to spell

You too!


I pity you so much if a new boxing commentator on RTE would make that day one of the happiest of your life.

Jimmy Magee is a legend and a lover of the sweet science for probably more years than all of you combined have been on the planet.

I'll tell ya wot! As soon as ould James can provide me with any intelligent coherent informative commentary that doesn't include lists out the full squad for the "Great Kerry team of '71" - THEN I will learn ta spell correctly.

He is an embarrassing joke which wore out 10 years ago. The only thing I could think of that would be worse is if they wheeled in some D4 rugby knobhead like Ryle Nugent to replace him.

Boxing fans are provided with the least intelligent most patronising analysis of any sport that I know. It is always aimed at the housewife with zero knowledge of boxing - always. I am sure that Rock and Dowling are told "keep it simple lads, they don't know what you are talking about". No other sport would put up with it - you wouldn't get Jonny Giles explaining the off side rule every week!

nice1franko

He was getting slated here about year or so ago and then his son came on posted up a shame-inducing reply about the personal abuse he was getting. Fair point it was, too. Criticism is fair enough but cut out the personal attacks.

I do think he's a shocking bad boxing commentator but I blame RTE for not moving the role to someone else.

Anyway, Dowling would be the natural successor I would think.

consultech

I laughed at "one of the all time great boxing commentators".

Just checking; Is this the same Jimmy McGee who - just as Bernard Dunne's career was finished with a left hook he didn't see - was rattling on about a postman or something?

ROCKMAN

eagle eye wrote: »

Learn how to spell

You too!


I pity you so much if a new boxing commentator on RTE would make that day one of the happiest of your life.

Jimmy Magee is a legend and a lover of the sweet science for probably more years than all of you combined have been on the planet.

This may be true but it still doesn't or didn't make him any good as a commentator , I have listen to him for more years that I care to remember and he was always shocking, especially at Boxing ,to easy distracted from the action , Rabbiting on for half the round about the boxers family,club,trainer, county even dog .Now I know it was probably a lovely dog but did we have to heard about it as there was the sweet science of attack ,defence and counter-attack taking place.

Powerplate

consultech wrote: »

Is this the same Jimmy McGee who - just as Bernard Dunne's career was finished with a left hook he didn't see - was rattling on about a postman or something?

If I remember correctly, he was recalling the great team of Kerry postmans of 1971.....

Sid_Justice

Jimmy Magee criticisms comes up after every fight what do you people think of Larry Merchant as a commentator/analyst and interviewer?

cowzerp

nice1franko wrote: »

He was getting slated here about year or so ago and then his son came on posted up a shame-inducing reply about the personal abuse he was getting. Fair point it was, too. Criticism is fair enough but cut out the personal attacks.

It was nice to hear the son come on and stick up for his father but been a big fan is not enough of a criteria to be allowed commentate on a sport, otherwise i'd commentate on all of liverpool games for sky sports, Jimmy is not and never was a good boxing commentator-he is simply a recognizable face that mammys etc watch and would believe that Jimmy is the authority on boxing knowledge!

nice1franko wrote: »

Anyway, Dowling would be the natural successor I would think.

Dowling? please no! he talks down anyone else on the panel and he is outdated in my opinion, send him on his way with Jimmy.

Bernard Dunne would be the natural successor in my opinion, talks well and always has educated boxing knowledge and charisma plus the mammy that RTE aim at would even be happy!! if not i think Michael Carruth could do a good job too.

ROCKMAN

cowzerp wrote: »

It was nice to hear the son come on and stick up for his father but been a big fan is not enough of a criteria to be allowed commentate on a sport, otherwise i'd commentate on all of liverpool games for sky sports, Jimmy is not and never was a good boxing commentator-he is simply a recognizable face that mammys etc watch and would believe that Jimmy is the authority on boxing knowledge!

OMG how could I have been so wrong, I always thought you where a nice guy how could I BE SO WRONG.................:D:D:D

cowzerp

ROCKMAN wrote: »

OMG how could I have been so wrong, I always thought you where a nice guy how could I BE SO WRONG.................:D:D:D

I am a nice guy, i even supported you's to come in 2nd place!!
now that's a genuine football fan!

ROCKMAN

cowzerp wrote: »

I am a nice guy, i even supported you's to come in 2nd place!!
now that's a genuine football fan!

Just like my boxing record always coming 2nd

Big Ears

cowzerp wrote: »

Dowling? please no! he talks down anyone else on the panel and he is outdated in my opinion, send him on his way with Jimmy.

Bernard Dunne would be the natural successor in my opinion, talks well and always has educated boxing knowledge and charisma plus the mammy that RTE aim at would even be happy!! if not i think Michael Carruth could do a good job too.

I'd agree with you on Dowling, and lets not forget the man has no experience as a pro fighter(despite being a very good amateur). However the non boxing foke of Ireland and casual fans seem to like him a lot, and he does present a nice friendly articulate image which is good for the sport in the country. For those reasons I would keep him, but he wouldn't be my own personal choice of pundit.

Dunne has been very good in the work he's done with RTÉ so far for both the pros and the amateurs and he would make a great addition to Pro Box live full-time. However I'm not sure he could take Jimmy Magee's role. If you look at the play by play commentator on almost all channels that show boxing, the lead commentator(Jimmy Magee, Ian Darke, Adam Smith, John Rawling, Jim Lampley, Joe Tessitore etc) is never a former boxer(at least not of any renown).

Now if Bernard was to replace Dave 'Boy' McAuley I think he'd do a great job in doing so, but I'm not sure he'd be able to transition to the role of lead commentator that easily. He'd also be wasted some what as the lead commentator usually has the leave the in depth technical analysis to the colour commentator, which would leave Dunne either having to play stupid all the time and pretend he doesn't know why things are happening or what a boxer should be doing, or else he wouldn't be given the colour commentator the chance to get across their views.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt giving him a go at it, but I wouldn't see it as being very successful and there isn't a natural successor to Jimmy Magee within RTÉ(which is probably why Jimmy stills does it). The only thing they could try would be moving Darragh Maloney to the commentators chair, and have Con Murphy take over in the studio. I wouldn't have much hope for that either.

They could also bring someone in from outside RTÉ but that wouldn't be their style really and would make too much sense.


Edit: oh and OP don't be flame-baiting on this forum, you've had an unusual number of threads closed on other forums and it's not without reason so when you make a thread(and there's nothing wrong with the title or general topic) please don't try and direct it in a way which will lead to abuse among posters and towards the person being discussed.

walshb

I have nothing but respect for Jimmy, his passion, enthusiasm, knowledge and insight, but as far as commentating on boxing, no, he is not my cup of tea.

Dave Boy is very irritating and really over hypes almost anything.

Dowling is so polished and articulate, but as Paul noted, a wee bit patronising
and smug. Andy Lee ain't Dowling's biggest fan either. I read that Lee wasn't
too happy with Dowling remarking on Lee's stamina, or lack thereof.

Lee responded to Mick's criticism by saying that it was funny because Dowling
never boxed more than 3 rds in his life. True, but it doesn't change the fact
that Dowling was spot on about Andy's stamina problems.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Benny Lava

We interviewed Jimmy last Wednesday on our sports show, and I can honestly say he was the nicest man we have dealt with. He had a great enthusiasm about him and it would be wrong of me to launch a personal attack on him after he gave up his time to talk to people he didn't know.

That said I am a huge boxing fan and I know how bad his commentary is. I do not condone calling him "senile" or anything like that but I do feel they should get someone else to do the commentary. He has a great career but it's time for him to pass on the torch (some might argue this time passed quite a while ago).

unknown13

Jimmy Magee is bad but Jim Watt is worse. Bernard Dunne should be the replacement but I also wouldn't mind seeing Dunne and Jim Rock doing the ringside commentary for one show to see if that works.

T-K-O

Go easy there fellas, sure Jimmy may have continued to commentate long after his prime but the guy is a legend and doesn't deserve that kind of criticism.

Davy boy is in his 'prime' and still brutal, Dowling is way to patronising to take over.

Carruth and Dunne is a nice mix

Kieran81

what about the two lads who called the bernard dunne/cordoba fight on the radio ...the guys steve bunce kept showing... that was quality commentating , but then the radio commentry is a different animal i suppose

T-K-O

Kieran81 wrote: »

what about the two lads who called the bernard dunne/cordoba fight on the radio ...the guys steve bunce kept showing... that was quality commentating , but then the radio commentry is a different animal i suppose

Was it the guys from off the ball ?

Benny Lava

T-K-O wrote: »

Was it the guys from off the ball ?

No. I'm not sure who it was but it definitely wasn't them.

They were people from RTE Radio.

Vintagekits

Dowling doesnt have the colour to fit the bill.

Big Jim Rock provides the incite into the pro game - he does have the fluidity to describe a fight for an hour - he picks out points that the average viewer might miss.

Dunne or Carruth would sit in instead of McAuley.

Bunce is too much for the conservative Irish public.

There is one man that would be ideal - he has experience in the industry, knowledgable but can still play to role of the fall guy for the simple questions - Paul Dempsey

Big Ears

Benny Lava wrote: »

No. I'm not sure who it was but it definitely wasn't them.

They were people from RTE Radio.

Hmm I don't listen to Newstalk much(even less now that I live abroad), but I thought the commentary Bunce showed on his show was indeed from Off the Ball. Bunce did attribute it to RTÉ Radio(incorrectly) but I think he may have correct himself.

Anyway that episode of the Bunce Hour was available on Youtube if anyone feels like searching for it, no guarantee it's still there now but I don't think Setanta would have pulled it anytime recently...........

Those commentators were some of who I was referring to when I mentioned commentators outside of RTÉ who wouldn't be given the chance even though they probably deserve it.

makl

Vintagekits wrote: »

He is an embarrassing joke which wore out 10 years ago. The only thing I could think of that would be worse is if they wheeled in some D4 rugby knobhead like Ryle Nugent to replace him.

i shuddered when i read this, you will give everyone on this forum even boards.ie itself nightmares by even suggesting this ... some rte nut could well read it and think it's a good idea....just imagine the lines...

eagle eye

ROCKMAN wrote: »

This may be true but it still doesn't or didn't make him any good as a commentator , I have listen to him for more years that I care to remember and he was always shocking, especially at Boxing ,to easy distracted from the action , Rabbiting on for half the round about the boxers family,club,trainer, county even dog .Now I know it was probably a lovely dog but did we have to heard about it as there was the sweet science of attack ,defence and counter-attack taking place.

Well I listened to him many, many times on the radio from the stadium. He was brilliant back in the day.

He took over from Noel Andrews who was a magnificent commentator.

The thing is he is doing commentary the way he is asked to do it imo. RTE want lots of viewers tuning in not just regular fight fans. They want information about their heroes like Bernard Dunne, something they can talk about with their friends afterwards not every punch that is thrown.

eagle eye

Sid_Justice wrote: »

Jimmy Magee criticisms comes up after every fight what do you people think of Larry Merchant as a commentator/analyst and interviewer?

Love Larry Merchant but he is getting on, absolutely loathe Max Kellerman.

eagle eye

Vintagekits wrote: »

I'll tell ya wot! As soon as ould James can provide me with any intelligent coherent informative commentary that doesn't include lists out the full squad for the "Great Kerry team of '71" - THEN I will learn ta spell correctly.

He is an embarrassing joke which wore out 10 years ago. The only thing I could think of that would be worse is if they wheeled in some D4 rugby knobhead like Ryle Nugent to replace him.

Boxing fans are provided with the least intelligent most patronising analysis of any sport that I know. It is always aimed at the housewife with zero knowledge of boxing - always. I am sure that Rock and Dowling are told "keep it simple lads, they don't know what you are talking about". No other sport would put up with it - you wouldn't get Jonny Giles explaining the off side rule every week!

What would you know about intelligence, you can't even spell ffs!:pac:

Boxing doesn't have anything even remotely close to the amount of people that participate in soccer. I'd guess that 80% of the Irish male population have played soccer at one stage or another and have a general idea of the rules of the game.

What percentage of Irish males ever even train at boxing never mind have any idea of the rules? I'd say you are talking about 5% and it could be a lot lower. So when there are 100,000 viewers tuned in to watch a fight on RTE you can be guaranteed that about 10,000 max know the rules. RTE would rather cater for the other 90,000 and get them back again for more fights.

magma69

I have a soft spot for ol Jimmy. He comes out with some gold one liners. I will admit though, he is, technically, a very poor boxing commentator. Many of the Irish seem to understand what he is about and like his way but for an outsider looking in at RTE's boxing commentary, I could understand how they would perceive it as a bit pathetic.

On Larry Merchant, there is just something not quite right about him. I remember he interviewed some Hatton fans at the Pac fight and asked them "so tell me, is there really only one Ricky Hatton?". So cringe worthy.

Benny Lava

"The colour orange seems to travel across grass faster than any other colour".

A quote from our interview with Jimmy Magee.

Just thought I'd throw it out there.

Vintagekits

Benny Lava wrote: »

"The colour orange seems to travel across grass faster than any other colour".

A quote from our interview with Jimmy Magee.

Just thought I'd throw it out there.

"Here comes Andy Lee, mean with or without the beard"

"As Jim Rock, the Blue Panther, makes his way to the ring."

Big Ears

Andy Lee vs Willie Gibbs:
'There's no point putting your money in the bank now Willie, you might aswell take it out and spend it. Spend it on a cruise, a cruise around Andy lee !'

I'm less annoyed by Magee and McAuley than most. I've just given up on them as boxing commentators from a technical point of view and now think of it more as comedy commentary to go with the excitement in the ring. Some of the stuff Jimmy comes out with is hilarious and if you don't take it too seriously it's alright.

Benny Lava

Big Ears wrote: »

Andy Lee vs Willie Gibbs:
'There's no point putting your money in the bank now Willie, you might aswell take it out and spend it. Spend it on a cruise, a cruise around Andy lee !'

Possibly the worst bit of commentary I've ever heard. So cringeworthy!

Tony Angelino

Nobody has mentioned Marty Morrissey yet. I've heard him on the radio a few times and he knows absolutely nothing about boxing. At least Jimmy can waffle on about something, Marty can't even waffle. The way they do things on RTE I wouldn't be surprised if he got the gig.

Benny Lava

Tony Angelino wrote: »

Nobody has mentioned Marty Morrissey yet. I've heard him on the radio a few times and he knows absolutely nothing about boxing. At least Jimmy can waffle on about something, Marty can't even waffle. The way they do things on RTE I wouldn't be surprised if he got the gig.

I remember Marty was commentating on an international amateur competition before (quite possibly the one where Paddy Barnes had a hissyfit) and he was atrocious!!!

"A left...punch....followed by a right...punch...another left...he has a very good left punch on him".

James Ford

Jimmy tries but his knowledge of boxing seems fairly limited. Don't like McAuley, and someone else mentioned Jim Watt who I cannot stand. Ian Darke on Sky Sports is quite good, but his sidekick Watt turns me off.

The best commentary is on HBO, I always get the live streams of any fight I watch, Larry Merchant is a great analyst, even though it takes him about twenty minutes to finish a sentence, as is Emanuel Steward, and Jim Lampley is the best commentator around.

megadodge

Tony Angelino wrote: »

Nobody has mentioned Marty Morrissey yet. I've heard him on the radio a few times and he knows absolutely nothing about boxing. At least Jimmy can waffle on about something, Marty can't even waffle. The way they do things on RTE I wouldn't be surprised if he got the gig.

RTE have a history in this regard.

After the wonderful Micheal O Hehir had a stroke and couldn't continue, they stuck in the utterly clueless Ger Canning, a man who 20 years later still doesn't know the basic rules hurling or football. Plus he sounds as if being at a match is a chore.

RTE seem to think that once a person has a TV background they can commentate on any sport. It's the equivalent of putting a sports fanatic in Vincent Browne's place on a political programme and hoping to get away with it! Pointless.

ColdCoalFire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8RzDy11cZU

And he's up for a laugh !

Big Ears

James Ford wrote: »

Jimmy tries but his knowledge of boxing seems fairly limited. Don't like McAuley, and someone else mentioned Jim Watt who I cannot stand. Ian Darke on Sky Sports is quite good, but his sidekick Watt turns me off.

The best commentary is on HBO, I always get the live streams of any fight I watch, Larry Merchant is a great analyst, even though it takes him about twenty minutes to finish a sentence, as is Emanuel Steward, and Jim Lampley is the best commentator around.

HBO are good but I find Max Kellerman to be downright awful and extremely annoying. Showtime are my favourite, Al Bernstein is the best colour commentator around for me. Unusual in that he's not a former boxer(professional anyway), but his knowledge are incite are always interesting to hear during a fight and the way he goes about making his points seem to add to the excitement.

Steve Albert(Showtime's lead commentator till start of 2009) was very good aswell, a great example of this is his calling of the Diego Corrales vs Jose Luis Castillo(I) fight. They then replaced him with a good commentator in Gus Johnson, who did a fine job commentating Froch vs Taylor and has been Showtime's blow by blow commetator since.

I really dislike Teddy Atlas, he constantly repeats points(fight tall, fight small etc) more than any other commentator and uses ridiculous annoying analogies comparably to the stuff Magee does(anyone who has Fight Night Round 4 will know what I mean), Joe Tessitore isn't bad though and verall ESPN are okay.

Versus are pretty poor, as are the international feed commonly used for Top Rank fights and the Colnel Bob Sheridan is downright awful.

ITV is a mixed bag. John Rawling has a good voice for calling fights and can help make things interesting, but he makes mistakes too frequently(calling knockdowns, knockouts or other misinformation) and Duke 'His legs have gone John' McKenzie is pretty poor. He seems like a lovely guy, but unfortunately he's far worse than Watt in almost every area.

Watt's hit and miss for me, sometime's he's good and other times he's not.
He can tend to support or go against certain fighters aswell, such as how he'll always favour John McDermott in fights due to his ineffectual jab or how he(used to) constantly criticise Carl Froch for his low hands every fight. It wasn't like Froch was going to change his ways once he moved into European and World level.

consultech

lol - Good ol' Jim...

Tonight, just as he's comparing Thiam to Muhammad Ali (momentarily ater he retires on his stool after 2 rounds!!!) he get's clarification from his co-commentator that it was actually due to a back injury.

sonic.trip

the day he gets the boot will be he day Irish people can watch boxing again. By far the worst commentator to ever walk the earth. how he got the job in the first place is beyond me.

Jimmy McGee commentating on football, now theres something worse than him commentating on boxing. . .

appauling

digme

ColdCoalFire wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8RzDy11cZU

And he's up for a laugh !

what thee fck did i just watch lol?

ROCKMAN

The wife[not a fight fan] last night listening to Jimmy's efforts from Limerick

Is he not long over due to be dead

Harsh but funny

Vintagekits

last night confirmed to me that Dunne needs to be a permanent fixture on the panel.

marbless

I think the RTE person with the best knowledge of boxing is the woman on the radio named Siobhán Madigan. Her post-fight interviews are always spot-on and very well informed.

There's a big problem trying to convert a former boxer into a lead commentator. Broadcasting needs particular skills of presentation, description and analysis. A training in journalism is called for. Harry Carpenter, whose love of boxing combined with his broadcasting abilities, was ideal.

I notice that many TV commentators (all sports) tend to give a radio commentary. It's annoying to hear descriptions of what you can see for yourself.

Of the likely lads in RTE, I'd keep an eye on Darragh Moloney.

terrymccarthy05

cowzerp wrote: »

It was nice to hear the son come on and stick up for his father but been a big fan is not enough of a criteria to be allowed commentate on a sport, otherwise i'd commentate on all of liverpool games for sky sports, Jimmy is not and never was a good boxing commentator-he is simply a recognizable face that mammys etc watch and would believe that Jimmy is the authority on boxing knowledge!




Dowling? please no! he talks down anyone else on the panel and he is outdated in my opinion, send him on his way with Jimmy.

Bernard Dunne would be the natural successor in my opinion, talks well and always has educated boxing knowledge and charisma plus the mammy that RTE aim at would even be happy!! if not i think Michael Carruth could do a good job too.

dowling is sh't

spongeman

They could replace him with somebody decent perhaps ?

John Rawling for example.