Rant: RTÉ Coverage of the Olympics

floyd333 · 24-08-2008 09:06PM

Ah leave poor Jimmy alone. The mans a legend. Eamonn Coghlan p*ssed me off. He's one arrogant pr*ck. I always get a laugh off Bill, especially when he starts Dunphy off.

irish_bob · 24-08-2008 11:11PM

bill plays the role of inquisitive gob****e

that is a charechter that is popular in this country

neaideabh · 25-08-2008 12:06AM

I'd watch jimmy before Ryall Nugent anyday! How did he become a commentator. He sounds like a 16 year old child trying to hard!

GhostInTheRuins · 25-08-2008 12:07AM

Did anyone listen to the opening ceremony a few weeks back? The scutter that was coming from Jimmy was pure comedy gold.

Fulton Crown · 25-08-2008 03:24PM

Mossy Monk wrote: »

I would much rather listen to commentary that has some personality.

I take your point pal - but as in all other thingsit's the level of balancethat is important.

The job of the commentator is to describe what is happening and to explain any technicalities of which the avg viewer may not be aware.

Magee seems obsessed with showboating all the various statistics he has at his fingertips as well as tediously mentioning family members / pubs / previous medal winners etc - to an excessive degree.

Parochial in the extreme.

Ditto with O'Muircheartaig who throws in obscure place names as well " His Uncle's Grandfather played on the 40 for Lyrecrompane in the 1934 Kerry JUNOR Final against Knockgoshel" or some simliar useless shyte.

The dismal attendances at the recent Croke Park matches show the Dublin public is uninterested in GAA (as opposed to the Dublin team)they may as well throw their marketing budgets in the fire while they have this type of "Backwoodsman" type commentary - wont have a chance against the Premier League wall to wall coverage i all medias.

javaboy · 25-08-2008 03:28PM

Am I the only one who thought Eamonn Coughlan and Jerry Kiernan were not speaking during the coverage?

There seemed to be a frosty atmosphere between them. They seemed to disagree on everything and Eamonn in particular was giving Jerry dagger eyes constantly. Is there some history between them?

kevmy · 25-08-2008 03:48PM

janeybabe wrote: »

Jimmy Magee was commentating on a boxing match the other day and although the USA weren't actually competing he still managed to mention that they were a couple of times.

I wouldn't expect Bill to know a lot about every sport tbh. I find that sometimes he even struggles with the soccer! And anyway, not everyone watching would know about all the sports so it's the duty of the presenter to make sure things are clearly explained. That said I don't really like Bill!

Bill deliberately puts on a face of ignorance especially in regard of soccer. If you watch the soccer you know well he's saying stuff that is stupid or insane or wrong or controversial to get a reaction or a bit of conversation going. Most people don't have great knowledge of all sports and need basic level knowledge to understand it. It's Bill's job to get this info out of the expert beside him. Some of the guys who are experts in Olympic sports only get on the tv every 4 years so Bill has to handle them with kid gloves.
However him and Gary O Toole have a great rapport and Bill knows him from way back and is quite up on his swimming (Bill's daughter was a really good swimmer in her day nearly made it to the Olympics at one stage if I'm not mistaken.)

javaboy wrote: »

Am I the only one who thought Eamonn Coughlan and Jerry Kiernan were not speaking during the coverage?

There seemed to be a frosty atmosphere between them. They seemed to disagree on everything and Eamonn in particular was giving Jerry dagger eyes constantly. Is there some history between them?

Don't know if there is history between them personally but a lot of people don't like them. O'Toole looked like he was going to hit Coughlan the one time they were on together. Kiernan is a little eccentric as well and can rub people up the wrong way.

mental07 · 25-08-2008 03:56PM

Could never stand Eamonn Coughlan tbh! I didn't see any RTE coverage this year (am abroad and there was a complete Olympic black out on website - :mad:) but I imagine he hasn't changed much. Tracy Piggott's good though, I think...and as someone else said, please don't use her nationality as an excuse to bash her :rolleyes:

javaboy · 25-08-2008 03:59PM

kevmy wrote: »

Bill deliberately puts on a face of ignorance especially in regard of soccer. If you watch the soccer you know well he's saying stuff that is stupid or insane or wrong or controversial to get a reaction or a bit of conversation going. Most people don't have great knowledge of all sports and need basic level knowledge to understand it. It's Bill's job to get this info out of the expert beside him.

+1. I think this was even covered in an Aprés Match sketch. Brady was giving out to Bill for pretending to not know what was going on.

Don't know if there is history between them personally but a lot of people don't like them. O'Toole looked like he was going to hit Coughlan the one time they were on together. Kiernan is a little eccentric as well and can rub people up the wrong way.

I thought Coughlan was a lot easier to listen to than Kiernan. Kiernan was so negative about everything. They're both fairly rusty though on account of only being on TV every 4 years. They haven't learned to pull their punches and be diplomatic about things.

O'Toole was the exception though. Very professional and knowledgeable.

mental07 · 25-08-2008 04:03PM

javaboy wrote: »

O'Toole was the exception though. Very professional and knowledgeable.

Everyone's been raving about him! Pity he can't pundit on every sport, then there'd be no need to complain about the coverage

javaboy · 25-08-2008 04:08PM

mental07 wrote: »

Everyone's been raving about him! Pity he can't pundit on every sport, then there'd be no need to complain about the coverage

He can replace Ronnie Whelan or Kenny Cunningham on the soccer coverage. You won't hear me complaining.

Toto Wolfcastle · 25-08-2008 04:16PM

kevmy wrote: »

Most people don't have great knowledge of all sports and need basic level knowledge to understand it. It's Bill's job to get this info out of the expert beside him.

In fairness I did say that, that he's asking questions that will help the public understand better.

Thanks for clearing up the Bill's knowledge of soccer thing. I haven't been a regular viewer of soccer since my early teens so I wouldn't have picked up on it.

ScumLord · 25-08-2008 04:21PM

The only thing rte commentary is good for is arguments. I saw none of them over the Olympics, just people repeating each other over and over and not a shred of badness in anything they say. Very disappointing.

Have to say though the RTE Olympic website was top notch.

Mountjoy Mugger · 25-08-2008 04:52PM

Coughlan - Chairman of the Boards or is it boreds? (sorry, DeV).

thefizz · 25-08-2008 05:12PM

Voltwad wrote: »

1. Jimmy McGee

He WRECKED my head this morning. Ugh

He just seems to think he has to talk over every second, about absolute rubbish.

"He's done RTÉ proud today"

"Two cities beginning with a B, Beijing and Barcelona."

Surely there's someone fresher and more worthy of a dream job for many. Aspiring to be a broadcaster myself he's a right pain whether he's doing The Premiership or The Olympics.

2. Tracy Piggott

What is she even doing on an Irish broadcast? If I wanted to watch English presenters I'd switch to the BBC

3. Bill

Knows nothing about Sailing, Rowing etc.

"Now explain for the viewers at home exactly what that means"

RTÉ Get your act together.

Rant over.

I actually think Tracey Piggot is a good presenter. Don't give a toss where she's from. Not sure how that matters

I agree Bill knows nothing about sailing etc but did he not have the appropriate experts with him for each sport?

KnifeWRENCH · 25-08-2008 05:32PM

Jimmy Magee - Yes he is a bit irritating, but he's an institution. He's very popular and has been there so long. He'll probably be a commentator until he dies.

Tracy Piggott - meh. No particular opinion. She's a fairly good, inoffensive commentator.

Bill O'Herlihy - legend!

Fantastic presenter.

Overall, from what I saw I thought RTE's coverage was pretty good. Gary O'Toole, Bernard Dunne, Michael Carruth and Sonia O'Sullivan all did a very good job in the studio.

shane86 · 25-08-2008 07:20PM

Voltwad wrote: »

1. Jimmy McGee

He WRECKED my head this morning. Ugh

He just seems to think he has to talk over every second, about absolute rubbish.

"He's done RTÉ proud today"

"Two cities beginning with a B, Beijing and Barcelona."

Surely there's someone fresher and more worthy of a dream job for many.

Ah leave off.

spadder wrote: »

Jimmy is a great boxing commentator and a gentleman. I met him in kerry a while back, he had great time for the kids and everyone he met.

Indeed. The bizarre bits of the commentary are part of the package :P He had a horrific Euro 2008 but it was gas

The man is a legend. And aside from the gaffes he seems to genuinely enjoy his boxing and football, leave him be.

Dont know where he got the memory man tag mind he has been off it for years. The oul lad was telling me about a Brazil world cup match in the 80s. They had a player who, when he came on, Jimmy remarked about how much he resembled Sammy Davis Jr.

A few mins in, said player gets the ball, to which Jimmy says "And here`s Sammy Davis Juni....oh, wait!"

bigtime · 25-08-2008 07:26PM

glad to see this tatter has finally ended.

"make them heroes" was the headlind about a load of amateur boxers who get a bronze. Catch yourselves on, what will the wee irish fan not watch.

Soby · 27-08-2008 08:13PM

:cool:

janeybabe wrote: »

Jimmy Magee was commentating on a boxing match the other day and although the USA weren't actually competing he still managed to mention that they were a couple of times.

I wouldn't expect Bill to know a lot about every sport tbh. I find that sometimes he even struggles with the soccer! And anyway, not everyone watching would know about all the sports so it's the duty of the presenter to make sure things are clearly explained. That said I don't really like Bill!

I really enjoyed a lot of RTE's coverage. I loved listening to Sonia, although Jerry whatshisface and Eamonn Coughlan are complete asshats.

I loved Bernard Dunne and Andy Lee on the boxing, and I thought Katie did a good enough job too.

My favourite has to be Gary O' Toole. He really knows his stuff and is a pleasure to listen to.

I've said it elsewhere on boards: George Hamilton annoyed the crap out of me today at the closing ceremony with his lovey-dovey 'flame of joy lingers in their hearts' crap.

Did Bernard Dunne do commentary...didnt know that...did he thank hunky dorys during his time on telle?:p

Toto Wolfcastle · 27-08-2008 08:17PM

Soby wrote: »

:cool:

Did Bernard Dunne do commentary...didnt know that...did he thank hunky dorys during his time on telle?:p

He did analysis. I thought he was great.

Rant: RTÉ Coverage of the Olympics

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