Ch 7 Commentary - is it intervention time?

[Mr X]

They honestly need to offer an option of just crowd noise or 'the sound of the game.'

I wonder what the % of would be of people who prefer to listen to that than the actual commentary.

I was actually thinking the same thing after posting. Surely the sound of the crowd, umpires etc without the commentary has to be/should be an option

 

[Spearman]

I watch games on internet streams, and sometimes there is no English. So I watch one in Russian from a gambling site. (I use good prophylactics ) Anyway, they are much less verbal, more like Euro soccer calls. They also mix crowd noise up so can hear the swell as the kick is made and the fans can tell its going to a good spot. Even better, for some unknown reason, they often don't have any commentary at all for the first 5 minutes or so of each quarter. Just such a breath of fresh air. You can hear the thump of the ball and the crowd reactions.
The media companies will never experiment with crowd noise only channels again. They know what will happen and their little boys club will become redundant.

 

[Elite Master]

I watch games on internet streams, and sometimes there is no English. So I watch one in Russian from a gambling site. (I use good prophylactics ) Anyway, they are much less verbal, more like Euro soccer calls. They also mix crowd noise up so can hear the swell as the kick is made and the fans can tell its going to a good spot. Even better, for some unknown reason, they often don't have any commentary at all for the first 5 minutes or so of each quarter. Just such a breath of fresh air. You can hear the thump of the ball and the crowd reactions.
The media companies will never experiment with crowd noise only channels again. They know what will happen and their little boys club will become redundant.

With the crowd noise being notched up do you pick up swear words from people in the stands? I'm thinking that's one of the reasons 7 and Fox mix the audio of the broadcasts the way they do.

 

[Spearman]

With the crowd noise being notched up do you pick up swear words from people in the stands? I'm thinking that's one of the reasons 7 and Fox mix the audio of the broadcasts the way they do.

There is the occasional 'colorful' language but I would bet its on-field, picked up by ump's mike. They are probably using directional mikes pointed towards field and away from crowd, or too far for distinct voices and just turn up volume.
Actually I can't ever recall hearing anything that sounded like a supporter shouting something. Really its just same broadcast but with general crowd much louder so you attention gets pricked when they see something. Commentary fades because its not so loud nor strident and you can't understand the language.
Also fun is to watch the network feed during quarter changes because they don't cut to commercials. Watching them get preened and interact a bit before the red light goes on can be entertaining. Unfortunately no sound, so no hot mike oops. lol

 

[branedotorg]

Based on the cricket ad, with border trying to stack cricket balls, the 'fun' is set to continue all summer.

Can't wait for basil to call the cricket

 

[Cuzz09]

Mute button is the best thing when forced to watch ch7

Happy to make my own opinions on the play.

F*** those clowns

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[branedotorg]

Based on the cricket ad, with border trying to stack cricket balls, the 'fun' is set to continue all summer.

Can't wait for basil to call the cricket

Ignore me, that was on the foxtel

 

[WillieNillie]

Tonight has been all time worst performance. Enough is enough. We need to get one of those petitions going and get a million signatures to get these tosses off the air

 

[MortlockWatcher]

Fox should be able to allow you to press red to get a Fox call of any 7 game.
There's nobody on 7 that I want to hear.

 

[Elite Master]

The biased commentary for Collingwood was apprant all game, especially when they were mounting there come back in the last quarter.

 

[Count Zero]

When you hear a commentator start a sentence with the words "That's right Lingy.....", the you know they are beyond redemption.

 

[reubski23]

Honestly JB is a great caller. Just calls the game well - is an authentic commentator calls with excitement. I loved it today as a neutral fan.

People complaining about the commentating hard for Pies at the end- they were 30 points down and came back who wasn’t getting excited?

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

They honestly need to offer an option of just crowd noise or 'the sound of the game.'

I wonder what the % of would be of people who prefer to listen to that than the actual commentary.

The ABC commentators on The Winners used to be trained to say less. For TV you don’t need to say “he picks up the ball”, when viewers can clearly see it. Just concentrate on calling player name. The tone of just calling the name can convey excitement as well.

 

[windyhill]

Honestly JB is a great caller. Just calls the game well - is an authentic commentator calls with excitement. I loved it today as a neutral fan.

People complaining about the commentating hard for Pies at the end- they were 30 points down and came back who wasn’t getting excited?

Unprofessional. Umpires get caught up in a team on a roll as well.

 

[Lazix]

ball bounces....

"Chaos ball"

 

[Roobs321]

The call of the game itself was fine (as per usual with JB), it was the complete lack of victors buzz after the siren that left a bad taste. JB had barely anything to say about it, regarding the losers as the bigger story. If you can't get excited for a team winning a prelim, then it taints the rest of the call.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Darcy, Richo and Ling. The trifecta of stupid. They made Brayshaw look like a Rhodes Scholar

 

[BlueandGoldforever]

Honestly JB is a great caller. Just calls the game well - is an authentic commentator calls with excitement. I loved it today as a neutral fan.

People complaining about the commentating hard for Pies at the end- they were 30 points down and came back who wasn’t getting excited?

I wasn't. I want a neutral commentator who is excited for both teams. Not one or two morons who keep saying, 'Collingwood are so brave' or words to that effect. I can't bear AFL commentary because it is so unprofessional. They blatantly barrack for the Victorian sides over the non-Victorian sides.

I am losing interest in the sport by the second.

 

[BlueandGoldforever]

Seriously, the state of calling of AFL is probably the worst in any professional sport in the world.

They constantly take sides; highlight any questionable decisions on the non-Victorian team replaying them ad nauseam, constantly get players names wrong, don't check their facts, go on about one insignificant incident that has no bearing on the match, and have the collective IQ of a *ed blind person in a coma.

 

[Billy ray]

Its not just the commentary. Its the directors and producers behind the scenes. There were multiple off the ball free kicks in first half and they never show any replays of them. They have the footage. Just dont show them

 

[WillieNillie]

Richo greatly pisses me off. He provides random comments with zero context

"Phil Davis is coming off, he looks hurt"

WTF is that even supposed to mean? What is hurt, is it his leg, his calf, his head, his ankle? Give me ******* something. We get to 30 minutes later and eventually they say "Oh its a knee".

If you dont know its a knock to the knee Richo, then * off. You are underqualified mate. Get Doctor Larkins or someone with a quarter of a brain out there to provide some actual ******* news next time

 

[1989]

What highlights how terrible the Seven coverage is, is when you're watching on Fox Footy and obviously the coverage is switching between Fox in between quarters and Seven for the play. When the coverage crosses back to Seven (e.g. opening bounce) is just sucks the life out of everything.

 

[Cuzz09]

I watched the post game on FOX for the first time in ages yesterday and it was great. Such a difference. Balanced opinions.

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Leather Poisoning]

They should go whole hog and have two sets of commentators per game and set them to be biased towards one of the teams.

If you've ever listened to K Rock or the South Aus radio stations for a game call you'll know what I mean. It's awful for the opposition but great for the home team.

The problem comes from people expecting the commentary team to be even handed and consistently commentate from both teams perspectives. It's a losing game, because even when they are even they seem biased if your'e invested in one of the sides.

That's a separate issue to commentating skill. Whoever told Bruce he should go the growl more often needs to be sacked. He's rolling it out, awkwardly, far too frequently.
JB is great. More of him.
BT is the one everyone likes to complain about, but he brings an energy to the games that others don't. He says dumb stuff, but he also brings the hype. They can't move him on when he's surrounded by deadweights like Richo, Ling, Carey (omfg how the * is this guy on TV?).

Richo - good bloke, but he's only got 3 calls:
a) Team X needs to take some heat out of the game
b) Contested marks are gold in games like this
c) Player looks hurt, coming off

Carey - not a good bloke, but he's also only got 3 calls:
a) Big guys need to get more involved in the game
b) Steele Sidebottom is a great player
c) That's right BT

One of these guys is involved in every single broadcast, usally as special comments. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but special comments should be special. They should be insightful. These are great players of the game, they should be highlighting things that mere mortals like myself couldn't think of due to not experiencing the game at the highest level.

Compare to Luke Hodge when he's commentating. He makes calls on the play before it happens. e.g. "This team is looking to slow the game down. They've put player X behind the ball and you'll see here, they'll go long when they should be switching to the free player on the other side. It's not the right move because the other side is now setting up and able to use the corridor better" And then it happens exactly as predicted.

 

[1989]

They should go whole hog and have two sets of commentators per game and set them to be biased towards one of the teams.

If you've ever listened to K Rock or the South Aus radio stations for a game call you'll know what I mean. It's awful for the opposition but great for the home team.

The problem comes from people expecting the commentary team to be even handed and consistently commentate from both teams perspectives. It's a losing game, because even when they are even they seem biased if your'e invested in one of the sides.

That's a separate issue to commentating skill. Whoever told Bruce he should go the growl more often needs to be sacked. He's rolling it out, awkwardly, far too frequently.
JB is great. More of him.
BT is the one everyone likes to complain about, but he brings an energy to the games that others don't. He says dumb stuff, but he also brings the hype. They can't move him on when he's surrounded by deadweights like Richo, Ling, Carey (omfg how the fu** is this guy on TV?).

Richo - good bloke, but he's only got 3 calls:
a) Team X needs to take some heat out of the game
b) Contested marks are gold in games like this
c) Player looks hurt, coming off

Carey - not a good bloke, but he's also only got 3 calls:
a) Big guys need to get more involved in the game
b) Steele Sidebottom is a great player
c) That's right BT

One of these guys is involved in every single broadcast, usally as special comments. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but special comments should be special. They should be insightful. These are great players of the game, they should be highlighting things that mere mortals like myself couldn't think of due to not experiencing the game at the highest level.

Compare to Luke Hodge when he's commentating. He makes calls on the play before it happens. e.g. "This team is looking to slow the game down. They've put player X behind the ball and you'll see here, they'll go long when they should be switching to the free player on the other side. It's not the right move because the other side is now setting up and able to use the corridor better" And then it happens exactly as predicted.

Agree with pretty much all of that.

Also, a lot of the 'special comments' guys just trot out what have now become cliches like:
"It might not be your game, but it can be your moment."
"Leigh Matthews believes that you're safe if there are more goals to get than minutes remaining". No sh**.
When a player clearly takes the ball out of play deliberately - "Well disguised". Bullsh** - we could all see what he was trying to do.
When a star player makes a blunder it's always "uncharacteristic". "Dangerfield would kick that 99 times out of 100". No, he actually wouldn't - how about focusing on the fact that it was a horrible set shot.

At a quite exciting time during the last quarter of yesterday's game, with Collingwood surging and the crowd going nuts, Ling chimes in with the incredibly insightful comment: "He just lowered the eyes" ...and that's why they pay you the big bucks Captain Cliche.

Most of them think it's their job to just turn up, go through the motions and not offend anyone - and maybe celebrate a bit with the winning team in a post-match 'interview' if the opportunity arises. Daisy couldn't even be bothered asking Hawkins about the action that ended up getting him suspended from a prelim.