Par
Swing Artist
Registered: Feb 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 407 |
re: quality of TV commentary
A few months ago, there was considerable discussion on this site about the curling commentators who appear on Canadian television, and their respective shortcomings. I was unable to tell you this at the time, but now that there's not much happening, I thought I might write about it, and maybe give you something to think about, or talk about. By all means, speak up if you think I'm wrong.
As you may remember, the World Women's Championship was held in an unfriendly time zone, and I was unable to watch very much of it. But I did catch part of a game between Norway and Japan. It was televised on EuroSport in the middle of the night (EST) and I saw it on the Internet.
When I joined the broadcast, late in the game, Norway had last rock but trailed by two or three points. Japan had the only rock in the rings, biting the top of the four-foot, on the centre line. Norway had a corner guard on each side of the sheet. Both guards were about halfway between the hog line and the top of the rings, and about 2 feet off the centre line.
The Norwegian skip wanted to tap or freeze to the shot rock, but she couldn't figure out how to get there. No matter which turn she played, there was a guard blocking her path. So she called time-out to talk to her coach.
I don't speak Norwegian, but the conversation was clear from the gestures. The skip was saying, "I want to tap or freeze to the shot rock, but I can't get here with draw weight." And the coach was saying, "Then you have to hit it and try to roll behind one of the guards."
It was an ironic demonstration of how the usual rules of thumb don't always apply. We usually say, "Play corner guards on both sides of the sheet if you need to score three." But in this case it would have been much better for Norway if both their guards had been on the same side of the centre line, especially if they were overlapped. Then they would have had a more inviting target to roll behind.
As I was saying, I joined the broadcast late in the game, and I didn't catch the names of the commentators. But all through the time-out, they were saying, "She needs to tap the shot rock, or else freeze to it." And when the hit and roll was played, they were saying, "No, no, that's not the right call. She should have played to tap it back a bit, or even a freeze would have been good."
At no point did anyone say, "Which turn would you throw? What ice would you take?" The fact that these questions were unanswerable would have provided some insight. But that insight was missing.
I have watched a lot of curling broadcasts over the years, mostly on Canadian television, and I have been very critical of certain Canadian commentators. In particular, I was never a big fan of Don "Lemme Tellya" Duguid.
But -- Lemme Tellya -- I have never heard any curling commentary this stupid on Canadian television. Ever.
It it certainly to be hoped that EuroSport can raise the level of its commentary. But that remains to be seen. In the meantime, it seems to me that if anyone has good reason to complain, it's our European friends.
By all means, speak up if you think I'm wrong.
Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged
|