BD,
Actually, after watching the sport for nearly 40 years and studying the best recommended practice methods for sprint relay exchanges there have been plenty of bad tv announcers and maybe Ato isn't the worst one out there but he's far from great. You could be right though, he may be the best out there in America at this time. Granted, the job has to be pretty challenging,and they are trying to reach out to the non-track audience, I just think the sport deserves better.
In Ato, I just don't hear the biased American passion that really cares if USA wins or loses in the Trinidadian's voice. I can better palate criticism from someone who competed under our flag I guess. Call me patriotic but not a sore loser. I want Red, White and Blue to figure it out and beat the best within the rules because I believe we can do better than drop the baton, run into our teammates, pass out of the zone etc... Bolden had fun kicking a lot of American tail in his days but that doesn't make him a good announcer.
Carol Lewis probably would get the worst track announcer award. Mute was a great option on the remote when she showed up. Dwight Stones is my pick for the most technicaly inclined field announcer but the dumb Larry Rawson analogies trump him in the Joe Sports Viewer category due to trying to increase viewership. Not that Larry didn't have a passion for the sport but the efforts to dumb it down all the time didn't help the sport gain any respect either. Who cares about his who he had dinner with the night before stories while the race is in progress! Or that we should imagine throwing a bag of groceries 70 feet to relate to the shot put? Just call the race and let us get into the event for what it is and not some circus act just passing through town. Stones breaks the field events down and explains corrective actions to increase performance better than anyone. Boring to the casual viewer but still worth the effort of understanding better than trying to imagine how many football fields a guy has to run to equal a mile.
Liquori and Shorter were awesome authorities that understand the distance events and can actually communicate eloquently. The American running boom of the 80's was an important era that promoted more interest by the public in learning more in many ways and through a variety of avenues.
Tony Reavis wasn't bad for ESPN coverage of road races. Lewis Johnson is ok but he gets relegated to trying to interview athletes immediately after they compete rather than analyzing or calling races so he might not realize his potential any time soon as the older/senior commentators hang on forever.
Who could forget OJ Simpson? I'd rather. Al Michaels ABC and Tom Hammond NBC have been pretty good but nobody will ever replace Jim McKay who gets my nostalgic vote. Outside of track, the great Howard Cosell had to have the biggest impact on the sporting world calling the great boxing matches of his time. One of a kind.
But to answer your original question, no that's not the first time I've listened to Ato Bolden's drivel.
As far as the money thing goes, it's results that matter. Joe Viewer won't care any more about track and field if USA doesn't get the stick around and beat the guys in yellow and green. That's what is going to get the athlete more jingle in their pockets and more interest in their trade. Especially for the 2nd tier guys that you mentioned but that group won't ever beat the likes of the Jamaicans even with their best exchanges. Our best must run with perfection to get it done these days.
I know there are more individual events but this thread was about exciting relays. Everybody likes relays and can relate because of participation and team effort. Maybe there should be more in the Olympics. In addition, I refuse to buy a video proclaiming to learn the Jamaican Way. I'd rather spend it on bringing glory back to the sprint relays of America the Beautiful. The world has caught us and passed us in many ways. We have to be resourceful and creative to raise the bar and standard again if it's still important to us.
I watched the world championships on Universal Sports last summer and the British announcers have always had a great mix of technical, humor, spirit, human interest big picture type of relating the events to the public. I'd listen to them over most others any chance I get. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. carries many more world events with better, in-depth coverage and presentation than anything an American broadcast can offer. They have room for it though outside of Hockey and Curling without baseball and basketball.
Dont' forget, The X-Games have become the modern Olympics with American youth.
This post was edited on 5/31 11:37 PM by On Wings of Eagles
This post was edited on 5/31 11:39 PM by On Wings of Eagles
This post was edited on 5/31 11:42 PM by On Wings of Eagles
This post was edited on 6/1 6:45 AM by On Wings of Eagles
This post was edited on 6/1 6:53 AM by On Wings of Eagles
This post was edited on 6/1 6:54 AM by On Wings of Eagles
