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thank you, universal sports!

I am sooooooo enjoying Universal Sports' tv coverage of the Giro and wanted to give them a little shout out.

Granted, I do miss Paul and Phil but there haven't been a bunch of crazy features and replays of profiles of the same riders over and over again.  (As much as I love to see George racing, I was pretty sure he wasn't winning last year's Tour.  Just sayin'.  And if I'm following along for 3 weeks, I saw the feature on him, and Christian and Dave and all the Garmin guys, and Levi, the first time it was played). 

I recognize tha this may be a function of the fact that U.S. didn't get the rights until the very last minute (and therefore didn't have time to develop all that extra content), but I'm willing to accept that the coverage is what they intended... 

Today's stage was an excellent example -- instead of some wacky blonde doing wacky things in wacky locations (away from the race), we got a phone interview with CVV.  Wow - timely and something I really cared about!  AND the cameras were on the race THE WHOLE TIME.  (Granted, they spent an inordinate amount of time asking him about Lance but that's just going to happen as long as LA's back in the game... I'm a big enough fangirl that it didn't bother me, but I realized watching it that some people might have been throwing things at their tv.)  That said, I come back to my original point - I don't even think we've seen our commentators, have we? 

Vs - take note:  We like to watch the race.   Keep the cameras on the riders.

And thanks again, Universal Sports - I'm with you for as many years as you continue to cover the Giro.  (Hey, you know there's a big race in Spain later in the year, too, right?)

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+ infinity!

Thinking hard - really hard - of something witty to say....

by Cyclingrush on May 13, 2009 6:49 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I assume Universal just gets the picture feed

and cant’ control the the feed, but I’m so happy to have online and daily tv coverage. And the website has a lot of nice extras. I first found Universal Sports when they broadcast figure skating coverage where they did a great job, and I’m pleased to see them have more cycling coverage as well!

by Katiek on May 13, 2009 10:57 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

They are doing a great job

Their ex-pro, “GoGo”, seems to know his stuff. He knows what the riders are thinking, and feeling, he understands tactics and strategy, and he does not say the same tired cliches over and over again like Phil and Paul. The other dude, whose name I refuse to learn yet, is transitioning from being someone I wanted to see hit by a train, to being someone I wished would get the swine flu (with a full recovery), to actually making good points and knowing when to shut the hell up and blending into the background for a second or two. This is excellent progress! All in all, I am a big fan so far.

More Muur...

by Jimbo... on May 13, 2009 2:45 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

is this the TV program you speak of?

Because the online guy is not so great. Acceptable, with a few dorky things said here and there, and he doesn’t seem to know team strategy at all. (He didn’t know that Tyler Farrar was the Garmin sprinter on Tuesday.) But he does it for hours all by himself so I am cutting him some slack.

I think I heard one of the TV guys is Steve Schlanger but I don’t get the Universal Sport TV Channel.

by ZoeRochelle on May 13, 2009 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yep, TV guys

The upside of getting the flu is that I can sit on my couch and watch the Giro at my leisure.

More Muur...

by Jimbo... on May 13, 2009 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

How convenient...

"Never swing a small stick. " Andy Hampsten

by Hons on May 13, 2009 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

cough cough

…yeah, i feel some of that coming on, too!

by cg. on May 13, 2009 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I really like the online guy

and I’ve gone from completely muting the TV, to usually remembering to unmute after commercials. All in all, I’m really happy with Universal. If they stay at it, and continue to improve, this could be the best thing to happen to US cycling coverage in a long time.

"I get paid to hurt other people. How good is that? How good is that?
I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, that's good." Jens!

by jsallee00 on May 14, 2009 12:54 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Schlanger is actually growing on me

he is only saying stupid shit a few timer per stage and actually asks Gulgo some questions now. Plus it’s as live full stage tv coverage of the Giro, I can’t complain!

In Chauncey we trust!

by Phil H. on May 13, 2009 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Am watching now

the evening replay. Very cool! I’ve been having trouble with the stream and really lamenting that they don’t do the broadcast live. Maybe next year.

Abruzziamo!

by Chris... on May 14, 2009 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Probably got the rights too late to be able to set up live tv in time

i think they will probably have it next year, although Pais Vasco wasnt either. Schlanger and gulgo need to get up earlier!

In Chauncey we trust!

by Phil H. on May 14, 2009 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

online guy is just like watching phil

english accent, gets riders names wrong at about the same ratio and calls out attacks when its really a shot from the back of someone getting shelled.

by humbug1 on May 13, 2009 9:00 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

i prefer the online streaming ....

can’t stand the tv channel announcers, which unfortunately is now what is on video-on-demand at universal sports…. it’s edited down to fit into a two hour block, including the black screen during commercial breaks (which can last up to 3 minutes).

stages 1-5 videos-on-demand were the replay on the live streaming….

and, just like aso provides the video feed for the versus coverage of the tdf, the giro feed is provided by rcs…. they choose who to focus the camera on…

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on May 14, 2009 5:22 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

all-in-all, i prefer ctv's coverage any day....

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on May 14, 2009 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Heh.

CTV’s one true friend.

by Sui Juris on May 14, 2009 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

CTV has the rights to Dauphine and Tour de Suisse

according to cyclingfans yesterday, in case you missed it. (Dauphine worldwide except Europe, TdS North America only).

by guidemd on May 14, 2009 7:27 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

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