Why is Marto employed as a commentator?
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MajorlyRagerly
Trevor Allan (34)
Not sure what the big deal is myself. Kearns has always been a fan commentator, occasionally he likes to get carried away. The only person who should be pissed off with him is Joubert - as he was harshly criticised, with very little to back up the statement.
I thought the balance was fine, with Kafer being the voice of reason.
I thought the balance was fine, with Kafer being the voice of reason.
HighPlainsDrifter
Jimmy Flynn (14)
A commentary team's got to know its limitations .....
Melbourne Terrace
Darby Loudon (17)
You're kidding yourself if you think the Fox Sports commentators are anything other than embarrassing. Easily the worst in the English Speaking Rugby world.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
The only comment with substance I think was his highlighting the Coltman clean out. Met all the criteria for a dangerous, lifting tackle and should have been reviewed and a suitable punishment applied.
MajorlyRagerly
Trevor Allan (34)
Yeah, Kearns seems to have decided to make it a bit personal there. Not sure why he can't just admit he got carried away (as all fans do), and on reflection, it was an unfair comment.
Guess not in his nature to do that though!
Guess not in his nature to do that though!
Strewthcobber
Simon Poidevin (60)
Because now he can drum up a bit of outrage with this clip, get even more clicks on foxsports and justify his salary and position for next contract negotiation.
Westie
Sydney Middleton (9)
Man's a knob, embarrassing.
badabing59
Cyril Towers (30)
Been watching a lot of baseball and hockey up here in Vancouver. The commentators to a tee are professional, knowledgeable, and have pretty good personalities to boot. Each teams local guys though can get a wee bit excited if there team scores, but other than that usually remain pretty objective.
The one thing I have noticed is that no matter how wrong an umpire or refs decision may be, they remain totally professional about it. Yesterday in a Blue Jays Vs Boston baseball game, the ump had an absolute clanger of a call. It went to revision, nothing changed. The commentators and studio people later merely called it interesting and a little perplexing, but that was it. Didn't stop Mrs Bing ranting about it though.
One other quick note, NHL and recently MLB refer all revisions to a central 'TMO' which I think is in New York for both. Entirely fair, no home town TMO to bitch at. In baseball there is an MLB boffin comes out with headsets for two umpires, and they listen to the decision made in New York. It'd never happen in rugby, but pretty good for fans here.
The one thing I have noticed is that no matter how wrong an umpire or refs decision may be, they remain totally professional about it. Yesterday in a Blue Jays Vs Boston baseball game, the ump had an absolute clanger of a call. It went to revision, nothing changed. The commentators and studio people later merely called it interesting and a little perplexing, but that was it. Didn't stop Mrs Bing ranting about it though.
One other quick note, NHL and recently MLB refer all revisions to a central 'TMO' which I think is in New York for both. Entirely fair, no home town TMO to bitch at. In baseball there is an MLB boffin comes out with headsets for two umpires, and they listen to the decision made in New York. It'd never happen in rugby, but pretty good for fans here.
Westie
Sydney Middleton (9)
I have no problem with refs getting called out on a bad performance. In this case Kearns is just having a sook. The Tahs weren't good enough.
Brumby Runner
Jason Little (69)
Yep - can't stand the confected even-handedness of Gordon Bray. Kafe seems to be falling into the same trap lately too.
OTOH Kearns is just so biassed to the Tahs, he is an embarrassment and Marto just goes so far over the top that's it ceases to be funny. Tim Horan is living proof that someone can play brilliant rugby without necessarily understanding the game.
What we need is someone with the gravitas of John Eales but with the balls to make a call when necessary without going on forever about it. Is there anyone?
Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
For whatever reason Kearns has the role of comic relief commentator to the straight man of Greg Clarke. It worked for Murray Mexted and Grant Nesbitt, but not for Kearns and Clarke. Marto fulfils the same role at Reds matches.
Interestingly, both Kearns and Marto are a thousand times better when the Waratahs and Reds respectively aren't playing.
T
TOCC
Guest
Rugby Union needs to look to the NFL on how to provide high quality sports commentating.
NFL likes to operate in set pairs or trios for the duration of the season, the primary commentator is usually someone with no background in playing the NFL with the secondary commentator been a former player. The sideline commentator is again typically someone who has no background in playing the game professionally.
So basically, rugby needs more professional sports commentators and not just former players..
NFL likes to operate in set pairs or trios for the duration of the season, the primary commentator is usually someone with no background in playing the NFL with the secondary commentator been a former player. The sideline commentator is again typically someone who has no background in playing the game professionally.
So basically, rugby needs more professional sports commentators and not just former players..
Strewthcobber
Simon Poidevin (60)
The former pro often usually knows what they are talking about too.
Jokes aside the way they can identify the key move/play in the line of scrimmage seconds after the live action is a massive contrast with our commentators silence at scrum time as an example
badabing59
Cyril Towers (30)
They are amazingly fast at calling the play. We watch the same thing and I'm buggered if I could see what they were talking about unless I have 50 replays.
mxyzptlk
Colin Windon (37)
Careful what you wish for. There was a time when ESPN brought in Rush Limbaugh (a conservative talk radio shock jock, for those who don't know) as their outside man, and he started ranting about how the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was only getting attention because he was black, and he didn't deserve the accolades he received. Stats that suggested otherwise didn't come into his analysis, because outside of high school, Limbaugh was someone with no background in the sport. After a few weeks of steadily banging on about the NFL's desire to appear fair to McNabb, he was out as a commentator. Disgusting moment all around.
When commentator teams have an outsider, it's often someone with some professional journalistic experience in a large organization. So that person is already well-versed in finding a narrative through-point and asking pertinent questions while maintaining sensible balance. Bob Costas is probably one of the better exemplars of that, at least in the U.S. It's kind of funny listening to U.S. rugby commentators who are relative outsiders to the game, because they can't break out of their gridiron vocabulary.
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