Bells Webcast
Pottz is so boring and emotionless when he speaks and Joe turpel sounds like one of the Jersey Boys
The worst part of it is when people start parroting Pat Parnell and use the term " wrapping cut " ironically, then like anything else employed ironically by the mass population it will rapidly lose its impact and become an accepted part of the culture ...see the term "bro" in the Australian context and the modern incarnation of the moustache for precedents.
They need to get Occy in the booth.
Then Pat Parnell would be admired in future years for his " idiosyncratic " presenting style and canonised in the manner of Richie Benaud . Let's pray his universal lack of appeal remains undiminished and we wake up one bright day in the future and realise he has been replaced by a commentator with an understanding of the fundamentals of surfing.
I wish him the best in his career....in some medium other than surf broadcasting .
yeah cant stand Turpel needs a voice box transplant,but as for the rest of them i think they are trying (very trying),woulnt be easy to rattle on with crap between waves for long periods of time.
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Don't worry about the commentary, how's CJ's get up, styling!! Haha
hahahah those are dank threads!
It pretty funny how Turdel says in every heat how this guy is the most amasing surfer on the planet right now....?
Then says "Wow that first turn was the money maker", but an action replay in slow mode..... He changes his tune to say " Wow that second turn was the biggest point score of the wave"...
I know it would be hard to commentate but those guys are worse than women at 10,000+ words in a day ++++++,
Geez I could not have a beer with them, wouldn't even get a word in.
I think it's a cultural difference welly. Americans cannot stand silence so every wave must be called like a horse race which means there is absolutely no time to think about what is being said. So we get this stream of consciousness nonsense interspersed with occasional sensible comments from Martin Potter or Occy.
A large part of the problem is also what they are not saying. They must be under instructions not to let a single negative comment pass their lips which is fatal to any serious commentary. They won't even go as far as "poor wave choice" . Very rarely they might mention a missed opportunity. As ASP employees presumably it would be tantamount to resignation to criticise a judging decision.
Horse race, Classic call BB, but there are no others on the wave apart from Bede and the Brazilian hands up in the air...?
I've always thought that surfing webcasts could benefit from a DJ strategy.
I totally understand the need to eliminate silence - in a weird kinda way, it's unnerving when it goes on for too long (Is the webcast broken? Is something about to happen? Taaallllk tooo meeee!!).
But why not try to mix music into the deal? With the right kind of artists, we could get a good balance between commentary and background audio. And it'd be a great way to promote bands.
Because whenever I'm watching a webcast, I'm really not interested in listening to the commentators verbalising what the surfer is doing. As it is, I'm usually working on something else on another screen, and simply using the commetators for audio cues that a surfer is about to paddle into a wave. Then I'll quickly change screens, watch the ride, maybe the replay if it's a great wave, and then change screens again and get some more work done while I wait for the next wave.
Anyone else the same as me?
Great idea Ben. At the moment I can't watch it because of the commentators, turpel drives me insane with his "yeah sick duuuuude" accent and pottz uses every cliche you can imagine! (Building House!!!!) WTF! Check turn!! C'mon pottz! Cut it out!
I surf with him a bit down here when he's home, if I wasn't so scared he will rip my head off I'd mention it too him in the water.. It's horrendous!
Good call Ben.
What about two computer screens...? A busy man, more technology.
No I record it and fast forward to the waves. I am not talking about long periods of silence Ben just a few seconds between comments as the wave is surfed. Trying to call them turn by turn ends up in a meaningless mish mash of misapplied jargon. They need to try and see the bigger picture. One of the worst features of the coverage is the way they display only the two wave total when to have any idea of what is happening you need both wave scores. They flash them up for a few seconds now and then and give the score needed more often, but that doesn't tell the full story either. On the positive side they had some good filler with material from the Drug Aware and historical footage.
Don't know why the commentary isn't more balanced, every surfer is the best in the world, it makes it quite boring. Fingers crossed we can here the Simon Anderson thruster story. Again.
I don't mind commentary for surf comps, the anecdotes and technical info are usually interesting but like cricket they need to rotate commentators to get a different take on events, turpel and pots are just running out of things to say.
Loving slater/Florence/medina tho
How was Florence's air!!!
Like Upnorth it's like listening to the cricket as I usually have the worst internet feed imaginable - it's like a 1982 surfing video game to look at, a bunch of cubist interpretations of pro surfing. So I'll just listen to the commentary . It's so offensive I feel like a blind man reading a Braille book rendered in red hot iron.
On a side note, it's good to be alive eh ? Only saying that cause I'm a few bintangs into a celebration of great waves and somehow getting the upper hand over Indonesian Immigration authorities and getting my passport back. Hope your getting a few.
Permisi Ibu, satu lagi bintang besar , terimah kasih !
PS. What about Dingos wave at the Right ! Are you shitting me !
Yeah he made that look easy glad he got the 10. Much more interesting at rincon, bowl bit samey unless it's huge.
Don't know how you cope with just commentary no pictures blowin! Did you decide where your next port of call will be?
Yeah mate , got a cliche Ments boat charter in a few days , so passé so why do I feel like a four year old on Christmas Eve ? Then gonna catch up with my lady in Singapore, have a few drinks at Raffles then take this show on the road. Hope your getting some Upnorth, cheers cobber.
PS. Just read that shit back , what a wanker, nothing passé about the Ments mate. So excited.
Sounds like an awesome trip to me mate but I'm of the opinion that any travel is good for the soul, I don't buy in to destination snobbery, it's what you make it. Yeah it is good to be alive this eve me old china, managed to get into a few this weekend, planning the return to the motherland, just bought my first pram on ebay (took it out like a boss with 5 seconds to go) and some lamb in the oven. Good times. Have a goodun.
Commntary - all filler, no killer.
Heat analyser all the way...I did try to do what Ben mentioned having a second screen running and listening for the cues, but between Turpel and Parnell I get the unhealthy urge to punch the shit outta the screen.
At least with the analyser I can skip all the bullshit and watch what counts, even if it means waiting till the end of each days competition.
To paraphrase Peter King, I'd rather be hit in the teeth with a hammer than endure hearing Joe Turpel say
" Nine point nine" ever again.
Like a jagged edge razor to my scrotum.
Fuck yeah Upnorth, doesn't get any better than that. Good luck mate.
@Blowin, whats your passport story ?
Dingos monster............I wish to see the sequence pics ,heard nothing of him for some time and then that wave...unreal !
Udo , bureaucratic fuck around trying to extend my visa without leaving the country, usual story. Headache and heartache with a happy ending.
Dingos got one of the best styles ever... He hates a barrel.
Craig wrote:Don't worry about the commentary, how's CJ's get up, styling!! Haha
Ha, loved it when he shoved up like this, awesome!
Forrest Gump ....!
Time for my annual Bells comment ....
Who gives a toss, hurry up and get the circus over and done with and fuck off.
I feel better now
Nothing like a bit of therapy, eh Floyd?
Happy to say I didn't watch a single Bells heat all weekend. Too many waves on this coast to watch the box.
I watched snatches and it was universally mediocre .....then the JJF, Slater, Medina Super Heat, which was fucking amazing. Really, it was the first time this year the Tour has gotten out of second gear.
You listening ASP?
More surfers in the water, more waves ridden, better viewing.
Fuck more dead wood off the Tour.
Might go watch it then...
Medina was being a bit of a tease on that last wave haha, I reckon the air was better than JJF's because it was more aesthetically pleasing. Anyway, he get's another chance
Desouza.......powerhouse man turns, great win.
Medina looked a little awkward at times.
Hey Stu, yeah you and I both .... surfed until I dropped on all Easter days .... always thought it was better to do it than to watch the latest funky arsed medina surfing in a contest.
STOP THAT BLOODY MUSIC!
It's driving me crazy.
And stop saying wrap for goodness sake!
If it looks, smells and feels like crap; its crap.
76 didn't watch the last day, he went fishing
Any one else finding the commentators unbearable to listen to?