I am very lucky. This past weekend I got to meet and briefly chat with Mr Liggit at the bike race in Philly. My neighbor is a camera man for the news and hooked me up with press/photo passes for the race. I was actually in the broadcast tent when they were filming the race.
I honestly must say that he is super nice guy. I told him it would be an injustice for the cycling world if he were to retire and he laughed. We briefly talked about the race, the upcoming tour and why he does not do Iron Man coverage. It’s a matter of them coming to him. When I asked him for his autograph, he smiled and said “sure.”
A friend of mine drove the support van with Phil in tow for the old Tour of Hawaii race that Jan Ullrich won a number of years ago. According to his account a very cool guy and “colorful” would be an understatement.
Just wanted to comment on how Ligget and OLN’s coverage is super.
Compare them to what NBC does with the Olympics, track and field, and the Ironman.
Ligget and co. show that cycling and other sports can be both covered seriously and still be entertaining. Enough of NBC’s human interest stories.
How good a guy you said he is in person, comes across so well on TV and combined with his great knowledge , he adds so much to the events he covers. Also great rapport with Sherwin and Roll really makes things work.
Exactly. I’m telling you, I wish I had more time to talk w/ him in between his broadcasting and the mayhem that immediatly followed the photo finish but I did not want to cramp his style.
There were other people who were trying to get up close to the broadcast booth. All were screaming, “Don’t retire!” Again, I was astonished at how cool he was.
True story…the first year that our only major stage race in the Philippines became UCI-sanctioned, Phil came over here to commentate. He was befriended by a friend of mine who owns a bike shop and was invited to join a group ride through some pretty tough local hills. Phil gladly obliged and my friend outfitted him with a bike and then handed him a helmet. He says to my friend, “George, I’m European. I don’t use helmets!” So they go riding and he’s keeping all these younger guys on their toes. Finally on a descent, he really pushes the pace and at around about 70 km/h he rides next to one of the guys, put his arm around him, and starts chatting!
Probably the reason why he does the coverage so well is because he’s also a very good rider. He knows what he’s talking about.