I know that there is the full coverage on Versus in the morning that is live or close to live. Then, there is an abbreviated coverage later at night that is about 2 hours long. Which is the better coverage to watch?
You can usually see the same 3 hour coverage in the evening that you get in the morning. It’s not live, but it’s just a replay of the morning’s broadcast.
Hello Erichollins and All,
TdF Newspaper article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/sports/sportsspecial1/08tour.html?th&emc=th
Cheers,
Neal
.
I watched both yesterday because I didn’t get the sweepstakes word in the morning and I know the evening ones are shorter, but it really seemed the same to me. For me, I couldn’t tell the difference expect for the length of time, but I’m not tour de france hardcore like some of you.
The morning is the best…I dvr the morning show… Phil and Paul are the best and only cycling commentators I want to listen to.
Just my .02
Trisha
I agree. I could listen to Phil talk about anything. A whole lot better than Bob Roll talking about the Tour “Day” France
I can live with out Bob Roll and AL… Really VS americanizes the later broadcast so much all the real cycling flavor is gone…
I met Paul and chatted with him a bit at the last stage of Tour of California in Long Beach, just as cool in person as he is on t.v. Down to earth, charming and the kind of person you could chat with for hours.
the morning coverage for stage 1 went about 10 -15 min. long… I think the repeat showing cut it down to fit in the time slot (perhaps they just cut some commercials).
They must have trouble selling ad spots this year… lots of Public service ads — “don’t almost give” and the adoption ad are already starting to annoy me as much as that Lincoln Navigator commercial from a few years ago.
A whole lot better than Bob Roll talking about the Tour “Day” France
I like when Bob says “Day” France. He explains it as his form of revenge for the fact that when he trained in France, even though he was fluent in the language, the French still ignored him simply because he was American.
A whole lot better than Bob Roll talking about the Tour “Day” France
I like when Bob says “Day” France. He explains it as his form of revenge for the fact that when he trained in France, even though he was fluent in the language, the French still ignored him simply because he was American.
Couldn’t it be that the French ignored him for the same reason most Americans ignore him?
The first broadcast usually cuts to live, with a little recap to catch you up- Phil and Paul
Midday broadcast is the same as the live, with some of the boring stuff edited out to make it fit a 2hr (usually) time slot- Phil and Paul
Primetime/Late coverage is totally different. It’s from the same tv feed, but it’s commented on by Bob and Al. It has more featurettes, rider profiles. Commentary usually isn’t as good, but you still get phil and paul to announce the final 2-5k or so. Oh, the commercials get worse too.
Which is best depends on what you want it for. If you are putting hours on the trainer I like the live footage (especially taped.) The live longer broadcasts are also good for stages with several mountains, as often a lot of stuff happens. For flat sprinter stages the midday broadcast is usually just fine because you are only concerned with the last 45min anyway. This is also the one to watch if you just want to know what happened.
My vote is for the morning with Phil & Paul. I don’t understand why Versus pays additional money to have Al & Bob do new (worse, in my opinion) narrating of the same video feed.
What I am seeing is:
In the morning we get Phil & Paul for the full length of the coverage and in the evening we get Al & Bob ( With Frankie on the side) for almost the duration, but then they switch to Phil & Paul for the last 5K.
My feelings - I much prefer the full-time with Phil & Paul. Bobke is cool and I enjoy his inside comments about what it’s really like in the trenchs, but I tire of Al’s commentary and inane questions and faux ignorance( or maybe it’s real!) after a few minutes.
They really need to cut down on the commercials - that’s what drives me nuts. Way too many.
Just my 2 cents.
it seems like the commercials get worse every year. I think the best thing to do is record the live version and watch it later. That way you can get all the un-edited stuff and skip the commercials.
we should give some credit to Vs today though, they did stay with the coverage even though it was really late. I was just waiting for them to cutaway to World’s Strongest Man or something.
The best coverage is British Eurosport live coverage all afternoon. It starts a couple of hours in and gives 3 hours or more live coverage down to the finish. The commentary is pretty good with the likes of Shaun Kelly and Steven Roche guesting, although it is pretty hard to fill 3 hours of commentary they do pretty good. It’s nice to have some tactically savvy people as well as those that have “walked the walk”.
Thankfully David Duffield and his “cheese and wine tours” have been confined to apres action comments.
Looks like I am the only one who likes the evening broadcast. Bob is great. Al is fine, some people don’t like him, but he doesn’t bother me at all. I like Phil and Paul, but as I am not a cycling guru like many here, I need some more info like the pieces about the riders.
I like to tape the afternoon replay of the live program from the morning. It is compacted into 2 hours (I’d like to watch 4 hours but 2 is enough with a family). It is all Phil and Paul. I do like Bob but can’t stand Al. I actually wrote a letter two years ago complaining about Al to VS (then OLN). Has he learned nothing in the past 5 or more years he has been covering the Tour??? The stupidity that comes out of his mouth is ridiculous.
I do however remember the days when there was a half hour on ESPN that would sometimes get moved at the last minute and times when there was no TV coverage at all. Even though I was complaining about Al I was sure to let VS know that I enjoyed and appreciated their coverage (and even patronized their advertisers (I have 3 Festina watches)).
Regarding the Eurosport coverage, I simply can’t understand half of what Sean Kelly says. His accent is so thick. I love the guy; he is one of the all-time greats and is a great guy (met him in Boston shortly after he retired in the mid 90s) I just can’t understand him. He does some of the smaller races on VS.
Stelvio