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abendgulesI was wrong - the archery has continued, at least some of it, but the commentator still hasn't learned anything aobu the sport.
So I wrote to the BBC editors:
So I wrote to the BBC editors:
Greetings from ...
I've been greatly enjoying the coverage of the Olympic archery - the round is designed for TV viewing, and BBC is certainly taking advantage of it.
However, I really wish you'd find someone marginally more knowledgeable and less inane than Eddie Butler as a commentator.
Have you not a single archer *anywhere* on your sports coverage team, who could provide a bit more useful commentary about the competition?
So far, his commentary has consisted of little more than stating the obvious - repeating the score ('and it's another 9 for the Koreans...'), which you can see on the screen for yourself.
He occasionally includes useless remarks like 'it'll just take an 8 to pull ahead' or talks about 'his one point lead becomes a 4 point deficit'... things that no self-respecting archer would ever say, and wouldn't even think - to an archer, every arrow is intended for the gold. You don't set out to shoot anything less.
How about commenting on the different teams' styles? The Ukranian mens' team who shot against the Koreans had a *crazy* old-fashioned behind-the-neck anchor style, that I haven't seen in decades of shooting and watching archery - doesn't that merit comment?
How about the fact that in the team competition not a single archer let down a shot (drew to full draw, then stopped and restarted), possibly because of the time pressure - a significant change from past practice, where you let down any shot that you aren't confident will be perfect? (that is, the limited time is requiring archers to prepare and shoot differently than they once did).
How about the fact that most of the men are shooting heavier bows than the women, reflected in the arrow speeds tracked on the screen (nice touch, by the way)? How about getting a rundown on bow weights, to correlate to the arrow speeds posted?
How about the fact that one bow manufacturer, Samick, has just about taken over the market for elite equipment, compared with Yamaha's dominant position from 10 years ago? There's not a single Yamaha bow to be seen!
Or that almost all archers are shooting Easton carbon arrows, from the US?
How about the distribution of leftie to rightie archers, which you can observe simply by watching them?
How about remarking on the difference in stances - I've seen open, square and closed stances over the past few days?
How about commenting on the prominence of the dynamic release across all the teams, moving away from the very crisp and controlled near-static release that dominated 10 years ago, particularly among the Koreans?
How about remarking on how some archers can keep their third finger on the string, but others can't, and how it affects the outcome of the shot?
How about remarking on how no archer now holds the bow in their hand, but simply lets it press into their hand, and allows the bow sling to hold it after the shot?
How about getting some information about the Korean training programmes, to get some insight into how they generate such extraordinary archers for years on the run?
How about remarking on the event itself - how dramatically it has changed from an event of stamina and skill at different distances to the current test of nerves and consistency at 70m only?
You could even be very British, and talk about how the weather affected the outcomes, and remark on how archers watch the wind flags like hawks to judge where to aim?
C'mon BBC - I watched the last Olympics, and you'd hardly have known that GB had won an OLYMPIC bronze in archery. I never once heard Alison Williamson's name mentioned - a crying shame, in my opinion.
This time, I'm pleased to see them televised, even though the women were bumped out of the team round. But the verbal commentary is really letting down the side.
How about gleaning some talking points from team GB or the coaches, and providing some better quality remarks for the folks back home?
The GNAS (Olympic archery's governing body) has 30,000 members, but they're only a fraction of the active archers across Britain, including traditional longbow shooters, compound shooters and field archers. And of course, every child who's ever tried to shoot a bow at school or at summer lessons.
There's thousands of viewers who deserve the best and most illuminating commentary possible.
If you're still short on ideas for commentary, I recommend you contact the GNAS for suggestions:
http://www.gnas.org/epromos.cfm
I look forward to hearing more interesting and insightful remarks for the rest of the Olympics.
Regards,
...
London, E....
I've been greatly enjoying the coverage of the Olympic archery - the round is designed for TV viewing, and BBC is certainly taking advantage of it.
However, I really wish you'd find someone marginally more knowledgeable and less inane than Eddie Butler as a commentator.
Have you not a single archer *anywhere* on your sports coverage team, who could provide a bit more useful commentary about the competition?
So far, his commentary has consisted of little more than stating the obvious - repeating the score ('and it's another 9 for the Koreans...'), which you can see on the screen for yourself.
He occasionally includes useless remarks like 'it'll just take an 8 to pull ahead' or talks about 'his one point lead becomes a 4 point deficit'... things that no self-respecting archer would ever say, and wouldn't even think - to an archer, every arrow is intended for the gold. You don't set out to shoot anything less.
How about commenting on the different teams' styles? The Ukranian mens' team who shot against the Koreans had a *crazy* old-fashioned behind-the-neck anchor style, that I haven't seen in decades of shooting and watching archery - doesn't that merit comment?
How about the fact that in the team competition not a single archer let down a shot (drew to full draw, then stopped and restarted), possibly because of the time pressure - a significant change from past practice, where you let down any shot that you aren't confident will be perfect? (that is, the limited time is requiring archers to prepare and shoot differently than they once did).
How about the fact that most of the men are shooting heavier bows than the women, reflected in the arrow speeds tracked on the screen (nice touch, by the way)? How about getting a rundown on bow weights, to correlate to the arrow speeds posted?
How about the fact that one bow manufacturer, Samick, has just about taken over the market for elite equipment, compared with Yamaha's dominant position from 10 years ago? There's not a single Yamaha bow to be seen!
Or that almost all archers are shooting Easton carbon arrows, from the US?
How about the distribution of leftie to rightie archers, which you can observe simply by watching them?
How about remarking on the difference in stances - I've seen open, square and closed stances over the past few days?
How about commenting on the prominence of the dynamic release across all the teams, moving away from the very crisp and controlled near-static release that dominated 10 years ago, particularly among the Koreans?
How about remarking on how some archers can keep their third finger on the string, but others can't, and how it affects the outcome of the shot?
How about remarking on how no archer now holds the bow in their hand, but simply lets it press into their hand, and allows the bow sling to hold it after the shot?
How about getting some information about the Korean training programmes, to get some insight into how they generate such extraordinary archers for years on the run?
How about remarking on the event itself - how dramatically it has changed from an event of stamina and skill at different distances to the current test of nerves and consistency at 70m only?
You could even be very British, and talk about how the weather affected the outcomes, and remark on how archers watch the wind flags like hawks to judge where to aim?
C'mon BBC - I watched the last Olympics, and you'd hardly have known that GB had won an OLYMPIC bronze in archery. I never once heard Alison Williamson's name mentioned - a crying shame, in my opinion.
This time, I'm pleased to see them televised, even though the women were bumped out of the team round. But the verbal commentary is really letting down the side.
How about gleaning some talking points from team GB or the coaches, and providing some better quality remarks for the folks back home?
The GNAS (Olympic archery's governing body) has 30,000 members, but they're only a fraction of the active archers across Britain, including traditional longbow shooters, compound shooters and field archers. And of course, every child who's ever tried to shoot a bow at school or at summer lessons.
There's thousands of viewers who deserve the best and most illuminating commentary possible.
If you're still short on ideas for commentary, I recommend you contact the GNAS for suggestions:
http://www.gnas.org/epromos.cfm
I look forward to hearing more interesting and insightful remarks for the rest of the Olympics.
Regards,
...
London, E....
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 07:35 am (UTC)What we watched over the weekend was commented like your archery. "Coppolino .... Another good showing from the Italians ..... Coppolino."
Informative, not.