The Annual Paul and Phil Appreciation Thread

[TrekDedicated]

Once again, Paul and Phil cease to amaze me. Their commentating skills are spectacular. Never a dull or useless comment made. I believe it is their 21st year together and you can tell, they feed off each other so well.

Props to them.

The Tour is even better with them!

 

[Mansmind]

lol... this one should draw some heat

 

[tcklyde]

Phil is great.

Paul drives me crazy most of the time.

Yeah, yeah, I've heard some moaning from my friends in Europe who don't think they are any good. Bah, I say. Sure, Phil is notoriously wrong about what is going on in a stage, but he is wonderfully charming and a real pleasure to listen to. Paul babbles too much about Discovery, but he is a nice enough foil for Phil. As far as sports commentators go, they are pretty decent. I'll take them over nutball John Madden any day.

Now, as for OLN's "Primetime" coverage: Al Trautwig is the WORST. He is terrible. Bobke is wrong far too often for a guy who used to be a pro. They're awful and why OLN thinks that fans would prefer to listen to Troutwig and Bobke over Phil and Paul I will never understand. I tape the live coverage so I don't have to sit through the annoying dronings of Trautwig and the really stupid "Lance on..." features.

 

[Bro Deal]

I think they have a clause in their contracts that requires them to mention Armstrong every five minutes.

 

[Orla_24]

I think they have a clause in their contracts that requires them to mention Armstrong every five minutes.

I assume you are talking about the Eurosport commentators, they ARE fantastic.

I also listen to the live feed, and the pumped up broadcasting is really great, they get me all excited 'McEwen!' *enter an amazed chuckle* "Where on earth did he come from?" On stage three. Lovely.

And really, last year when I first watched the tour (and cycling in general) they manged to pass along, in the first week, all the information required for a beginner fan like me to enjoy watching a tour, even if you aren't a cyclist.

 

[DV1976]

Sean Kelly rules!! (when you manage to get used to his accent )

 

[bananabrain]

I assume you are talking about the Eurosport commentators, they ARE fantastic.

Never heard of OLN. Is it a US cable company? The Eurosport commentator is David Duffield - another colossus of five star alternative entertainment in parallel with the main event:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4035269,00.html


You must concede, though - all these cycling media men seem to be genuinely nice guys.

 

[jhuskey]

They are unbiased and non-opionated and I am the Walrus Kook Kook A Choo!

 

[El Loto]

Sherwen uses "ballistic" too much, or at least he did in 2003. They are a great team though.

 

[cheapie]

i love them. they are given to hyperbole and haven't mixed in a new phrase in a decade but it's their voices i hear in my head when i'm attacking a hill.

"And so, the first pedal has been turned in ANGER!"

"cheapie's literally blowing to pieces!"

""And he's popped "


btw OP, i don't think this is what you meant!

Once again, Paul and Phil cease to amaze me.

perhaps you meant they NEVER cease to amaze you!

 

[rejobako]

Phil/Paul are definitely far too Lance/Discovery oriented, but that's what they get paid for. Some of their catchphrases are overused and thus annoying, but my biggest pet-peeve is their incessant use of superlatives: "incredible", "amazing", "fantastic", "unbelievable", etc. When something truly amazing happens, they struggle to be able to describe it, because they've already used the word to tell us how quickly a flat got changed earlier. All that being said, their voices are synonymous with cycling on American television, which is still rare enough that just hearing them gives me good vibes.

Even as a sometimes jingoistic American, Bob Roll is excruciating. He belongs on this forum, along with the rest of you who think everything Discovery/Lance is necessarily good or evil. When the 4 commentators were asked to predict the Tour winners, Roll went with an all-American podium. That's all anyone needs to know about how objective he is calling the race.

I'm going to defend Trautwig somewhat. He still knows less about cycling than my 6 year old daughter, but he knows a lot more than he did last year, when all he could do was whine about how boring the flat stages were.

 

[Deli]

Even as a sometimes jingoistic American, Bob Roll is excruciating. He belongs on this forum, along with the rest of you who think everything Discovery/Lance is necessarily good or evil. When the 4 commentators were asked to predict the Tour winners, Roll went with an all-American podium. That's all anyone needs to know about how objective he is calling the race.

I can't agree more. Bob Roll used to be funny and irreverant, when he wrote his columns for Velonews about 15 years ago. Now he is just a moron.

The thing that gets me the most about Sherwin is that he will repeat Ligget's last comment as he begins speaking. Like we didn't hear it the first time.

 

[cheapie]

I can't agree more. Bob Roll used to be funny and irreverant, when he wrote his columns for Velonews about 15 years ago. Now he is just a moron.

The thing that gets me the most about Sherwin is that he will repeat Ligget's last comment as he begins speaking. Like we didn't hear it the first time.

meh. i'm kinda on the fence regarding roll. listened to him last night and he added quite a bit to the discussion with regards of how the peleton works.

 

[moviekindoflife]

interesting to note that trautwig did the commentating for the cross country skiing events at the winter olympics, at least on NBC here in the states. He was way more knowledgeable when it came to that.

Its really hard to get any Eurosport in the US, but the few Eurosport races i have downloaded are really great. The commentary is a lot nicer than it is on OLN, they actually get the names of riders right more often than not.

 

[WarrenG]

interesting to note that trautwig did the commentating for the cross country skiing events at the winter olympics, at least on NBC here in the states. He was way more knowledgeable when it came to that.

Well, for skiing it is not live coverage-he has a script to read.

 

[GrooveSlave]

Have you guys noticed that Phil never misses an opportunity to slam Paul for being "off the back" when he was racing - or words to that effect.

I'm too new to the sport to have real knowledge of who did what in their heyday, and how Phil and Paul's careers compare, but it sounds like sour grapes (a bit) to me.

Also, I know what you mean about hearing their voices in your head while riding...I'm regularly "in a spot of bother".

 

[TrekDedicated]

btw OP, i don't think this is what you meant!


perhaps you meant they NEVER cease to amaze you!

ooops! You are correct.


While Paul and Phil do mention LA, they barely speak of him compared to Al, jeeze. I don't think he knows any other rider's name. haha

 

[DiabloScott]

Phil - "Today's stage ends in Caen; I think you came in last when the race finished here once, didn't you Paul?"

Paul - "Yes, but the riders today will have their tires pressurized to absolute perfection, won't they Bob?"

Bob - "That's right, absolutely, that's what Lance would have done, but today's riders won't have to worry about the best Toor Day France rider ever."

Al - " "

 

[cheapie]

hahaha...too funny!

 

[Deli]

Phil - "Today's stage ends in Caen; I think you came in last when the race finished here once, didn't you Paul?"

Paul - "Yes, but the riders today will have their tires pressurized to absolute perfection, won't they Bob?"

Bob - "That's right, absolutely, that's what Lance would have done, but today's riders won't have to worry about the best Toor Day France rider ever."

Al - " "

Classic, but Paul needs to restate Phil's line before making his own point.