Tour of California Coverage



chrisPDX

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Nov 18, 2005
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Is it just me, or is ESPN2's coverage of the ToC a little sub-par? From the first stage yesterday: The google earth maps are fine, but you can see the images downloading while they showed them--a little amateurish if you ask me. (Plus they give no indication of how long each stage is). Then, how many times did they show an empty road without a rider emerging for a good 5-10 seconds? That, combined with Bob Roll saying Tour "day" France repeatedly made me want to pull my hair out. As a final blunder, they showed all of about 5 seconds of the TT winner's ride (name withheld for those who haven't see it yet). Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy this race is going on and that at least someone is covering it, but if cycling is to become more popular in the states, the coverage has to appeal to a wide audience and not just cycling nuts who can look past the shortcomings.
 
chrisPDX said:
Is it just me, or is ESPN2's coverage of the ToC a little sub-par? From the first stage yesterday: The google earth maps are fine, but you can see the images downloading while they showed them--a little amateurish if you ask me. (Plus they give no indication of how long each stage is). Then, how many times did they show an empty road without a rider emerging for a good 5-10 seconds? That, combined with Bob Roll saying Tour "day" France repeatedly made me want to pull my hair out. As a final blunder, they showed all of about 5 seconds of the TT winner's ride (name withheld for those who haven't see it yet). Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy this race is going on and that at least someone is covering it, but if cycling is to become more popular in the states, the coverage has to appeal to a wide audience and not just cycling nuts who can look past the shortcomings.
it was pretty pathetic. we did get the full coverage of Mark McCormick's subpar TT performance though:rolleyes:
 
I missed the Prologue highlights, but I did see last night's Stage 1 show. Definitely could have been better. The european motorcycle-mounted camera operators must be better than their American counterparts, because the images were very shakey compared to European race coverage. I also would have liked more information (same goes for other televised races) - how fast is the guy in the shot going, what's the gradient, what gears, cadence, etc? More details!

Despite lots of talk about how beautiful the scenery was, as a southern Marin County resident, I was disappointed with how little they showed of the first half of the stage. I did not see one shot of my hometown of Mill Valley, Mt. Tamalpais, etc. No Muir Beach, Stinson Beach, Dogtown, Marshall... hell, they didn't even show the sprint in Pt. Reyes Station. Nor did they show any of the beautiful ride on the coast between Mill Valley and Stinson Beach. I've got to Give Santa Rosa credit for such a large turnout of fans and they did host the circuit finish so extra coverage is warranted, but c'mon ESPN2... there were other cities along the route you know.
 
I agree, I thought the coverage was pretty comical, especially compared to that of the TDF...and I really missed Phil Liggett...

It's on late here in CA so I Tivo'd it, after fast forwarding through the Ads I think there must have been 30 mins of mediocre Cycling coverage...

Obviously the production team know nothing about Cycling...

It's a real shame because this was another chance to kinda bring Cycling more into the mainstream in the US....

Oh yeah, and that 4 second shot of you know who...

Do you think the prod team have one motorbike and two video Camera's total?? And no Helicopters??!!
 
espn2 had it at 1 in the morning... i managed to stay awake til 1. then i started watching it. however, i fell asleep and woke up around 4 in the morning. maybe i watched about 20 mins of it.
 
chrisPDX said:
Is it just me, or is ESPN2's coverage of the ToC a little sub-par? From the first stage yesterday: The google earth maps are fine, but you can see the images downloading while they showed them--a little amateurish if you ask me. (Plus they give no indication of how long each stage is). Then, how many times did they show an empty road without a rider emerging for a good 5-10 seconds? That, combined with Bob Roll saying Tour "day" France repeatedly made me want to pull my hair out. As a final blunder, they showed all of about 5 seconds of the TT winner's ride (name withheld for those who haven't see it yet). Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy this race is going on and that at least someone is covering it, but if cycling is to become more popular in the states, the coverage has to appeal to a wide audience and not just cycling nuts who can look past the shortcomings.

My comments are directed to the picture breakup throughout the coverage. I know it's tough to keep a picture, but I don't believe ESPN2 couldn't have done better. Didn't they do a dry run to see how the microwave links would work or what. I'm assuming that they didn't take it seriously myself. I also agree with the open road pictures with no one in the picture....what's that. Besides those things, I enjoyed watching it. It was nice to have cycling on TV while I'm at work [got to watch it in peace].
 
chrisPDX said:
Is it just me, or is ESPN2's coverage of the ToC a little sub-par? From the first stage yesterday: The google earth maps are fine, but you can see the images downloading while they showed them--a little amateurish if you ask me. (Plus they give no indication of how long each stage is). Then, how many times did they show an empty road without a rider emerging for a good 5-10 seconds? That, combined with Bob Roll saying Tour "day" France repeatedly made me want to pull my hair out. As a final blunder, they showed all of about 5 seconds of the TT winner's ride (name withheld for those who haven't see it yet). Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy this race is going on and that at least someone is covering it, but if cycling is to become more popular in the states, the coverage has to appeal to a wide audience and not just cycling nuts who can look past the shortcomings.

I've just seen the stages1-4. It was the worst coverage of any sports even I've ever seen :mad: It is even worst than the F1 coverage by SpeedChannel. There is a banner at the bottom of the screen that is obscuring some information they are trying to show. Who cares about the NFL etc. results while watching a cycling event? I just want to see the cycling, in all its detail. If I want to see NFL results etc. I will record it, or check it out later. Just get rid of the stupid banner at the bottom that is distracting the viewer and obscuring the view. They never show the current run time etc. There are occasions like you noted, there is no cyclist in the view for so long you begin to wonder if the cyclist that was in view earlier had a crash or not. On stage one (or was it 2?) there was so much background noise (some guy on a loud speaker system) I could barely hear the commentators :mad: ESPN2 is not worth it, 3 thumbs down. If this is how they are going to cover it again I hope we will have other choices next time. It is a disgrace the way they covered the event.
 
Is this mountain stage half started or half finished?

Let's face it, cycling is still not a top level sport in the US. May never be. We take what we can get... which is why I have a nice stack of DVD's - TDF's, Vuelta's, Giros, classics. Only way I can get my pro cycling fix.

Overall, I was delighted with how the TofC was so well organized. Came off without a hitch, good competition, good stages, all the right teams even if it wasn't their best riders. The Specialized angel was a nice touch. And it drew enough attention, and enough spectators, that it bodes well for a repeat performance next year. With all the good publicity, maybe Coors could be enticed to revive the Classic?
 
JohnO said:
Is this mountain stage half started or half finished?

Let's face it, cycling is still not a top level sport in the US. May never be. We take what we can get... which is why I have a nice stack of DVD's - TDF's, Vuelta's, Giros, classics. Only way I can get my pro cycling fix.

Overall, I was delighted with how the TofC was so well organized. Came off without a hitch, good competition, good stages, all the right teams even if it wasn't their best riders. The Specialized angel was a nice touch. And it drew enough attention, and enough spectators, that it bodes well for a repeat performance next year. With all the good publicity, maybe Coors could be enticed to revive the Classic?

Any stage. It is the same stupid coverage on all the stages, but some are worst than others. I think the overall organization was done well. But the TV coverage was terrible. I hope next time we have either more options, or ESPN2 does a much better job. I'd rather watch the coverage from a European TV station than to watch it on ESPN2. I bet I'd get more info if I watched it in French and I do not speak French.

May be I'll look into ordering some DVDs too :D
 

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