PARDON ? .....
Thoroughly enjoyed the rugby last evening. An enthralling start to the Six Nations with England defying the odds to beat Wales in Cardiff. The BBC`s coverage was, as usual, well over the top and I genuinely lost count of the number of `reporters,` interviewers and pundits they employed for the event.
It seems that in their endless scramble after ratings, the BBC are these days employing `characters,` to add to the ever increasing ranks of pundits and commentators. Trouble is, they pick some right turkeys to do it. Robbie Savage is a prime example, all bling and look at me, chirping up with mindless comments because he thinks he should say something, however crass it turns out to be. And I heard in the week that the bad boy of English cricket, Kevin Petersen, has been booked to join the Test Match Special team for the forthcoming Cricket World Cup. Goodness knows what his maligned former team mates will make of that, but never mind, after all he is a `character.`.
But back to last evening`s rugby. The match commentary itself was, as ever, skilfully anchored by former Welsh international captain, Eddie Butler. Alongside him was former England hooker Brian Moore, who now seems to be a permanent fixture as co-commentator. Now I have a lot of time for Moore`s playing and journalistic career - 64 caps for England, short-listed for Sports Journalist of the Year, columnist for the Daily Telegraph and all that - but as a voice behind a microphone he is almost literally unintelligible.
He never seems to finish a sentence, leaving us to wonder what he`s trying and failing to say. And when he does manage to say something that is supposed to enlighten our appreciation of the technical side of a very technical game, he loses us and himself in an endless babble of disjointed mutterings that leave none of us any the wiser.
A memorable game but a forgettable commentary.
It seems that in their endless scramble after ratings, the BBC are these days employing `characters,` to add to the ever increasing ranks of pundits and commentators. Trouble is, they pick some right turkeys to do it. Robbie Savage is a prime example, all bling and look at me, chirping up with mindless comments because he thinks he should say something, however crass it turns out to be. And I heard in the week that the bad boy of English cricket, Kevin Petersen, has been booked to join the Test Match Special team for the forthcoming Cricket World Cup. Goodness knows what his maligned former team mates will make of that, but never mind, after all he is a `character.`.
But back to last evening`s rugby. The match commentary itself was, as ever, skilfully anchored by former Welsh international captain, Eddie Butler. Alongside him was former England hooker Brian Moore, who now seems to be a permanent fixture as co-commentator. Now I have a lot of time for Moore`s playing and journalistic career - 64 caps for England, short-listed for Sports Journalist of the Year, columnist for the Daily Telegraph and all that - but as a voice behind a microphone he is almost literally unintelligible.
He never seems to finish a sentence, leaving us to wonder what he`s trying and failing to say. And when he does manage to say something that is supposed to enlighten our appreciation of the technical side of a very technical game, he loses us and himself in an endless babble of disjointed mutterings that leave none of us any the wiser.
A memorable game but a forgettable commentary.
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