Channel 10 Commentary

[F J Nedos]

Something to get the ball rolling...

I notice Leigh Diffey is back as a full time commentator for the V8 Supercars. What do you guys think of this?

Neil Crompton is still offering expert commentary. I dont know if Bill Woods will be involved at all, he supposedly is still with the Formula 1 coverage. Maybe he might be an anchor... I dont know.

[Pro Racer]

thats a shame bill woods was a good comentater.

[retro]

Leigh will be doing Sports Tonight as well.

[Wrighty05]

Waiting for the day Brad Jones retires because I think him and Crompton are good together.

[racer69]

i thought we were finished with Leigh Diffey after 1999.....

Then he wound up calling World Superbikes in 2000 and 2001
Then he was calling CART in 2002
Then he was calling various SCCA events on Speed Channel (in which some of the races he called were shown on Foxtel) in 2003 and 2004

Now he's back fulltime...........great

Time for a cleanout at 10 i think, lets put some experts in there all round, not the network personalities and so on we have got there now

Rant over....for now

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by racer69

i thought we were finished with Leigh Diffey after 1999.....

Then he wound up calling World Superbikes in 2000 and 2001
Then he was calling CART in 2002
Then he was calling various SCCA events on Speed Channel (in which some of the races he called were shown on Foxtel) in 2003 and 2004

Now he's back fulltime...........great

Time for a cleanout at 10 i think, lets put some experts in there all round, not the network personalities and so on we have got there now

Rant over....for now

My understanding of the situation was he left 10 at the end of 1999 to work overseas. His work overseas included Superbikes in 2000 and 2001 and CART in 2002. It just happened that 10 took the coverage of those events with the provided feeds.

Leigh is a great comentator and knows his sport and is passionate about motorracing - give him a break...

[racer69]

Diffey (and Woods, Rust etc...) doesn't commentate though, he just yells at us and tells us how exciting everything is, no matter what is on the screen. That is not commentary to me....

[Rob 18]

You'd prefer Mathew White then racer 69??
How about we go back to the ch 7 days of Mike Raymond, Gary Wilkinson, Sandy Roberts, Pat Welsh & Uncle Doug.. I for one can't wait to hear Diffey calling the action again. Someone who actually has Knowledge of the sport & a passion 2nd to none. It will be much better than the last few years of White & Woods..

[Wrighty05]

I'd prefer Diffey to White and Woods as well.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Rob 18

You'd prefer Mathew White then racer 69??
How about we go back to the ch 7 days of Mike Raymond, Gary Wilkinson, Sandy Roberts, Pat Welsh & Uncle Doug

Any day.

Mike Raymond was able to combine knowledge, understanding, passion and good commentary skills in away that seems to be forgotten lately.

[Senna05]

I'd love to blow the current trend that is "Colour" (or former driver) commentator, and "Proffesional" commentator.

You have drivers and ex-drivers that have charisma coming out of their ears, have 2 ex drivers in there. I assure you that a Brad Jones/Crompton, or Skaife/Crompton (You may not like him, but he's very informative), and possibly even a Seton/Crompton combo, would be much more entertaining and informative during a race.

But, I'll have Leigh Diffey anyday over Billy.

[Wrighty05]

Crompton/Jones/Skaife doing the shootout at Bathurst last year was fantastic

[aj_308]

yes it was, even for non-fans.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Rob 18

You'd prefer Mathew White then racer 69??
How about we go back to the ch 7 days of Mike Raymond, Gary Wilkinson, Sandy Roberts, Pat Welsh & Uncle Doug.. I for one can't wait to hear Diffey calling the action again. Someone who actually has Knowledge of the sport & a passion 2nd to none. It will be much better than the last few years of White & Woods..

I'd go back further to the Channel 2 days, with Will Hagon and John Smailes. (Neil Crompton was apart of this team to occasionally, but sounded much better, we didn't hear any of this 'time burn', or 'ticket to the end game')

If a race was exciting, they'd get excited. If a race was boring, they wouldn't keep yelling at us saying it was the best stuff since sliced bread (like we get on 10 these days), they'd give us some interesting info, something of relevance to race that the viewer cannot see (which is the point of a TV commentator afterall, we can already see what is on the screen)

[F J Nedos]

I remember listening to Mike Raymond doing crosses to Dick Johnson at Bathurst. They were always brilliant, very entertaining. I remember hearing Dick tell Mike a joke while hooking in through McPhillamy... under race conditions.

I think this is something lacking these days. They may do the odd cross when a safety car is on the track, but i think conversations in the heat of the moment are an interesting and entertaining angle on motor sport coverage.

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

I remember listening to Mike Raymond doing crosses to Dick Johnson at Bathurst. They were always brilliant, very entertaining. I remember hearing Dick tell Mike a joke while hooking in through McPhillamy... under race conditions.

I think this is something lacking these days. They may do the odd cross when a safety car is on the track, but i think conversations in the heat of the moment are an interesting and entertaining angle on motor sport coverage.

I think the main reason we don't see this these days is because the drivers are so professional, and so much money is riding on what they are doing, that they can't afford to be distracted by a commentator trying to converse with them.

Then I guess there is the safety side of things - if the driver crashed during one of these chats the knifes would be out. Things have moved on from the late 80s/early 90s. Some of that is good, some other not so good, but it's the times.

[Wrighty05]

I think there is legal problems with them doing it also.

[F J Nedos]

I wouldnt doubt either of the above posts. Both make good points. Doesnt mean that it doesnt suck that we dont have the crosses though

[Raglanparade]

I think Brad Jones is an excellent commentator, and i would love to see him be the special comments man on channel 10 once he finishes driving - he is also quite funny as well.

[Brock]

Diffey, Crompton and Woods what a team. All are to biased to be good commentators

[F J Nedos]

I think Kim Jones would be an excellent commentator too Might need to show his coverage at late night replays though...

[Raglanparade]

Imagine Kim Jones commentating... "and theres that F@c*en mongral skaife trying a dirty move up the inside of Ambroses Falcon"

Or you could have John Bowe commentating "and there is Ambrose in the Falcon trying to pass Kelly in the Holden, but of course he cant because of parity issues"

You could have Skaife commentating "Oh look, theres ingall, hes spun, what a shame, he was having such a good race down there in 22nd position"

[Rob 18]

Originally Posted by racer69

I'd go back further to the Channel 2 days, with Will Hagon and John Smailes. (Neil Crompton was apart of this team to occasionally, but sounded much better, we didn't hear any of this 'time burn', or 'ticket to the end game')

If a race was exciting, they'd get excited. If a race was boring, they wouldn't keep yelling at us saying it was the best stuff since sliced bread (like we get on 10 these days), they'd give us some interesting info, something of relevance to race that the viewer cannot see (which is the point of a TV commentator afterall, we can already see what is on the screen)

I can remember the days of the ABC covering the ATCC as well Racer & at the time we all appreciated it as no other TV network wanted to know about Touring Cars in this country.

Without Smailes & Hagon & the ABC, we would have missed out watching probably one of the best era's in ATCC history in the early to mid 80's. Thankyou ABC.

I am at the stage now where I can't stand the sound of Cromptons voice. He is there to give expert comment's & I find he has too many "mates" in the business, especially the southern teams where he obviously spends most of his time & when ever there is an issue on the track, you can usually predict which side he will take & it's usually not a Nothern team, including PMM which he has had issues with in the past.

That is why Smailes & Hagon weren't so bad even if they were a tad boring. They never showed any bias toward any team & usually called it as they saw it. Anyone who can remember when the late Howard Marsden did some guest commentry with Hagon & Smailes with the SBS team covering the Sandown 500 in the mid 90's when he had no connection with any manufacturer was good also as he knew what he was talking about both in terms of the racing & on the technical side of things.

That is probably why I look forward to the return of Leigh Diffey. OK, he might shout & carry on a bit, but anything has got to be better than listening to Bill Woods describing the start of a race & especially the start of the Bathurst 1000 last year which was an absulute discrace.

Bring on the AGP..

[Aarrgh8]

Surely TEN isn't that bad that we're exhuming John Smailes and convincing ourselves that he was a good commentator?

[SRabbit]

Originally Posted by NickoGP

I think the main reason we don't see this these days is because the drivers are so professional, and so much money is riding on what they are doing, that they can't afford to be distracted by a commentator trying to converse with them.

Then I guess there is the safety side of things - if the driver crashed during one of these chats the knifes would be out. Things have moved on from the late 80s/early 90s. Some of that is good, some other not so good, but it's the times.

Ive heard it said by drivers that if they need to talk to the pits during a race it will cost them 2 or 3 10ths for that lap, so i doubt anyone would be willing to give any more just for the sake of good tele