Prefontaine Classic 2012

[gh]

...catering to Brie Felnagle (who was one of the pacers) fans!

uh, was not one of the pacers, and PRed by 10-odd seconds. What's the problem here?

[TN1965]

...catering to Brie Felnagle (who was one of the pacers) fans!

uh, was not one of the pacers, and PRed by 10-odd seconds. What's the problem here?

I stand corrected. The problem was that Lewis Johnson identified Felnagle as one of the pacers on NBC.

[Conor Dary]

Easily one of the worst broadcasts in many years. Rough day for the NBC boys. Non-track-fan friend I was watching with asked if the meets were always this poor.

I am resolved with the fact that Pre and Adidas are the poorest covered meets of the DL. I could live with laughable commentary, what gets me is not showing oodles of events.

My expectations are now so low that I was actually thrilled that I could see some events live!

I agree. I had no problem with the coverage. Sure it could have been better, but it was live and they showed a lot. Who cares about camera angles, and graphics that are on only a few seconds?
And who cares what LJ had to say? They show the splits, the rest is irrelevant. Turn on the mute if you find the announcers useless.

[Marlow]

Turn on the mute if you find the announcers useless.

Alas, there ARE people who could do a GREAT job, simply because
a) they've done their homework and have a spotter feeding them info
b) they get excited at APPROPRIATE times
c) they get the facts rights
d) they understand the 3-ring reality and can keep up with it all

oh wait - we have all that - in the stadium announcer! Why the EFF can't they just give us HIS feed??!!

[Vault-emort]

oh wait - we have all that - in the stadium announcer! Why the EFF can't they just give us HIS feed??!!

QFT! I was quite enjoying the live feed for night one until some guy started going 'can you hear me can you hear me?' over the top of Garry and crew.

He then realised he was on-air and apologised that the DL events would not be covered (though not saying why) and then complaining that he couldn't see anything during the distance races as they were huddled under some tarp to save them from the rain..

Commentary should be value-add; otherwise why bother at all?

Having said that, I appreciated the webcast.

[j-a-m]

I should clarify my comments. I meant it was technically one of the worst ever. The camera angles were poor, the graphics were intrusive and not timely, it was just a jittery mess.

The women's 3K was a non-event that should have been quietly dropped for filler.

It frequently makes the impression that NBC doesn't even plan its broadcasts in advance. In the beginning they take their time with relatively irrelevant things, and later they run out of time.

[Alan Shank]

The 800 was a great example of the total ignorance on the part of the commentators. They never mentioned Aman, Kszczot or Borzakovskiy at all, preferring to go on and on about Nick Symmonds and how he just can't lose in Eugene! Oops! When Aman almost passed Kaki on the inside at the end, Hammond was still going on about Symmonds "in full run". When he noticed Aman, he didn't have the slightest (**&(%ing idea who he was. Borzakovskiy, BTW, looked like he was just out for a training run (which was probably exactly his attitude), putting up his usual pretty even splits, but never getting close to the leaders. It was actually a good race for Symmonds; I doubt whether he's going to get any closer to those guys than today.
Cheers,
Alan Shank
Woodland, CA, USA

[ATK]

Anyone have a link to the womens 800m race from friday?

[kuha]

Just got back from Eugene. A few random observations:

Yes, the stadium announcer was really superb; the team of gh and Catherine Merry was very impressive. It amazes me that TV can't simply use that in-stadium commentary instead of going with something consistently worse. Gh provided excellent running commentary on the tactics in the races as well as lots of splits. In fact, this was the first time in my life that I've ever heard a 2500m split ("they've gone one-quarter of the distance!"). Can't recall if there was also a 7500m split, but I also distinctly remember a 1400m (!) split in one of the other races.

The international mile was a bit of a dud. Interesting to realize that Webb's 3:53 from 11 years ago would have easily won.

On Friday night, before the events got going, Salazar had Rupp and Farah on the track doing a very light sprint workout. They were doing what looked like 150 strides around the curves and then 50m straightaway sprints. And on Saturday, both looked fantastic. Rupp is for real. He was absolutely NOT simply being dragged along by the field--he was running smart the whole way, working his way up strategically, and ending up in exactly the right place with a lap to go. He's tough and smart and is certainly going to be a 12:50 or better performer.

In the Kenyan 10,000, you could tell after a few laps that it was going to be competitive rather than simply fast. At the end, it was amazing that the total "also rans"--the guys way out of the medals, were still crossing the line in the 27:20s and 30s!

Totally surprised at the +2.4 reading on the high hurdles. There was no visible indication of wind, but what can you do? Liu looked amazing.

Overall, a great meet--and, yes, the free Friday night was one of the great bargains in sports history.

[bruce3404]

Just got back from Eugene. A few random observations:

Yes, the stadium announcer was really superb; the team of gh and Catherine Merry was very impressive. .

Gh did fine, but I've always found Catherin Merry incredibly annoying with her shrill voice and constant remarks about Britain (nothing against GB, it's just that we don't have to be continually reminded that she's British and used to run). I usually turn the audio off when she's on the screen during other DL meets, but didn't have that advantage this weekend. I saw Dan O'Brien doing the field announcing in NY a few years ago and liked his inputs a lot better. BTW, my original post indicated lagging ticket sales, but the meet attendance was almost 13,000 and if you take away the special Trials seating setup, it would have been a full house any other year.

Finally, I agree that the 2.4 wind reading in the 110H was a surprise. The flag was still and I couldn't feel any breeze in the stands. Normally I look at the wind gauge right away when a great time is on the board, but in this case waited a bit, thinking wind wasn't a factor.

[kuha]

[I've always found Catherin Merry incredibly annoying with her shrill voice and constant remarks about Britain (nothing against GB, it's just that we don't have to be continually reminded that she's British and used to run).

Interesting. I can't say that I've ever heard her announcing before--this seemed to be a first for me. I thought she was fine. Compared to, say, Carol Lewis, she is the Sir Laurence Olivier of announcing.

The 110HH wind was quite weird. I was in the 7th row, so pretty close to the track, and felt absolutely nothing. I was also watching the flag and don't recall any movement there at all. When 12.89 flashed up on the board, I was really impressed...when it was revised to 12.87, I was more than "impressed."

[Riff80]

I think we're all use to the announcers of nationally broadcast meets, but now they are taking it to a new low. They're always going to talk about 1 or 2 people getting ready to race and that's all they are going to talk about, but they use to at least give you a glancing shot of each person in the race with the name on-screen even if they didn't say who they were, but you could match a face and name. They can continue to talk about the 1or 2 people but at least show us who's in the race.

[Conor Dary]

Frankly, I find the announcers these days superfluous. The athletes commonly have their names on their bibs, and with a running clock showing and splits common now, what more do you need? I just put LJ on mute when he becomes irrelevant, which is pretty much all the time now.

Ato Bolton is of course something else.

[kuha]

Frankly, I find the announcers these days superfluous. The athletes commonly have their names on their bibs, and with a running clock showing and splits common now, what more do you need? I just put LJ on mute when he becomes irrelevant, which is pretty much all the time now.

Ato Bolton is of course something else.

The commentary in the stadium itself was of real benefit to the fans--and to understanding what was happening (or going to happen). I didn't hear what was on TV in this instance, but know from experience that it is usually entirely useless.

[Conor Dary]

Frankly, I find the announcers these days superfluous. The athletes commonly have their names on their bibs, and with a running clock showing and splits common now, what more do you need? I just put LJ on mute when he becomes irrelevant, which is pretty much all the time now.

Ato Bolton is of course something else.

The commentary in the stadium itself was of real benefit to the fans--and to understanding what was happening (or going to happen). I didn't hear what was on TV in this instance, but know from experience that it is usually entirely useless.

I was, of course, talking about American TV announcers. Guys like Peter Matthews and gh are great and add to the race. Too bad they don't let gh do the voiceover for tv.

[j-a-m]

I think we're all use to the announcers of nationally broadcast meets, but now they are taking it to a new low. They're always going to talk about 1 or 2 people getting ready to race and that's all they are going to talk about, but they use to at least give you a glancing shot of each person in the race with the name on-screen even if they didn't say who they were, but you could match a face and name. They can continue to talk about the 1or 2 people but at least show us who's in the race.

Yes, I agree that briefly showing each athlete in a race along with his or her name goes a long way towards making a meet on TV worth watching. Didn't realize it on Saturday, but if NBC is indeed moving away from doing this, then that's another step in the wrong direction.

[berkeley]

bruce3404, you took the words out of my mouth about Merry. She has always irritated me, and this year the harping on about "a certain Olympic Games" in "her back yard" exacerbated the situation. However it was great to listen to gh's smooth and excellent coverage and be spared the drivel of Hammond & Lewis Johnson. Dwight and Ato should handle T&F broadcasts alone - period. I can't understand why Dwight has not been anchor for the last 25 years.

Nice to see proud Dad Steve Ovett interviewed - a man whose mile WR 31 years ago was faster than Kiprop's excellent effort on Saturday.

Overall, the meet was just as awesome as the last couple of editions. The weather, plus the no-shows of Robles and De Zordo and the absence of a mens' HJ possibly took it down just a notch. Liu was absolutely superb and dominated the way Oliver did in 2010 - only faster. He seems to epitomize what every hurdle coach tries to teach - run over the hurdles as if they weren't there. His posture seems more upright than anyone else's, yet his legs are not any longer but he still negotiates them without touching them and apparently without raising his center of gravity. How does he do that ? Robles would not have stood a chance.

I thought Symmonds' post-race interview struck a bum note. I understand he was addressing the home crowd, but no shout-out to the two fine athletes who had just kicked his butt ? Ungracious, IMO.

[110hedgeNYC]

some interesting observations, folks.

I'll add a couple along with a question:

- agree that NBC generally butchers track and field. Ato Boldon is good and knows what he's talking about. Dwight is fine. I don't have a problem with Lewis Johnson. Tom Hammond is goofy. Though, every once in a while he shows some emotion at the right time and it's effective.

- the British commentators are, in general, much better and more insightful than their U.S. counterparts. they show more knowledge, offer more color commentary, mention more competitors (not just U.S. or British ones) and they actually show enthusiasm.

- seems NBC has a weird policy of encouraging the track and field crew, along with the audio production and camera angles, to make track come across like a golf tournament. The production makes it seem monotone and subdued. With the British feeds, or most European feeds, one can hear the crowd reactions. It's not muted like it is on NBC. This makes a huge difference in the TV viewing experience.

- finally, was there music between or during any races in the Stadium at Pre? My impression was there was not, which is a good thing. The music thing is usually overdone (watch the replay of Rome). It takes the crowd out of the competition; it creates a disconnect. It's also stupid when music is blasted immediately after a big race such that the crowd cannot hear itself react - this kills the atmosphere. Of course it's even worse when they play music during the distance races. It's insulting and, again, I think it takes the spectators out of the race.

[tm71]

dont know why people here are surprised at nbc's coverage of pre this weekend. very typical of their domestic meet coverage. several goofy remarks by uncle tom who messed up the end of the men's 800 meter race, typical BS comments by lewis johnson that little value to the coverage and a few good remarks by ato and dwight. almost all of the races were shown (ok 2-3 laps were missing in the 3k and 5 k) and as is customary very few highlights of the field events. it is amazing to think that dwight has worked for nbc since the 88 olympics and still puts up with the limited air time he gets to cover the field events. he must be extremely patient with their BS, i bet if any of the posters on this board had his job on nbc they have quit long time ago !
in a similar light, i cant wait for the live streaming during the olympics (sans uncle tom and clueless johnson).