universal sports commentators

[cc2]

I have been following ISU GP events (particularly ice dance) on universal sports and I find Tanith Belbin really annoying. she talks too much!!! It is really hard to listen to the music when keeps talking non stop.
NBC needs to bring back either Tracy wilson or Judy? as far as I know they don't normally talk a lot like Tanith.

[Jenna]

I have been following ISU GP events (particularly ice dance) on universal sports and I find Tanith Belbin really annoying. she talks too much!!! It is really hard to listen to the music when keeps talking non stop.
NBC needs to bring back either Tracy wilson or Judy? as far as I know they don't normally talk a lot like Tanith.

Haven't heard Tanith, but I love Judy. She just might be my favorite of all. Being a technical specialist, she is very knowledgeable and articulate in her comments.

[TwizzlerS]

I've been impressed with Michael Weiss' commentary. He's positive but gives pointers on a skater's areas in need of improvement and has a very pleasant speaking voice. I'm always happy to know he's doing commentary rather than Peter Carruthers.

[jenny12]

I've been impressed with Michael Weiss' commentary. He's positive but gives pointers on a skater's areas in need of improvement and has a very pleasant speaking voice. I'm always happy to know he's doing commentary rather than Peter Carruthers.

I agree. I really enjoy Michael Weiss's tone and while he is positive, he is also not afraid to be critical when necessary. Carruthers is annoying, but even he is better than Scott Hamilton.

[cc2]

I think Peter Carruthers does a pretty good job. I like the fact that he does not constantly chatter about this and that during the performance of the skaters. You can actually listen even listen to the music.
He explains both the technical and artisitc aspect of the performance in a way even someone like me can understand.

[berthesghost]

I moved and no longer get us on cable, so I subscribed online and watch their live feed. No commentary! This silence is by far the most enjoyable skating tv I've watched in years. I caught a clip w commentary on YouTube and I was like "shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" love my commentary free online feed.

[Jot the Dot Dot]

I moved and no longer get us on cable, so I subscribed online and watch their live feed. No commentary! This silence is by far the most enjoyable skating tv I've watched in years. I caught a clip w commentary on YouTube and I was like "shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" love my commentary free online feed.

Hey, be glad it's not Kathie Lee and Hoda commentating while knocking back daiquiris.

[Frau Muller]

Judy Blumberg is 10,000x better as a commentator-analyst for ice dancing than is Tanith. No contest, sorry. [Susie Wynne was also terrific but she hasn't done this is a while.]

I also like Peter Carruthers a lot. He is quickly becoming the 'Grand Old Sage Commentator' of choice, in the Dick Button mode. Knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time...and often hilarious. I'm just glad that he (Peter) has stopped harping about men's butt spins!

[RobinA]

I think Peter Carruthers does a pretty good job. I like the fact that he does not constantly chatter about this and that during the performance of the skaters. You can actually listen even listen to the music.
He explains both the technical and artisitc aspect of the performance in a way even someone like me can understand.

Carruthers is my favorite. I'm not sure why people don't like him. He rarely makes lame comments, genuinely cares about the sport and makes it understandable, including the nonsense that is CoP. He's also getting experienced enough to make the occasional negative comment, i.e. the fugly spins. He also doesn't gush. Although I think it was him who was waxing a little too poetic about K/S. I've also seen and heard him talking to fans walking down the street and he seems like a genuinely nice guy.

Weiss has turned out to be not bad, and I'm sure he will get better.

[Rob]

I like Michael Weiss a lot.

[Chris_E]

I also like Peter, especially when he's commenting on pairs which obviously he knows a lot about.

Michael Weiss is also quickly becoming a fave. He has a very pleasant voice for commentating.

Overall I'm enjoying some of the "new blood" we've had recently and hope it continues. At this point I'd say anyone is better than Scott!!

[orbitz]

At this point I'd say anyone is better than Scott!!

Well Scott's better than John Tesh, Pat O'Brien, Roz Sumners, and Vern Lundquist combined. So it's all relative

[ponta1]

Does anyone have the link to the Universal Sports coverage on Yuzuru Hanyu at CoR? I thought I read somewhere that the commentators didn't like him, which surprised me a bit because most of the other coverage I've seen have been quite complimentary of Yuzuru.

[DORISPULASKI]

I think it was John Mischa Petkevich that finally deep sixed John Tesh's career as an ice skating commentator. Tesh & Petkevich were paired to do World's in Ottawa in 1984. Tesh was supposed to announce the start of each event, saying something, "This is John Tesh with John Mischa Petkevich, coming to you from the Ottawa Civic Centre with the World Figure Skating Championships." Tesh could.not.pronounce "Mischa." He also could.not.pronounce "Petkevich." He also struggled a bit with "Ottawa."

Consequently he spent all of the warmups while he sat in the press box, practicing, aloud, the above sentence, messing it up in a startling number of ways.

Those were the days when the audience could sit near the KnC, so by the end of the event, people sitting near Tesh were repeating the sentence with him, urging him on, and occasionally, but very occasionally (since the Canadian skating audience is a rather civilized audience, even back in 1984), making sotto voce comments about his incompetence.

It was very funny

[centerpt1]

Another vote for Michael Weiss.

[Clytie]

Ugh I hit the wrong button and my post disappeared. And I had such a beautiful rant against Judy Bloomberg written! Can I just say I hate her and her biased commentary. I don't care if she is a tech. specialist. She's a b*tch - especially towards the Canadian dance teams for some reason. Tanith does talk too much. Susie I liked but she did have her biases too. I guess I just prefer Tracy Wilson. I wish they could get Kwan to comment. I think she would be great. I also think she would'nt be dwelling on her golden years either - which leads me to.....

Tara I liked initially until she kept bringing up her own glory days. Guess what honey- now people especially ladies, get dinged for horrible flutzes and barely rotated jumps. Stop trying to convince me yours was the epic age of ladies skating.

I feel bad saying this as a woman but the men are the best commentators on US. Carruthers is'nt fantastic but he tries and is generally not overly biased. Weiss is surprisingly articulate and his voice sounds nice. Too bad I hated his skating. Wylie is my favourite. I love that he explains what garners points and what hurts. I do still laugh at his shock re. Buttle's win "That was.... not what I was expecting"

Overall I think they do a decent job way better than CBS and NBC did in the 80's and 90's. Kurt is still my favourite - but I can understand why some don't like his snark.

Anybody have a dream team of Universal Sports commentators. I say keep Terry Gannon. Love him as the straight man or what ever they call the non-skating commentators. At least you can tell he has respect for the sport and skaters. I do miss him teasing Dick Button though.

[SpeedySucks]

I think it was John Mischa Petkevich that finally deep sixed John Tesh's career as an ice skating commentator. Tesh & Petkevich were paired to do World's in Ottawa in 1984. Tesh was supposed to announce the start of each event, saying something, "This is John Tesh with John Mischa Petkevich, coming to you from the Ottawa Civic Centre with the World Figure Skating Championships." Tesh could.not.pronounce "Mischa." He also could.not.pronounce "Petkevich." He also struggled a bit with "Ottawa."

Consequently he spent all of the warmups while he sat in the press box, practicing, aloud, the above sentence, messing it up in a startling number of ways.

Those were the days when the audience could sit near the KnC, so by the end of the event, people sitting near Tesh were repeating the sentence with him, urging him on, and occasionally, but very occasionally (since the Canadian skating audience is a rather civilized audience, even back in 1984), making sotto voce comments about his incompetence.

It was very funny

John Tesh also did the 1985 and 1986 Worlds for CBS with Scott Hamilton. CBS took him off of figure skating after 86 Worlds because he and Scott didn't mesh well together.

[acraven]

I've actually enjoyed all the ice dance commentators over the last few years--Judy Blumberg, Susie Wynne, Tracey Wilson, and now Tanith. What I object to is having a non-dancer trying to comment on ice dance.

I don't find Judy particularly biased; anyone commenting for US TV is going to try to find something positive to say about the US skaters, just as the Canadian/Russian/etc. commentators do for their own skaters (per reports here on FSU). It's true that Judy seems to look at things from a technical specialist's (critical) perspective, but that affects all of her commentary, not just what she says about the non-US teams. This year she pointed out Maia's edge problem in a footwork sequence, and I remember something similar early last season regarding Meryl Davis.

I'd say Tanith's approach is generally a bit more positive, but--perhaps as a result--she's more talkative. That doesn't bother me (I need all the help I can get when I'm watching ice dance), but I can understand why others would want her to talk less. Still, I think she's doing extremely well for the limited experience she's had.

I think it's valuable to be exposed to all the dance experts (I miss Susie and want her back) over the course of a season. It's not that they necessarily disagree with each other so much, but they each mention different things, and I learn from all of them.

[alchemy void]

Tara rocks. She needs to take Bezic's place on the NBC crew. I could live with her, Scott, and Terry.

Tom Hammond is the worst.

[cc2]

I totally disagree about the comment Clytie made about Judy Bloomberg. I hope NBC keeps Judy as a commentator as she seems to be an expert. With regards to Canadian ice dancers, she has never said anything bad about them. In fact she often compliments Virtue and Moir (how they have good chemistry, the strength of thier programs and so on). So I don't get where the idea that she is biased comes from.
With regards to Scott, I don't know why some people don't like him. I think he is too kind to the skaters. Even when skaters fall several times, he finds something positive to say about them or their programs.