A bird's-eye view of sport, translated by two humans. With added waffling.
Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts

Sunday, 19 August 2012

The BBC Olympics team: part 2 of our report cards

Yes, it's that time again - time to rate or slate another 10 members of the BBC's formidable team of London 2012 commentators, presenters and analysts. Time, in other words, to preserve the pretence that the Games never ended and protect our rapidly dwindling reserves of post-apocOlympic sanity.

You can still find our first 10 report cards here. If you feel we've made any glaring omissions or desperately want to defend your favourites, do let us know on Twitter or Facebook.

Huw Edwards - F (14%). Less gravit, more ass. Decided that awe-inspiring opening ceremony would best be experienced through filter of half-witted third-hand quarter-baked knobservations. Reading news better than Fiona Bruce about as impressive as competing at high jump without a bar. Contractual obligation to deploy authoritative Welshman should only be fulfilled by Bryn Terfel in future

Rishi Persad - F (11%). What is he for? The Guy Goma of sports broadcasting. Not waving but drowning. Seems desperate to crack his way into horsey fraternity; would be well advised to review their racist entry criteria more carefully, or at least arrange to have teeth surgically enlarged to boost his chances. Brings nothing to the party; just stands in the kitchen accidentally pissing people off by drinking their wine. Time to stage an awkward intervention and book him a one-way taxi to regional news

Hazel Irvine - C (58%). Tries painfully hard to be jovial, but does seem to give at least a scintilla of a shit. Easy to ignore as every word instantly disappears into a infinite void of irrelevance; like protozoa farting into a hurricane. Evening job as cartoon squirrel lookalike could only enhance credibility. Couldn't pick her out of a line-up; may have escaped punishment for countless crimes in Scotland

Hazel Irvine's Day Off: not coming to any cinemas, ever

Michael Johnson - A (97%). Comfortably the best analyst around. Calm, composed and insightful. Talks effortlessly about own incredible achievements without sounding smug or having to downplay them. Strangely squashed face but competence makes it easy to overlook his obvious resemblance to an animatronic allosaurus. Why he works on public sector rations rather than for deep-pocketed American broadcasters might just be the great mystery of the age

Manish Bhasin - E (28%). Proficient autocue reader and fluent in frothy insight-free sportspeak. Seems justifiably confused by career path; looks ready to run on being unmasked as knowledge vacuum. Labouring under misapprehension that varying tone can conceal absence of content. Spends most evenings sitting at home surrounded by fluorescent lights and stapling unwary moths to the walls of his beige bedsit. The Banish Bhasin campaign starts here and is far too neatly named to fail

Ian Thorpe - A (84%). Only docked points for being too good to be true. His failure to qualify enhanced rather than detracting from the Games. Baffling denial of sexuality only makes him more intriguing. Slightly disappointing to see him away from a desk, disproving compelling merman theory. A pleasure to experience Australia's unceremonious splashdown from pool predominance through his withering gaze

Denise Lewis - C (49%). Career based on beating a mediocre field at one competition doesn't come close to justifying unfettered superiority complex. Still, as heptathletes go, at least she's not world-renowned manipulative sulk Kelly Sotherton. Maniacal celebratory dancing certainly some compensation. Best remembered for trying and failing to get Mile End tube station renamed 'Mile End Park', so perhaps better employed as misleading advertising guru

Colin Jackson - D (33%). Great athlete, terrible broadcaster. The least he could do is chuck in the odd bit of dancing. All too easy to imagine him running out of fingers when called on to provide expert analysis of 400m hurdles stride patterns. Seems a thoroughly nice guy destined for slow death in light entertainment or unimaginative clairvoyance

Eddie Butler - D (43%). Did quite a good job of not ruining archery, though could not conceal desolation at absence of Brian Moore. Would prefer to be a slam poet judging by overwrought contributions to montagefest - confirmed by requirement for roll-necks and French cigarettes on now-legendary rider. Fervently believes that Welshmen evolved from dragons; tours principality lighting farts at well-attended functions to prove his point, and now spends most spare time lobbying Nobel committee for recognition

Steve Redgrave - E (23%). The more we see him out of a boat, the less we like him - should be cast adrift with crate of insulin and chocolate bars until he agrees to improve (reality TV gold). Unapologetically advocates cheating and fosters all-consuming irrational hatred for entire nation of Niger. Unconvincing mask of humility well and truly shattered. Predictably demanding and difficult off screen - refuses to sit down unless Matthew Pinsent stays directly behind him spritzing him with salty spittle


Monday, 13 August 2012

The BBC Olympics team: part 1 of our report cards

It might just be painfully obvious that we've loved every minute of the Olympics, and that's due in no small part to the superb coverage provided by the BBC. Special praise must be reserved for the hundreds of thousands of staff in their world-beating montage department, who've accumulated more exposure to saccharine schmaltz and Eddie Butler than can possibly be safe. All in the name of making people cry with laser-like precision. They have our undying gratitude. Not that we're undead, but… you know. It's a phrase. No-one likes a zombie owl: we get that now, and we've fired those marketing consultants.

Anyway, all things considered, they've done a fabulous job. But our screens and ears (and for the purposes of the rest of this sentence, our figurative fruit bowls) have still been infested with a veritable Tesco Value multipack of bad apples. For every Clare Balding, there's been a Trevor Nelson. Without further ado, here's the first instalment of our report cards on the presenters and commentators we've been subjected to over the past few weeks.

John Inverdale - F (8%). Competent at talking, but what does that achieve when each successive word annoys the bejeezus out of everyone? Smug beyond measure or reason; the personification of a smirk. Does not react appropriately in presence of greatness. Career makes strong case that BBC hiring criteria may begin and end at looking under nearest stone. Mentions own dead-end amateur rugby career far too often. Rarely presents behind a desk these days, perhaps due to discovery of his fondness for touching himself. Adopts editorial line of not giving a flying fuck about achievements of foreigners - nothing has happened until it happens to a Brit. Owns several pith helmets and might have missed vocation as well-funded but ultimately unsuccessful 18th century explorer.

Gary Lineker - F (12%). Cannot pronounce words with mouth. In English, at least - success with other languages as yet untested. Guttural utterances betray fundamental inability to understand sport or people. Based on apparent lack of interest or research, motive for branching out beyond football may be to defile Russian gymnasts. Reads scripted puns like a man trying to unlock a door with a watermelon: he'll get there, but only by throwing it through the window and leaving someone else to clean up the glass. Might be better suited to a role requiring him to deal only with potato-based snacks or inappropriate bowel movements.

Sue Barker - E (27%). Wimbledon yes, Jubilee yes. Anything with an audience beyond landed gentry with life-threatening brain injuries, not so much. Looks and dresses suspiciously like a pekinese - her fake human name should have been better disguised. Upgraded by one mark due to GoCompare mercy killing, though despite having a one-word script she even managed to make that boring. A Question Of Sport akin to being smothered inefficiently with a soiled knock-off cashmere blanket.

Matt Baker - D (43%). Jack-off of all trades now turning his hand to churning out vague gymnastics commentary while usurped experts scrabble around mopping up his slimy trails of bullshit. Smooth like a GI Joe; probably lacks genitalia but no realistic danger of anyone ever trying to find out. Maintains the pretence of having a family by hiring actors and mentioning them too much. Career progressing as if he's been nailed to an unmanned galleon heading inexorably toward wrecking on the rocks of the Antiques Roadshow.

Gabby Logan - E (19%). Failed gymnast and dancer on fast-track to completing career hat-trick. Presents like a golem - shuts down as soon as one unscripted word is called for and always slightly too late in trying to cover with inane laughter. Two unattractive personalities fighting over controls of a nosediving spaceship and rattling around like scared woodlice in an empty bucket. At least the live broadcast experiment seems to be over. Spinning incompetence as light-heartedness might not work forever.

Clare Balding - A (99.4%). Docked an arbitrary 0.6% for ingrained belief that dressage is a justifiable Olympic sport. Otherwise perfect. Intelligent, articulate, interested, passionate: asks sensible questions, enhances viewing experience, not just another identikit media studies graduate. Must be given precedence over her inferior colleagues in future, or BBC may lose her to successful career as owner of intellectual property rights to infectious celebration poses. Would welcome return of skilled ventriloquism act with wooden dummy Willie Carson back on her knee.

Mishal Husain - C (54%). Bland but comprehensible. Distant and cold, but interesting to get her planet's take on unfolding events. Lack of documentary evidence to the contrary suggests she was created in a laboratory three weeks ago. Reports suggest she fades into wallpaper rather than ever leaving studio - somewhat disturbing, but popular with colleagues as declining population of nearby insects cannot be a coincidence.

Trevor Nelson - F (7%). Played golf with a footballer once and sometimes wears hats so seemed ideally suited to put epoch-defining opening ceremony into proper context. Three weeks later, found standing on Haringey street corners offering to name producers of mid-90s R&B hits for pocket change, and still seems out of his depth. Possible route to redemption as grotesque carnival sideshow on MOTD2, but only if used by Machiavellian producer to undermine football's suffocating ubiquity from within.

Jake Humphrey - B (76%). He might not look telegenic or sound remotely interesting, but may yet overcome both handicaps. Listens to guests and reacts unprompted. Uses height to ably apply BBC house style of looking down on everyone. We're taken aback by his sudden improvement: surprisingly wide range of Chinese swimming contacts, so use of performance-enhancing drugs cannot be ruled out. Travels widely - ostensibly to cover fast cars, but cocaine smuggling another possibility. High tolerance for Eddie Jordan an obvious character flaw.

Garry Richardson - F (2%). Unfeasibly pompous. Ends far too many questions with "please" in mistaken belief that this is polite rather than its polar opposite. Dismissive and patronising. Cold, dead eyes; incapable of experiencing or conveying human emotion. Arrogance most likely derived from having killed. Known to arrange offsite interviews in attempt to control subjects' lives and bend them to his will. Sign on dressing room door apparently reads "The Puppetmaster". Query: syphilitic megalomaniac? Impossible to imagine him doing everyday tasks. May need to be forcibly withdrawn from circulation for safety of others.

Pending legal clearance, parts two and three should follow shortly. In the meantime, do let us know if there's anyone else you think deserves to be subjected to the withering scrutiny of our swivelling eyes.