Ronald McIntosh - is he the best ever?!

[CaptainSpacerod]

dead air is only an issue on radio

"Dead air is a crime"

Alan Partridge changed the world of sports broadcasting

His character exaggerated the occasional little absurdities of sports reporters and commentators. Post Partridge many of them, particularly the new breed, seemed to be more like Partridge than Partridge himself, babbling inanely on with ridiculous intensity. Clare Balding is the perfect example. Do none of them realise he was a parody.

[jameswilson]

dead air is only an issue on radio

"Dead air is a crime"

Alan Partridge changed the world of sports broadcasting

His character exaggerated the occasional little absurdities of sports reporters and commentators. Post Partridge many of them, particularly the new breed, seemed to be more like Partridge than Partridge himself, babbling inanely on with ridiculous intensity. Clare Balding is the perfect example. Do none of them realise he was a parody.

The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding in this case......is a football.

[Bodyshot3]

Can live wth Ron - you really can fault his sheer, almost child-like enthusiasm for a factoid and Richie usually bails him out - but Inverdale is definitely an acquired taste.

Hopeless questions to AJ which Joshua (to his credit) largely ignored and terrible interviewing of the fighters as well...who instantly spoke with AJ rather than turning to the bell-end in the bright pink polo shirt.

Redgrave seemed to have had his fill of Inverdale at the rowing...half-tempted to see AJ launch 'Invers' into Row Z.

[Tuan_Jim]

Iain Darke, Reg Gutteridge and Harry Carpenter. British commentary begins and ends there. The art is now lost - or of no relevence - and a new culture of uncritical canine-like affection for house fighters has become the standard, delivered in the form of inane and ceaseless babble.

Ron sounds like a man who has studied Darke endlessly, but performs as competently as would a man who had been allowed to box having only ever trained in his bedroom, alone, imitating Muhammad Ali tapes.

[rd350lc]

Iain Darke, Reg Gutteridge and Harry Carpenter. British commentary begins and ends there. The art is now lost - or of no relevence - and a new culture of uncritical canine-like affection for house fighters has become the standard, delivered in the form of inane and ceaseless babble.

Ron sounds like a man who has studied Darke endlessly, but performs as competently as would a man who had been allowed to box having only ever trained in his bedroom, alone, imitating Muhammad Ali tapes.

Agreed Harry was the best ever for me , thought Gutteridge threw in the " two falls and a submission " line a bit too much and wonder why Sky ever ditched Iain Darke , he was always so passionate and knew his onions .

Ron don't seem like a bad bloke tho' , just get's a touch of McGuigans' syndrome from time to time .

[Flump]

Iain Darke, Reg Gutteridge and Harry Carpenter. British commentary begins and ends there. The art is now lost - or of no relevence - and a new culture of uncritical canine-like affection for house fighters has become the standard, delivered in the form of inane and ceaseless babble.

Ron sounds like a man who has studied Darke endlessly, but performs as competently as would a man who had been allowed to box having only ever trained in his bedroom, alone, imitating Muhammad Ali tapes.

Agreed Harry was the best ever for me , thought Gutteridge threw in the " two falls and a submission " line a bit too much and wonder why Sky ever ditched Iain Darke , he was always so passionate and knew his onions .

Ron don't seem like a bad bloke tho' , just get's a touch of McGuigans' syndrome from time to time .

I think it was the other way round, he got a job in the states with ESPN and then moved to BT if I'm not mistaken, almost exclusively football.

[thepocketrocket]

I feel it could possibly be the Mcintosh- Woodhall combination that kills us off.

Woodhall is the most biased, blind commentator I have ever seen. He helps ruin the olympic boxing for me. Mcintosh isn't clued up enough to contradict him, so you get his verbosity, and Woodhall's bias blaring at you through the screen.

[keirw]

I feel it could possibly be the Mcintosh- Woodhall combination that kills us off.

Woodhall is the most biased, blind commentator I have ever seen. He helps ruin the olympic boxing for me. Mcintosh isn't clued up enough to contradict him, so you get his verbosity, and Woodhall's bias blaring at you through the screen.

I wouldn't say he is the most biased, but he was clearly rooting for the GB fighters, not surprising considering he has got to know so many of them over the years in Sheffield.

It is the same in the other sports as well though, Cram in the athletics, Redgrave in the rowing, Boardman in the cycling, Taylor in the diving etc... Were all clearly rooting for British participants, it is just the way BBC Olympic coverage is.

[thepocketrocket]

I feel it could possibly be the Mcintosh- Woodhall combination that kills us off.

Woodhall is the most biased, blind commentator I have ever seen. He helps ruin the olympic boxing for me. Mcintosh isn't clued up enough to contradict him, so you get his verbosity, and Woodhall's bias blaring at you through the screen.

I wouldn't say he is the most biased, but he was clearly rooting for the GB fighters, not surprising considering he has got to know so many of them over the years in Sheffield.

It is the same in the other sports as well though, Cram in the athletics, Redgrave in the rowing, Boardman in the cycling, Taylor in the diving etc... Were all clearly rooting for British participants, it is just the way BBC Olympic coverage is.

The difference is, you can't pretend Adam Gemili has beaten Usain Bolt when Bolt is finishing first. However, in boxing, you can start telling the viewer they are seeing something they aren't. British fighters win a stinker "ooh, great performance". British fighter gets schooled "ooh, he was really unlucky there" (after three rounds of ignoring the other guys work)

[dondada]

Ron is a good lad, very dedicated and knowledgeable. I like him as a commentator too though, as Jimbo says, too many TV commentators these days work a lot harder than they need to. Less is more and all that (when there is a viewer rather than listener).

I wouldn't underestimate how difficult it is to commentate on hundreds of fights over a relatively short period. Even the best end up talking themselves into a stupor after a while.

The finest example of this was Steve Holdsworth on Eurosport - he used to have to carry a long show on his own, no support whatsoever and ended up getting into a tangle on more than one occasion, despite his good knowledge.

Boxing must be one of the very few sports that is often better on radio than on telly - especially when you have the likes of Mike Costello calling it. I'm not sure why that's the case. Weird.

[Counter-puncher]

Nice to see you, Ian

[dondada]

Nice to see you, Ian

Cheers pal, you too - hope you've been behaving yourself

[Loynesy]

Welcome back Ian, always respect your views.

Sorry to sound like a tosser, as I'm sure Ron is a decent fella (have met him a few times), but he can be woeful as a commentator - he's overly verbose, and uses 25 words when none would do.

[coneye]

Probably repeats himself for the guys who just turned on ..... I did dit down in front of the tele and commentated a fight myself , just to see how i would go ... I stopped when i seen the missis whispering down the phone , i asked her whats she's doing and she said ,, calling a ambulance you finally cracked ,, Naw i said its an experiment and explained it to her ,,, she said , Well you should of turned the tele on ya plonker

[Boxerbeetle]

Probably repeats himself for the guys who just turned on ..... I did dit down in front of the tele and commentated a fight myself , just to see how i would go ... I stopped when i seen the missis whispering down the phone , i asked her whats she's doing and she said ,, calling a ambulance you finally cracked ,, Naw i said its an experiment and explained it to her ,,, she said , Well you should of turned the tele on ya plonker

[Counter-puncher]

[jamesmcdonnell]

Ron is a good lad, very dedicated and knowledgeable. I like him as a commentator too though, as Jimbo says, too many TV commentators these days work a lot harder than they need to. Less is more and all that (when there is a viewer rather than listener).

I wouldn't underestimate how difficult it is to commentate on hundreds of fights over a relatively short period. Even the best end up talking themselves into a stupor after a while.

The finest example of this was Steve Holdsworth on Eurosport - he used to have to carry a long show on his own, no support whatsoever and ended up getting into a tangle on more than one occasion, despite his good knowledge.

Boxing must be one of the very few sports that is often better on radio than on telly - especially when you have the likes of Mike Costello calling it. I'm not sure why that's the case. Weird.

Steve used to really go off on one, his commentary reminded me a bit of Wogan doing Eurovision, always felt there was a slightly sardonic edge to the commentary, not surprisingly, as some of the fights he had to cover were truly dreadful, the IBC Strawweight Latvian Waste Disposal Silver Belt and such like.

[Coco]

It's like saying Joe Hart isn't good enough to play for England and being told you try it, being an international goalkeeper is hard.