"experts" not seeing all the games each round

[flight23]

every week gary lyon "i didn't see the game but...."

robert walls does it a bit as well

it seems stupid that these "experts" are commentating and talking about the games and the future of the game to thousands/millions of people and don't even watch all the games

i know they've got media commitments, but so what, theres only 8 games a week

 

[stmookeyj]

So you're telling me that you can watch every game a weekend every weekend without having some sort of life or having to travel to see live games and working during others, then appearing on other shows before having to appear on other programs often hours after games then? Good luck to you then.

 

[E Shed]

So you're telling me that you can watch every game a weekend every weekend without having some sort of life or having to travel to see live games and working during others, then appearing on other shows before having to appear on other programs often hours after games then? Good luck to you then.

What are you talking about? How hard would it be to carry a laptop and watch the games you missed on the flight back and forth? Lets face it if they wanted to watch all the games they could. More likely the last thing they feel like doing is watching another game of footy so they just talk out their ass for and hour or so on air. Any serious fan like the ones who spend half their lives here know more about their team than most of the media personalities.

 

[flight23]

lyon would be on what a couple of hundred grand


i reckon i could give it a crack for a couple of hundred grand



i didn't see the game, but...... richmond are on the way up


cheers gary, i may as well have asked my tv remote for its opinion

 

[Damon_3388]

I've noticed this with Garry Lyon and James Hird (On the Couch) a bit, and it always annoys me when they say they "didn't see the game".

I watch nearly every AFL game every weekend, and I have a job, social life, study at uni and have a number of interests aside from football. Surely being in the football media (as in, that's your job and your main focus), you'd find the time to watch the sport on which you're focussing on. It's not like the NBA where there's sometimes 40 games a week. There's only 8 games per week in AFL. It wouldn't be that hard for them to source the footage of each game at some point during the week, even if they can't watch every game live (due to travel/commentary commitments).

If these people in the football media aren't willing to watch enough football to at least have an informed opinion on each team (Lyon would probably still fence-sit regardless, but anyway), then they should give their jobs to someone who is - namely, me I wouldn't even ask for a Lyon-esque paypacket. $50,000 a year would do me fine.

 

[estibador]

So you're telling me that you can watch every game a weekend every weekend without having some sort of life or having to travel to see live games and working during others, then appearing on other shows before having to appear on other programs often hours after games then? Good luck to you then.

Mate most people on here would work 40hrs a week or so. With modern technology how hard would it be for these 'professionals' to squeeze in 16 hours of football a week considering they get paid to do so?

F**k me, they have a job every one of us on here would kill for.. and one we already pretty much do for free anyway - to watch football for a living and talk about it afterwards.

If that means they have to forgo their Sunday evening BBQ to watch a replay of a match or three then tough shit - plenty of us have to make much bigger and much less enjoyable sacrifices for our work (often for much less pay too).

When your entire job consists of commenting on footy games is it really that much to ask that you watch all of them? I would have thought it was the very least that was expected of you. Would you hire a lawyer that only knew half his text books?

 

[hilly]

I've noticed this with Garry Lyon and James Hird (On the Couch) a bit, and it always annoys me when they say they "didn't see the game".

I think Hirdy just catches the Essendon game and about 45 minutes of the games he provides 'special' comments for.

 

[SpecialComments]

lyon would be on what a couple of hundred grand


i reckon i could give it a crack for a couple of hundred grand



i didn't see the game, but...... richmond are on the way up


cheers gary, i may as well have asked my tv remote for its opinion

I reckon he gets bucketloads of $$$$

$300k from Channel 9
$100k from Radio
$100k from Newspaper

Best Job in the world, and he doesn't even have to do it properly!

 

[Omegaville]

robert walls does it a bit as well

it seems stupid that these "experts" are commentating and talking about the games and the future of the game to thousands/millions of people and don't even watch all the games

I think Wallsy doesn't even watch the games that he's commenting on.

Craig Hutchison definitely doesn't watch the games, hence his opinion always differs from the general public's.

 

[Partridge]

Mate most people on here would work 40hrs a week or so. With modern technology how hard would it be for these 'professionals' to squeeze in 16 hours of football a week considering they get paid to do so?

F**k me, they have a job every one of us on here would kill for.. and one we already pretty much do for free anyway - to watch football for a living and talk about it afterwards.

When your entire job consists of commenting on footy games is it really that much to ask that you watch all of them? I would have thought it was the very least that was expected of you. Would you hire a lawyer that only knew half his text books?

Well said. It comes back to the fundamental problem with the football media here - they are barely literate, at best average educated, and worst of all - totally unprofessional yobs in an enormous boys' club. They will rarely if ever be criticised, apart from sites like this never analysed in a rigourous manner, and they have no standards to be held up to. I would really struggle to name five members of the football media I respect - in all formats.

What's also illustrated it is watching SBS for the World Cup. The difference in commentary (for starters) is amazing. No egos, no terrible attempts at humour, no mates telling in-jokes during the game, no clamouring for rules to be changed every three minutes. No, what you receive (as you rightly should) is unbiased, impartial analysis of the game, with just enough input from the commentor to add insight where necessary. It's an absolute pleasure to behold.

Unfortunately the local product here is never going to change. Not while they aren't held up to any standards.

 

[Bloods]

Absolutely spot on. Lyon is clearly the worst offender and Ive been saying the same thing for years.

It's their job, of course they should watch every game. Notice they always comment on the game, regardless if they've seen it too.

I started a similar thread a couple of years ago - http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=481598

 

[TradeDraft]

What's also illustrated it is watching SBS for the World Cup. The difference in commentary (for starters) is amazing. No egos, no terrible attempts at humour, no mates telling in-jokes during the game, no clamouring for rules to be changed every three minutes. No, what you receive (as you rightly should) is unbiased, impartial analysis of the game, with just enough input from the commentor to add insight where necessary. It's an absolute pleasure to behold.

Expect for maybe Craig Foster who just to seems to be a Bandwaggoner

 

[grizzlym]

Well said. It comes back to the fundamental problem with the football media here - they are barely literate, at best average educated, and worst of all - totally unprofessional yobs in an enormous boys' club.

AKA the retired player's superannuation top-up gig.

 

[anti_]

pisses me off too. these guys get paid to talk footy, the least they can do is watch every game of the round.

walls does it every week...'i didnt see the game but...<exhale> from what i heard'.

then he'll just talk about carlton.

 

[enzso]

I think it's entirely reasonable to expect an expert commentator to have seen some or all of every game in each round.

But don't get carried away by saying things like squeezing in "16 hours of football in a week" is possible. Someone like James Hird or Gary Lyon is on telly on a Monday night - and so seeing every game by Monday night is a little more challenging don't you agree?

 

[Damon_3388]

But don't get carried away by saying things like squeezing in "16 hours of football in a week" is possible. Someone like James Hird or Gary Lyon is on telly on a Monday night - and so seeing every game by Monday night is a little more challenging don't you agree?

They can't at the very least watch The Winners on Sunday night on Fox Sports 1, so they've got some semblance of who might have played well, and the major highlights of each game? Or they can't spend Monday (daytime) watching a couple of games/extended highlights?

 

[dockers_bengals]

It annoys me too,there is no excuse with todays technology and the access they have to it that they can't watch every game by sunday night,its their jobs FFS.
Walls trashed Freo "On the Couch" once after watching the last 5 mins of the game.

 

[anti_]

Walls also makes judgements based on the few games he's seen of a player.

i remember one time, Freo played richmond at the MCG...2005 i think. pavlich had an average game and freo lost. he then lambasted pavlich on the couch and wrote a scathing article about him based on this game, where really, everyone knows it was an anomoly for pavlich.

it's quite funny watching Ch10 games where west coast/freo play and he's never even heard of half the players. then he comments on their capabilities based on the few quarters he's seen of them.

makes him a shit expert.

 

[Slattery_20]

Go easy on Walls, he can watch an entire match and still have no idea what happened!

Half these guys have fairly big (if not quite full-time) committments every week. I know Hird is doing financial stuff, Dermot's off filming Getaway etc etc etc. Plus obviously family committments etc. That's why they don't.

The question is not why these guys don't see every game... it's why are they still in a job ?

I can see why a Hird etc would do it... Ch10 would offer them fair coin for what boils down to basically, **** all work: the cache of having these big names makes it worth the punt, because people will tune in to see how they go.

I've got no doubt if they auditioned 5 or 10 generic punters a month they'd find a couple of good talents. Is that what the majority of punters want tho? To hear Barry Bloggs from Narre Sth offering spot on insights? Or would they rather hear what a Lyon/Hird has to say, however well-informed?

 

[Damon_3388]

Go easy on Walls, he can watch an entire match and still have no idea what happened!

Half these guys have fairly big (if not quite full-time) committments every week. I know Hird is doing financial stuff, Dermot's off filming Getaway etc etc etc. Plus obviously family committments etc. That's why they don't.

The question is not why these guys don't see every game... it's why are they still in a job ?

I can see why a Hird etc would do it... Ch10 would offer them fair coin for what boils down to basically, **** all work: the cache of having these big names makes it worth the punt, because people will tune in to see how they go.

I've got no doubt if they auditioned 5 or 10 generic punters a month they'd find a couple of good talents. Is that what the majority of punters want tho? To hear Barry Bloggs from Narre Sth offering spot on insights? Or would they rather hear what a Lyon/Hird has to say, however well-informed?

I might be in the minority, but I'd much prefer a 'nobody' who watches games and knows what he's talking about, rather than an uninformed fence-sitter like Garry Lyon.

 

[Partridge]

Go easy on Walls, he can watch an entire match and still have no idea what happened!

I've got no doubt if they auditioned 5 or 10 generic punters a month they'd find a couple of good talents. Is that what the majority of punters want tho? To hear Barry Bloggs from Narre Sth offering spot on insights? Or would they rather hear what a Lyon/Hird has to say, however well-informed?

Easy choice for me - I'd rather a nobody delivering precise and accurate insights, especially if they don't have a bias or agenda. My favourite caller before he passed away was Clinton Grybas - totally professional, excellent caller, didn't go over the top - and I had no idea who he followed. Because you couldn't tell.

But I know I'm in the minority.

 

[Slattery_20]

You have struck gold there, brother damon. There's a quote somewhere from some boffin from an era past - roughly goes "no-one's ever lost money under-rating the intelligence of their audience" (I'd appreciate if someone could point me towards a source and correct quote, but that's the gist of it)

Keep in mind that in this country, dancing with the stars & the X factor rate pretty highly. There is a fairly large number of stupid people who will watch any old shit as long as it's got lots of bright lights and shiny "celebrities". What commercial TV networks sell is the ability to keep the interest of these consumers for 5 minute segments between ads.

Quality just doesn't come into the equation.

 

[SJ]

I think it's entirely reasonable to expect an expert commentator to have seen some or all of every game in each round.

But don't get carried away by saying things like squeezing in "16 hours of football in a week" is possible. Someone like James Hird or Gary Lyon is on telly on a Monday night - and so seeing every game by Monday night is a little more challenging don't you agree?

Not really.

Anyone in the footy media should be watching one game on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, and two on Sunday live (at the ground or on television) as a start, so by 7PM Sunday they should only have three left. By Monday night they have had time to view the other three.

 

[GPW1]

^^^this. and watching a taped game, you can skip through the ads/quarter time/half time etc, and watch the game in about 2 hours.

one game sunday night, two monday morn and your done by lunchtime monday.

 

[Strachuniee]

What's also illustrated it is watching SBS for the World Cup. The difference in commentary (for starters) is amazing. No egos, no terrible attempts at humour, no mates telling in-jokes during the game, no clamouring for rules to be changed every three minutes. No, what you receive (as you rightly should) is unbiased, impartial analysis of the game, with just enough input from the commentor to add insight where necessary. It's an absolute pleasure to behold.

Unfortunately the local product here is never going to change. Not while they aren't held up to any standards.

Ummm have you been watching the same world cup?? Some of the commentary has been absolutely atrocious. And to suggest that there has been no bias