[QUOTE=War Admiral;6486655]
I dunno, he was very knowledgeable for sure, but he took plenty of cheap shots at the USA for “lowering the standards of dressage w/ [their] helmet campaign” [/QUOTE]
Wow. Really? Increasing rider safety is lowering the standards??
That’s a… very interesting view. :rolleyes:
She clearly doesn’t. She completely misidentified a movement in the test (extended walk vs. free walk) as well as saying that it is in the test to give them a “break.” Seriously? It would be ok for a commentator to say that the reason the water jump is in show jumping is to give the horses a break from jumping high? It’s equally as absurd.
Of course h/j riders use dressage basics in their training and the upper level ones should be able to do a decent 3rd level test. But there’s a world of difference between 3rd level and GP and it’s not acceptable to have someone comment on a sport they don’t understand.
She was annoying to me during the GPS. I watched what was aired on TV. Every horse she would say how the GPS test is about endurance and the passage was to show the core strength of the horse. Once is OK, but every horse?
Then instead of berating Melanie because she doesn’t meet your standards for a dressage commentator, I suggest you start a letter writing campaign to force NBC to hire separate commentators for each discipline. Oh, and who you think that should be.
Good luck on this journey.
[QUOTE=lauriep;6486864]
Then instead of berating Melanie because she doesn’t meet your standards for a dressage commentator, I suggest you start a letter writing campaign to force NBC to hire separate commentators for each discipline. Oh, and who you think that should be.
Good luck on this journey.[/QUOTE]
this seems like crazy talk. Fixing the problem is not nearly as fun as incessantly bitching about it. (just so nobody gets offended I’m being snarky here)
But thanks for the :lol:
[QUOTE=lauriep;6486864]
Then instead of berating Melanie because she doesn’t meet your standards for a dressage commentator, I suggest you start a letter writing campaign to force NBC to hire separate commentators for each discipline. Oh, and who you think that should be.
Good luck on this journey.[/QUOTE]
Been there. Done that. After Barcelona and having to put up with her uneducated and inane nattering during dressage.
She has a basic understanding of dressage. She is in NO WAY qualified to give commentary on the highest levels.
To have her covering ALL sports is (as I’ve pointed out before) akin to having Michael Phelps do commentary on swimming in races, synchronized swimming and diving just because they all happen in a pool. :rolleyes:
If they really are going to lump all of our sports together and have one person do the commentary, then at least get someone who has a clue and maybe get an eventer who has a LEAST touched on all aspects of the three sports in some fashion. Having a jumper rider do dressage (and x-country) is just SO WRONG and NBC just can’t understand their mistake. We have tried to explain it to them nicely (yes, years before a group of online people tried without all the snarking) and they just could not understand it. To them, horse back riding is someone sitting on top and being a passenger in ALL situations. Why can’t Melanie speak to that? She’s been a passenger on horses her entire life. Doesn’t matter if it was over fences or doing reining. It all is the same thing to them. They’re clueless. And there’s not need for them to care in this country because I’m betting she’s not that expensive, they have used her forever and know they can get her (another problem since she’s out of touch these days) and no one watches our sports anyway, right??? We don’t make them money. We don’t matter.
She is no longer “out of touch.”. She has been around the major competitions almost continuously since her husband died.
But your response still doesn’t make right the nasty, mean spirited posts here, by so many people, including you, Velvet. NBC offers her the job, she takes it because she a) needs to make a living, b) likes doing it and c) likes to travel to these venues. So, is she supposed to say to NBC, listen, a bunch of people I don’t know don’t like how I do my job, so I am going to have to turn you down so you are forced to hire three experts (who I am sure they will ALL be able to agree on) to do each of the three disc lines. Thanks ever so much for asking me, but I must listen to the COTH’S BB posters.
If you have tried and failed to have her replaced, then I guess you need to try harder. Petitions are nice. Maybe you should go that route…
[QUOTE=lauriep;6486864]
Then instead of berating Melanie because she doesn’t meet your standards for a dressage commentator, I suggest you start a letter writing campaign to force NBC to hire separate commentators for each discipline. Oh, and who you think that should be.
Good luck on this journey.[/QUOTE]
In fact, I have done so.
If you are so upset about this thread and how negative it is, perhaps you could stop visiting it?
Um, wow, lauriep, just…wow. I’m gobsmacked by the way you view things.
If a person is not good at a job they should admit it and find one they are good at and not hang on to it doing and putting in a piss poor performance. Especially not someone who did win medals at the top of her sport and knows the dedication it takes to get there. Instead, she is knowingly doing a BAD job and is not allowing experts the opportunity to help those other sports by HELPING NBC find people who can actually do a good job.
I think her attitude is selfish. She is looking only to line her own pockets. She thinks nothing of the sports IF her attitude is the one that you are putting forth.
I actually think she’s just amazingly clueless about what she DOESN’T know. She’s working from a position of arrogance. She can’t see the forest–and not because of all those darned trees, but because she chooses NOT to see the forest or the trees! Because she says they aren’t there, then they absolutely cannot be there or are not allowed to be there.
It sounds like you’re working from the latter position yourself, based on your replies. You just are so in love with her and so blind to the other sports that you are unable to see that she’s not qualified, should not have the job and is doing harm to other horse sports in the Olympics when NBC uses her. Well, if she’s not hurting them she certainly is NOT helping them!
What amazes me is that my non-horsey husband can hear how bad her comments are.
Don’t know her personally, but have heard her improve - especially from the 1st time I heard her in 1984 on ABC. Then she spoke of eventing from a SJ viewpoint which was unknowledgeble and rude at best. Now she presents better information to the general public about both eventing and dressage and of course her sport of SJ.
Could she be better - yeah. But for pespective, listen to the woman on diving. She is far worse than MST.
[QUOTE=fooler;6487341]
Don’t know her personally, but have heard her improve - especially from the 1st time I heard her in 1984 on ABC. [/QUOTE]
As I recall, she was still competing in 1984, and winning a gold medal at the Olympics that year. So maybe she was a little short on free time to work on her broadcast skills.
I’m watching on a feed that has no commentator. When there is alot of ambient noise, I just mute it. Other than the freestyles, it’s fine to watch with no audio,
So those who hate the commentator, Whythe fruitbat can’t you just mute it if it bothers you so much. You really don’t need to hear the horses breathing to enjoy the ride. The scores are displayed on the screen.
I am beyond thrilled :)that I can watch this LIVE FOR FREE!!! maybe because I am old enough to remember when the only way to watch Olympic dressage was to buy the videos long after the fact. I think Sydney was the last one I bought. I don’t even mind the ads because that’s why it is freeeeeeee:cool:
I have been watching the BBC feed so have not heard MST’s commentary.
I believe (after remote control) the mute button on the television remote is one of the finest inventions to come along in T.V. technology . If I was watching any competition and didn’t enjoy the commentary I would use it. :yes:
Crockpot, good points!! :yes:
[QUOTE=Velvet;6487319]
Um, wow, lauriep, just…wow. I’m gobsmacked by the way you view things.
If a person is not good at a job they should admit it and find one they are good at and not hang on to it doing and putting in a piss poor performance. Especially not someone who did win medals at the top of her sport and knows the dedication it takes to get there. Instead, she is knowingly doing a BAD job and is not allowing experts the opportunity to help those other sports by HELPING NBC find people who can actually do a good job.
I think her attitude is selfish. She is looking only to line her own pockets. She thinks nothing of the sports IF her attitude is the one that you are putting forth.
I actually think she’s just amazingly clueless about what she DOESN’T know. She’s working from a position of arrogance. She can’t see the forest–and not because of all those darned trees, but because she chooses NOT to see the forest or the trees! Because she says they aren’t there, then they absolutely cannot be there or are not allowed to be there.
It sounds like you’re working from the latter position yourself, based on your replies. You just are so in love with her and so blind to the other sports that you are unable to see that she’s not qualified, should not have the job and is doing harm to other horse sports in the Olympics when NBC uses her. Well, if she’s not hurting them she certainly is NOT helping them![/QUOTE]
OMG. Not even going to respond.
[QUOTE=lauriep;6487254]
But your response still doesn’t make right the nasty, mean spirited posts here, by so many people, including you, Velvet. NBC offers her the job, she takes it because she a) needs to make a living, b) likes doing it and c) likes to travel to these venues. So, is she supposed to say to NBC, listen, a bunch of people I don’t know don’t like how I do my job, so I am going to have to turn you down so you are forced to hire three experts (who I am sure they will ALL be able to agree on) to do each of the three disc lines. Thanks ever so much for asking me, but I must listen to the COTH’S BB posters.
If you have tried and failed to have her replaced, then I guess you need to try harder. Petitions are nice. Maybe you should go that route…[/QUOTE]
Viewer feedback is usually important to a network.
Viewer/audience feedback is important to anyone in broadcasting who takes their job seriously. Maybe MST doesn’t know those people who make negative comments about her on-air work, but she should pay attention to what they say and learn from it.
And please don’t go on about All You Mean Haters because in the real world of sports broadcasting MST has about 1/50th of the audience of, say, an NFL or NBA team and about 1/10000000th of the negative criticism. Sports fans aren’t known for their Monday-morning restraint.
Good broadcasters develop a relationship to the fans and join in the ebb and flow of feedback. I hope MST does some of this IRL as it can only improve her work.
(Disclosure: BIL does the on-air work for an NFL team. I know how the job is done, 99% is not during the game. And it’s hard work.)
Velvet, what are your dressage, or for that matter, horse related credentials? Please tell us…you have over 13,000 posts and seem to spend all day on the Chronicle Forums. If you are a trainer, judge, rider, medalist, then you should have no problem sharing that with us because as I see it, you are in the minority. If you have credentials then I might give your comments credence. But until then, your just another hater that hides behind screen names.
Zevida, which did she mis-identify? I am confused by your post…
[QUOTE=sunshinestate;6487642]
Velvet, what are your dressage, or for that matter, horse related credentials? Please tell us…you have over 13,000 posts and seem to spend all day on the Chronicle Forums. If you are a trainer, judge, rider, medalist, then you should have no problem sharing that with us because as I see it, you are in the minority. If you have credentials then I might give your comments credence. But until then, your just another hater that hides behind screen names.[/QUOTE]
At 139 posts in 2 years, I’m guessing you’re someone’s alter-alter. :lol: One that is only pulled out to back up something you’ve said with your original alter.
You really need a lesson in reading comprehension. First, I’m definitely not in the minority. Oops, that would take some math skills, you’d actually have to go back, add up the positive and negative posts on this forum and the other one, making sure a poster is only counted once and then figure out the percentage.
Second, I’ve been out here since 2000, so, really, post counting is your way to judge how much free time a person has? Oops, looks like we’re back to math. Why not figure out how many long and short posts I’ve made. Oh, also figure out 365 times 12 (or there about, because you’d have to look at my start date and the current date to get an accurate number of days I’ve been out here), then divide that number by my posts. Go on, have some fun.
Third, and now time for reading comprehension 101. This is NOT ABOUT MY CREDENTIALS. This is about MST having NONE in international dressage. Not to mention that fact that all she’s ever done is count strides (seriously NOT the most important part of a test and is only a part of the judging decision on pirouettes and changes, but she doesn’t even know THAT) and natter on about how to correctly pronounce the horse’s names and how they “look” in their latest attire when she does open her mouth on NBC.
By your standards if I’m a rider who has only just started playing with dressage, I should be more than qualified to judge MST’s skills, or lack thereof. So, you kind of shot yourself in the foot with your argument, didn’t you? :lol: (Or, to steal a line from the movie “Easy A”, you kind of shot that horse in the face. :lol: )
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