[QUOTE=Fluffie;6489906]
I’ve been called worse by better. ;)[/QUOTE]
Now that’s a good line! :lol:
[QUOTE=lovey1121;6489940]
Terri, I LOVED Axel’s commentary at Gladstone, and hope that perhaps something can be worked out for 2016. :yes:[/QUOTE]
another vote for Axel in 2016!
[QUOTE=tm;6489900]
Snoopy, where do you live? I’m glad that you had better tv coverage than we didl, but I’m also glad that I could see all the rides on line.
As for commentating, I’m very biased: I’m married to the guy who many here think would be the right person to do the dressage commentary. (Hint: 5* judge, initials A.S.) 
So … I know good commentating when I hear it, but today I was just pleased at the small improvements I heard in the broadcast team that we had.[/QUOTE]
tm, I’d LOVE to see your husband as the NBC dressage commentator. He was fantastic for Gladstone & I’ve always learned a lot thru my earbuds when he’s done judge’s perspective /view from C critiques.
Maybe we should start a fund to get Axel to commentate at the Olympics. Perhaps NBC will actually HEAR the complaints if we offer up an already paid commentator?:lol::lol::lol:
In my experience, I have never seen NBC actually listen to complaints from their viewers. They just keep on keeping on.
[QUOTE=chancellor2;6490581]
In my experience, I have never seen NBC actually listen to complaints from their viewers. They just keep on keeping on.[/QUOTE]
Too true! If they listened, they might actually beat CBS in the ratings. :lol: Guess their execs egos are too large. If we said they did something wrong, then they’d be to blame.
[QUOTE=Velvet;6490645]
Too true! If they listened, they might actually beat CBS in the ratings. :lol: Guess their execs egos are too large. If we said they did something wrong, then they’d be to blame. ;)[/QUOTE]
Either that or they have a show jumper on the payroll who, like several here, think Melanie is doing a bang up job.
[QUOTE=chancellor2;6490653]
Either that or they have a show jumper on the payroll who, like several here, think Melanie is doing a bang up job.[/QUOTE]
Only on the show jumping. :lol:
Here’s a thought. Turn the sound off. That way you won’t be offended.
[QUOTE=CruisingforGold;6490870]
Here’s a thought. Turn the sound off. That way you won’t be offended.[/QUOTE]
Another brilliant thought from someone…and we also wouldn’t hear the music during the kur.
Here’s another thought, get a commentator who knows what the hell she is talking about. Why is that so hard?
I just peeked in here and am surprised and amused to see this still going. Velvet, do you have some personal grudge against MST…so much energy being expelled here. I loved the gymnastics but Tim Daggett really really annoys me…that did not do a thing to dampen my enjoyment and I cannot imagine ranting about him for 4 DAYS!!! Much more coverage (all of it) was on the computer with that nice Englishman…why not just watch that if she distresses you so. Boy, I would not want you as my enemy!
ps The networks do listen to letters believe me…they just need to hear from a LOT of people to effect a change.
I watched on internet mostly so I was just mildly surprised at the very negative comments on Melanie’s commentating, not really interested personally.
Then I met some horsey friends to watch some of it together one night - they are absolutely, completely totally in love with Melanie Smith Taylor as commentator. They were still repeating things she had said the day before with delight and saying how much they missed her that night (we were watching an internet version very little said at all).
I casually mentioned many horse people thought she wasn’t giving as educated comments as she should - their response, they weren’t taking a lesson from her, just trying to enjoy watching, and her comments added to their enjoyment. I thought they had a point.
It doesn’t matter to me, I just turn the volume down most of the time no matter who is talking. I learned to do that with ice skating, where the commentators would ruin it for me by pointing out flaws I wouldn’t have noticed - with no talk I could appreciate the pure beauty of their movements & skill!
I love it when people get all high and mighty about free stuff.:lol:
I don’t mind MST at all (but then I don’t really watch the dressage, just eventing and showjumping).
I just wish NBC would stop hauling Ryan Seacrest out for every non-equestrian sport and shoving him in our faces like some big ugly insect we’re supposed to ooh and aahh over.
…fluffie your great
[QUOTE=Mara;6491033]
I just wish NBC would stop hauling Ryan Seacrest out for every non-equestrian sport and shoving him in our faces like some big ugly insect we’re supposed to ooh and aahh over.[/QUOTE]
I do not get the appeal of Ryan Seacrest. At all.
Apparently many people do, since he seems to be very successful/borderline ubiquitous, but I don’t get it. He even popped up on the Today show this morning, trying to get Matt Lauer and Al Roker to throw dignity to the wind to learn some new dance craze. Luckily, they declined. And I changed the channel. :lol:
I pay quite a lot for the privilege to watch cable. On what planet do you get MSNBC and NBCSportsNet free?
We are happy with that because for most of my lifetime we got absolutely no coverage whatsoever. 
Can you imagine what it was like during the Pan Ams one year to hear the announcer state “and Buddy Brown just had the ride of his life to win the gold” and then they never showed one minute of his ride much less any of the other competitors? I sat in front of that TV for hours until the show was over, I just could not believe they would tease us like that and not show us BB’s ride if nothing else.
[QUOTE=tm;6489900]
Snoopy, where do you live? I’m glad that you had better tv coverage than we didl, but I’m also glad that I could see all the rides on line.
As for commentating, I’m very biased: I’m married to the guy who many here think would be the right person to do the dressage commentary. (Hint: 5* judge, initials A.S.) So … I know good commentating when I hear it, but today I was just pleased at the small improvements I heard in the broadcast team that we had.[/QUOTE]
UK. I am sure Axel would be perfect. I think commentary…educated good commentary…is very important to every sport. Dressage has a bad reputation here in so far as it is considered a “sport for the rich” but Charlotte, Carl, and Laura (all from different back grounds) have done a great job promoting the sport here, not only because of the press coverage but because they have taken the time in interview to discuss what dressage is about. They used terms that the general public could understand without dumbing down everything that it takes to get a horse to GP level. They have gone a long way in opening the sport up to the public. Any interest that can be fostered from their results and interviews is going to benefit the sport.
I have some friends who have remarked that they NEVER watch dressage on television because it not part of the fabric of their lives but, never the less, found themselves watching. Judy Harvey did a great job commentating and educating those who did not know about the sport as well as those who par take. Mike, with his cracking sense of humour, kept it “real”. I think you do a dis-service to the sport to dumb down the commentary…I would go so far as to say it is insulting to those who know little or nothing about dressage.
I loved Axel Steiner’s comments at Gladstone and it was like having a free clinic.
However, I have nothing at all against MST, and I think she is excellent for explaining what is happening to people who aren’t experts. It comes down to having a closed club with no access allowed to the non-equestrian world, or trying to explain what they are seeing and perhaps pique a little bit of interest in the sport they might not have had.
Like him or not, Totilas (and Fuego) gained a lot of fans, then toss in Rafalca and voila, you have a new but uneducated fan base. Melanie fits the bill for those people than someone like AS would.
Plus, I think Melanie has a contract with NBC, and doesn’t she announce at some of the Grand Prix that they show? They only have to have one person on the payroll.
