To Melanie Smith and the other equine commentator on NBC - the best way to comment on a musical freestyle is to:mad: SHUT UP :mad: and watch the dang performance. WHY OH WHY do they insist on some constant trivial chatter through the whole thing??? Are the DVDs going to have their blah blah blah on them or do we actually get to enjoy the music & dressage together???
watch the videos on the nbc site. all music, no commentary.
I didn’t see the musical freestyle with commentary (only online). I have seen some of the jumping.
I know it’s annoying, but you have to keep in mind the viewers who have no idea what they’re seeing. For the jumping, that meant explaining why a rail came down or a foot touched the water tape. Many non horsie viewers don’t know we do more than aim our horses at fences. Some play by play describing strides left in/out, horses not set up for a fence, corners cut, etc. is very helpful.
I imagine it’s probably moreso in dressage where a non horsie viewer can’t tell a half pass from a leg yield or what makes a piaffe good or bad.
Plus, U.S. commentators chatter constantly in every sport! It’s what viewers are used to!
I know that doesn’t make it any more bearable. I was amazed how much more I enjoyed watching sports when I was in England and the commentators where much quieter. It probably especially annoying with musical freestyle because you can’t mute it like you can with jumping.
[QUOTE=dogchushu;3460123]
Plus, U.S. commentators chatter constantly in every sport! It’s what viewers are used to!
I know that doesn’t make it any more bearable. I was amazed how much more I enjoyed watching sports when I was in England and the commentators where much quieter. It probably especially annoying with musical freestyle because you can’t mute it like you can with jumping.[/QUOTE]
Absolutely! We simply cannot have the sound on in the house when U.S.-announced soccer games are on; the babbling heads are unbearable. Much, much better on the British broadcasts … although sometimes those Scottish guys are dang hard to understand! 
yes, it is VERY irritating to those of us who already know and enjoy the sport, but the commentary is geared to those who never see it and have zero idea what’s going on. In my mind, I’ll take what seems to me to be mindless chatter, turn down the sound, and know that non-horsey people are being educated. Hopefully it will spark some outside interest.
UGH :mad: I KNOW!!!
also, can you belive they cut steffen peter’s test out prettymuch completely? they showed him starting, and then they come back from a commercial and he’s already done!!! :o 
I was excited to see his round! He had a bold music choice, which I was like :eek: about when it started playing, but once he started his test I was like, this is going to come out great!! Why on earth would NBC cut out their own american riders when they’re not even doing a bad job! 
Rar. I was thinking it would turn out somewhat similar to how Andres Helgstrand and Blu Hors Matine did at WEG with that fantastic song! Yano, since normally the songs are pretty classical and conservative. Such a lively song usually comes with a great performance!
I’m dissapointed I didnt get to see steffens test :no:
On the Canadian channel Nancy Whetmore said they would not be commenting so much because of the music. I must say, that Cara Whitman, apart from doing a bit of 'splaining at the beginning, let us enjoy most of the music. There were times when she prattled a bit about unnecessary stuff, but overall I felt she kept it in balance for new viewers to dressage and those who just wanted to sit back and enjoy. She resisted the desire to ‘judge’ every ride quite well, but did point out some essentials. At times, I just wanted to listen. I’m just so thrilled to have this amount of coverage.
I enjoy Melanie Smith Taylor’s commentary in the showjumping, of course, 'cuz that’s what she did (and still does as assistant chef d’equipe on several of the European tours) and it’s what she knows best. She tries hard for eventing and dressage, but hey, it’s tough. The other guy, well, what can you say. I think he does racing commentary, and knows next to nothing about the other equestrian sports.
Perhaps, in an ideal world, NBC and other U.S. sports networks would figure out that they don’t need to babble continuously. Also, if NBC figures out that there is a solid audience for equestrian sports following this Olympics, we might actually get commentators from each sport. OK. I did say “in an ideal world” - I can dream, can’t I. :lol:
I agree! I kept saying shut the hell up the whole time. My husband is like what is wrong I said she is running her damn mouth during a kur. Not only is it annoying but totally disrespectful. I was shocked at the amount of commentary going on during each kur and it was a lot of crap about nothing. Thank goodness I can watch it online. And get to see Stephan cause NBC’s television coverage is horrendous. I am so sick of all the gymnastics etc getting all the coverage I honestly believe it is on every dang channel. Water polo??? Get real who cares.
Sorry they really irritated me.
[QUOTE=msrobin;3460672]
Water polo??? Get real who cares.[/QUOTE]
ummmmm. Maybe people who play water polo?
Remember, people who do other sports can say the exact same words about our sport, ‘Equestrian??? Get real who cares!’ I’d rather not hear that.
Yeah, while I’d rather watch equestrian rather than (fill in the blank), I don’t begrudge other sports their airtime. (Actually, I thought it was rather cool that they showed a lot of rowing on one of the channels, and there weren’t even Americans in a lot of the races. I mean, kneeling canoe paddling - who’d athunk it??)
Well first of all for those that DON’T understand the sport - this endless drivel by Melanie Smith and her partner isn’t going to educate them in one program. They can run trailers across the bottom with this information.
And I will second the SHUT UP recommendation.
USA media types either are paid by the word or have egos that wouldn’t fit inside the orbit of Pluto – or both! :mad:
!!!
[QUOTE=ise@ssl;3460792]
Well first of all for those that DON’T understand the sport - this endless drivel by Melanie Smith and her partner isn’t going to educate them in one program. They can run trailers across the bottom with this information.
And I will second the SHUT UP recommendation.[/QUOTE]
Another comment here. I found myself screaming. “Shut Up”. MST’s blithering blathering wasn’t educational. It was full of the utmost trivialities.
SHRIEK!!!
And seriously, if you are going to do a running (blabbing) commentary, atleast be in Hong Kong not sitting in some NYC studio.
I agree! I HATE the chattering commentaries in all the sports. God forbid the diver stand there and prepare in silence, without the commentator reminding us of her brother with special needs, the time she almost died in high school, the divorce of her parents, or the fact that if she screws up this dive she’s lost all hope of ever going to another Olympics and might as well just shoot herself on the way down. ARG. It’s the same in all the sports.
I couldn’t agree more
[QUOTE=4ponies;3460023]
To Melanie Smith and the other equine commentator on NBC - the best way to comment on a musical freestyle is to:mad: SHUT UP :mad: and watch the dang performance. WHY OH WHY do they insist on some constant trivial chatter through the whole thing??? Are the DVDs going to have their blah blah blah on them or do we actually get to enjoy the music & dressage together???[/QUOTE]
While I loved her when she was a Jumper rider, the constant comment by her and her assistant was soooo annoying.
And I swear wheneve they said , well this person is clear so far, Wham down the rail would come. :lol:
Actually
[QUOTE=ise@ssl;3460792]
Well first of all for those that DON’T understand the sport - this endless drivel by Melanie Smith and her partner isn’t going to educate them in one program. They can run trailers across the bottom with this information.
And I will second the SHUT UP recommendation.[/QUOTE]
Melanie Smith was a fantastic Jumper rider aboard her great Jumper Calypso. She understands the sport of Grand Prix jumping quite well.
I think she has a good understanding of eventing, and the Dressage as well.
Her partner, however is not a horse person. :no:
Melanie did the most CREATIVE commentary on the dressage one time. I learned technical points i NEVER KNEW EXISTED! Because they didn’t! But she just sounds like she’s right, doesn’t she?
You’d love my commentary then…
"Oh wow what a beautiful horse, I remember that guy wasn’t he…WOOPS! Didn’t see that coming, WOW…Oh man, come on, come on, come on buddy, you can do it…COOL! Ok here comes the triple…SHit! Shit! OH SHIT!..well, they had a real nice braid job…damn, that’d be a winning score in blackjack…TOO BAD…Honey, I hope you can get the splinters out of your nose…DAYUM!’
