US MotoGP coverage Rant - No Spoiler

[Joe Nardy]

Here in the US Fox Sports 1 covers MotoGP. For the overseas rounds they have the US announcers do the introduction and then turn the broadcast over to the European commentators Nick Harris and Gavin Emmett who do a very good job in my opinion. Of course, they have the Fox commentator break in after every commercial to update the viewers on what's going on in the race which is ridiculous because the viewers would get much better information by cutting right to Nick and Gavin. Unfortunately, in the US rounds we get Ralph Sheheen and Scott Russell. Scott Russell does a good job and I enjoy his commentary but Ralph Sheheen simply $UCKS. I know more about MotoGP than he does. I just finished watching the Indy MotoGP, or at least the portions where they actually showed the race instead of either ten minutes of commercials due to technical difficulties or Ralph and Scott interviewing Nicky Hayden in the booth. I would love to see them interview Nicky, but not while the race is going on. After the technical difficulties they returned to the 'broadcast' which consisted of one on bike camera and helicopter shots of the last four or five turns of the last lap with no audio commentary. The Nicky Hayden interview started after a commercial break where the eventual winner passed two other top riders three wide. After a few minutes of talking to Nicky they mentioned that there had been a lead change and showed a replay. Early in the race Ralph Sheheen made a comment that one of the riders may have chosen a harder compound tire and was laying back waiting for it to come in. This really showed how little he knows about the sport because even I know that Bridgestone began using colored sidewall stripes on the tires this year so spectators can identify which compounds the riders had selected. The rider mentioned had a red stripe (hard compound) rear tire, the same as the riders ahead of him.

This whole scenario was made worse by the fact that I watched the Indy MotoGP after watching the Sachensring Moto 2 and Moto 3 races with Nick Harris and Gavin Emmett announcing. I am so happy that the US rounds are over and I will be able to watch the rest of the races and listen to competent commentators without the Fox Sports 1 interruptions and incompetence.

Rant over, thanks for listening.

Joe

[Dogma]

This is exactly the sort of thing that made me pay the money to watch it online this year. I always get to see all three races, plus all the practice and qualifying if I want. No commercials during the action, no amateur hour commentary, plus the supplemental videos they do each week. Plus past races going back to the 90's.

It's not perfect online (slightly low bitrate 720p), but it's far better than the alternative.

[trevor]

This is exactly the sort of thing that made me pay the money to watch it online this year. I always get to see all three races, plus all the practice and qualifying if I want. No commercials during the action, no amateur hour commentary, plus the supplemental videos they do each week. Plus past races going back to the 90's.

It's not perfect online (slightly low bitrate 720p), but it's far better than the alternative.

Hey Dogma, what is the name of the site to pay for the races? How fo I get it?
Thanks,

[Dogma]

Go to http://www.motogp.com/en/videos-nospoiler. That link should take you to the no-spoilers version of the site. It's the one I've bookmarked. Click on "videopass" in the upper right corner. Hopefully it's not too expensive to get the rest of the season.

[bwringer]

The solution, of course, is to come and see it yerdamself.

Wassamatter, don't want to mix it up with the rabble here in Indy anymore?

Even in person, it was difficult to escape utterly pointless interviews with Hayden. I guess he doesn't have much else to do at the moment.

[salty_monk]

www.hidemyass.com - is one of many VPN services. Subscribe & you can then watch all of these on British TV without a yank in sight..

That's what I do in any case.... stream it via a laptop or tablet with HDMI out & plug that into your TV. a Wireless mouse / presentation mouse for your remote control.

[Dogma]

I've been meaning to try that for Dr. Who and Top Gear. BBC America is ruined by commercials and delayed runs.