A note to CBS....

I like it. Clear. Concise. And you give them a plan on how to fix it. Perfect!

 

C'mon - you didn't like Derek Daly's helpful lesson on why blocking is such a problem in F1? I'm suprised that he did not know that Silverstone is a restrictor plate race.

 

One of the many low point's was when Cowboy Sheheen saw a driver lock up the tires and the accompanying smoke and said "Hmm he smoked the brakes".

You could easily get some guy that sells BBQ grills at Sears to replace Sheheen and get at least equal or better commentary!!

Sheesh.

 

Try to see the positive side of the CBS broadcast.

Being on regular TV, it should attract viewers that are not normally race fans, let alone F1 fans. The CBS broadcast is aimed at the non race fan with all the dribble they use to describe to describe what is obvious to most of us.

The more F1 fans we get to watch F1 now, the more likely we will have better TV coverage in the USA in the future due to increase viewership, meaning better sales of commercial time, meaning we will see all the races live.

 

I was actually quite pleased with the broadcast today. I mean, it's not great, but I don't see what everyone's complaining about. At least we get to watch F1!

The commentary is, at times, bizarre, but they do a reasonable job. They had that story about Jody Sheckter today and about that 175.8g-force crash. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

One more note to CBS:

Please tell Sheheen to pronounce the names correctly.

The "th" in Coulthard makes a T sound not a TH sound, it's european. KTHNX

 

I think they got that from Speed TV because they said it either yesterday in quali or the day before in practice. They also mentioned that the guy survived, but broke many bones and had some dislocations and recovered well. He died in a plane crash a few years later.

 

Jodi Schecter is not dead, and 175 G's would pulverize your brain against your skull. Period.
I wanted to hear about the drafting and the weight jacking. Didn't even mention what kind of carbs they were using.
Most idiotic commentary I've ever heard. Murray was better. Get Dale Jarrett or Sullivan, or any of those guys. Connie Chung even.

 

I hate to be a stickler, but it's actually TA-KU-MA. I'm rusty on my Kanji, but I can spell it in Katakana and Hiragana even though no one in Japan spells their name with those characters.

P.S. Japanese is pretty easy once you spend a few months learning the writing style. Syllables are pretty much always 1 or 2 letters in length. The only 1 letter ones I can think of are A I U E O. The rest are like ma, mi, mu, me, mo, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, etc. Sorry for the boring alphabet speech, lol.

 

I was just saying what Speed TV said, I guess they're not much better than CBS, haha. I think they said 12 years after the accident the plane he was in went down and he died that way. I think they said it happened right next to the Paris airshow at the time. I guess they made it all up then, but I don't even remember the name of the person they were talking about. Maybe it's someone different, but it is whoever that record holder is for g-forces.

 

So was I --- because it's their last of the year.

And for no other reason at all.

I'm sorry, but the idea that we're ever going to sell F1 to the bulk of the SUV appliance driving population is nothing but a fantasy.

But I still think Speed Channel missed a bet by being one of a dozen Nascar channels when they can have 100% of the "fringe" racing market.

But then, SCCA has dropped performance rallye, WRC is in ruins, OLN has grabbed Dakar.

Speed Channel does still cover some of the sports car competitions, although the bulk of FWD production machines is pretty much killing any real "stock" class racing.

(Does it strike anyone else as bizarre that street cars are getting more and more ponies -- on suspensions that aren't built for it?)

 

At least CBS broadcasts in HD.

So it's a trade off- HD for that dang Derek Daly chatter.

I am just glad to have the race on TV- wasn't to long ago that there was a chance that Speedvision would drop F1 when they changed to "SpeedTV".

So count your blessings and enjoy the race.

 

CBS' broadcast was boring !!!!!!

I TIVO'd the race and still cannot find where MS passed Kimi ???

It goes to show you how the U.S. market is still NASCAR - I hate to say it but 70% + of the U.S. population is NASCAR. Beer, Ribs, and overweight Americans looking for another excuse to get drunk and gain weight is more of a sport spectical in the U.S. than polished people with a thrive for the good life (ie- F-1)

F-1 is still high class and I'm glad I am in that crowd. I don't think the U.S. will ever get it.


Mario

 

It was after Kimi's second pit stop with around 15 laps to go. MS passes him by while Kimi was coming out of the pits (Michael pitted 1 lap before Kimi). Look around lap 45 or 46.

 

Which would explain why I fell asleep. I will just wait for Speeds coverage.

 

Thanks for the heads up - I rewinded 3 x's, gave up and then deleted it.

I'll watch it on speed.

 

Jenson Button's Engine blew up, or in the world of CBS coverage, "Jenson Button blew up his engine."

And thank you for telling me what color the McMerc is for 2 minutes.

- Chris

 

This coverage a prime example of why I invented the TV Commentator Mute almost 6 years ago.

 

Haha. I like how they put their main focus on Scott Speed before the races even though he's not gonna win.

 

The coverage by Helium Ralph (his fake high-pitched "enthusiasm" reminds me of how one's voice sounds after a helium hit) and Derek Dufus was absolutely pitiful. Yes, they lifted the story about David Purley's crash (the 175g item) straight from Varsha's report on either the practice or quali coverage. Daly's sudden interest in the design of the Mclaren's nose was also lifted, almost verbatim, from Steve Matchett's comments on Friday (Sat?). Perhaps SpeedTV can sue these clowns for plargiarism. I will give Daly complete credit for his comment about the Ferrari V10 (yup, that's what he said!) in the back of Coulthard's Red Bull.

I disagree w/ prior comments defending this ridiculous attempt at showcasing F1 as a plus becasue it will generate fan interest among non-racing viewers. If those of us who are passionate about the sport are bored and confused by these morons, how is anybody else going to gain an appreciation for what F1 is really about? When you have one guy (Daly) lost in the seventies and the other (Ralph) constantly chattering because he is so in love with the sound of his own voice, how is anyone going to come away w/ a positive experience?

BTW, David Purley did survive a horrendous crash at Silverstone in the late 70s when the throttle stuck on his LEC F1 car during practice (LEC was his family's refrigeration business). He spent several months in hospital and survived numerous broken bones in both legs, hip, and back. He raced a few more times in British events and then was killed whilst doing aerobatics at an airshow off the coast of England.

He was also honored for attempting to pull another driver from a flaming wreck at Zandvoort in '73, I think it was.

I don't know if it is still on, but the Wheatcroft museum at Donington circuit at one time had a display about Purley's crash. Quite a guy.

 

The driver Purley attempted to rescue in '73 was Roger Williamson, who was Wheatcroft's protege at the time. Unfortunately, ineptitude by the Zandvoort fire crew made Purley's attempts futile.

The last time I was at the Donington museum, in late '03, they actually had the wreckage of Purley's Lec on display. Absolutely amazing that he survived.

And you young guys are spoiled about TV coverage. You should remember the days when F1 coverage in the U.S. was: none! I'll take even CBS's coverage over that anytime!

 

I loved the part where they almost had a boner talking about the McLaren...

good thing there is the WORLD CUP!!!!