Anybody know where Bob Varsha will be headed next year?
While I'm sorry to see him lose the gig he was the weakest of the three. Granted his was the toughest job but a new voice might be a plus.
I'm thrilled Hobbs and Machett are going to be sticking around, and I'm somewhat sad to see Varsha departing. He's not the best, but Diffey is pretty bad too. He over hypes everything. I cannot stand fake dramatization for no reason. Mark
Although I've nothing against Mr. Diffey I don't personally agree that Varsha is the weaker component. It's probably a false hope but perhaps NBC will shift focus to their market . . . those who know, love, follow F1 . . . and away from constantly trying to educate a mass which is unreachable.
Are we wagering that NBCS will be dumbing down the broadcasts a-la FOX in order to appeal to a "new audience"? Agreed Diffey needs to tone down the hype and Australian accent. It was likewise announced Diffey will be anchoring NBCS' Indy Car broadcasts. 2013 could be a long year. BHW
Sad to see Varsha go but very happy Hobbs and Matchett are a part of NBCs coverage going forward. I've "grown up" watching this trio in F1. Theyve been together at least 10 years, right?
He said after the F1 race he was staying at Speed. He does the BJ auctions. Varsha haters are rejoicing!
Sam posey sat in the booth today and made the race much more interesting with his insight. Varsha has so little to add. Varsha will serve best at bj auction..... Ed
Sadly, I believe Sam has Parkinson's. He's the real deal and I wish he could be around in the studio. Today was a bittersweet finale. I felt sad as Sam's image faded out. He was right, we had some fun over the years.
my fear with nbc is we will see the usual ho-hum coverage. you know.... 1/2 way thru the race they will shift to the international log rolling championship or some such irrelevant venue. or there will be no podium festivites or driver's interviews because of the more urgent coverage of the 9th hole at ralph's minature golf in dundee, scotland. directv does not work on the pay as you go concept. if they did, please put me down for a speed version of f1 coverage.
I'll be seeing BV in a week or so & hope to get the lowdown... but I know that he has a long standing contract with SPEED / FOX and does more than just the F-1 and BJ auctions behind the scenes. as for NBC dumbing it down... you can count on it. Diffy, is pretty good in my books, but now it seems that American F-1 coverage will be done by all foreigners.. ( no disrespect ) but i think its ironic that they are trying to "appeal" to American audiences, and every person now will have a British English voice... BV was the only Token American in the scene. I dont get all the BV haters, he's very knowledgeable been around the circuit a bunch of times knows the people.. its FIA/ FOM that have done the american audience a disservice by not alowing them on site... again the fees to broadcast live on site are astronomical...
I'm happy to read that Steve and David are back, but I am going to miss Bob. Won't be right without him.
Ok, so now I'm confused. Wasn't it announced that FOX was discontinuing Speed and making it a dedicated baseball channel? Now, they're advertising 2013 NASCAR this and Barrett-Jackson that. How do they figure they're going to blend baseball in with that? On SpeedTV.com this morning, the F-1 broadcast producer has a message posted. It seems odd that SpeedTV.com has become almost relivant again after being a trainwreck of a website for so long. http://m.speedtv.com/s/showPage.do?pageId=SpeedTV%20Story%20Details&siteId=103419&op=1&urlTitle=news&titleDetails=F1%253A%2520SPEED%2520-%2520Thanks%252C%2520Formula%2520One%2520Fans BHW
SpeedTV set to become FOX Sports-1 in 2014, not 2013. We may look forward another year of over the top NASCAR hype, endless Barrett-Jackson re-runs and inane reality programming. Sad what happens when NASCAR sucks all the life out of what otherwise was a fine network. BHW
Agree. Really like Sam Posey and didn't know he had Parkinson's. It is too often the good guys isn't it? That sucks. I didn't realize how much Posey had done racing until about 10 years ago, it is impressive. Although I am happy to see part of the team staying intact, I am not huge fans of the team we have in the USA in general. When I listen to BBC coverage on line on occassion, they are 50x better at this than our team is...I grew up in Columbus watching Hobbs race for BMW for years and I love his dry wit, but he has done ZERO prep for each race, and although Matchett covers some of that lack of effort, it falls short. At least Varsha did some work in advance, and I met the guy and he is great in person. Really enthusiastic about F1 and genuinely cares about doing a good job. I am sick of the guys constantly getting the drivers wrong, saying "Massa is about to overtake Vettel, oh, wait, no, that is Alonzo...." Get your arses out of a booth and onto a plane and get to the circuits. I know it costs a ton, but I am watching the race in my living room just like they are, and at least I can see who is passing someone on track. Sheesh.
I think that Bob Varsha always did a stand up job, he was the glue that made the broadcast team work. IMO Hobbs has never been better, I am impressed by his knowledge of the race tracks and of the subtleties of current F1 cars given the amount of time that he has been out of the cockpit.
All three did a good job under the circumstances. NBC wants to put its own stamp on the broadcast so someone had to go. I'm surprised (but glad) that they kept the other two. Bob still has a job so it could be worse for him.
In their defense, they're commenting on the exact same images as we're seeing - We have the benefit of time on our side. Having said that, did you ever experience Murray & James in the booth? Murray made more mistakes in one race than these guys all season! Yet he remains indisputably the best IMO - Coupled with James eek: ), who corrected him a lot, they were the pair the others strive to imitate. Cheers, Ian
When NBC interviewed Hobbs and Matchette, they may have been asked who they wanted to work with in the booth with them. Also, were probably asked who the think might do a good job in the pits. Food for thought. Ed
