# The Official I hate VS thread and they do not know how to cover Cycling



## rollinrob (Dec 8, 2002)

OK guys, every year someone finds reasons to complain about the Cycling coverage. I personally like the fact that I can watch the tour at just about anytime during the day but every year some of you guys find ways to gripe about it. Here is your chance.. gripe away... Maybe we can get Thien to send this thread to VS and they will fix whatever is bothering you..


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

With a DVR to fast forward through the pre-race stuff, the pre-recorded bits and the commercials, it's tolerable but still the amount of commercial time is really ridiculous and I don't know why they have to completely cut away.

If you ever watch any foreign feeds of bike races, I would place the cut aways to commercials at easily a tenth of what it is on VS.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

rollinrob said:


> OK guys, every year someone finds reasons to complain about the Cycling coverage. I personally like the fact that I can watch the tour at just about anytime during the day but every year some of you guys find ways to gripe about it. Here is your chance.. gripe away... Maybe we can get Thien to send this thread to VS and they will fix whatever is bothering you..


There is cycling race coverage on Versus?

In every 60 minutes of "TdF Cycling" programming:
~35-40 minutes of commercials....
-6 minutes of annoying cut-scene intro/exit clips,,,,including the "Tour of Shame" silliness 6 or 7 times
-6 minutes of interviewing some rider or coach, not really saying anything apart from "my form is good....I'd like to do well in the Tour"
-10 minutes worth of actual coverage of the race, mainly scenery shots with annoying ad banners eating up the whole bottom half of the screen otherwise Butt-Cam.......lots of "Well Paul, during that last commercial, it looks like we had an accident....it looks like things got interesting during that last commercial break.....Op, stay with us-we'll take a short break (after 2 minutes of actual race coverage)..."



Off to Cycling.tv I go.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

I get to see daily coverage of the TDF. I'll take the bad. 

Last year I watched the tour on Rai while stationed in Italy. The coverage was constant through the stage. Just leave it on and check it out occassionally and then sit down for the last 40k.


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## tete de la tour (Oct 26, 2006)

the saab commercial is rubbish.


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## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

My only problem with the tour this year is my plasma is dead and I am watching it on a 13 inch TV.


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## Einstruzende (Jun 1, 2004)

I think the coverage has been fine. You almost have to use DVR though, because there are a tremendous amount of commercials, and I'm already tired of seeing the same bumpers and advertisements.

The last two days...they didn't interrupt the last 5k or so, which is when all the important action happened. To be truthful, these sprint stages could be boiled down to a 30 minute show...take 10 minutes or so for a recap, and show the last 20 minutes.

And as I recall, when we get to mountain stages, VS will show large parts commercial free, thanks to some sponsor. It's 10,000x better than nothing. I can't believe people in the US would complain. All US television is severely hampered by advertisements, and when you get a small channel putting out what is probably a good chunk of money for the Tour, well you'll get even more ads.


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## Einstruzende (Jun 1, 2004)

But damn if Bob Roll doesn't sound retarded half the time.


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## Sintesi (Nov 13, 2001)

rollinrob said:


> OK guys, every year someone finds reasons to complain about the Cycling coverage. I personally like the fact that I can watch the tour at just about anytime during the day but every year some of you guys find ways to gripe about it. Here is your chance.. gripe away... Maybe we can get Thien to send this thread to VS and they will fix whatever is bothering you..


I was actually remarking just a little while ago that they're doing a pretty nice job this year. I like Craig Hummer better a lot better than Al Trautwig (Of course he's no Bob Varsha but still an improvement). Bob Roll is behaving himself and acting like a grown up and a lot of the interviews and color pieces during the boring parts of the race are well done. 

Yes, DVR is mandatory otherwise just tune in at approx 15k to go.


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## Retro Grouch (Apr 30, 2002)

*Bob Varsha*



Sintesi said:


> I I like Craig Hummer better a lot better than Al Trautwig (Of course he's no Bob Varsha but still an improvement)


I'm glad to see there's another person that liked Bob Varsha when he did some of the Tour commentary a few years ago. He knew his role and didn't pretend to be a cycling expert. Watching him call auto racing or comment during Barrett-Jackson is always a pleasure. He's one of the best in his field.


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## edhchoe (Jun 3, 2007)

I wonder if there are people who watch TdF for the crashes just like those who watch car races for the crashes.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

Retro Grouch said:


> I'm glad to see there's another person that liked Bob Varsha when he did some of the Tour commentary a few years ago. He knew his role and didn't pretend to be a cycling expert. Watching him call auto racing or comment during Barrett-Jackson is always a pleasure. He's one of the best in his field.


That's funny, I've been following F1 religiously now for about 4 or 5 years. I think the first year I kinda got into it Speed had someone else doing the coverage, but basically it's been Varsha with Matchett and Hobbs the whole time. I recognized Varsha from the TdF coverage on OLN. 

It started last season, and now this season I just can't stand him anymore. He's so melodramatic and have you noticed his death obsession? At least once per race weekend if not several times he'll find some way to tie in some death related fact (along with all the other meaningless little stats he throws out, which may be the producer's doing not his), about a driver or mechanic or track worker, etc.

It's actually gotten so bad (and I like Matchett and Hobbs), I've been thinking about trying to find some internet audio feed to see what else is out there.


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## Retro Grouch (Apr 30, 2002)

Maybe Varsha's obsession with death stems from the fate of another past TdF comentator. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Karsten


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## ajoc_prez (Jul 14, 2004)

Room 1201 said:


> There is cycling race coverage on Versus?
> 
> In every 60 minutes of "TdF Cycling" programming:
> ~35-40 minutes of commercials....


Dude, there are not 35-40 minutes of commercials every hour. You are hallucinating. My guess is about 20 minutes.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

ajoc_prez said:


> Dude, there are not 35-40 minutes of commercials every hour. You are hallucinating. My guess is about 20 minutes.


The ratio racing:adverts isn't even 1:1 probably (no way 2:1 as you suggest)--not until you factor in the last 15-20km and the awards/post-race bit.


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## stevesbike (Jun 3, 2002)

it just feels that way because they repeat the same 3-4 lame commercials. If I hear 'born from jets' one more frickin time I'm going to turn into that guy in the manchurian candidate..I saw a SAAB on the road today and had a sudden urge to drive it off the road....


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

stevesbike said:


> it just feels that way because they repeat the same 3-4 lame commercials. If I hear 'born from jets' one more frickin time I'm going to turn into that guy in the manchurian candidate..I saw a SAAB on the road today and had a sudden urge to drive it off the road....


Good News for ya' then!


We're only at the end of Day 2....with how many more left of the same commercials/intro/exit bits?


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## ajoc_prez (Jul 14, 2004)

Saab needs to change its advertising campaign. Seriously. The "Born From Jets" thing sucked two years ago, so it still sucks. They need to hire Danica Patrick and just show her driving around in a 9 3 convertible wearing just a bikini. I would not mind those commercials, and would probably do bad things to myself while watching them!!!!! Sex sells! Come on Saab, get sexy.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

Let's say I agree to feed you three meals a day for the rest of your life, all the recipes you like, free of charge. Sounds good, right? So no matter how much I butcher your favorite dish, no matter how I overcook or undercook your food, no matter how wretched or bland it is, you will only ever thank me, right? You'll have no gripes, because you are so happy I am feeding you your favorite dishes, every day, for free. Hey, I'm doing you a favor, so keep your complaints to yourself.


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## edhchoe (Jun 3, 2007)

Room 1201 said:


> The ratio racing:adverts isn't even 1:1 probably (no way 2:1 as you suggest)--not until you factor in the last 15-20km and the awards/post-race bit.


But we all know those frequent stops bring the average speed way down.


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## edhchoe (Jun 3, 2007)

ajoc_prez said:


> Sex sells! Come on Saab, get sexy.


I agree. Saab is from Sweden.... and where are those Swedish blondes?????????:blush2:


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

mohair_chair said:


> Let's say I agree to feed you three meals a day for the rest of your life, all the recipes you like, free of charge.



Versus and cable-TV ain't free-not unless you know something I don't.


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## edhchoe (Jun 3, 2007)

Cable company is feeding the coverage to my house.


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## B15serv (Apr 27, 2008)

The Saab commercial has got to go. And they should be ashamed of the doping commercial. Especially picturing Zabel lifting his kid off of the podium. Vs has made it very clear that they have no class. And saab is making it very clear that they intend to take any and all credit for the turbocharger.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

Room 1201 said:


> Versus and cable-TV ain't free-not unless you know something I don't.


Well, okay, that makes my point better. If you are paying me to make you meals and all I serve you is crap, you're going to complain, right? It doesn't sound like the OP would complain. Why mess up a good thing?


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## ColdRider (Mar 17, 2005)

Everytime I think I want to gripe about the OLN/VS coverage, I think back to when I was a wee lad in the '80s and *hoping* that my local newspaper would have *coverage* of the tour. Coverage consisted only of the overall GC with time splits. Not of daily stage results... So to figure out how a stage went... I had to remember my fav riders time and deduct/add time from the previous day from the daily overall GC. Yep, it sucked as bad as it sounds. 

That said, I could probably not watch the daily OLN coverage in one sitting, thank god for PVR. A "friend" of mine says a lot of nice things about torrents


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## Mr. Bill (Oct 3, 2007)

B15serv said:


> The Saab commercial has got to go. And they should be ashamed of the doping commercial. Especially picturing Zabel lifting his kid off of the podium. Vs has made it very clear that they have no class. And saab is making it very clear that they intend to take any and all credit for the turbocharger.


That "we recycle the exhaust" Saab commercial is just about the most annoying thing I've ever seen - I wanted to hurl my remote (or just plain hurl) by the fifth time.
"Born from jets" - right. Hey, Volvo tried their turn with jets, too, but square jets don't fly very well.


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## B15serv (Apr 27, 2008)

yea really, remember the saab Viggen? a rare and limited saab with huge turbo boost? yea great car except that when you floor it the thing torque steers right off the road... that is if your dif. or trans didnt blow out first. Ive been in their cars.... you couldnt pay me to fly in something by them


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## The Flash (May 6, 2002)

Sintesi said:


> I was actually remarking just a little while ago that they're doing a pretty nice job this year. I like Craig Hummer better a lot better than Al Trautwig (Of course he's no Bob Varsha but still an improvement). Bob Roll is behaving himself and acting like a grown up and a lot of the interviews and color pieces during the boring parts of the race are well done.
> 
> Yes, DVR is mandatory otherwise just tune in at approx 15k to go.



Can't say that I like Craig Hummer....seems like they just pulled a guy off the street who has no interest in the sport. I prefer people who have done it for the insight that they have. Not that Bobke is the best, but at least humourous....


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## grrlyrida (Aug 3, 2006)

*+1,000,000*



Mr. Bill said:


> That "we recycle the exhaust" Saab commercial is just about the most annoying thing I've ever seen - I wanted to hurl my remote (or just plain hurl) by the fifth time.
> 
> As soon as I hear that "we recycle.." I hit my tivo fast forward button. This morning while washing dishes I started singing, "It's never too late to make a brand new start."
> 
> I'm glad they have some coverage, but like OP's said you need Tivo or dvr to watch it.


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## Run1stBike2nd (Oct 28, 2005)

I don't have cable right now, but I have had plenty of chances to watch TdF stages and other cycling stages on OLN/VS over the past 5 years, and I'm sick of their coverage. Like others have said, too many commercials and bad commentary aside from Phil. How many times is Paul going to say that "so and so is riding like a man possessed," or that "such and such cycling feat was last accomplished by one Lance Armstrong?" Thank God I've been able to find decent coverage on the internet.

The fact that VS is carrying the race is nice, but it doesn't mean that it's perfect.


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## ti-triodes (Aug 14, 2006)

ColdRider said:


> Everytime I think I want to gripe about the OLN/VS coverage, I think back to when I was a wee lad in the '80s and *hoping* that my local newspaper would have *coverage* of the tour. Coverage consisted only of the overall GC with time splits. Not of daily stage results... So to figure out how a stage went... I had to remember my fav riders time and deduct/add time from the previous day from the daily overall GC. Yep, it sucked as bad as it sounds.
> 
> That said, I could probably not watch the daily OLN coverage in one sitting, thank god for PVR. A "friend" of mine says a lot of nice things about torrents



I'm tired of hearing we're lucky that VS covers cycling because in the old days...blah,blah,blah. I've been following cycling since the '80's also, when I was lucky to read Sam Abt's coverage in the NY Times. I taped ESPN's 1/2 hour coverage of the Tour in the '90's when they changed the coverage time in the middle of the night every single day.

VS is crap. Thank goodness they are smart enough to have Paul & Phil (and even some Bobke), but otherwise you can keep the ever repeating (Saab:mad2: ) commercials every 5 minutes, the horrible sound quality, and the constant reminder of the other crap shows on VS.

Since they just signed a 5 year extension to cover the tour, it probably doesn't matter what we think anyway.


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## svend (Jul 18, 2003)

The Flash said:


> Can't say that I like Craig Hummer....seems like they just pulled a guy off the street who has no interest in the sport. I prefer people who have done it for the insight that they have. Not that Bobke is the best, but at least humourous....


Only Day 2 and am I the only one that thinks that Hummer is a douche bag as an announcer...sucks is being kind as in I think he makes old Al sound knowledgeable
and decent in comparison..... finally I just turned the sound off until the final 5k..... 

anyone else notice Hummers almost conniption when Bobke mentioned how he'd like to 
see LA's Discovery team handle the cross winds today, that was funny....


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## DRLski (Apr 26, 2003)

the ONLY problem I have is with the commercials, and it seems like the closer it gets to the end of the race the more frequent the commercials begin.


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## RkFast (Dec 11, 2004)

I miss Trautwig...I said it, so there. Although he didnt know much, he didnt pretend to like Hummer seems to be doing and AT LEAST he was an eloquent and skilled TV emcee, which what he was primarily there for.


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## bigmig19 (Jun 27, 2008)

I would like to nominate the doping commercial with the melodramatic folk music as most likely to overtake Saab as the most annoying commercial. We will see in about 15 days. Its weird, VS has brought us races that we never even saw before they started covering cycling which is awesome, but they are definitely 30- 40 years behind production-wise which seems unecessary. By the way, I bought a jet-offspring 3 years ago (new 9-3 turbo) , worst car I have ever had, hands down. In the shop every 3-4 months. Hope I dont fly any jets like that.


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## ToF (Jan 18, 2008)

ColdRider said:


> Everytime I think I want to gripe about the OLN/VS coverage, I think back to when I was a wee lad in the '80s and *hoping* that my local newspaper would have *coverage* of the tour. Coverage consisted only of the overall GC with time splits. Not of daily stage results... So to figure out how a stage went... I had to remember my fav riders time and deduct/add time from the previous day from the daily overall GC. Yep, it sucked as bad as it sounds.


Ya I remember those days- Whenever I get really annoyed with cycling.tv or VS I just remember going down to the LBS and asking everyone if they knew results, and I feel a little better. But I am glad Al Trautwig is gone.


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## Gregory Taylor (Mar 29, 2002)

*David Hobbs Rocks....*



Dwayne Barry said:


> That's funny, I've been following F1 religiously now for about 4 or 5 years. I think the first year I kinda got into it Speed had someone else doing the coverage, but basically it's been Varsha with Matchett and Hobbs the whole time. I recognized Varsha from the TdF coverage on OLN.
> 
> It started last season, and now this season I just can't stand him anymore. He's so melodramatic and have you noticed his death obsession? At least once per race weekend if not several times he'll find some way to tie in some death related fact (along with all the other meaningless little stats he throws out, which may be the producer's doing not his), about a driver or mechanic or track worker, etc.
> 
> It's actually gotten so bad (and I like Matchett and Hobbs), I've been thinking about trying to find some internet audio feed to see what else is out there.


I wish David Hobbs did the Tour coverage. 

The Hummer is unwatchable. I keep hearing Richard Simmons whenever he speaks. Which is often. Too often.


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## J24 (Oct 8, 2003)

*Dick Vitale*

I can just him screaming every 5 seconds: "Its The Tour Baby"

Would you shoot your TV or what?


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## jsedlak (Jun 17, 2008)

Dwayne Barry said:


> That's funny, I've been following F1 religiously now for about 4 or 5 years. I think the first year I kinda got into it Speed had someone else doing the coverage, but basically it's been Varsha with Matchett and Hobbs the whole time. I recognized Varsha from the TdF coverage on OLN.
> 
> It started last season, and now this season I just can't stand him anymore. He's so melodramatic and have you noticed his death obsession? At least once per race weekend if not several times he'll find some way to tie in some death related fact (along with all the other meaningless little stats he throws out, which may be the producer's doing not his), about a driver or mechanic or track worker, etc.
> 
> It's actually gotten so bad (and I like Matchett and Hobbs), I've been thinking about trying to find some internet audio feed to see what else is out there.


Matchett is the man. If you haven't already, read his books. You'd never think a book about the life of a Formula 1 mechanic would be so exciting, but it was easily one of the best books I have ever read.

Anyways, my gripes with the TdF coverage? You can watch it whenever you please, but it is rarely the whole thing. Even the live stages are only about 25-30% of the race due to commercial breaks and them starting about 30% the way through.

I can understand the need for commercials, sponsors suck and do not want to sign up. But they should do it in a way that doesn't kill the air time of the race. Perhaps have a little commercial at the bottom with no sound, or have more commercials (even from the same sponsor). There are a million different ways to slice the bread, but for god knows why they choose to slice it one way every single race and every single year.

When they say live coverage, I want the whole race (minus commercials). With F1 I get to even see the warmup lap, the celebration and the post race interview. With the Tour I get 5 minutes of "hear is what excitement happened" and then 2 hours of the boring (relative) parts. I want to see the break aways happen a lot more than see them get pulled back in. The interesting stuff happens in the beginning and if I have to wake up at 6:30AM to see it on the weekend then I will do it! I am up to watch F1 at that hour anyways!


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## crumjack (Sep 11, 2005)

Perhaps we could have an "I hate threads that complain about VS thread?" Do we really need to rehash this every July or every few months for that matter? 

They can't force someone other than Saab or Hampton to buy commercials and make more than a few different spots.

Of course it was nice watching the Sputnik feed at work today and not hearing commercials.


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## Tschai (Jun 19, 2003)

What happened to the John Tesh music?


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## cpark (Oct 13, 2004)

edhchoe said:


> I agree. Saab is from Sweden.... and where are those Swedish blondes?????????:blush2:


Yeah but GM owns it......


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## Stogaguy (Feb 11, 2006)

*My $0.02*

yeah yeah yeah... Versus sucks. Get over it.

I am sure that everything that I am about to say has already been said many times; either here or elsewhere on the board, but it is spleen venting time...


Having gotten into the sport in the 70's, I find it amazing that we actually have coverage in the US. IMHO, complaining about the quality of that coverage just sounds ungrateful. I am just truly glad to have it.

Say what you want about the amount of commercials, I am just glad that there are sponsors willing to invest in the coverage. Personally, I send them thank you notes (e-mails really) and buy their products whenever it makes sense for me.

I'll freely admit that if you are someone who knows cycling, Versus' coverage is almost hopelessly dumbed down. Welcome to the cutting edge. We (the hard core fans) need to tolerate the network's need to tailor the content to a broader (read less specialized/expert audience). That said, Versus' coverage is much more detailed and expert than to cursory coverage that the tour used to get on ABC's "Wide World of Sports".

While we all hope that the coverage of cycling will get better over time, Bottom line, b*tch all you want, but in the end, let's celebrate that fact that we have it at all.


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## gregz (Jun 29, 2006)

Then entire thing is a commercial. At least the marketing people at Garmin and Columbia are getting their monies worth. I understand American sponsored teams and all, but honestly...everything is about those teams. Even in the Lance era they didn't pander to discovery/usps as much.

Usually they cut to phil and paul for the call at the end. Stage three was the worse called stage I've ever seen.


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## Stogaguy (Feb 11, 2006)

*It is a Business*

Let's not forget that pro cycling is a business. The profit model for everyone involved, promoters, teams, media networks, and riders is entirely dependent on paid sponsorship in one form or another. Outside of our cable TV bills, no one is paying a ticket price. The money has to come from somewhere. Ultimately, it comes for the pockets of the fans via their purchase/support of the sponsors products.


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## dave2pvd (Oct 15, 2007)

cpark said:


> Yeah but GM owns it......


You beat me to it.

People expect too much. GM are OKish at advertising towards the plaid-shirt aging jock crowd, but don't expect any progress on niches they would perceive as non-mainstream.

These are the people that brought you the Saabaru and the 9-7X, afterall.

And the Aztec :cryin:


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## T-Doc (Apr 4, 2002)

+1 .... Give the doping a rest already..


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## ti-triodes (Aug 14, 2006)

dave2pvd said:


> You beat me to it.
> 
> People expect too much. GM are OKish at advertising towards the plaid-shirt aging jock crowd, but don't expect any progress on niches they would perceive as non-mainstream.
> 
> ...



Don't forget the Hummer and all the other land yachts! GM sure knows how to build 'em!


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## ECXkid04 (Jul 21, 2004)

in general, i dont mind the versus coverage with the exception of commercials commercials commercials... beggars cant be choosers! :/ i cant stand this new commentator though. im watching this morning's re-run and he just said george hinncupee. i mean, hes butchering every name, even the american riders!! wth.. he needs to go. NOW.


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## ajoc_prez (Jul 14, 2004)

Versus just announced a new reality cycling game show that will select the riders for Team Versus/Saab/Dopers Suck which will compete in next years TDF. The show starts at 10PM on the final day of the Tour.


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## bigmig19 (Jun 27, 2008)

Isnt complaining about a thread worse than starting the thread? We enjoy bashing VS, thats why the thread has legs! Its fun, join in. Its been said many times, we are all thankful for VS...they cover races I didnt even know existed 4 yeras ago. That said, it does NOT exempt them from complaints about not being able to hear the announcers (for example) They have problems that PBS doesnt even have. It happened on the Hockey coverage too, very comical! No sound, too much sound, there is plenty to b*tch about. Oh yeah, while commercials are a fact of life, it doesnt mean seeing the same one every 2 minutes isnt annoying!


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## Richard (Feb 17, 2006)

My two cents. I never thought anybody would make Al Trautwig look good, but Craig Hummer sure is.

Bobke is Bobke.

Phil and Paul are still pretty darn good despite the usual assortment of malappropisms.

Commercials suck (thank the cycling gods for DVR) but without them we'd still be stuck with "weekend wrapups" drowning in John Tesch "muzak."

I'm just thankful for daily coverage and wish VS would do the same for the Giro and the Vuelta.


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## _velodoc_ (Dec 26, 2007)

The Flash said:


> Can't say that I like Craig Hummer....seems like they just pulled a guy off the street who has no interest in the sport. I prefer people who have done it for the insight that they have. Not that Bobke is the best, but at least humourous....


Agreed! only that, Hummer lips can't say anyone's name properly and has no clue how to say yellow jersey in French!!! Not to mention, Bobke, Phil, or Paul don't even bother to correct him when he butchers names!!! He's clueless!


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## Wildstar87 (Apr 5, 2005)

+1000 on sucky commercials, really tired of the folksie anti-doping commercial, really tired of Saab, of Trek, etc.. I'm liking the "strip down to your undewear, and jump out of the car going 50mph, to see what it's like to crash in a pro bike race" though, I get a little chuckle out of that everytime.

Prefer Hummer (voice is a little annoying) to Trautwing, mainly because he was such a boob.

Would like to be able to watch Primetime coverage with Phil and Paul doing commentary, rather than whomever + Bobke. I would like to get the Primetime features, but can't bring myself to suffer through Bobke and friends commentary. So I record the 5:30am feed on my DVR, and miss the extras..

At least we don't have to burn our retinas out by seeing Bobke in the buff again... *shudder*


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## tron (Jul 18, 2004)

Can't complain about the coverage. I skip through the pre-race stuff anyway. My tivo records the cbs sunday show as well and I checked it out. If you dislike craig hummer you would hate the guy they have over there.


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## pedalruns (Dec 18, 2002)

Stogaguy said:


> yeah yeah yeah... Versus sucks. Get over it.
> 
> I am sure that everything that I am about to say has already been said many times; either here or elsewhere on the board, but it is spleen venting time...
> 
> ...


Agree totally.... I'm just glad VS is covering it, a DVR works great!! 

Oh but I'm sure all the expert critics here could put together the 'PERFECT' broadcast....


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## somdoosh (Jul 21, 2008)

Einstruzende said:


> But damn if Bob Roll doesn't sound retarded half the time.


I think that's part of his charm, actually. It makes him fun to listen to. 

Also, you have to give credit where credit is due, he's finally come around to say, "Touhr d' Frahnce" instead of "Tour day-France", which alone makes him eligible for a "Most Improved Sportscaster" award.

He also adds a certain American jenesaisquoi to the proceedings as well, like the time he opened a Champagne bottle with a sword.


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## WeakMite (Feb 20, 2005)

Here's what I do... I tivo/dvr the morning VS live coverage... I also grab the Eurosport audio feed link from cyclingfans.com and use a download manager to save their (audio only) coverage to my hard drive.

When I'm ready to watch it... I simply start them both at the same time.

Listening to Sean Kelly's color commentary beats anything offered in the US.


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## JaeP (Mar 12, 2002)

*No Coverage*

After Stage 10 Direct TV changed my TV package. Vs is no longer included. No Tour TV for me. You guys are lucky.


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