I think Hasbullah Awang will support you. ~. Wong Choon Han,a man with all good facts about Badminton, but judging from his commentary task in the past, he is not fit for that job.
yup, gillian over emphasises a lot on some of the points, but at least she knows what shots the players are trying to execute and does explain each player's strengths and weaknesses (though this is repeated constantly). john, on the other hand, is amusing at first but very quickly becomes boring and then down right annoying. what i would give for an application to remove the commentary and just listen to the players hitting the shuttle.
_____________________________________________________________ That would be very boring just watching the players' hitting the shuttles. As regards John, he is not only good in commentating on badminton matches but also on other sports like table-tennis, rugby, etc., and he is in great demand. He recently commentated on the matches of the 2009 World Table Tennis Championships held in Yokohama, Japan, from 28 April to 5 May 2009. ________________________________________________________________
Gillian Clark is better than unknown commentators. Like John Burgess, they both share one common prerequisite : enthusiasm. She's better than JB because she talks at the right time compared to JB which is almost all the time (but improving). However she's a horror at commentating LD matches. I can tell who's winning by just listening to her volume. If LD's winning, she can match JB in terms of non-stop energy. If LD's losing, she suddenly goes quiet. Which was what happened in SO. Started by raving over LD and ended whimpering. Charmaine did a good job tempering her LDisms. JB does a better job commentating LD matches. At least he's neutral and does not assume a match outcome. That way, the commentator does not lose face.
For commentators, I do like Morten Frost or Hoyer Larssen as they provide excellent analysis and explanation on what's happening during the match. On the Chinese side, most are good i.e. Zhao Jianhua. The lady doing the commentataries in Cantonese is very good analysing the matches as well. Maybe is me, I have a feeling that Gillian Clark is sometimes lost as what's happening on the court - compare her comments with the analysis at the same time from either MF or HL. Regarding the 'other guy', better not even mention about it...
There is a difference between commentating and analysing. That's why in most North American pro sports there is a team made up of a commentator, a colour guy and one or two expert analysts. Gillian Clark and John Burgess would serve the role of commentator for the most part. At least Burgess does not pretend to be what he's not (an expert analyst)
Cai Yun has been around for a long time. Why can't Gillian Clark pronounce his name properly as "Chai" instead of "Kai"? To her credit, she does pronounce HHB's name correctly as "Her" instead of "Hee".
My favourite is Gill Clark. She never seems to annoy me, and often commentates with other former pro players, which makes it interesting! She doesn't speak over them and gives them a chance to talk as well. John Burgess tends to do that though... but I enjoy listening to him just because I find it funny how many mistakes he can make in a single match .
I agree with you that commenting is different from analyzing. However I don't understand her comments such as 'what on earth was he/she thinking...'; 'how this shot was done', etc... Either a commentator does not have to know anything what he/she is talking about or at least must provide some insights of what's going on. A certain part of a video just watched, a player attacks a net shot and fails, and heard she commenting 'what on earth was he/she thinking about??'. I don't expect such comment from an experienced commentator and ex-professional player like her.
I know.. ..there are a lot of commentators in this similar thread below: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59409
___________________________________________________________ You are right Gill Clark cannot pronounce Cai as 'Chai' but as 'Kai'. It's just like 'cari' in Bahasa Malaysia which is pronounced 'chari' and not 'kari'. The 'h' is purposely left blank. By the way how do you prononce 'Kuncoro'? Is it pronounced as 'Kunchoro' or as 'Kunkoro'? The English commentators pronounce differently. _______________________________________________________________
I really like John Burgess - for me his defining moment was the famous LHI/LD MS final of the KO 2008 where he captured the drama of the closing rallies without lapsing into melodrama. Morten Frost's analytical comments are always interesting - what a fab coach he must be! Of the others, Bobby Milroy gives an expert view from a perspective which really brings home to average club players (like me) the reality of the quality of the international game, and Simon Archer from England gives intelligent commentary and has a good eye for what's going on behind the shots - I'd like to hear more of these two. English coach Andy Wood has occasionally guested - again very insightful. Cheers, Smautf
It appears to me that some fans will deem a commentator lousy if he/she compliments a player that they don't like. GC has always try to play down the 'bad' things that we see on TV and highlight the good points of all players. And for that I applaud her for trying to promote 'goodwill & harmony' amongst all lately. JB has a good vocab, very descriptive & is a die-hard LCW & Boleh Land fans. But he sometimes pre-empt - calling a shot in when it's out, thinking that players will switch courts when the game is not over yet. But he apologizes for those mistakes. One can sense that his support is normally with opponents playing against the Chinese & that is his prerogative. Quoting & unquoting him - he has a soft spot for LD. At the recent SC 09, it was good to hear the comments of players made by P Erik of Denmark whilst watching the semi between MAS/CHN....
