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Exediron wrote:

Mort Canard wrote:I am not that fond of David Croft but he is definitely a step up from Leigh Diffey.

A step up? I'd say a lateral step at most. Diffey shouts a lot, sure, but at least he shouts about things that are either vaguely related to racing or failing that not totally false. Crofty is liable to just talk about the (incorrect) distance to the moon for a whole practice session, or the speed of an armadillo. Honestly, I'm dreading the idea of hearing him commentating over a whole day of preseason testing.

Listened a bit to Diffy calling Indy cars & of course back when he was calling Supercars in Australia & i'd say he'd be a definite step up from Crofty. Then again I would've said Stephen Hawking calling a race would almost be an improvement on Crofts commentary styling. He just seems to get increasingly annoying as I get older.

On Bob Varsha, I'm just getting to know him through FE and I like what I hear. I've always seemed slightly put off with US motor sport commentators with the exception of Paul Page who I though was an exceptional voice in motor racing commentary worldwide, but Bob's commentary seems very measured and accurate.

Bob Varsha is an EXCELLENT commentator and has been doing it far longer than most are even aware of. He is highly intelligent in all aspects of life, but he lives for racing, and thus knows so much more than the average commentator. He knows the names of many employees of countless race teams and organizations, it's incredible.

Does he make the occasional mistake? Yes!… but they all do and Bob doesn't make very many. Varsha, Matchette and Hobbo are all excellent together because they balance one another out, and Bob controls the action in the booth with them without any effort. It just flows with those 3.

Having said that, if you heard Will Buxton calling the GP2 Races several years ago, you'd have been treated to arguably the finest race commentary of all time. While Murray Walker is the iconic bar that will never be matched, That is only so because of his very long tenure as the main commentator of the sport. And while his genuine enthusiasm and love for the sport helped make his commentary so awesome, Will Buxton's commentary was spectacular. Mind you, this is coming from someone who could not stand to look at him as he spoke when he first replaced Peter Windsor who was magnificent at his job. One day I realized I was disliking Buxton for no reason other than his bouncing and excessive hand gesturing, and decided to really listen to what he was saying and it was the best thing I ever did.

Then I heard him calling the GP2 races and I was even more impressed with him. I think he's the absolute best person to anchor a commentary team for F1, and I'm a huge fan of Varsha, but a Buxton/Varsha paring might prove to be the Dream Team.


Regarding Paul Page, I totally agree, I think he is the best to ever cover American open wheel racing and his level of enthusiasm and excitement was always in perfect proportion to what was going on.
The day Gregg Moore died I was watching live with my dad and he was right on top of the action and the way his tone and volume shifted from initially announcing the impact and then lowering his tone and volume in realizing the crash was extremely severe was flawless. I knew he was dead as I watched the accident unfold and Paul's commentary served as the perfect score to the incident. Just the best guy for the job during the best eras. The action today feels dull and boring in comparison.

The one guy who I always liked when he was paired with Page was Bobby Unser. Although not the fastest talker, Bobby's pre-race analytics and race commentary was always spot on and he somehow managed to carry the appropriate level of excitement despite his slow talking. Danny Sullivan was pretty good too, but he sometimes lacked the ability to communicate the appropriate amount of excitement, but that's just part of what made him an excellent driver. He was always calm and kept things under control.

F1 MERCENARY wrote:Bob Varsha is an EXCELLENT commentator and has been doing it far longer than most are even aware of. He is highly intelligent in all aspects of life, but he lives for racing, and thus knows so much more than the average commentator. He knows the names of many employees of countless race teams and organizations, it's incredible.

Does he make the occasional mistake? Yes!… but they all do and Bob doesn't make very many. Varsha, Matchette and Hobbo are all excellent together because they balance one another out, and Bob controls the action in the booth with them without any effort. It just flows with those 3.

Having said that, if you heard Will Buxton calling the GP2 Races several years ago, you'd have been treated to arguably the finest race commentary of all time. While Murray Walker is the iconic bar that will never be matched, That is only so because of his very long tenure as the main commentator of the sport. And while his genuine enthusiasm and love for the sport helped make his commentary so awesome, Will Buxton's commentary was spectacular. Mind you, this is coming from someone who could not stand to look at him as he spoke when he first replaced Peter Windsor who was magnificent at his job. One day I realized I was disliking Buxton for no reason other than his bouncing and excessive hand gesturing, and decided to really listen to what he was saying and it was the best thing I ever did.

Then I heard him calling the GP2 races and I was even more impressed with him. I think he's the absolute best person to anchor a commentary team for F1, and I'm a huge fan of Varsha, but a Buxton/Varsha paring might prove to be the Dream Team.


Regarding Paul Page, I totally agree, I think he is the best to ever cover American open wheel racing and his level of enthusiasm and excitement was always in perfect proportion to what was going on.
The day Gregg Moore died I was watching live with my dad and he was right on top of the action and the way his tone and volume shifted from initially announcing the impact and then lowering his tone and volume in realizing the crash was extremely severe was flawless. I knew he was dead as I watched the accident unfold and Paul's commentary served as the perfect score to the incident. Just the best guy for the job during the best eras. The action today feels dull and boring in comparison.

The one guy who I always liked when he was paired with Page was Bobby Unser. Although not the fastest talker, Bobby's pre-race analytics and race commentary was always spot on and he somehow managed to carry the appropriate level of excitement despite his slow talking. Danny Sullivan was pretty good too, but he sometimes lacked the ability to communicate the appropriate amount of excitement, but that's just part of what made him an excellent driver. He was always calm and kept things under control.

Can't argue with your analysis of the various commentators. It is such a shame that they weren't given more opportunities. I truly wish we had some of them on our Western hemisphere broadcasts.

f1 merc: "The day Gregg Moore died I was watching live with my dad and he was right on top of the action and the way his tone and volume shifted from initially announcing the impact and then lowering his tone and volume in realizing the crash was extremely severe was flawless. I knew he was dead as I watched the accident unfold and Paul's commentary served as the perfect score to the incident. Just the best guy for the job during the best eras. The action today feels dull and boring in comparison.""

nice critique of many anouncers. to this day whenever i read or see something about the greg moore crash, i cringe a little. watching that day, something changed inside me, in regards to my love of motorsports.

i think us fans in the USA are just stuck. no way to have another countries broadcast shown here in the states and cut to commercials (they proved how horrible that worked last season) espn isn't spending a nickel on a broadcast crew for the states. so we get no commercials (great) but a brit centered fan boy crew(not so great for usa-but understandable)

it could be worse, back when monthly car magazines would come in the mail, and would be the only way to get even a little in depth f1 coverage

pc27b wrote:f1 merc: "The day Gregg Moore died I was watching live with my dad and he was right on top of the action and the way his tone and volume shifted from initially announcing the impact and then lowering his tone and volume in realizing the crash was extremely severe was flawless. I knew he was dead as I watched the accident unfold and Paul's commentary served as the perfect score to the incident. Just the best guy for the job during the best eras. The action today feels dull and boring in comparison.""

nice critique of many anouncers. to this day whenever i read or see something about the greg moore crash, i cringe a little. watching that day, something changed inside me, in regards to my love of motorsports.

i think us fans in the USA are just stuck. no way to have another countries broadcast shown here in the states and cut to commercials (they proved how horrible that worked last season) espn isn't spending a nickel on a broadcast crew for the states. so we get no commercials (great) but a brit centered fan boy crew(not so great for usa-but understandable)

it could be worse, back when monthly car magazines would come in the mail, and would be the only way to get even a little in depth f1 coverage

Is the ESPN coverage of F1 free to watch?

pokerman wrote:Is the ESPN coverage of F1 free to watch?

no

pc27b wrote:

pokerman wrote:Is the ESPN coverage of F1 free to watch?

no

It's just part of the ESPN sports package like we have have with SkySports?

pokerman wrote:

pc27b wrote:

pokerman wrote:Is the ESPN coverage of F1 free to watch?

no

It's just part of the ESPN sports package like we have have with SkySports?

It depends which channel they decide to show it on. ESPN has multiple channels; F1 is usually on ESPN2, which is typically available with a fairly basic sports package. Sometimes, however, it's on ESPN3 or ESPN+, which are available differently.

Exediron wrote:

pokerman wrote:

pc27b wrote:

pokerman wrote:Is the ESPN coverage of F1 free to watch?

no

It's just part of the ESPN sports package like we have have with SkySports?

It depends which channel they decide to show it on. ESPN has multiple channels; F1 is usually on ESPN2, which is typically available with a fairly basic sports package. Sometimes, however, it's on ESPN3 or ESPN+, which are available differently.

Fair enough so you are not charged separately for it.

do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

to the MOD...anychance I can get my date joined to original 2002 date? Just asking

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

I'm pretty sure I saw that it will be commercial free again, sponsored by Mother's Polish as before. I don't remember where I saw that, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Exediron wrote:

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

I'm pretty sure I saw that it will be commercial free again, sponsored by Mother's Polish as before. I don't remember where I saw that, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Surely that's got to be better even if you don't like the UK commentators?

pokerman wrote:

Exediron wrote:

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

I'm pretty sure I saw that it will be commercial free again, sponsored by Mother's Polish as before. I don't remember where I saw that, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Surely that's got to be better even if you don't like the UK commentators?

I do not mind the skysports team at all . They are fairly distributed with exception of MB who is a Hamilton fan and I find annoying. Other than that a good team and watching commercial free makes me feel like I am living back in Europe. So thats a huge plus for me.

AstoriaisBACK wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Exediron wrote:

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

I'm pretty sure I saw that it will be commercial free again, sponsored by Mother's Polish as before. I don't remember where I saw that, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Surely that's got to be better even if you don't like the UK commentators?

I do not mind the skysports team at all . They are fairly distributed with exception of MB who is a Hamilton fan and I find annoying. Other than that a good team and watching commercial free makes me feel like I am living back in Europe. So thats a huge plus for me.

Fair enough I was just going by what some others have said.

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

yep, same as last year. link on page 4

pokerman wrote:

Exediron wrote:

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

I'm pretty sure I saw that it will be commercial free again, sponsored by Mother's Polish as before. I don't remember where I saw that, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Surely that's got to be better even if you don't like the UK commentators?

Yeah, it is better than what we had before. It's just not better than what we feel we should have, which is a dedicated US commentary team with similar production values to Sky and no commercials!

But compared to having commercials every 5 minutes with a commentary team I like slightly better, yes - the Sky package is an improvement. I loathe Crofty, but I'll put up with him for uninterrupted coverage.

BTW, I don't consider Brundle to be biased towards Hamilton. I'm not sure why this is such a prevalent belief.

Exediron wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Exediron wrote:

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

I'm pretty sure I saw that it will be commercial free again, sponsored by Mother's Polish as before. I don't remember where I saw that, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Surely that's got to be better even if you don't like the UK commentators?

Yeah, it is better than what we had before. It's just not better than what we feel we should have, which is a dedicated US commentary team with similar production values to Sky and no commercials!

But compared to having commercials every 5 minutes with a commentary team I like slightly better, yes - the Sky package is an improvement. I loathe Crofty, but I'll put up with him for uninterrupted coverage.

BTW, I don't consider Brundle to be biased towards Hamilton. I'm not sure why this is such a prevalent belief.

US production with no commercials, would that ever be remotely possible?

pokerman wrote:

Exediron wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Exediron wrote:

AstoriaisBACK wrote:do we know if they will run the same program this year? with no adverts during race? I know they made a mistake and made it free from commercials for the error in early March however not heard anything on how this year will be distributed to F1 race fans via ESPN(s)

I'm pretty sure I saw that it will be commercial free again, sponsored by Mother's Polish as before. I don't remember where I saw that, however, so take it with a grain of salt.

Surely that's got to be better even if you don't like the UK commentators?

Yeah, it is better than what we had before. It's just not better than what we feel we should have, which is a dedicated US commentary team with similar production values to Sky and no commercials!

But compared to having commercials every 5 minutes with a commentary team I like slightly better, yes - the Sky package is an improvement. I loathe Crofty, but I'll put up with him for uninterrupted coverage.

BTW, I don't consider Brundle to be biased towards Hamilton. I'm not sure why this is such a prevalent belief.

US production with no commercials, would that ever be remotely possible?

Probably only if it was pay-per-view, so not very realistic.