Rowdy Gaines

Rowdy really has to go - he is the expert analyst and he is just getting to many things wrong. Example: Dara Torres race - "She lost it on the start - she lost the race on the start" and they show the start with Torres coming up way ahead of Britta Steffen .... I also really did not like how excited he got when there was the potential of Libby Trickett missing the final in the 100 "that would be great" - that is very unsportsmanlike -- kind of like his fault start in 1984 ... Janet Evans said that she had a good start in her Yahoo blog.

She does it for Yahoo as well as Matt Biondi. I read their columns every day during the swimming competitions. Janet was really gracious about the British girl breaking her world record although she would have wanted one of those American girls(Sorry, what are their names!!!!) to get it.

I'm only prejudice against the frenchies using inhalers..... Good, I've been pounding mine lately. :eek: Rowdy was fine. He got owned on the 400 free relay though.

I agree. I like Rowdy exactly BECAUSE he makes mistakes and calls things wrong and gets excited. He's a normal swim fan, like me! You can't help but get into the race even more with him commentating. Both announcers did a good job. I'm just glad it's over because I cannot stay up until 11:30 p.m. every night and still get up at 4:45 a.m. for swim practice!!! Agree 100% except for the getting up at 4:45. I don't do mornings. I always look forward to hearing Rowdy. If you ever meet him in person, you will find him to be genuine and warm.

I think much of it was just good humoured. At least on my part it was, but hey, if you are on TV that's going to happen. Agreed. If I were on TV or whatever, I'd probably start up the That Guy Sucks Blog myself just to give something back to the internet :mooning:

What if John Madden was the swimming commentator?... JM:"You see, the person who makes it through the water, and touches the wall before everyone else is declared the gold medalist." --- I was ok with Rowdy, though his exuberance was a tad overwhelming at times. His comments about one swimmer being able or not being able to see another swimmer got really predictable. Hicks did give props to Rowdy by calling out his experiences, but Rowdy did a nice job generalizing it and not gloating. But Andrea Kramer was just awful. She had the same mind-numbing line of questioning for everyone ("what does that mean to you?" "how does it feel...?") which led her to look amateur and unprepared, and in some cases, made some of these swimmers come off really dumb. There were few references to past performances (04 olympics, trials, prelims etc.) that would have really made for some real, poignant queries. And her tact - or lack thereof - is mindblowing: not tossing a mic in Soni's direction after the 400MR, and then asking Piersol, Hansen and Lezak how it felt for Phelps to have 8 medals.

be lucky we don't have some ex football jock announcing that calls it a swim "match" or refers to the strokes as "the" back stroke" or "the australian crawl". Actually we did... why was Chris Collinsworth there? I thought he did a fine job, all things considered, but what the heck was he doing there?

The French might have made an overstatement but that doesn't forgive your prejudice. There are people on this board who are of French descent. I thought it was way over for Alain Bernard to say what he said. His bravado doesn't excuse your use of a derogatory word. I'm only prejudice against the frenchies using inhalers.....

The French might have made an overstatement but that doesn't forgive your prejudice. There are people on this board who are of French descent. I thought it was way over for Alain Bernard to say what he said. His bravado doesn't excuse your use of a derogatory word. Would you prefer Frog?

Rowdy really has to go - he is the expert analyst and he is just getting to many things wrong. Example: Dara Torres race - "She lost it on the start - she lost the race on the start" and they show the start with Torres coming up way ahead of Britta Steffen .... I also really did not like how excited he got when there was the potential of Libby Trickett missing the final in the 100 "that would be great" - that is very unsportsmanlike -- kind of like his fault start in 1984 ... Excited? Did you talk to him and ask him what he was, or are you assuming to know what goes on in his mind. I would bet (as I haven't talked to him yet but will attempt when he returns) that he wasn't excited but surprised. The arrogance on here of complaining about every little misstatement attitude and personality of anyone who cover swimming compared to the all knowing wise forum regulars here makes my stomach turn. I am not singling you out Hoch, there are many other examples of this arrogant attitude throughout this topic.