 Poster: A snowHead
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Watching the Men's slalom from Garmisch-Partenkirchen this afternoon and yet again was made aware of my great indebtedness to the depth of technical knowledge of commentators, without which I would be so much more ignorant of the finer points of skiing. Now why, you might wonder, is one racer better than others -I mean something more technical than just that he goes faster? You need go no further than Eurosport to get the answer:
"It's the way he turns his skis," pronounced the commentator, "that gives him an advantage over the others."
Ah, I thought, so that's it. Such a revelation that I thought I had to share it with all of you in case you weren't watching and were still in ignorance of this amazing insight into the hundredth of a second differences these races are decided on. I just hope it isn't too technically obscure for you to grasp. Perhaps it bears repeating:
One slalom racer is better than another because of the way he turns his skis. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ccl, I do agree. I know very little about ski racing and the technicalities (though probably no less than the average UK general watcher of sport). Time and time again I long for some more explanation and insight from the commentators - we really don't need them to be telling us the damn times every few hundred metres - we can see that for ourselves.
They could slow down some of those turns and show us what's happening, demonstrate the "weight on inside ski" or whatever's going on. Look at the difference in style between two competitors at the same gate, etc etc.
It's still great to watch them steaming down - but could be a lot more interesting and informative.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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ccl, He's right though...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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ccl,Most of these guys are ex racers or industry people, which in my experience, on the whole, not all of course, know less about equipment and preparation than most of the general public. It's unbelievable to hear the racers, coaches and instructors speak about kit sometimes, however due to their status and positions they are adamant they know.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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We did get Chemmy for a short bit last week on Ski Sunday but they did not give her much time to say anything.
Have to agree that a slow-mo would help a lot
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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No work at the mo  so I've watched all the World Ski Championships races on Eurosport  . The best bits were when they "lost" the feed from the commentators and all we could hear was the snow, the crowd and the music. They go on and on and on about the same stuff all the time. This week it was the snow condition. Same thing over and over again. Also, every single time Moelgg, Kostelic, Jankyk, Riesch etc appear, their brother/sister is mentioned. Every single time!  . Then they go on about someone looking fast/slow and they're waaay off when the time comes up. "Oh, looks like a straddle! May be a disqualification here." No, it clearly wasn't. And if it was, the skier would not be skiing on. They're not stupid, they're professionals. They know they have to stop . I wish we could turn them off and just have the stadium noise and the info on the screen. They drive me nuts.
However, Chemmy was good when she commentated earlier on the World Cup races. At least she knows the skiers and knows what she's talking about. So, it's not all commentators that make me want to kick the telly, just the usual useless Eurosport ones.
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maggi, HUGE +1 on that
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having had the chance to watch the sking this year on various german, swiss and austrain channels the quality of the commentry is so much better then the British eurosport, though on some channels a tiny wee bit biased.. also watched some in Italian but have no idea what they are saying but they do sound excited.
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I had watched all the rest of the World Championships on France Television but caught the second runs of the two slaloms this morning on Eurosport. There was far more technical analysis on the French coverage with Carole Montillet in particular talking about a lot of interesting stuff. The French Eurosport commentary was good too when I was able to watch it before Christmas.
Why does Nick Fellows think that the Moelggs are twins, their different birth years are printed on every set of results.
I thought Chemmy was good, but both she and jcjc got slalom gate distances wrong in races this year.
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