Duffer's kangaroo court

[Cary de Weigh]

I watched the highlights on Eurosport last night. Dufferdill (great name) kept saying that riders who were getting dropped were "drifting off the FRONT"! Nuff said!

[karlos]

call me a turncoat but i started this poll cos i was fed up with him, but i'm not too sure now. i thought he was better yesterday and i found myself chuckling at his many gaff-s. so, if i could cast my vote again it'd be 'du££ers in', but in a more supporting role. anyway, most of us with an opinion understand the tactics, can recognise the riders and don't really need the commentary, so if we have 'dufferdill' injecting a bit of his 'off-the-wall' hilarity then its ok by me...long live du££man

[amc]

Hello, I have been reading all your posts and can't help but post something here (I have been mentioned in the thread too). The very fact that all of you are spending a lot of time discussing the positive and negative aspects of David commentaries mean that he and Eurosport are achieving exactly what they want - publicity! There is no doubt that David has a huge following (largely non cyclists) who love his ramblings about cheese, wine, areas of France etc. I have in the past hosted question and answer sessions with David to enable fans to meet him, believe me, they hang on every word and story. Many of you are correct in saying that we as commentators should not say 'it is a hard job' because we get paid to do it and it is also a privileged job. I agree with that, however what we do is very visible and bear in mind that no other sport requires commentators to speak for 3-4 hours. Take the scenario of thousands of people standing over you at work every day spotting your mistakes and writing about them-enjoyable or not? Lets be fair, Murray Walker made a lot of money out of making huge mistakes!

I think it is fair to be objective about all commentators and to pass on positive and negative comments, but a kangaroo court? Seems a little bit much.

I have to say that for all his very different style of commentary, David has a vast knowledge of the sport, how to make best use of being in a commentary box from a technical point of view and has certainly encouraged me to now be a full time commentator with an excellent co-commentator Brian Smith. He is a character and an entertainer and in time he will hang up his mike, and he will have left a huge impact on the British public.

We as commentators, love the sport and try to bring it to life for all of you. Thanks for reading. Anthony McCrossan

[flashman]

I agree Anthony.

There are some people on this forum who take themselves and their sport far too seriously and with far too little humour and humanity. There is clearly a lot of obsessive-compulsive nerdy energy in cycling. I like and admire that in many of the people that post on here but they should learn that there can be a difference between inner life and outer appearance.

I'm not meaning to to be rude or dismissive towards riders much better than myself posting here and I very much respect their knowledge and experience. However, Du33ers can be pure poetry and a truly admirable human being. Part of his appeal is his frail and eccentric British nuttiness! The world is far too obsessed with youth and utilitarian uniformity and I wish we tolerated and appreciated the old and eccentric far more. The obsession with youth and utility gave us Blair - perhaps we should get Du33ers for PM - the vote for humour and irony!

[JohnS]