This might be the most stacked Crankworx downhill event we've seen in a while, since it isn't competing for riders with the World Cup series races. Stoked to see who's got the pre-season form!
I have great news for everyone!! I'm not sure what his role will be, but Cam McCaul will have a mic on all crankworx slopestyle competitions. (saw it on "beyond the bike")
the normal crankworx commentary is so annoying..our sport is cool enough they just don't need to say fancy shit and being super stokes 'bout everything all the time. you're not watching football
As far as on-site host/MCs go I'd honestly say Brad Jay is one of the best, he actually does know the riders at this point and does a pretty great job of providing input without overstepping his knowledge. If his voice isn't your cup of tea there's not much to be done about that. He and TMac made for a great duo at Rampage qualifiers, not sure if Brad is going to be in NZ though
^ You must have missed it when he was hammered at Crankworxs (last season and more so the year before) and was creeping out all the riders while acting like a baffoon... or at every other event where all he adds is the occasional, "whooaaaahhh" "shut the front door!" "that's so sick!". He's been doing this job for a decade and still acts as if he just showed up they day before and did zero research on who is actually competing or what's going on. Oh man, I better watch it or else he might send me another PM! (yes I'm passionate about how mtbing is represented to a greater audience haha)
azza answered that one quite well. that is awesome! personally I think its a no-brainer... always use professional/industry riders with charisma to do the announcing. It makes no sense to bring someone in that doesn't care or doesn't know anything about the sport to present it. That's something you never see with any other legit sport. By the way, I think I could do a much better job than Brad but nowhere near the quality that would be deemed as acceptable for broadcast. They need to be on their shit which Cam always seems to be and it helps since he personally knows a lot of the people competing.
It's his lack of knowledge regarding the riders themselves, the tricks/skills involved and the sport in general that make him a useless commentator. He then attempts to make up for his ignorance of the sport by being as loud and obnoxious as possible. It's very rare that I come across I dislike in mountain biking but Brad Jay would easily top the list
Being an MC and being a contest commentator are two different things. Brad's an MC, does it at all the big events, Xgames, Crankworx, Olympics. The guy talks for literally days with a schedule and some notes hosting the whole event, not just the one contest. Tough gig talking by yourself for all that time. It would seem that promoters like having a consistent voice throughout the festival, so they get Brad to be involved with the broadcast too. Yep, I'd agree he's pretty dramatic, pretty loud. But you know what else? That's also his job, and all I'm saying is he does pretty good work considering his knowledge of the sport is not very intricate.
No shit getting riders to commentate is the ideal, but if you remember correctly that's already been starting to happen. It's not like Brad has play-by-play announced the slopestyle lately, he jumps in where he's needed for hype and excitement. It's moving forward in my opinion, there's no doubt having Cam transition in for comps is going to be a huge step, but i don't think you'll ever see him hosting Crankworx for 11 days. There still needs to be someone for that, Brad does a decent job i think.
I just hope there's better coverage on the enduro, coverage has realy been lacking at all the previous crankworxs. Even if they just broad cast the last stage like they would a DH race.
is that really going to happen?? can't believe it, maybe they show the finish run in, otherwise thy would need like 1000 cameras and everything happens at the same time. While Clementz shreds stage one, Graves is on stage 2. How is that going to work out?
No shit getting riders to commentate is the ideal, but if you remember correctly that's already been starting to happen. It's not like Brad has play-by-play announced the slopestyle lately, he jumps in where he's needed for hype and excitement. It's moving forward in my opinion, there's no doubt having Cam transition in for comps is going to be a huge step, but i don't think you'll ever see him hosting Crankworx for 11 days. There still needs to be someone for that, Brad does a decent job i think.
5-7pm NZT / 9-11pm PST previous day/ 5-7am CET
@tiagomano 5-7 central european time, in the morning. Since Portugal is in WET/GMT timezone the broadcast is at 4-6 in the morning for you guys.