They could really learn to pronounce Ashima Shiraishi's name. The guy in the stadium itself is doing it. The TV commentator woman just says 'Ashima' and the man says 'Shirishi.' She's literally the best climber in the states, guys.
Welcome everyone to this match between Montreal and Boston tonight here in Centre Bell where everyone is excited. The B on Boston's shirt probably stands for Boston, and CH for Canadian Hockey for Montreal's team. Now these two teams each consist of a large amount of players, but as you will see here in a second only 6 players per team will be on the ice at a time. *Players enter the ice* The average height for a hockey player is 6 ft 1 and the average weight is 199.3 pounds. *Game starts* And the black thin cylinder gets dropped on that circle between two players! There is 19 minutes and 57 seconds left to the period. Now keep in mind that there is also 2 other periods after these two, where each team will be able to play with the black cylinder again for a chance to increase their score. There is now 19 minutes and 46 seconds left for a total of 59 and 46 seconds of play time for the whole game. Now 19 minutes and 41. The fist game of hockey was played around 1875 in Montreal. *Insane team play by Montreal ending in a goal* One of the team scored! That means that team's overall score for that period will be increased by a single unit. This score will not reset between the 2 other periods of 20 minutes I will still have to commentate. The score is now 1-0 in favor of Canadian Hockey. This means that if the other team wants to win, they will have to score at least 2 points, because 2 is higher than 1, which is the current score of the other team. This is only assuming the other team does not score again, and if so, to win a team will still need to have a higher score than the other team. Brandon Gallagher's height is 5 ft 9.
xPxnda They’re making fun of the male commentator (he knows something about hockey I think) but it’s quite obvious that he knows nothing about climbing, because he’s just stating the obvious (she’s made it to 15 and needs to get to 25 - everybody knows that). Whereas the female commentator definitely knows about climbing because she’s talking about skills, staying close to the wall, and foot work (I think she mentioned foot hooks). Sorry that was so long😂.
"The climber is at the 5. Next they will want to go for the 10. This will give him more points and put him in a better spot in terms of points. And as we can see, the climber extends his arm hoping to find a place to grab hold. If he can do that he will actually stay on the wall instead of falling. If he can't he will fall and he will have to start from the bottom." The kind of vapid commentary you can expect from ESPN nowadays apparently.
@@pistolen87 You'll never hear a baseball commentator saying, "Now the guy on the mound will throw that ball he's holding. He's the thrower, or 'pitcher.'" That is akin to what this guy is doing. It's basement level.
Please stop nitpicking about the commentary. "Rock talk" is fine within the climbing community. But "vapid commentary" is essential for those viewers not familiar with the sport. And there will be a lot of such viewers at the Olympics. I, for one, am happy that ESPN is covering the sport and providing such well-produced videos. If the sport grows really well, both commentators and the non-climbing public will eventually get familiar with climbing jargon as well.
i’m not in the climbing world and i’ve really enjoyed watching these comps. personally i don’t mind the male commentator as much because he does seem new to the sport, but i guess him not completely understanding the sport is helping other new watchers of the sport to better understand. it’s probably different for others that already understand the sport, but for me personally i don’t mind it.
I don't agree. He barely explained anything besides the climbers statistics. He showed us he has no understanding of the sport other than the scoring system that I'm sure was explained to him the day before. You wouldn't have a commentator that is completely ignorant of football or soccer commentate on that sport. It's not within their abilities to actually contribute anything of value.
I think the clueless commentator was intentionally chosen because a significant percentage of people watching climbing in the Olympics will be just as clueless. So instead of two pros talking way over everyone who's not a climber's head, they threw in a newb so the pro had to explain things to him and in turn everyone else watching. Still annoying, but it makes sense. In my opinion they should have just gotten someone who was openly clueless and have the two converse about it, instead of a professional voice just trying to sound professional. He loved when he got the chance to say "flash" though. haha.
Yea I would agree with this assessment. You need someone to make new climbers or completely new viewers feel like they're not being beat down with technical jargon. Overall, though, he could certainly have been a bit more knowledgeable and still kept new people in the loop.
I know nothing about climbing (not sure how I got here) and I appreciated the female commentator SO MUCH. She was pointing out details that would have gone over my head and I feel like I learned a lot. As for the male commentator... thanks but I can see for myself on the screen that her height is 5'8". Gonna go binge watch a bunch of other climbing competitions now, this is a cool sport!
In my opinion, two professional/experienced climbers can just as well explain what is going on to a newbie. If you’ve ever watched the IFSC competitions, they have commentator Charlie Boscoe and a local climber. The local climber brings the extreme detail and expertise, and Charlie brings the laymans terms and commentating awareness to explain moves in a way that newbie climbers and non-climbing watchers can understand. This banal and baseless ESPN commentator is way out of his league here.
Say what we will about the commentators, I'm just glad they're showing this. I just finished watching the combined invitational. These climbers are amazing! I want to start climbing now. I've never been a rock gym before.
This is far more exciting than I thought it might be. I mean I knew it would be interesting, but it exceeded my expectations. I pray these and all Olympic athletes get to compete in Tokyo in July.
The commentator is actually pretty good. Many of the commentors on this video understand neither TV colour commentary or the wider world of climbing competitions in general
I watched the whole thing before I reads the comments, and hot damn. I'm glad there's a consensus here. Nothing more cringe inducing in a climbing comp than a commentator who knows nothing about climbing.
Good comp but as a non-American climber I'm so sad to find that it has been 'ESPN-ified'. I guess it was inevitable with the popularity of sport climbing soaring and the fact it is about to become an Olympic sport. Sean Woodland clearly is not and never has been a rock or sport climber and knows zilch about the history, stats, and nuances of the sport or the competitors, many of whom are well known world wide - all things that I would expect of commentators of the premier national competition in any sport. Utterly lame to have comments like 'and he has reached number 10 and is going for number 15' and clearly no clue as to who was climbing and their history as a climber or any discussion of the type of boulder and its expected technicalities - gained from having a knowledge of the sport and from talking through the problems with the route setters beforehand. Having a guest climber as a co-commentator did not help as she treated the the audience as if they know nothing. I looked him up and see that Sean is a big fan of hockey and wonder how he and ESPN would get on if they put a sport climber in front of the microphone for the Stanley Cup? Someone who knows nothing about the history, strengths, weaknesses, foibles of the NHL players? There would be a riot. Nothing against him as a person but Climbing magazine had right when they rated the ESPN Detailed Play-by-Play coverage of sport climbing by Sean Woodland and Sam Farber as Grade C+ at best (I wold give it a fail) and wondered whether ESPN could not find a freelancer who knows the sport and 'would better fit the role'? There must be lots of very good sport climbers in the US who would be interested in a career as an ESPN climbing commentator. ESPN should watch and listen to the commentary of a few of the IFSC World Cup Bouldering comps by people who know the sport and climbers like the back of their hand and have credibility. PS: why no brushers? Its unfair on those who climb problems later not to have had the holds brushed and to waste time brushing the holds themselves.
Boo, not a fan of ESPN commentator (I don't mean Megan). Too mainstream sport-sounding. This is not football, guys, c'mon. Bring back out climber commentators. Sad direction this is going.
he was the captain obviuos with phrases like "this hold is straight over the top of his head" :) This awkward moment, when you don't know what to say commenting the sport you unfamiliar with :)
I don't know about you but personally I needed to be explained the concept of Ape Index at the beginning of every run... More seriously, I'm glad Megan was there to explain the significance of body positioning and where climbers were correcting their movement.
I'm a climber myself, I like watching the IFSC Worldcups and also national Bouldering-Comps here in Germany. But sorry guys, honestly, this is the worst commentator I've ever seen. Counting each and every attempt? Telling which zone the climber will reach next? Stating the same facts for every contestant? Stating the most obvious? Every VoiceBot could do that. It must have been a real suffering for Meagan to hear this for 3 hours (as it was for me). Climbing is so much more than only wingspan or ape-index. Any potential commentator should listen to an IFSC Bouldering stream with Charlie Boscoe to get an understanding of what it means to comment on a Boulder Comp. Or just watch the Bloc Shop Open 2019 Stream from a week ago, these 2 guys are doing a very good job too, everytime I see them.
To be fair I guess this was televised, and he was maybe trying to make it as understandable as possible for those just randomly tuning in? Just a guess, but even with that, you're right that the commentator doesn't offer anything worthwhile in the way of analysis. He even sounds like every (American) football commentator (in terms of annunciation and projection of voice, etc.), which is not a good thing in my mind. Like if a climber is in a slabby tenuous position, I don't want to hear John Madden. Basically, the whole thing seems to be very ESPN-ized, which, to me, sucks. Anyway, I didn't need such a stark contrast to appreciate Charlie Boscoe, but I guess I'll take it and appreciate him all the more. Also... as I commented elsewhere.... For f***'s sake learn how to pronounce the Shiraishi's name; it's not hard (and even if it is, it's your job, so put in the 30 seconds of effort...)
No offense to the ESPN commentator, but please replace him with a climber. There was zero synergy between the two commentators which lead to some very bland background noise. Climbing is NOT this boring.
This is a perfect example of the climbing community vibe, starts criticism with “no offense” as oppose to spewing the typical internet commenters violent, hate filled rants. Love it. I am new to this sport but certainly felt the disconnect as well.
HELLO! I'm a MALE SPORTS ANNOUNCER! and this is my ANNOUNCER VOICE! I don't know CLIMBING terms or how to pronounce FAMOUS CLIMBER NAMES, but my false ENTHUSIASM is what ESPN thinks is what people WANT. Look at Margot GET TO THE TOP!
WhatsY0UTUB3 No.. he was just a bad announcer. I think Heloise mentioned his gender to emphasize how he always said things that were really obvious and didn’t add anything to the commentary. We know you’re a male announcer, just like we know that you get 25 points if you get to the top hold. It’s funny that you comment on someone being sexist when you then procede to stereotype and name-call an entire group of athletes. Classy...
@@SilverTheFlame I didnt know those things so that was helpful to me. And now you're saying that because he's a male he only says unhelpful and obvious things? Yes I am saying that about a group of athletes because look at the comments here. "It's not football" implying the football is below them? Judgy as fuck
@@WhatsY0UTUB3 Megan was doing a fine enough job explaining what was going on, and added color to what was happening with expert knowledge. The other dude added virtually nothing
@@WhatsY0UTUB3 he is a bad announcer cause he is a bad announcer, not cause he's a dude. there were two voices: one male one female. you say male so other people (that dont know their names) can understand who u are talking about.. use logic
For crying out loud, Ashima is one of the most prominent climbers of the day... learn how to pronounce her name already (it's not sharishi, and it's not hard to say shiraishi).
@@philaeew4866 Thanks. I watched a another climbing video from when Shiraishi was younger (only 13!) and the commentator used the she-rye-she pronunciation, so I'll go with that.
Careful about pronunciation comments. The entire climbing community (as in nearly every single person) mispronounced Ashima's first and last name for nearly a decade before we learned to say it just a few years ago. Also, I bet you can't properly pronounce the name Domen Scofic, and he is also an internationally famous climber. His name also gets mispronounced often.
I see Meagan Martin at my home gym pretty frequently and now I have to ask her how she felt commentating with this top tier football dude from ESPN. I'll save the criticism but this was one of the hardest things to listen to in ages.
Instead of ragging on the guy ESPN chose who had no control over the event he was having to commentate can we appreciate the sheer athleticism and talent of the phenomenal athletes?
But the female co-commentator Meagan Martin does know exactly what she's talking about and does a good job. Just ignore the guy. He doesn't have a clue.
@@constanceelaine3909 agree. She did a good job explaining the moves. But it would be better not commenting on the chalking and brushing. The DJ is annoying, too. I can't believe he said to ashima on a reachy slab move, "believe it, ashima"
I watched the whole thing before I reads the comments, and hot damn. I'm glad there's a consensus here. Nothing more cringe inducing in a climbing comp than a commentator who knows nothing about climbing.
The commentary is getting a lot of criticism, and it has its faults, but I think there's potential here. People who follow climbing enough to find this on youtube are annoyed by the mainstream sports style, but I'm hoping people just happening upon this when it was live who aren't climbers were drawn in by it. This isn't commentary for climbers, it's for ESPN watchers, and the more of them who get drawn into the climbing world the better. If it takes a more mainstream sport play by play over-explaining everything style commentary for that to happen, I'm all for it.
Why not give the athletes 10 or 15 seconds to brush the holds BEFORE their time starts? It seems a little silly to watch their time tick away before they've even had a chance to approach the start holds. While it is tempting to suggest that someone else do the job for them, I guess I see how there could be some subtle transfer of beta from the brusher to the climber, even if unintentional.
Well if they did that, then all climbers would just get a 4:10 clock instead of a 4:00 clock. It's still equal time for all, so what's the difference? You could just deduct the 10 seconds in your head and tell yourself that these climbers only have 3:50 to climb. It's the same. Don't mean to sound rude, but I'm just pointing out that it's not meaningful to argue about the 'justness' of these rules, since all competitors get the same treatment. Fair is fair. They get to decide what to do with those 4 minutes.
@@jarrenleow Except that the first climber out theoretically has an advantage in that case, because the holds are cleaner. Almost every bouldering competition I've seen has someone brush the holds between rounds. This is a very strange exception.
Note to all commentors on this video making statements about the color commentator not being an expert analyst. It is not the job of the CC person to provide analysis. His job is to explain what is happening. The analyst (Meghan Martin in this case) is responsible for explaining why things happen. That said, he does actually give background information on different climbers that is not obvious. He does just fine. I have watched many USA Climbing videos that have multiple climbers giving commentary. They're usually unbearable to listen, because none of them know how to describe the action in an interesting way. I much prefer this ESPN set up.
Hey that’s Sean Woodland who commentates all the Crossfit stuff! He’s great on Crossfit videos. Interesting to see/hear him on bouldering of all things.
It sounds like he is learning about climbing as he is watching this competition and sometimes as he is speaking himself. Good on him for the effort but I can't believe they couldn't find another climber as a commentator. Edit: Makes it hard to watch with this random, robotic and usually obvious yet unimportant commentating.
It's meant for non climber Watching. Most sports, especially less popular one have a "layman" that is there to ask basic questions and such. This is bound to happen as they try to get climbing to become a spectator sport
@@KingColliwog Makes sense. I think it still does have a lot to do with his inexperience and would prefer someone with more experience when so many are available but he does certainly provide the utility you mentioned.
@@billjensen51 I think the biggest problem is that there is very little synergy with Megan. I'm also not sure she's the best commentator even if she clearly knows climbing. She was probably chosen because she's "well known" since she did ninja warrior and such. They could certainly get a better team, but the "layman and expert" duo is going to stay if climbing is going to make it to the big networks
A really short climber won, you know? Actually, it's pretty easy to tell boulders that favor tall climbers, but there are a lot of situations that benefit short climbers but they're not easy to identify when looking at a boulder from afar.
@@Tzadeck I know. Taller climbers have a lot advantages, shorter climbers not so. Even Coxsey, who is inches taller than Ashima, mentions height being an issue often. Same with Puccio. Sorry, not buying it. Someone like Puccio has to have extreme strength to climb the outdoor beta her male counterparts can.
Okay, so everyone's mad at the commentator. But you guys do realise this sport is just about watching 1 person at a time do a thing in 4 minutes. How many different 'complex' things do you expect him to say? Sure, the female commentator says meaningful stuff about techniques and such, but there's only so much to say after a few climbers do the same things. Which is why she also speaks a lot less than the guy and only chimes in occasionally. If they could only say the things you want them to say, they wouldn't be able to fill the time. This video would be mostly silent. His comments may also be helpful to people unfamiliar with the sport. There could be world class professional climbers watching this. Should they then complain that the female commentator sucks too since she's saying stuff they already know?
Neither of them are very good in my opinion. I have climbed for 6 months and multiple times I felt I knew better what the competitor should do than the commentator... Multiple times when the contestant caught the final hold she said "(s)he still needs to match!" after it was already clear the climber was in control and already celebrating before matching. And every fall was "(s)he slipped", whatever the reason for falling was.
So, lets figure out how far this will go with this youtube recommendation chain. I was impressed by the fact that seemingly there was 25k people who came from scythe lady video to the scythe festival one. From now on i am going to watch next 100 videos with this comment numerating my path. This is comment №27
I don’t think you understand how colour commentating works? It required to have back and forth between himself and the analyst. Not every viewer is a bouldering expert. Don’t be such an elitist prick and alienate new viewers.
No she didn't. She was explaining volumes to the thousands of non-climbers watching. If you had watched the semis first like a real fan you would know that.
Did he use to do those car dealership commercials? Or ads for Medieval Times or Monster Truck shows. I can hear him just go... Kids enter for free this Sunday! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!
ESPN - bouldering was developed in Yosemite Valley in the 1950s and early 60s as a method of training extremely difficult moves. In areas near Bishop, it became a winter method of training. Smith Rocks was a high level free climbing area of its time, requiring theusual protective gear and ropes. Climbing competitions began a number of years earlier in Europe than in teh USA, earl 1980s is as far back as formal comps were well-known in Europe, and a bit after 1985 in teh USA. Thank you for not promoting further fantasy tales; instead spend a couple dollars on a researcher with climbing experience, interest, and willingness to explore its history before blabbing garbage on tv or internet.
WHOA. I found a sport I UNDERSTAND AND AM INTERESTED IN that isn't Quidditch or Rocket League. Makes me sad the plague happened and the Olympics got postponed :/
He doesn't explain anything for non-climbers tho... It's better to have a climber explain what the athletes are doing in layman's terms than having this guy repeatedly talking about their wingspan. For example, if you are watching football, you'all want a commentator who knows football so they don't just comment on the athletes' weight all the time. A commentator who actually know the sport can explain it to a layman much better than a layman who is a commentator.
For a newcomer I don't know who commented before, or how he sounded, but this isn't that annoying if you come from watching wipeout videos. Don't get me wrong, I understand that most of you guys hate it, I just feel bad for the commentator when he reads all this ^^ He was probably excited too. Anyways, you wont find many sports where you see opponents do this 1:36:00
There needs to be a volunteer scrubber before the start of each new climber. After that they can re-scrub on their own. Question is...will the climbers trust the scrubber? Maybe they should get a 15 second delay time to scrub before the start of their 4 minutes.
For each extra attempt you take, they deduct 0.1 points. So if you hit the 25 point mark, but it's your 2nd try, you get 24.9. If it's your 3rd try, you get 24.8, and so on. It helps put extra pressure on the really capable climbers competing against each other. They have to try extra hard to have zero falling. So if you look at the male who won 1st, he got 100 points because he completed everything on first try. He never fell.
Sounds like he’s learning as he goes that male commentator needs to go back to golf cuz he’s obviously not good enough for football or he would be there
Look, I'm all about great sportsmanship. But when it comes to the time they give them to discuses certain strategies on each route, you best keep them to yourself if you want to win
W1: 9:51 W2: 34:55 W3: 50:40 W4: 1:15:14
M1: 1:46:18 M2: 2:02:15 M3: 2:21:42 M4: 2:40:27
Thanks 😃
Thank you
You the real MVP.
Bless you
Tape close up with slow zoom: 30.20
They could really learn to pronounce Ashima Shiraishi's name. The guy in the stadium itself is doing it. The TV commentator woman just says 'Ashima' and the man says 'Shirishi.' She's literally the best climber in the states, guys.
I love how they cheer for each other
Welcome everyone to this match between Montreal and Boston tonight here in Centre Bell where everyone is excited. The B on Boston's shirt probably stands for Boston, and CH for Canadian Hockey for Montreal's team. Now these two teams each consist of a large amount of players, but as you will see here in a second only 6 players per team will be on the ice at a time.
*Players enter the ice*
The average height for a hockey player is 6 ft 1 and the average weight is 199.3 pounds.
*Game starts*
And the black thin cylinder gets dropped on that circle between two players! There is 19 minutes and 57 seconds left to the period. Now keep in mind that there is also 2 other periods after these two, where each team will be able to play with the black cylinder again for a chance to increase their score. There is now 19 minutes and 46 seconds left for a total of 59 and 46 seconds of play time for the whole game. Now 19 minutes and 41. The fist game of hockey was played around 1875 in Montreal.
*Insane team play by Montreal ending in a goal*
One of the team scored! That means that team's overall score for that period will be increased by a single unit. This score will not reset between the 2 other periods of 20 minutes I will still have to commentate. The score is now 1-0 in favor of Canadian Hockey. This means that if the other team wants to win, they will have to score at least 2 points, because 2 is higher than 1, which is the current score of the other team. This is only assuming the other team does not score again, and if so, to win a team will still need to have a higher score than the other team. Brandon Gallagher's height is 5 ft 9.
Fabrice Charbonneau wtf??
xPxnda They’re making fun of the male commentator (he knows something about hockey I think) but it’s quite obvious that he knows nothing about climbing, because he’s just stating the obvious (she’s made it to 15 and needs to get to 25 - everybody knows that). Whereas the female commentator definitely knows about climbing because she’s talking about skills, staying close to the wall, and foot work (I think she mentioned foot hooks). Sorry that was so long😂.
😂😂😂
"The climber is at the 5. Next they will want to go for the 10. This will give him more points and put him in a better spot in terms of points. And as we can see, the climber extends his arm hoping to find a place to grab hold. If he can do that he will actually stay on the wall instead of falling. If he can't he will fall and he will have to start from the bottom."
The kind of vapid commentary you can expect from ESPN nowadays apparently.
TurdFurgeson571 the commentary is garbage. Like someone else said, they should have an actual climber cast the comp.
what's the time stamp on this moment?
That's the main commentators job. The analyst/color commentator give more insight. It's the same most sports. Get off your high horse.
@@pistolen87 You'll never hear a baseball commentator saying, "Now the guy on the mound will throw that ball he's holding. He's the thrower, or 'pitcher.'" That is akin to what this guy is doing. It's basement level.
USA is so dumbed down now a days, you have to expect this. Just watch the news they talk to you the same way.
Please stop nitpicking about the commentary. "Rock talk" is fine within the climbing community. But "vapid commentary" is essential for those viewers not familiar with the sport. And there will be a lot of such viewers at the Olympics. I, for one, am happy that ESPN is covering the sport and providing such well-produced videos. If the sport grows really well, both commentators and the non-climbing public will eventually get familiar with climbing jargon as well.
Route tester: Falls on face
Route planner dude: wow
Route tester: Falls on face again
Route planner dude: wow that was really cool
1:44:30
I’m living for that moment 🤣
and then the first guy to try it gets it first go lmao
So grateful to be told what each person's wingspan is, every time he/she climbs, over and over... even though it's on the screen
i’m not in the climbing world and i’ve really enjoyed watching these comps. personally i don’t mind the male commentator as much because he does seem new to the sport, but i guess him not completely understanding the sport is helping other new watchers of the sport to better understand. it’s probably different for others that already understand the sport, but for me personally i don’t mind it.
Finally. Thank you. You made this comment so the rest of us don't have to.
+
I don't agree. He barely explained anything besides the climbers statistics. He showed us he has no understanding of the sport other than the scoring system that I'm sure was explained to him the day before. You wouldn't have a commentator that is completely ignorant of football or soccer commentate on that sport. It's not within their abilities to actually contribute anything of value.
I think the clueless commentator was intentionally chosen because a significant percentage of people watching climbing in the Olympics will be just as clueless. So instead of two pros talking way over everyone who's not a climber's head, they threw in a newb so the pro had to explain things to him and in turn everyone else watching. Still annoying, but it makes sense.
In my opinion they should have just gotten someone who was openly clueless and have the two converse about it, instead of a professional voice just trying to sound professional.
He loved when he got the chance to say "flash" though. haha.
Yea I would agree with this assessment. You need someone to make new climbers or completely new viewers feel like they're not being beat down with technical jargon. Overall, though, he could certainly have been a bit more knowledgeable and still kept new people in the loop.
imagine having a 2020 olympics
I know nothing about climbing (not sure how I got here) and I appreciated the female commentator SO MUCH. She was pointing out details that would have gone over my head and I feel like I learned a lot. As for the male commentator... thanks but I can see for myself on the screen that her height is 5'8". Gonna go binge watch a bunch of other climbing competitions now, this is a cool sport!
In my opinion, two professional/experienced climbers can just as well explain what is going on to a newbie. If you’ve ever watched the IFSC competitions, they have commentator Charlie Boscoe and a local climber. The local climber brings the extreme detail and expertise, and Charlie brings the laymans terms and commentating awareness to explain moves in a way that newbie climbers and non-climbing watchers can understand. This banal and baseless ESPN commentator is way out of his league here.
I thought both announcers did very well.
Say what we will about the commentators, I'm just glad they're showing this. I just finished watching the combined invitational. These climbers are amazing! I want to start climbing now. I've never been a rock gym before.
This is far more exciting than I thought it might be. I mean I knew it would be interesting, but it exceeded my expectations. I pray these and all Olympic athletes get to compete in Tokyo in July.
Claire Buhrfeind at the last second OMG!!!!
Spoiler
I regret reading comments, now I'm focused on how terrible the commentator is.
The commentator is actually pretty good. Many of the commentors on this video understand neither TV colour commentary or the wider world of climbing competitions in general
Yeah the dude was adding enthusiasm and energy, while the lady was being more technical, seemed pretty okay to me
@@Murdog83 LOL, sure. "Zero Waistband" 20:29 The dude's a clown.
a few misteps and mistakes makes it difficult at times, but overall not bad I guess
@@Cyberdactyl wingspan not waistband
Does anybody else’s hands get sweaty while watching rock climbing?
yes actually
100% hahaha
always lol
All the time
spot on
he really said "problem number 1 is first"
🎉very much appreciated for your support in the last couple weeks of this pandemic with your support in this regard
I watched the whole thing before I reads the comments, and hot damn. I'm glad there's a consensus here. Nothing more cringe inducing in a climbing comp than a commentator who knows nothing about climbing.
meagan carried the commentary between the two and made it worth listening to. on the other hand, the male commentator well he was just there
Good comp but as a non-American climber I'm so sad to find that it has been 'ESPN-ified'. I guess it was inevitable with the popularity of sport climbing soaring and the fact it is about to become an Olympic sport.
Sean Woodland clearly is not and never has been a rock or sport climber and knows zilch about the history, stats, and nuances of the sport or the competitors, many of whom are well known world wide - all things that I would expect of commentators of the premier national competition in any sport. Utterly lame to have comments like 'and he has reached number 10 and is going for number 15' and clearly no clue as to who was climbing and their history as a climber or any discussion of the type of boulder and its expected technicalities - gained from having a knowledge of the sport and from talking through the problems with the route setters beforehand. Having a guest climber as a co-commentator did not help as she treated the the audience as if they know nothing.
I looked him up and see that Sean is a big fan of hockey and wonder how he and ESPN would get on if they put a sport climber in front of the microphone for the Stanley Cup? Someone who knows nothing about the history, strengths, weaknesses, foibles of the NHL players? There would be a riot.
Nothing against him as a person but Climbing magazine had right when they rated the ESPN Detailed Play-by-Play coverage of sport climbing by Sean Woodland and Sam Farber as Grade C+ at best (I wold give it a fail) and wondered whether ESPN could not find a freelancer who knows the sport and 'would better fit the role'? There must be lots of very good sport climbers in the US who would be interested in a career as an ESPN climbing commentator.
ESPN should watch and listen to the commentary of a few of the IFSC World Cup Bouldering comps by people who know the sport and climbers like the back of their hand and have credibility.
PS: why no brushers? Its unfair on those who climb problems later not to have had the holds brushed and to waste time brushing the holds themselves.
I think I'll die if I hear another "Shirishi", please stop
jfc torture
Boo, not a fan of ESPN commentator (I don't mean Megan). Too mainstream sport-sounding. This is not football, guys, c'mon. Bring back out climber commentators. Sad direction this is going.
At least he can count the attempts... 🙈
he was the captain obviuos with phrases like "this hold is straight over the top of his head" :) This awkward moment, when you don't know what to say commenting the sport you unfamiliar with :)
The audience is for non-climbers that's why
And mangling the names of the climbers...
I don't know about you but personally I needed to be explained the concept of Ape Index at the beginning of every run...
More seriously, I'm glad Megan was there to explain the significance of body positioning and where climbers were correcting their movement.
I'm a climber myself, I like watching the IFSC Worldcups and also national Bouldering-Comps here in Germany. But sorry guys, honestly, this is the worst commentator I've ever seen. Counting each and every attempt? Telling which zone the climber will reach next? Stating the same facts for every contestant? Stating the most obvious? Every VoiceBot could do that. It must have been a real suffering for Meagan to hear this for 3 hours (as it was for me). Climbing is so much more than only wingspan or ape-index.
Any potential commentator should listen to an IFSC Bouldering stream with Charlie Boscoe to get an understanding of what it means to comment on a Boulder Comp. Or just watch the Bloc Shop Open 2019 Stream from a week ago, these 2 guys are doing a very good job too, everytime I see them.
To be fair I guess this was televised, and he was maybe trying to make it as understandable as possible for those just randomly tuning in? Just a guess, but even with that, you're right that the commentator doesn't offer anything worthwhile in the way of analysis. He even sounds like every (American) football commentator (in terms of annunciation and projection of voice, etc.), which is not a good thing in my mind. Like if a climber is in a slabby tenuous position, I don't want to hear John Madden. Basically, the whole thing seems to be very ESPN-ized, which, to me, sucks. Anyway, I didn't need such a stark contrast to appreciate Charlie Boscoe, but I guess I'll take it and appreciate him all the more.
Also... as I commented elsewhere.... For f***'s sake learn how to pronounce the Shiraishi's name; it's not hard (and even if it is, it's your job, so put in the 30 seconds of effort...)
Personally I think the problems are also not as good.
Thank you
lol...they toke him from the NFL.
@@SuperPinglin looks like 7a to 7b . i think womens climbing in the USA has more to offer
Women start 9:51
Men start 1:46:18
No offense to the ESPN commentator, but please replace him with a climber. There was zero synergy between the two commentators which lead to some very bland background noise. Climbing is NOT this boring.
Thank you
Ha ha. Yes, in fact, it is this boring. Basically the new NASCAR
Fun to do. Stupid to watch. It's like watching paint dry
danashane it’s super interesting if you understand what’s going on
This is a perfect example of the climbing community vibe, starts criticism with “no offense” as oppose to spewing the typical internet commenters violent, hate filled rants. Love it. I am new to this sport but certainly felt the disconnect as well.
Is there no volunteer in the us that could do the brushing?
True
no budget
they brush during their time before they climb? does that hurt their score?
if youve ever done a comp like this you would know how important it is to brush your own holds
There would be a potential to blame the brusher(s) for a bad clean. This is fair
HELLO! I'm a MALE SPORTS ANNOUNCER! and this is my ANNOUNCER VOICE! I don't know CLIMBING terms or how to pronounce FAMOUS CLIMBER NAMES, but my false ENTHUSIASM is what ESPN thinks is what people WANT. Look at Margot GET TO THE TOP!
wow i didn't know climbers were all such judgemental and sexist assholes
WhatsY0UTUB3 No.. he was just a bad announcer. I think Heloise mentioned his gender to emphasize how he always said things that were really obvious and didn’t add anything to the commentary. We know you’re a male announcer, just like we know that you get 25 points if you get to the top hold. It’s funny that you comment on someone being sexist when you then procede to stereotype and name-call an entire group of athletes. Classy...
@@SilverTheFlame I didnt know those things so that was helpful to me. And now you're saying that because he's a male he only says unhelpful and obvious things? Yes I am saying that about a group of athletes because look at the comments here. "It's not football" implying the football is below them? Judgy as fuck
@@WhatsY0UTUB3 Megan was doing a fine enough job explaining what was going on, and added color to what was happening with expert knowledge. The other dude added virtually nothing
@@WhatsY0UTUB3 he is a bad announcer cause he is a bad announcer, not cause he's a dude. there were two voices: one male one female. you say male so other people (that dont know their names) can understand who u are talking about.. use logic
Hell Yah Alex Johnson!!! Your St.Paul VE crew loves you!!
Rooting for Ashima 💪🏻 Nailed it!!!👏 Strong finished!
Thanks for the great commentary Megan!
Wow Sean is incredible
Both Ashrami and Alex had a fantastic and fascinating performance, while their height lead them to two extreme style.
sean bailey is a monster
2:14:54 Zach Gala is a freak, he sat there figuring it out for so long. Strength to spare
For crying out loud, Ashima is one of the most prominent climbers of the day... learn how to pronounce her name already (it's not sharishi, and it's not hard to say shiraishi).
"it's not hard to say shiraishi"
Is it pronounced "sheer-uh-ee-she"?
@@synchronium24 i guess both she-rye-she or sheer-uh-ee-she would both be fine, sharishi is just plain wrong.
@@philaeew4866 Thanks. I watched a another climbing video from when Shiraishi was younger (only 13!) and the commentator used the she-rye-she pronunciation, so I'll go with that.
@@synchronium24 Japanese text to speech says "she lie ee she" and I think it means white rock.
Careful about pronunciation comments. The entire climbing community (as in nearly every single person) mispronounced Ashima's first and last name for nearly a decade before we learned to say it just a few years ago. Also, I bet you can't properly pronounce the name Domen Scofic, and he is also an internationally famous climber. His name also gets mispronounced often.
Attempt for on problem !
I see Meagan Martin at my home gym pretty frequently and now I have to ask her how she felt commentating with this top tier football dude from ESPN. I'll save the criticism but this was one of the hardest things to listen to in ages.
This is the Verge PC building video of the climbing community. The commentating, while well intended, is hilarious
hearing the girls cheering Claire on during problem 3 made me emotional the atmosphere looks so healthy and supportive
I don’t even understand the logistics of that second Boulder for the men. It defies physics, gravity and logic. These ppl are so talented!
These girls are so strong and good with their balance, with some training and i think they can succeed in any sport
Instead of ragging on the guy ESPN chose who had no control over the event he was having to commentate can we appreciate the sheer athleticism and talent of the phenomenal athletes?
The commentator has no clue about climbing. That's a shame...
They overexplained and repeated minor stuffs instead of commenting on the actual climbing movements.
But the female co-commentator Meagan Martin does know exactly what she's talking about and does a good job. Just ignore the guy. He doesn't have a clue.
@@constanceelaine3909 agree. She did a good job explaining the moves. But it would be better not commenting on the chalking and brushing. The DJ is annoying, too. I can't believe he said to ashima on a reachy slab move, "believe it, ashima"
Thank you
Bradley Gamble you’re welcome
that is definitely some ESPN music
Someone, please talk to this guy about climbing
Thank you
I watched the whole thing before I reads the comments, and hot damn. I'm glad there's a consensus here. Nothing more cringe inducing in a climbing comp than a commentator who knows nothing about climbing.
The commentary is getting a lot of criticism, and it has its faults, but I think there's potential here. People who follow climbing enough to find this on youtube are annoyed by the mainstream sports style, but I'm hoping people just happening upon this when it was live who aren't climbers were drawn in by it. This isn't commentary for climbers, it's for ESPN watchers, and the more of them who get drawn into the climbing world the better. If it takes a more mainstream sport play by play over-explaining everything style commentary for that to happen, I'm all for it.
Yeah, I got that sense too. Gotta start somewhere. Glad though that the IFSC commentary is there on other events.
okay u changed my mind lol
The male announcer is just saying all of the facts about the climbers that just pop up on the screen
Wait a moment. They couldn't find someone to brush the holds for the climbers?! "The fifteen is right over her head" ORLY? Hilarious commentator...
That jump on route 1 was a nice addition to this set . the audience and event Need to be silent respect their experience
Why did I watch something for 3 hours that I know nothing about? It’s amazing how that somehow happened...
Adoro i vostri video... Colplimenti a tutti coloro che ci dedicano tempo e bellissima megan e le atlete.
***Munches Cheeseburger and sips milkshake - clears throat***
Watching this makes my arms sore.
Taylor Galbraith god damnit now I’m hungry
1:44:30 *climber faceplants for the 10th time*
Announcer: "That was really cool!" LOL
Why not give the athletes 10 or 15 seconds to brush the holds BEFORE their time starts? It seems a little silly to watch their time tick away before they've even had a chance to approach the start holds. While it is tempting to suggest that someone else do the job for them, I guess I see how there could be some subtle transfer of beta from the brusher to the climber, even if unintentional.
Well if they did that, then all climbers would just get a 4:10 clock instead of a 4:00 clock. It's still equal time for all, so what's the difference? You could just deduct the 10 seconds in your head and tell yourself that these climbers only have 3:50 to climb. It's the same.
Don't mean to sound rude, but I'm just pointing out that it's not meaningful to argue about the 'justness' of these rules, since all competitors get the same treatment. Fair is fair. They get to decide what to do with those 4 minutes.
@@jarrenleow Except that the first climber out theoretically has an advantage in that case, because the holds are cleaner. Almost every bouldering competition I've seen has someone brush the holds between rounds. This is a very strange exception.
I love Sienna. She radiates happiness and I love her energy!
Note to all commentors on this video making statements about the color commentator not being an expert analyst. It is not the job of the CC person to provide analysis. His job is to explain what is happening. The analyst (Meghan Martin in this case) is responsible for explaining why things happen. That said, he does actually give background information on different climbers that is not obvious. He does just fine.
I have watched many USA Climbing videos that have multiple climbers giving commentary. They're usually unbearable to listen, because none of them know how to describe the action in an interesting way. I much prefer this ESPN set up.
Climbing start 9:50
Its not the knowledge of the guy what makes him good. He has great voice for tv commentator. Btw when you dont know anything of sport it sounds fine
2:45:30 it is not a top! The top hold has to controled with both hands.
I'm guessing it doesn't change his placing so they didn't bother with it too much.
Some problems do not require having both hands on the end hold. Haven't gotten there yet tho, so yeah
ashima did a brilliant job. happy for her to have won!
love it. great job!
Hey that’s Sean Woodland who commentates all the Crossfit stuff! He’s great on Crossfit videos. Interesting to see/hear him on bouldering of all things.
LOL. 10 months ago. and SOOOOOO weird having this ESPN flavor. Next there will be a playstation game called: Adam Ondra: Pro Climber.
It's called Tomb Raider.
@@awdrifter3394 it's called assassin's creed
It sounds like he is learning about climbing as he is watching this competition and sometimes as he is speaking himself. Good on him for the effort but I can't believe they couldn't find another climber as a commentator. Edit: Makes it hard to watch with this random, robotic and usually obvious yet unimportant commentating.
It's meant for non climber Watching. Most sports, especially less popular one have a "layman" that is there to ask basic questions and such.
This is bound to happen as they try to get climbing to become a spectator sport
@@KingColliwog Makes sense. I think it still does have a lot to do with his inexperience and would prefer someone with more experience when so many are available but he does certainly provide the utility you mentioned.
@@billjensen51 I think the biggest problem is that there is very little synergy with Megan. I'm also not sure she's the best commentator even if she clearly knows climbing. She was probably chosen because she's "well known" since she did ninja warrior and such. They could certainly get a better team, but the "layman and expert" duo is going to stay if climbing is going to make it to the big networks
シライシ shi-ra-i-shi
You need a chalk bag watching rock climbing competitions
How was the first women's boulder fair? Crap route setting when the small climbers have such a huge disadvantage.
A really short climber won, you know?
Actually, it's pretty easy to tell boulders that favor tall climbers, but there are a lot of situations that benefit short climbers but they're not easy to identify when looking at a boulder from afar.
@@Tzadeck I know. Taller climbers have a lot advantages, shorter climbers not so. Even Coxsey, who is inches taller than Ashima, mentions height being an issue often. Same with Puccio. Sorry, not buying it. Someone like Puccio has to have extreme strength to climb the outdoor beta her male counterparts can.
life isn't fair.
at 38:02, Sienna Kopf gets Margo's tag.
Shouldn’t the clock start when they make 1st contact? Not when they have to go out and brush?
Wow! ESPN nice try. Everyone in the comments is right.
well the climbers always use their time to read the problem, otherwise they might read it for ages hahahaha
Okay, so everyone's mad at the commentator. But you guys do realise this sport is just about watching 1 person at a time do a thing in 4 minutes. How many different 'complex' things do you expect him to say?
Sure, the female commentator says meaningful stuff about techniques and such, but there's only so much to say after a few climbers do the same things. Which is why she also speaks a lot less than the guy and only chimes in occasionally.
If they could only say the things you want them to say, they wouldn't be able to fill the time. This video would be mostly silent.
His comments may also be helpful to people unfamiliar with the sport.
There could be world class professional climbers watching this. Should they then complain that the female commentator sucks too since she's saying stuff they already know?
Word!
Neither of them are very good in my opinion. I have climbed for 6 months and multiple times I felt I knew better what the competitor should do than the commentator... Multiple times when the contestant caught the final hold she said "(s)he still needs to match!" after it was already clear the climber was in control and already celebrating before matching. And every fall was "(s)he slipped", whatever the reason for falling was.
Sean Bailey. Peefecto. Wow. He's a regular Spider-Man.
The women did great, amazing competition to watch!!
So, lets figure out how far this will go with this youtube recommendation chain. I was impressed by the fact that seemingly there was 25k people who came from scythe lady video to the scythe festival one. From now on i am going to watch next 100 videos with this comment numerating my path.
This is comment №27
She had to explained what volumes were to the other commentator
flumpmaster 😂😂when did that happen I kinda skipped through
@@jacksongaeng4027 She did it a lot throughout the video.
I don’t think you understand how colour commentating works? It required to have back and forth between himself and the analyst. Not every viewer is a bouldering expert. Don’t be such an elitist prick and alienate new viewers.
@@markalterado88 Really well put
No she didn't. She was explaining volumes to the thousands of non-climbers watching. If you had watched the semis first like a real fan you would know that.
I love you Margo!!!
this dude as no idea what he is talking about replace him ASAP
_"6-2 wingspan"_ must be stretch from the Fantastic Four 01:58:26
As a climber I know how hard this is and just watching it is making my palms sweaty as fuuuuuuuck😂
2:18:47 - what did that spectator know about COVID-19 back in Feb 2019?!?!
Sean bailey can read a route as well as any climber out there
Did he use to do those car dealership commercials? Or ads for Medieval Times or Monster Truck shows.
I can hear him just go...
Kids enter for free this Sunday! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!
Ashima shiraishi ... Mantul..
ESPN - bouldering was developed in Yosemite Valley in the 1950s and early 60s as a method of training extremely difficult moves.
In areas near Bishop, it became a winter method of training.
Smith Rocks was a high level free climbing area of its time, requiring theusual protective gear and ropes.
Climbing competitions began a number of years earlier in Europe than in teh USA, earl 1980s is as far back as formal comps were well-known in Europe, and a bit after 1985 in teh USA.
Thank you for not promoting further fantasy tales; instead spend a couple dollars on a researcher with climbing experience, interest, and willingness to explore its history before blabbing garbage on tv or internet.
I don’t know who is spreading misinformation but I appreciate your sense of justice and I learn some things so thank you
WHOA. I found a sport I UNDERSTAND AND AM INTERESTED IN that isn't Quidditch or Rocket League. Makes me sad the plague happened and the Olympics got postponed :/
Pretty impressed with the commentator robot they're using here! Still a lot of work to do before it will sound like a real human though
The commentator is just explaining things for non-climbers.
Chill out. We get it. You climb and know everything about climbing. Relax.
He doesn't explain anything for non-climbers tho... It's better to have a climber explain what the athletes are doing in layman's terms than having this guy repeatedly talking about their wingspan.
For example, if you are watching football, you'all want a commentator who knows football so they don't just comment on the athletes' weight all the time. A commentator who actually know the sport can explain it to a layman much better than a layman who is a commentator.
Please get rid of this male commentator, he's horrible.
Horrible by what standard?
For a newcomer I don't know who commented before, or how he sounded, but this isn't that annoying if you come from watching wipeout videos. Don't get me wrong, I understand that most of you guys hate it, I just feel bad for the commentator when he reads all this ^^ He was probably excited too. Anyways, you wont find many sports where you see opponents do this 1:36:00
There needs to be a volunteer scrubber before the start of each new climber. After that they can re-scrub on their own. Question is...will the climbers trust the scrubber? Maybe they should get a 15 second delay time to scrub before the start of their 4 minutes.
Nahh, that good good scrub gives the climbers a chance to “feel” the boulder from before the first climb
@@Rishnai I think they should get some delay time then.
This is harder to watch then to watch that shitshow of a commentary at ninja warrior
Amazing
ESPN 8, the Ocho
By zooming the camera close to the climber, the camera operator makes it impossible for the viewer to see what the climber is trying to do.
Kızlar hem çok minnoş, hem de çok becerikli. Hiç ilgimi çeken bir spor değil ama duramıyorum. Seyretmeye devam.
Does it matter how many attempts you take? as long as it's in the designated time frame?
For each extra attempt you take, they deduct 0.1 points. So if you hit the 25 point mark, but it's your 2nd try, you get 24.9. If it's your 3rd try, you get 24.8, and so on. It helps put extra pressure on the really capable climbers competing against each other. They have to try extra hard to have zero falling. So if you look at the male who won 1st, he got 100 points because he completed everything on first try. He never fell.
Final move on W1 is a bit mean??? Was the setter 7ft tall or what?
James White no it’s just top level climbing
Sounds like he’s learning as he goes that male commentator needs to go back to golf cuz he’s obviously not good enough for football or he would be there
Ashima's dad at 9:00 😊
Look, I'm all about great sportsmanship. But when it comes to the time they give them to discuses certain strategies on each route, you best keep them to yourself if you want to win
1:34:05 "her family looking on..." - - Pretty sure that's not her family...anyone? That's worse than not knowing anything about climbing
Now that seems like a big fun teenage family...😂😂😂
Maybe he was just talking generally. Someone from her family was probably looking on at that point...