tried to watch the recent snooker, but ruined again by endless commentator yapping

[Acrowot]

Most of the commentators are ok, but Willie Thorne is a complete pain and talks too much drivel! Turning sound off does not really make it any better either, as that means cannot hear the balls connecting or what the other commentator is saying.

[spike]

Most of the commentators are ok, but Willie Thorne is a complete pain and talks too much drivel! Turning sound off does not really make it any better either, as that means cannot hear the balls connecting or what the other commentator is saying.

Why not try switching over to Eurosport instead..

[foulandamister]

I find most of the commentary fun. I prefer some over others, but all in all I'd rather have them than not. They range from the technical (Davis) to the surreal(Virgo). For comparison, the best golf commentator is still Peter Allis, since he can wander off and talk about something irrelevant he sees on camera, but will focus back when something interesting is happening.
Same in snooker, just have to get the balance right.

[andy carson]

I find most of the commentary fun. I prefer some over others, but all in all I'd rather have them than not. They range from the technical (Davis) to the surreal(Virgo). For comparison, the best golf commentator is still Peter Allis, since he can wander off and talk about something irrelevant he sees on camera, but will focus back when something interesting is happening.
Same in snooker, just have to get the balance right.

liked the comment from davis yesterday, "dont believe everything you rad in the text books" with ryan days' grip

[jonplayer]

so what about partially sighted who want an explanation of shots on offer etc??? are they not to be given the right to be able to know whats going on????

i think you will find you are in a very very small minority as 99.99% of the people i know actually enjoy the insight you get from the commentators (Willie thorne included!!!)

Your right about being a minority, but it's not a 0.01% minority. I think that they talk to much too, commentary can be interesting and informative but these guys (mainly Willie) talk constantly!

For me it spoils the match a bit.

I'd like the BBC to have a red button option to just hear the sounds of the game, i.e turning off the commentary.

[cally]

I'd like the BBC to have a red button option to just hear the sounds of the game, i.e turning off the commentary.

I was thinking about the different options the beeb could offer on the red button last week.

Why cant they do it like they have done football/cricket etc in the past...

Remember when watching footy you could select different camera views, you could select different commentary or just select the crowd noise.

I'd like to see similar things on the red button with snooker.

A few cam options on the red button would be great, like top view of the table, pocketcam, and Playercam would be cool,...

And a choice of commentary/crowd noise.....

[Freddie Ng]

Its true that some commentators spoils the mood.
But there are many others can be informative and interesting.

Other than turning of the commentary, maybe we can try view in other channel with different language. At least we can still get the ball sound rather than nothing.

"Watch it LIVE" is the best..

Cheers

[ThePhantomPotter]

I actually enjoy most of the commentators and the differing approaches. Dennis Taylor is the best of the BBC crew by a country mile.

BUT I can't stand Willie Thorne. He thinks everyone loves him when a lot of us can't stand him. Too much of his commentary is about him, not about the match he is supposedly watching. Is he that self-centered in real life?

if anyone wants to start up a fund to kidnap the not-so-great WT and have a surgeon perform some kind of vocal chord removal operation on him, put me down for £20

[Acrowot]

You have a good sense of humour ThePhantomPotter - lol
Here is another 20
:snooker:

[goku]

i think the commentary is brilliant apart from when they start to pin point celebrities in the crowed.... so what!!!!!
commentary in snooker has come along way with the help of hawk eye, still images for balls being re-positioned and lines being put on the screen to indicate how to get out of a snooker safely. me personally have also found commentary to be educational when it comes to, say,landing high or low on the black to go into the pack or running the cue ball into another ball to hold position and so forth...... suppose abit of banter within the commentary box isn't such a bad thing either.

[hotpot]

What do you guys think of Morgan and Griffiths , I think theyr great together Morgan is very knowledgeable and is more or less spot on with players shot selection , and griffiths is so whitty . Great to hear Griffiths complimenting some of the past and present welsh amateurs that club players like myself know and have played against , like Terry Parsons Geoff Thomas , Alwyn Lloyd etc , he certainly has,nt forgotten his grass roots . I would like to see more of these two in other tournaments .

[ThePhantomPotter]

I thought Darren Morgan was excellent at the Welsh. Informative, knowledgable and not wittering on about nothing at all. It would be good if the beeb could use him in other events but they seem to have their sights set on ken doherty at the moment who strikes me as an excellent studio guest but not sure about him commentating.

[hotpot]

I thought Darren Morgan was excellent at the Welsh. Informative, knowledgable and not wittering on about nothing at all. It would be good if the beeb could use him in other events but they seem to have their sights set on ken doherty at the moment who strikes me as an excellent studio guest but not sure about him commentating.

Yea apart from his knowledge theres something about his voice that just makes you want to listen and you always capture what he,s said , like you said some just waffle on and in the end you dont listen to everything their saying , but he seems to pick the exact moment when and when not to say something . Morgan deffo my fav , a breath of fresh air to to game . We need moe of him .

[extractingTHEmichael]

For me, the commentators all have good knowledge and can help to explain aspects of the game that the average Joe might not realise. I do agree that they can go off on a tangent sometimes or simply speak obnoxiously frequently.

When I watch Stephen Hendry play, all the commentators seem to talk about is how he's not the player he used to be and get all high and mighty when he misses a pot or goes out of position - like you don't see any other top professional make a mistake.

The current commentary on BBC seems to have an imbalance of useful explanation and general waffle.

Where I feel commentary does work is when you have 1 former top professional player and 1 more media/journalism based commentator together to strike this balance. Just think of the Eurosport commentary with Dave Hendon and Joe Johnson/Mike Hallett. Or when Clive Everton used to commentate for the BBC.

[hotpot]

For me, the commentators all have good knowledge and can help to explain aspects of the game that the average Joe might not realise. I do agree that they can go off on a tangent sometimes or simply speak obnoxiously frequently.

When I watch Stephen Hendry play, all the commentators seem to talk about is how he's not the player he used to be and get all high and mighty when he misses a pot or goes out of position - like you don't see any other top professional make a mistake.

The current commentary on BBC seems to have an imbalance of useful explanation and general waffle.

Where I feel commentary does work is when you have 1 former top professional player and 1 more media/journalism based commentator together to strike this balance. Just think of the Eurosport commentary with Dave Hendon and Joe Johnson/Mike Hallett. Or when Clive Everton used to commentate for the BBC.

I feel sorry for Dave Hendon on times obviously he no clue about snooker what so ever and i think his co commentators are embarrased for him , quite like his voice though .