Ricky and Ralph Objectively

motomike137
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6/11/2020 7:52am Edited Date/Time 6/11/2020 9:57am
How many times do I have to hear Ralph mention a rider getting "pressure from behind" when the rider just passed the other guy and is pulling away?
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Adam43
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6/11/2020 8:13am
Ralph sucks.

He doesn't even particularly like motocross - just the paycheck. His personal interests are 4-wheeled stuff and rock bands.

As a result, he is completely useless as far as understanding and relaying the nuances of supercross. Ralph cannot readily identify >80% of the field. And this year more than ever, he and Will Christen have determined they need to jam the show full of inane tidbits about riders - even during critical moments.

He has not improved in 15 bloody seasons.

Jason Weigandt is abundantly qualified and hands down the best candidate for this role, but has not played the political game as well as Ralph. Hoping his time comes soon.
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Goon645
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6/11/2020 9:02am
Ricky basically had a full on mental gasket burst when he was trying to explain how riders need to compensate their riding style for the bikes being low on power during practice. I believe it was towards the end of the B 250, like he literally had to just go silent for a bit to compose himself after spluttering for 15 seconds worse than his cr250 would have with maple syrup in the tank.

That being said I would rather hear a hundred “must situations” and “set sails” with the odd weird choice of words here and there from someone I know for a fact could put the mic down and lay down a respectable lap time. That other wwe/let’s shout really hard and go mental guy that just makes things feel cheap and staged is just not it. But he won’t leave so we can just keep whining in vital to make ourselves feel better .
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dirtdog36
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6/11/2020 9:11am
Marty "dm me" Davalos picked up Ricks drivers license Smile
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The Shop

dirtdog36
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6/11/2020 9:12am
oh and Marty is 37 years old Smile
Alex.434
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6/11/2020 10:08am
Feld hires the C-team production crew for these. The Director and Producer in the truck are god awful and everything stems from that. Camera / shot selection. Timing of Picture-in-picture. Features and when to air them (in the Run of Show). Coaching and directing of the talent team (Ralph, Ricky, etc). All comes from the Director and Producer.

The whole god damn show needs a massive overhaul. It's painful to watch if you have any experience in this kind of work.
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6/11/2020 10:12am
The difference to me is RC is a moto God. The guy can say whatever he wants and he’s still cool with me. He has earned that with his right wrist and skill on the track.

Ralph? Not so much.
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1
6/11/2020 11:30am Edited Date/Time 6/11/2020 11:31am
I actually thought they did alright this last round. Ralph kept the stupid anecdotes at bay and Ricky seemed to pick up most of the details. I'm really starting to dig Ricky in the booth to be honest.

I don't understand how they seem to piss you guys off so damn much.
6/11/2020 11:40am
brocster wrote:
I too mostly listened while doing a top end job on my son’s bike. Wasn’t too bad but I would peek at the iPad every time...
I too mostly listened while doing a top end job on my son’s bike. Wasn’t too bad but I would peek at the iPad every time I heard the ohhhhhh. Oohhhhh oooohhhhh! and would check the banner for race order as someone else mentioned you don’t know who is where listening to announcing alone. Better than nothing for sure!
Funny you mention the race order. I watched last night race on DVR and for some reason it stretched the screen and I couldn't see the race order on the side. Made me realize how much I depend it to know what is happening in the race. Ralph certainly didn't help put the picture in the frame. I don't really care and never comment in these endless threads, but yeah, Ralph is really bad.
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6/11/2020 11:42am
The anecdotes are just painful and never have any payoff.

" I was walking my dog and lost my drivers license, then I get a phone call from Davalos and he says hey I found your drivers license, haha, so, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have a drivers license, haha"


Also "hitting his marks" needs to be retired.



That said, Ricky has dramatically improved no doubt about it and im sure will be even better next season and beyond.


Ralph just plain sucks. We were so spoiled with Diffey the first few races.
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Silliker269
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6/11/2020 11:56am
Ricky has improved a lot and I don't mind Ralph , Daniel Blair would be better but what can you do
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6/11/2020 12:30pm
Two seconds after the gate drops:

Ralph: "If they finish like this, then (insert name, usually Tomac) is in trouble."
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motomike137
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6/11/2020 12:34pm
Two seconds after the gate drops:

Ralph: "If they finish like this, then (insert name, usually Tomac) is in trouble."
First lap of A1
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Trudare
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6/11/2020 12:34pm
While Ricky has improved, I miss Fro.....
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motomike137
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6/11/2020 12:36pm
Trudare wrote:
While Ricky has improved, I miss Fro.....
RC and Fro would be a nice combo imho. Give Ralphs job to Fro.
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hamncheeze
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6/11/2020 12:42pm
Two seconds after the gate drops:

Ralph: "If they finish like this, then (insert name, usually Tomac) is in trouble."
For sure. The producer needs to stop with ”points as they run”. You don’t see the NBA showing “Live conference standings” in the middle of the 3rd quarter of a regular season game. It’s an attempt to add drama but comes off very contrived to serious fans and probably very confusing to new fans.
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oldfarp
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6/11/2020 12:54pm
Personalliy, I love Ricky in the booth. No, he is not a professional linguist, but he has vastly improved over the years, and I would be sad if he was gone. I love having my favorite rider ever calling the race every week. And I think he does add insight, he is not Gary Semics (I. e. Breaking things down to science, which is also awesome) he is the GOAT. Simple as that to me, he is a riders rider that is announcing and I like it

Ralph, on the other hand has glaring issues. I've always felt like he is not a true fan of motocross, which is a must have to call the races and make it believable to any real fan that isnt a non rider. The anecdotes arent bad, they are absurd. Absolutely ridiculous. Let's see, we have piano, woodworking, building generators, grocery shopping, restoring a bike with his daughter, During MAINS. That is unacceptable. I think I Ralph seems like a nice guy, it's nothing Personal, he just doesnt seem like the right fit. I'd be all for Fro and Ricky.

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davis224
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6/11/2020 1:01pm
I'd be interested to hear a Malin/Weege combo
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Bultaco
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6/11/2020 1:06pm
I had to turn the volume OFF.

Feld, if you are reading this thread....that means I don't hear any of the myriad of product/brand mentions. It means Ralph is driving away impressions.
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ti473
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6/11/2020 1:07pm
OP, do you know what "objectively" means?
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dimetime
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6/11/2020 1:07pm
Two seconds after the gate drops:

Ralph: "If they finish like this, then (insert name, usually Tomac) is in trouble."
hamncheeze wrote:
For sure. The producer needs to stop with ”points as they run”. You don’t see the NBA showing “Live conference standings” in the middle of the...
For sure. The producer needs to stop with ”points as they run”. You don’t see the NBA showing “Live conference standings” in the middle of the 3rd quarter of a regular season game. It’s an attempt to add drama but comes off very contrived to serious fans and probably very confusing to new fans.
Amen. As much as Ralph is not good, this idiocy drives me up a wall. Points during racing is irrelevant.

I don't even care if it's the last fricken lap, the point totals mean nothing unitl the checkered flag waves.
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hamncheeze
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6/11/2020 1:08pm Edited Date/Time 6/11/2020 2:07pm
Before anyone goes crazy about Fro and Ricky, have you all listened to Real Talk 447? They are bro’s. And both ex racers. The booth needs one play by play person (Weege, Diffey) and one colour commentator/expert (RC, GL, Fro). Having 2 ex racers won’t work as they will not be able to carry the broadcast flow unless one stands down from being “the expert”.

We’ve had Ralph with Fro. We’ve had Ralph with Ricky. We’ve had Ralph with both. He’s good with some things like transitions from commercials or track reports but during the racing he just loses his focus and has to try to make a personal connection to it. That shit can be done at any other point, but not during the race action. That is 100% the problem with Ralph.
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hamncheeze
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6/11/2020 2:12pm Edited Date/Time 6/11/2020 2:13pm
dimetime wrote:
Amen. As much as Ralph is not good, this idiocy drives me up a wall. Points during racing is irrelevant. I don't even care if it's...
Amen. As much as Ralph is not good, this idiocy drives me up a wall. Points during racing is irrelevant.

I don't even care if it's the last fricken lap, the point totals mean nothing unitl the checkered flag waves.
And I didn't emphasize this in my post but the 'points as they run' is not Ralph's fault. He's being fed that info from the producer who has decided it's relevant and has the on screen graphic built from the production team. There are things to criticize with Ralph but try to remember OBJECTIVELY that he is not responsible for the on screen content. That is the producer.
Knobbyjake
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6/11/2020 3:25pm
Dump Ralf and Will, keep RC and Blair and bring in Weege. Major improvements.
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6/11/2020 3:48pm
PRM31 wrote:
I’ve said many times people need to listen to old school radio announcers to hear how good it can be.
Like Larry Huffman? Smile

mx510
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6/11/2020 4:18pm
I generally don't complain about Ralph or Ricky, BUT the mispronouncing of privateer names last night was driving me crazy. Come on guys!
6/11/2020 4:27pm
katooom wrote:
Objectively: Ralph brings the quality of the entire show down. Does Feld or NBCSN production actually think is a good team?
Good question. Supercross may be a niche sport but there's a good amount of cash riding on the ability of organizers to keep fans engaged. So presumably it's part of somebody's job at Feld to check out what people are saying on a major forum like Vital. And what they've been been saying for years, in large majorities, is that Ralph is a bad fit for Supercross and should be replaced ASAP.

One theory is that the higher-ups at Feld think existing fans who can't stand Ralph will watch anyway -- so they're operating on the assumption that he'll attract casual fans from the other motorsports he announces, and this number of casuals is greater than the number of casuals he drives away. The small amount of hardcore fans who simply turn off the volume wouldn't move the needle one way or the other.

All in all, it might not be a bad theory -- if Ralph's obvious replacement wasn't also announcing a boatload of other motorsports, and two-wheeled motorsports to boot. Of course there's the apparent rivalry with the MX series Weege announces, and likely a bunch of other considerations none of us know much about. Hell, there may even be a segment of fans who buy live tickets just so they don't have to listen to Ralph on TV!


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VetMX.com
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6/11/2020 4:41pm
The mute button is my go to..
Airick
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6/11/2020 5:00pm
Tonight I’d forgotten that it was Wednesday and so I’d also spaced that supercross was happening. I was getting ready to go cycling so decided to...
Tonight I’d forgotten that it was Wednesday and so I’d also spaced that supercross was happening.

I was getting ready to go cycling so decided to listen to the race in my headphones while riding my bike. I figured I’d be able to follow what was happening well enough.

My conclusion is that these 2 are just straight up objectively hard to follow, constantly confusing riders and saying things that have no relevance. I had no idea who was in what position but I did know that Austin Forkner ran into Ralph at the grocery store

I AM VERY THANKFUL FOR SUPERCROSS IN ANY CAPACITY, but....if you disagree with me I’d suggest listening to a race with headphones in without watching. Sports announcers from baseball, football, hockey etc are all easily discernible. I’ve listened to countless games with no visual and could easily follow.
Forgot the race was on, then puts it on headphones??
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plowboy
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6/11/2020 5:00pm
I don't know squat about production or broadcasting. I do know shit from shinola. No one is actually calling the races. I'm not gonna blame Ralph or Ricky. There's a voice in there ears telling them what to say about what they see on their monitors. The "VOICE" bears the blame for a sub par broadcast. SX is a fast moving sport (if you are watching the entire field instead of just the leaders). I'd guess that means fast talking and quick thinking. I don't know that Ralph/Ricky have been given the opportunity to free flow because the VOICE has to filter and feed them. Ralph and RC know the sport inside and out. That VOICE is what's holding them back. Just my .02.
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