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He is a professional broadcaster that’s literally his role now.
Whether he’s play by play or color he still has to be able to communicate professionally for a living and he is bad at that.
I’m not sure how anyone can refute that.
Just to add to that, probably the worst of the two broadcasts to cover in the booth is Race Day Live. It's because there's a ton of dead air to fill between qualifying. Right now I will walk away after first qualifying and then come back for second qualifying. There have been some really good RDL Booth people and Daniel was probably the best. It was easy just to stay on the broadcast and go with the flow because he was interesting and engaging.
One thing that people probably don't realize is that DB has the trust of the racers and they are comfortable with him. When there was a lightning delay at one of the rounds he did a live broadcast from going from racer to racer, riffing and getting some rare one-on-one time with each racer. That was the sort of stuff he brought naturally to the broadcast, that NBC, Lee Diffy, and RC fail to realize or care about.
I actually miss Ralph and Jeff……
Same here. Yeah Ralph was a goof at times and messed up names but that's who we had for years and I enjoyed that commentary era over this current by far.
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I KNEW IT WAS DIFFEY!
I don't do it for a living you fucking idiot. Surely you can add more than that?
Man, I thought DB was great and I criticize RC's commentary often, but it's just not that big of a deal. Sometimes certain employees are just "the chosen ones" in their workplace, and others that may be better just get passed over. It's a fact of life that happens everywhere, every day. This isn't really massive news. Sucks for DB, but it is what it is man.
Weege and Blair in the booth with JS7 and JT$ on the floor is the dream setup.
i wonder if vital would have had weekly meltdowns about Art Eckman and David Bailey. I bet so.
Monster money. They paid for hailie deegan to race Indy NXT when she's barely qualified for the lower rung (formula regional Americas cup). She qualified last this weekend and nearly got lapped in a sprint race.
That's not the point.
Have you turned off the race because Tomac, Jett, or pick-your-favorite rider wasn't racing? I'm guessing no, but does it make for better viewing and a more enjoyable experience when they are there?
I apologize for triggering you.
Man, I just finished watching the whole video and this whole thread is kinda crazy at the moment. Every week people bitch and moan about the broadcast and DB finally does a tell all about how the NBC executives want him to dumb down the commentary and how Diffey and RC basically had a crusade against him… Yet many comments are saying “who cares about the broadcast, I don’t even listen to it anyway! DB is being dramatic.”
I don’t even understand how people can say “well this is just his side of the story” when the broadcast is as shit as it is. (Reminder: DB quit, he wasn’t fired.) Weege will play ball when he gets to be the fill in guy for Leigh and describe what a table top is or make sure to tell the audience that the Yamaha is a blue bike but when we had someone actually calling the race in a professional manner he gets reprimanded for being “too inside baseball”.
It really is kind of obvious. Our gripes with how they present the show is exactly what they want. It’s not to be treated as a professional sport but rather an exciting show with big explosions and “wows!” and DB didn’t treat it that way. They made it clear to him that he wasn’t RC or Diffey and he needs to stay in his lane and do what he is told. Diffey is the big name and RC is the other. So every step DB made to better the broadcast was basically a shot against him. He even decided to play ball by the sounds of it but RC resented him and the execs made it clear Diffey wasn’t going anywhere and he was “the guy”.
It’s funny that RC is such a robot that he can’t be presented with the same question but worded differently. It’s no wonder he’s so bad at public speaking. And yes now it’s confirmed: that track breakdown video where RC is weird towards DB is 100% not just an awkward moment. RC does not like DB. Also, it’s wild RC is in Cooksey’s DMs and reading comment sections.
DB is a better color analyst than RC is. I think DB is a better color guy than play by play guy, and he's no slouch at the latter. And honestly, I think this is what has RC spooked. He knows DB could take his job, not just serve him balls he's too short to swing at (sorry for the poor taste pun)
WORD...........................
Hmmmm…
Cameron, Weege, Jamie and Erin…?
How would that coverage go? I’m thinking pretty damn well & Cameron would get Weege to loosen up and tell a few of those golden tales that he’s still keeping close to the chest.
Diffey is awful. Both in the booth and as a person. Sucks that NBC would rather have that asshole over someone who actually loves the sport.
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it would feel like mid-late 00s.
I’ve known of Daniel and his brother for a long time—racing out of the Bay Area and that shop in Vallejo-forget name. Anyway, that sucks. Dude is passionate about the sport. Hope he bounces somewhere and can be a voice of the sport in another way.
Daniel really got hosed this weekend though.. that was BS
Malin is the GOAT of MX commentating.
The moto 'media' are not independent in any meaningful way and therefore can not be objective. This would especially be the case with RC. No one wants to go up against him due to his sway in the industry.
Leigh Diffey is terrible. I don't understand how he gets all these motorsport commentating gigs.
And he never talking about moving wheelbarrows up hill, in the mud on his way to school in a snow storm barefoot or what ever RC was yammering about. 🤣
the optimist in me wants to believe if things are done in a respectful way you can ask tough questions and not be blackballed. I just don't think anyone has really tried it. Everyone goes the route of trying to buddy buddy riders. Sorry Lewis but the Sexton shit is pretty cringe.
Same for me, raced "with" them both growing up in NorCal. They were both just GOOD people, and still are. I haven't seen the video yet, but if anything Daniel has been too nice and tried to take the high road. Whether that was because of his character or calculated because he wanted to keep that door open....it seemed to be time to spill it all. Hopefully this goes well for him, he seems to have a lot of support throughout the industry except those few individuals.
By the way, Mach 1 is the shop you are thinking of.
Cameron Steel was the best to ever do it, I'll take that opinion with me to my grave haha.
Steel and Blair in the booth would be next level though. . .
Such and overrated combination.
im more curious to hear the story about this weekend, I've known RC is a douche. Blair tweeted something about not being on RDL and I thought he just got bumped for Chad Reed which would make some sense. seems like maybe that isn't the case.
Post a reply to: Daniel Blair: The Whole Truth (updated with YouTube link)