Mark Sidebottom

[ck]

Jimmy Smyth was excellent alright. Why did he ever retire? Pure passion and great insight and analysis.
Legend Michael O'Hehir was the Daddy though. Unrivalled for TV. O'Muircheartaigh more a radio man but equally a legend.

Mark Sidebottom?..... ehhhh no.

[Gaffer]

Nobody'll ever be as shite as Jimmy Magee working for UTV in the mid 90's.

"The front Lawn and the back Lawn"

[Fuzzman]

I remember a line from Jimmy Magee in the 1996 Ulster Final I think it was when Dinkie McBride was playing

He said
"Dinkie is a real thorn in the Cavan (or whoever it was) defence.
Actually No he's a total blackthorn bush"

I watched the Down v Armagh game last night and some of Sidebottoms asides are just unreal. The time near the end where the camera goes to the GF and baby of some player and he starts talking about them getting married soon. PTG had to tell him lets get back to the football.

[Hardy]

Ah Jimmy is great.

[rionach 4]

Just on the subject of commentating , I was listening to it on the radio BBC radio Ulster and It was Owen McConnon and Adrian McGuickian. Even before the match started Owen mcConnon within the space of five minutes had made four errors . For example, Down seem have won the toss and are playing into where the old Harps clubhouse was.. Owen It was The old Pearse og Clubhouse.. This was closely followed by Armagh and Down drew in 1990 in Casement and Down went on to win the replay,,,, No they didnt Armagh won the replay.  This was followed by two more in sucession..  Very sloppy indeed. Things like  that grate me , Nearly as bad as the Daily Star

[Ulick]

No one has been better than the legendary Jimmy Smyth.  His TV commentary of the 2002 AI final was the peak of his career.

Him and McGinnity were good together when they done it.  Are there many other examples of a former high-profile player going into the lead commentary position?

Tis funny how these things swing round. I remember Jimmy Smith getting pilloried on this Board for a long time as a shit commentator because he was slow or got players names mixed up. Of course the commentating was only a side-line for Jimmy and far from the "peak of his career" - captaining Armagh to an all-Ireland final, winning an all-Star, or three Ulster club titles in a row, not to mention his achievements with St Pauls JHS would probably rate a lot higher for him than any of his commentary.

As for Sidebottom, having met him only a few times he's don't nothing to change my initial impression of him as arrogant, unpleasant piece of work. His commentary work is cringe-worthy at it's best, normally poor and adds nothing to a game. However, in terms of what the BBC has to offer, he is by no means the worst - that accolade without doubt goes to the soccer man, Joel Taggart who will regularly go for three or four minutes without even mentioning what is happening on the pitch. 

Owen McConnon might make the odd mistake regarding historical stats or peripheral information but he is by far and away the best commentator in the north and beats the socks of most in RTE as well. 

[Craigyhill Terror]

No one has been better than the legendary Jimmy Smyth.  His TV commentary of the 2002 AI final was the peak of his career.

Him and McGinnity were good together when they done it.  Are there many other examples of a former high-profile player going into the lead commentary position?

Tis funny how these things swing round. I remember Jimmy Smith getting pilloried on this Board for a long time as a shit commentator because he was slow or got players names mixed up. Of course the commentating was only a side-line for Jimmy and far from the "peak of his career" - captaining Armagh to an all-Ireland final, winning an all-Star, or three Ulster club titles in a row, not to mention his achievements with St Pauls JHS would probably rate a lot higher for him than any of his commentary.

As for Sidebottom, having met him only a few times he's don't nothing to change my initial impression of him as arrogant, unpleasant piece of work. His commentary work is cringe-worthy at it's best, normally poor and adds nothing to a game. However, in terms of what the BBC has to offer, he is by no means the worst - that accolade without doubt goes to the soccer man, Joel Taggart who will regularly go for three or four minutes without even mentioning what is happening on the pitch. 

Owen McConnon might make the odd mistake regarding historical stats or peripheral information but he is by far and away the best commentator in the north and beats the socks of most in RTE as well.

I think he's shocking. He's at his worst when he's on a Cavan match, but his worst failing - apart from misindentification that only becomes apparant when you see the highlights on TV - is that he thinks the listener can see what he sees. Not enough simple description of what's going on and he can go 15 or 20 minutes, sometimes more, without saying what the score is.

[Club Rossa]

Just listen to the amount of times Owen McConnon says "There's still an opportunity"
That aside i think he does a decent enough job.

[micka the dub]

i thought he was great craic,the rte lads are almost robotic at this stage,he doesnt seem to take himself too seriously .lighten up lads,its not as if he is as bad as the tv3 soccer commentator

[Orior]

Tis funny how these things swing round. I remember Jimmy Smith getting pilloried on this Board for a long time as a shit commentator because he was slow or got players names mixed up. Of course the commentating was only a side-line for Jimmy and far from the "peak of his career" - captaining Armagh to an all-Ireland final, winning an all-Star, or three Ulster club titles in a row, not to mention his achievements with St Pauls JHS would probably rate a lot higher for him than any of his commentary.

As for Sidebottom, having met him only a few times he's don't nothing to change my initial impression of him as arrogant, unpleasant piece of work. His commentary work is cringe-worthy at it's best, normally poor and adds nothing to a game. However, in terms of what the BBC has to offer, he is by no means the worst - that accolade without doubt goes to the soccer man, Joel Taggart who will regularly go for three or four minutes without even mentioning what is happening on the pitch. 

Owen McConnon might make the odd mistake regarding historical stats or peripheral information but he is by far and away the best commentator in the north and beats the socks of most in RTE as well.

You are spot on about Joel Taggart. He loves OWC too.

[goldenyears]

Brutal commentator!

Ricey this ricey that!
What was the reference Dick Clerkin aka Rooster Cogburn?
The salmon + mackerel weather reference!

[Hoof Hearted]

he has hust come out with easy peasy lemon squezy 

my 3 year old is past that stage

[Maguire01]

Forget Sidebottom today - what about the camerawork? It was brutal. Missed loads of stuff and was showing the subs bench when the play was going on.

[Imposerous]

Jarleth's post match "Dick was riding the donkey close to the tail" comment is worthy of a mention.

[Main Street]

Tyrone were 2 or 3 points ahead in the last 10 minutes when McManus had a difficult enough free.
Sidebottom says something like 'if he scores this point, Tyrone will panic'
McManus doesn't score, Tyrone swarm out casually with the ball , he then says 'one thing for sure, Tyrone will never panic'.