BBC Coverage

BTW, Balding has apparently apologised to Liam Treadwell over the whole teeth thing. Which is nice.
 
I'll tell you where I'm at with Balding.... the increasingly annoying habit that racecourses covered by the BBC giving her the mic to announce the arrival of the winner back into the enclosure, the excruciating manner in which she then shouts over the whole racecourse telling us how great everything was, how great the winner is, how great the horse is, how priveleged and thrilled we all MUST be, while theres dead horses all over the place just outside, thats where I'm at, and I'm out.
 
If there's dead horses all over the place, maybe Clare Balding isn't the biggest problem.
 
uncle goober said:
I'll tell you where I'm at with Balding.... the increasingly annoying habit that racecourses covered by the BBC giving her the mic to announce the arrival of the winner back into the enclosure, the excruciating manner in which she then shouts over the whole racecourse telling us how great everything was, how great the winner is, how great the horse is, how priveleged and thrilled we all MUST be, while theres dead horses all over the place just outside, thats where I'm at, and I'm out.
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If that attitude was taken to everything, we'd never celebrate anything. Can't expect Treadwell and Williams to wander off with their heads hung just because Hear The Echo died.

My issue with her shouting over the racecourse about how great the winner must be is the amount of Derby winners she must have described as great. Sir Percy Claire? Mind you, "welcome into the parade ring, the crappest Derby winner for years" doesn't have a great ring to it.
 
Gamla Stan said:
My issue with her shouting over the racecourse about how great the winner must be is the amount of Derby winners she must have described as great. Sir Percy Claire? Mind you, "welcome into the parade ring, the crappest Derby winner for years" doesn't have a great ring to it.
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I think it was Fitzgerald who described Reveley as a great trainer just before the off. Annoying.
 
Everything welcomed into the winners' enclosure by Balding at Aintree was the greatest, most fantastic winner you've ever seen. Mon Mome was 'making history as the biggest winner of the Grand National at 100/1.....well, the joint biggest winner of the National....'
 
Do you think this over-reaction is a female thing?:whistle:

I think I remember Lydia referring to the defeat of Alexander Goldrun by Ouija Board as being possibly "the greatest race ever".
 
I imagine the programme's producers would be pressurising her to make the event as 'special' as possible, so I have some sympathy with her in that regard.

I like CB as a presenter. She grew nicely into the job and is one of the best of a moderate bunch. However, I maintain her question to Liam Treadwell was a sackable offence. It betrays a basic superficiality on her part; a basic lack of decency.

Anyway, who the f*ck is she to comment on anyone's appearance? She's no oil painting and it would have been great if LT had been sharp enough to retort to her something about her already having enough money to get her face done and get shot of some weight. However, he came across as a guy a wee bit overwhelmed by it all and very modest about it all. It's good for the sport when people like that win.

Also very annoying on Saturday was this, "My lords, ladies and gentlemen..." cr&p.

How many lords were there? This wasn't Royal Ascot. This was the people's race. Even if there were lords there, f*ck them. Shoot them. We'd all be f*cking better off without them.

As for the Carberry slip, that's entirely forgivable. My mother regularly called me half a dozen names (half of them unprintable) before eventually getting it right.
 
This is me in a good mood, Colin...

There are a few kids thankful they're not walking into my class right now!
 
Desert Orchid said:
it would have been great if LT had been sharp enough to retort to her something about her already having enough money to get her face done and get shot of some weight.
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Alternatively, he could have knocked hers down her throat and said, "I can afford to get yours done too!"
 
I wonder what response there might have been had a male interviewer spoken to Lindsay Davenport in the aftermath of winning Wimbledon and suggested she could finally spend some money on her looks, "perhaps you could fork out for a bit of cosmetic surgery now"? I suspect they'd have been sacked on the spot, and be emblazoned across the front pages and roundly denounced well beyond the confines of the sport in question.

Having said that, I'm not so sure Balding's was sackable but in a certain context it might be. For the most part she's been the voice of measured presentation for the BBC and perhaps she needs Carson alongside her to remind us of that. To my mind it was the sort of ill-considered and arrogant remark that she rarely makes (but often gives the impression of being capable of). By contrast we tend to hone in on those that we expect better from, where as those who we long ago gave up any hope for (Derek Thompson) just bumble on offending everybody and anybody. I can think of at least 4 and possibly a 5th off the top of my head where he could have been sacked, or disciplined at the very least.
 
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Let's just imagine the alternative for a moment: The Rishi and Willie show.

Also very annoying on Saturday was this, "My lords, ladies and gentlemen..." cr&p.

How many lords were there? This wasn't Royal Ascot. This was the people's race. Even if there were lords there, f*ck them. Shoot them. We'd all be f*cking better off without them.
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:lol:
 
The Lords and Ladies bit really is annoying though as is the general BBC announcement. Bring back the old days when the winner came in, we all clapped, the toffs got onto the podium got a bottle of bubbly, got drunk and passed out and we moved on to the next race.
 
CB apparently texted an apology to the lad.
Rather poor, that.
One hopes this does come back & bites her in that oh-so-generous rear! :mad:

there's a pun there, somewhere ...
 
I used to text my girlfriend appologies all the time*:

Sorry, won't make dinner tonight - one of the lads is having a rough time and needs my support.

Sorry I forgot about your birthday... maybe we can reschedule something though?

*Note the use of past tense... :whistle:
 
Hang on a sec.

The Press Association report that:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iXdFwit2Pnhx2R_gckSbArZrFsJg

"The jockey told the Daily Mail that Balding had apologised by text message. He added: "Of course it was the wrong thing for her to say.""

However, the actual Daily Fail article says:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...tional-winning-jockey-jibe-crooked-teeth.html

Last night Mr Treadwell said Miss Balding had apologised - but by text, not in person.

He said: 'When I turned my phone back on as we left the course, hers was one of the first messages. I can't remember exactly what it said but she did say sorry.

'Of course it was the wrong thing for her to say, and under normal circumstances I might have said something back, but yesterday wasn't a normal day. I was on top of the world and nothing could ruin that.'
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He doesn't actually say whether it was a text or a voicemail, and it also appears she apologised within a few hours of the interview. Now maybe she should have apologised in person, but that's easier said than done when they both still have jobs to do.
 
It doesn't sound as if he's too obliging does it? I could understand it if the two were good friends and one was winding the other up by making a private joke public etc we see plenty of that kind of slap and tickle stuff going on (normally between jockeys or ex jockeys interviewing former colleagues) but Balding doesn't seem to fit that category if those comments are anything to go by. I'd be surprised if she's texted him to be honest (takes too long) and if she's been instructed to do so by the Beeb, (as has been variously reported) then i don't think they'd allow her that slightly cowardly way out.

I think 1477 complaints is a bit excessive though, and her gaff was certainly less unfortunate than Thommo's "how fast does that thing go?" (pointing at the electric wheelchair of the disabled owner of Baddam). When the owner replies something like 5mph, Thommo says lucky your horse is faster (or something very close to that). Mind you he did compare the weather at Yarmouth to Hurricane katrina, and then announced that the prettiest girl never wins best dressed lady as he handed out the prize to some poor recipient at Doncaster
 
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