The Echo gives its verdict on recent coverage of athletics...
BBC DIAMOND LEAGUE COVERAGE
(BBC Interactive, 3rd July 2010: 9pm)
And so now we know. For the first half of the season, viewers of the Beeb’s shiny new Diamond League offerings have been wondering ‘where’s Crammy?’ Well on this showing, it is obvious. The BBC have invested a wad of cash in the services of Tim Hutchings (formerly of Eurosport fame) and the two simply can’t stand each other. The former World Record holder has bossed the BBC microphone for the past few years (with cameos from Brendan Foster et al.) and clearly objects to the arrival of the worldly-wise Hutchins. Hence the pair have been kept apart all season- Hutchings supporting the excitable Stuart Storey on the circuit, whilst Cram and his band of merry men have taken care of domestic affairs. With the Diamond League circus rolling into Gateshead this month, some BBC executive probably thought it would be a good idea to see whether the two could work together. Thus Cram was dispatched to Oregon and the results were very entertaining.
The first problem producers were faced with was the fact that the pictures (sent by NBC) spent a disproportionate amount of time on the Shot Put and Long Jump- probably not events that two distance runners could add much value to. And so viewers were treated to fascinating insights from their commentators such as: “that’s huge” and “what a jump” or “that certainly won’t trouble the leader”. Added to this, it was clear that Hutchings and Cram were trying to out-do each other and so when Cram breathlessly hailed Saldino’s “massive leap”, Hutchings gleefully snapped back: “shame it was a red flag”.
The second issue was that the American pictures had three minute breaks in them every fifteen minutes in order to service the commercial market. Therefore, the two commentators were forced to pretend to like each other whilst having absolutely nothing to talk about. This led to a series of tall tales, with one repeatedly trying to out-know the other. “I sat next to him [David Oliver] on a bus yesterday,” Cram helpfully enthused, “and he was obviously relaxed.” Indeed, Cram had seemingly been sitting next to a lot of athletes on busses recently, as every comment was preceded by “he/she was telling me that…” or “yes [agreement with a remark from Hutchins], when I was speaking to him/her…” Not to be out-done, Hutchings too had some close relationships with those competing, professing that “athletes [in the 5,000m] do not always agree with the pace set down by their managers”.
After a debate lasting for over a mile of the 5,000m about how to pronounce Bekele’s name, the meeting culminated in some ludicrous exchanges in the Bowerman Mile. Any formatting had been thrown out of the window by this stage and it was a straight scrap between the two former athletes for air time. Cram got the ball rolling with: “I was speaking to him [Bernard Lagat] and he was telling me that he won’t be doing any more 5,000s this season”. Hutchings, smarting from this personal slant, had to wait nearly 400 metres to issue a riposte: “He [Andrew Wheating] was telling me about his extraordinary journey here,” the ex-World Cross Silver medallist proudly exclaimed, “he slept on a bench at an airport in Portland just two nights ago.” As Kiprop kicked away from the field to clock an impressive 3:49.75, Hutchings went on a 90 second eulogy to the Kenyan- leaving Cram with no option but to “agree” with his colleague and point out that he had “been a fan of him for some time”. In desperation to be the most knowledgeable, Cram concluded with an absurd observation that “he [Kiprop] does have extendable legs…that helps.” Hutchings could not contain his laughter and presumably nor could the majority of the watching audience.