Why is streamed pool commentary so poor?

Please elaborate on your dissatisfaction with the commentating. Constructive criticism can only help.
Thanks
NJPOOLPLAYER

To give a blanket answer......
Untrained, amateur commentators. Even the ones who get paid, arent trained.
People are used to professional sports where the commentators either have broadcasting degrees, or they were known "personalities" otherwise.

actionplayer said:

I think that's a good point
We are just used to such a high standard elsewhere

For example they have facts about players history stats etc
They don't chew gum or hear crackling over the mic
They don't go off in Irrekcabt personal stories that don't make sense
At one point orcullos backer was in there arguing with the chat room

It's just poor all round

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Might want to listen to this week's ABR.

Because it's done by poolplayers.

Some constructive criticism for this particular stream:

Please commentators do not talk over each other and talk louder to talk even more over the other person. It really makes it hard to follow. Have a discussion amongst yourselves to improve this.

actionplayer said:

Take Mosconi for example or masters any match room event
That's how its supposed to be

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I absolutely am with you. Even for a non-native as me almost ANY commentary you see is insufferable.

Actually I think - take the Snooker commentaries of BBC(?) or Eurosport - THAT's how it's supposed to be.
Very quiet, don't talk about personal stuff, don't tell stories, don't make jokes, don't talk to each other, don't make predictions that go too far (this drives me nuts).Focus on the current shot.
Explain things calmly.

Very nice example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8MNOkoxKrI

Cheers!

I have commentated hundreds of hours I think of pool and hate doing it. I have gotten compliments but I think I suck at it. I think less is more though and too much blabbering is no good.

I am good for a match or two say 3 to 4 hours but after that you get worn out and commentary quality goes down. I think every hour switch a pair of commentators out for fresh ones is my advice.

My main job is to do video and audio, run commercials and banners, update the score and also do commentary so it can be tough to focus after awhile.

Great match and Al does a great job. I haven't listened to the commentary though and have had it on mute as I have other stuff I am doing.

Chuck Fields said:

To give a blanket answer......
Untrained, amateur commentators. Even the ones who get paid, aren't trained.
People are used to professional sports where the commentators either have broadcasting degrees, or they were known "personalities" otherwise.

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Now there is your confusion.
Players on the pro snooker tour get instruction on handling their public comments.
And they pick up extra money giving entertaining exhibitions, representing sponsors, and may find employment after retiring from the tour in the commentary booth.

U.S. pool players have no governing organization, no training, no sponsors, and no possibility of turning commentary into a money generator,

Perhaps European players should be imported for commentary.
Unlike Americans, English pool players tend to speak English, as do the Dutch, German, Italian ......

Chuck Fields said:

To give a blanket answer......
Untrained, amateur commentators. Even the ones who get paid, arent trained.
People are used to professional sports where the commentators either have broadcasting degrees, or they were known "personalities" otherwise.

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mostly this........ obviously

what do you think the education levels are of the avg pool player?

actionplayer said:

I think that's a good point
We are just used to such a high standard elsewhere

For example they have facts about players history stats etc
They don't chew gum or hear crackling over the mic
They don't go off in Irrekcabt personal stories that don't make sense
At one point orcullos backer was in there arguing with the chat room

It's just poor all round

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Did you just make up this word? Looks like a halfway decent Triple Word score in Scrabble.

When you don't know what to say or when to say it, you're the commentator for the free stream.
When you see the player cuing the ball and you call a cut shot while he banks the ball for position, you'll make a good commentator for the free stream. If you have friends join you in the booth that are huge NASCAR fans, you'll make a good commentator for the free stream. If you think I'll purchase your PPV, I wouldn't even if you have naked rack girls.

My guess would be because you bounced that check for them to bring in the big dogs, but that's just my guess.
"why is a local stream not on par with a big budget stream, lol"

My reasons why streaming pool commentary is not the same as pro sports or Matchroom produced events:

-You generally get what you pay for. Vast majority of streams are commentated by people willing to help out, the streamer or someone who will go out of their way for any sort of attention. All are amateurs and all do it for free. Pro events pay good money for people who actively work on being good at commentary.

- Most players would rather stick their face in a wood chipper than sit and talk about a pool match for hours on end. So unless a guy is super nice or willing to help out the streamer you are not going to get a whole lot of super insightful commentary from top players unless you pay them. Which makes sense.

- Anyone that has done much commentary on streams knows that no matter what you do, how good you are or how hard you try someone will call you an asshole who should die in a grease fire. Over time this phenomenon tends to reduce the pool of volunteers.

- Jesus Christ and Willie Mosconi could come back to commentate a race to 100 and when its over 20% of the viewers would talk about how they should never be allowed in the booth again. Asking anyone to talk about pool for 15-20 hours while keeping it fresh, informative and exciting is impossible. Most live events last three hours tops. Imagine twenty hours of John Madden over three days.

- Last but not least is that long drawn out multiple day sets with no outcome in sight are almost impossible to keep interesting. At 44-46 in a race to 100 its pretty damn hard to talk about how huge this game is. Same in a four or five day tournament when you are watching first round loser bracket matches and its Willy Lipschitz vs Bob Whoknowsme.

actionplayer said:

Watching ko v orcullo and again the commentating is absolutely horrendous.
It's not an attack on the people I think it's Robles a lady an another gentleman.
Nout against them their nice people but their not used to commentating

Take Mosconi for example or masters any match room event
That's how its supposed to be

It's just a Shame that you have to mute every streamed event these days

Least it's a tight match
I do not know how to call it so tight and table us not allowing any
Player to get s strangle hold on the match

Go for ko based on fundamentals and mentality

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What do you think is possibly great about the Mosconi commentating?

I watched the Wednesday night 1st day of the Orcollo v Ko match. It cost about $1.25 a hour for the PPV production. Pretty good deal. The stream was flawless while I watched it from 7:00 to midnight. Obviously Orcollo's backer French has no business being in the booth as he is horrible (not to mention do the players not hear him?). But as Al said, so what, basically the guy set the whole thing up with his money so he can sit in the booth when he wants. It will be the same at the Orcollo vs SVB stream, at least though that event won't have all the NY/NJ personalities to listen to unless they make the road trip.

I've watched countless pro sports for 30+ years and people think that commentating is great? When was the last time you watched a NBA game?

I'd rather listen to Robles commentate any day than all of the Mosconi commentators. It isn't even close.

At the end of the day, they couldn't care less anyways. :sorry:

I'd prefer much less talking and more audio from the table.

actionplayer said:

Watching ko v orcullo and again the commentating is absolutely horrendous

Take Mosconi for example or masters any match room event
That's how its supposed to be

It's just a Shame that you have to mute every streamed event these days

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Here's the problem: when the Mosconi cup ran, the entire week was filled with posters saying how bad the commentary was.

Further, professional sports commentary??? Every day, someone complains how awful the NFL commentary is. Some people can't stand Bud Collins or John McEnroe as commentators. Why? Because everyone has an opinion.

My own answers are simple. Pool commentary should speak to the average fan, not the diehards. The diehards Already know the game, so no matter what comes out of the commentary booth, there will be diehards that complain. There isn't a single pool commentator that doesn't have his share of "haters."

That being said, you're right, the Ko/Orcullo match had some tough listening times.

Freddie <~~~ has haters

Used to watch a lot of Accu-stat's videos. I was always impressed with how knowledgeable both BuddyHall and Grady came across. Sounded like a couple hicks at the gas-station but both explained their points quite clearly. So many current stream commentators can't play a lick and it shows.

It has to be a very tough job, one I dont wish to do. Big truck, jay, and joey a seem to have the secret imo.