Malibu Open Webcast

[Wish]

Much love to anybody who gets behind the mic. And in our sport, I'm guessing 0 to almost 0 pay for doing it. But by far...did I say by far?... THE best behind the mic is the Nightmare himself...Freddy K. He is beyond knowlegable and rarely do you hear an "um" or "ahh" to fill dead airtime. And for that matter..there is no dead air time...and why? The deap historical knowledge is unparalleled. His knowledge of how, where and when these athletes train is just as deep. He can pick apart even the slightest technical differences among the skiers and compare them on the spot and then relate that to the conditions at hand. How he knows all of this and can bring it to the mic without even a stumble is true talent. All I know is if he retires from the ramp, I hope he picks up a mic.

[Edbrazil]

vs. a "Pro" vs. "Amateur" designation. Can of worms. If you get some free or greatly discounted

ski equipment, would that make you a Pro? Could an Amateur compete in a Pro event, like the

Masters, but declare that they are ineligible for prize money?

 

Snow skiing had its struggles before they dropped the amateur sham. But, while they were

attempting to make the distinction, Avery Brundage disqualified Karl Schranz from the 1972

Olympics, calling him a Pro. The FIS snooped around Tony Sailer (3-event Winner at the 1956

Olympics) because of a family business that made fabric or clothing that could be used for skiing.

Think Warren Witherell got scrutiny in his snow skiing because he was also participating in water

skiing, a sport that didn't make any distinction.

 

One likely reason for the Rule in water skiing is that back when, a lot of the top skiers were "pro",

either working at Cypress Gardens for $135/week, or running their own ski schools. See photo.

 

As noted in a previous posting, the 70th place finisher at golf's PGA made 10X the 2nd place

Men slalomer at the San Gervasio Pro Am at the same time. Golf does appear to manage the

Pro vs. Am situation relatively well.

 

There was a time during the 80's and 90's, where a good skier could make a decent living from

prize money only. Not now, unless you are right at the top. And, of course have good support

from sponsors.

 

 

[ALPJr]

For a very long day 12ish hours on the air they all did a real nice job! All aspiring announcers would do well to watch "wide world of sports" coverage of ski events from the 60's and 70's. Also some good announcing on espn's coverage in the 80's 90's. John McCay, Fred Hemmings, Liz Allen, Wayne Grimwidch...

[MrJones]

I am normally a stickler for the rules, but I admit that I was really let down by the finish. Part of me says that if you don't have rules, you don't have an event. The other part says "I'm pretty friggin' sure that Will is going to run 35 no matter what", so lets act like that didn't happen".

 

Oh well. On to the next day.

[klindy]

@MrJones I never suggested to ignore the rules or eliminate any. Simply allow a distinction which offers the tournament sponsor along with the athletes to allow the event to be run as efficiently as possible to maximize spectator appeal while maintaining a level and fair playing ground.

 

 

[LeonL]

I don't know about this most recent assault on entrance gates. The comments in this thread seem to center on unknowledgeable spectators and avoiding confusing them or the disappointment of us knowledgeable fans who, due to a missed gate, were unable to see the finals that they hoped for. I just don't get it. As far as the spectators on site, if one of the skiers had failed to round a buoy but continued the pass, do you think they would have noticed? The skiers gets eliminated and the uninitiated spectator is still confused. How far can you adjust rules to entice interest from non skiers? As far as pros wanting to alter rules, if cash is involved don't ya think when a gate is missed by a competitor the others silently sigh just a little in relief? Money is money.

[wtrskior]

Dano is skier and one of the most recognizable voices in watersports, thats why hes there. Its not easy calling these events but he comes with an average skiers perspective. A few bobbles in a multi hour event is common,

He's the play by play guy and mc, having the skiers up there analyzing the skiing is a great compliment.

 

 

[John Brooks]

There is no excuse for Will missing gates @ -35.

 

[BrennanKMN]

While I understand people wanted to see these amazing skiers go head to head and run into 41. Stuff happens... Will missed a gate. I don't think the rules need to be changed because of that.

[Edbrazil]

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch: see my posting quite a ways back. Found out that Scot and Zack

did not tie, per metric distance. So, Scot was 2nd, Zack 3rd. Scot just 0.4m short of becoming

the oldest skier ever to win an Open Men pro event.

The crawl of places & distances at the bottom of the video feed showed Scot and Zack tied, which

they were not.

[dbski]

There is a reason for Will missing the gates, he couldn't see them! I was standing right at two ball and it was dark as hell. Add to that it was misting/raining, dark and 60 degrees, I'm amazed there were not more missed gates. I asked his wife if he knew whether or not he missed and he didn't know.

[Horton]

About Dano – First of all he is a truly nice dude and loves what he is doing. I had never announced with him before and it was fun. His background is show skiing not wakeboard. He is guilty for having more enthusiasm than knowledge.

 

When he has someone knowledgeable next to him I think he is excellent. When alone, he might to say some things that are not always technically accurate. If you are new to the sport I think he is awesome because he just makes it sound exciting. That dude has wild enthusiasm. He is a showman. Not sure that is not a bad thing for water skiing.

 

Before any of you point it out – Wow! I know I said some stupid things and talked myself into a corner a few times last weekend. It is hard be on point all the time. Sometimes you know you are saying the wrong thing as you say it and you just have to own it.

[Than_Bogan]

@Horton No doubt anyone being recorded live will sound really dumb every so often. 7-figure salaried professional sports announcers are no exception. But overall all of you guys did a really fantastic job. Dano's not my style, but that's a minor point. And the guests in the booth were simply great. In addition to being interesting interviewees, several of them proved to have Mad Announcing Chops.

 

Side story sorta related to @FWinter's announcing: Has anyone else noticed that British accents are very authoritative? One time just for fun I set my GPS Nav to the British voice. I had to change it after a very short time because I realized if she said "turn left and drive into that lake" I would have done exactly as instructed!

[MrJones]

I loved Fred's first comment when asked about his set!! Are there any tournament skiers among us who have not uttered (or at least thought) that! It really showed that this sport is humbling to all. I have never met him, but I'm a fan now.

[Beastmode]

Kelvin, Great job on the webcast production. Quality and flow was great. DanO and Horton were enteraining on the mic.

 

[Than_Bogan]

@Wish SO RIGHT! I can't believe I forgot The Nightmare. He was awesome the one time I heard him announcing.

[Horton]

@Than_Bogan I am announcing the California Pro AM and am hoping Freddy will sit in and make it awesome

[foxriverat]

We dont get to see the pros often here in the midwest. Even though the ending wasn`t as exciting as it could have been. It was cold and misting all day. I had a fantastic time. From our friends daughter Allie Nicholson winning the under 21 womans. Meeting new people from the area that love this sport as much as we do. Exchanging numbers with them and talking about setting up friendly competitions at each others sites. Getting to meet and chat with Horton, KC and Brooks Wilson and any other pro who are all so approachable. From April passing out extra sandwiches to us spectators watching. Theres no place I would have rather been and cant wait till next year.

[LakeOneSkier]

Agree with @foxriverat, cold and misting all day but we had a great time. I was going to say meeting Horton was the highlight of the day, but then April came by to serve us sandwiches. :blush:

 

 

[Horton]

I got to meet @LakeOneSkier ! The legend!

[E_T]

Freddy is the best on the mic. Dano is a show skier who tricks and hangs out with T gas and Zach worden . Calls all the wakeboard events.

[Horton]

@Luzz if you are going to be in Sacramento I will need your help also.

[Horton]

Correction: @luzz if you are there I may give you and Freddy the mics & get out of the way

[bishop8950]

I have done a bit of announcing at BigDawgs/ProAms and its tough. You think getting up there and talking about something you are passionate and knowledgable about would be easy but its not. It comes more naturally to some than others. Dano has a natural enthusiasm that cant be learned.

[John Brooks]

@Horton I really need to compliment you and Dano. I had the chance to have the webcast running most of the day Friday in the background and that was one of the best announcing jobs I have heard in skiing. The two of you played off of each other nicely and there was nice variety with the various others that stopped by to spend a few minutes. Thanks.

[Horton]

Thanks @John Brooks

 

@bishop8950 I will need your help too at the Pro AM. I am surprised Badal has not already asked you to keep me in check.

[jhughes]

We lasted the whole day (12 hours) with our canopy out by 1-ball on the West side, 2 kids and even the dog. Had a bunch of friends stop by and we had a great time overall, despite being wet and cold to the core. We could not really hear the announcing from the other side, so all the color commentary actually came across as sonic mud unfortunately. I had to listen really hard to figure out who was skiing if I didn't recognize them (rare, anyway).

 

One somewhat sad phenomenon this year for us was that the skiing was so good that I found us not even paying attention unless somebody was running 41! After a while the 32, 35, and 38 passes were just a snooze to watch, time to grab a snack, beer, or bathroom break. Again, this is pretty sad since they are all incredibly hard passes at 36mph (or 34 for that matter). Just goes to show how numb you can be to great skiing when everyone is running 39 like clockwork. I had to think that for someone not knowing the sport it would be even more difficult for them to stay interested in the action. Kicking the runoff right off the dock at 39 with KC and Freddie was awesome.

 

The edge change at -41 actually makes a certain noise in itself. Seeing and hearing these guys barreling into 1 at that length was insane. Incredible viewpoint. It was also great to see firsthand how hard that pass is to run. Almost everyone was huge slack out of 2, MAYBE hold on to 3 if they were lucky. Much like me with 11 more feet of rope. Nate was managing insane slack on this entire 41 pass, that was incredible to see. He was the only one even close to running that pass yesterday. Just incredible physics.

 

I did enjoy seeing the gals and some of the Jr competitors starting at -28 since it's a somewhat human length that we ski. Real eye opener to see how far up on the boat they are on the pullout, even at that length. I have some work to do to get that high on the boat for sure. Also interesting to see how early most of the pullouts where. It looked like some of the skiers were a boat length in front of the greens before the pullout, while others were somewhere between that and just before the greens hit the nose of the boat. Early, authoritative, wide pullouts consistently across the board. I don't know that this gets talked about enough.

[bishop8950]

@horton would love to help on the mic. I will be there Wed to help set up, plan to do a bunch of judging, AM H2H help with Richelle, hopefully webcast boat video stuff as well. Oh, I think I am skiing in it also!

[Luzz]

@Horton would love to, tho this time I'd rather be on the water during the h2h finals ;)

[Horton]

@Luzz agree

[Wolfeie]

I had a great time at the open, the cold and mist were a nice change from the 100 plus degree heat in California. All the skiers are very nice and friendly, the site is very nice as well. Seeing the best of the best ski close up was very incitefull. Other high lights was treking to Lambeau field to see a Packers preseason game and meeting ex-Detroit Redwings coach (now with Toronto)

Mike Babecock at the hotel and at the event, he is a big water skier.

[lhoover]

Have not read anyone talk about the outstanding announcing job Jeff (AKA The Great One) Greathouse did. Never loquacious, very insightful, and much too willing to give up the mic to some of those folks. The entire webcast was a very nice job for a pretty much thankless job. Nice going, Jeff, and to the rest of the crew, many thanks for the production.

[Horton]

@lhoover yes yes yes

[Chad_Scott]

Horton did you actually say you would give away the mic, not a chance. I hope you had a great time at the Open. Maybe a Horton's review of the event is forthcoming It was nice to have some of the west coast represented in Milwaukee. Great venue, great fans and always great skiing no matter the conditions. The lagoon always seems to put out some pretty big scores. Setting dates for next year as I am typing

[Than_Bogan]

I'm pretty sure the Malibu Open is my favorite spectator event of the year. Huge kudos to everyone involved.

[Chef23]

I loved the Malibu Open and have gone back and watched some of the video that is online. I hope to get out to see it live some year.

 

The announcing was great. I really enjoyed having skiers come and sit in on the broadcast both right after they skied and then for longer periods of time during different age groups. Particularly I thought @Luzz, @FWinter and @Detrick were great from the skier perspective.

 

I have announced Regionals before and it is a tough thing to do and at Regionals there is a knowledgeable crowds so you don't have to worry about educating people.

 

I would like to make a shoutout to Quinn Haines in the mens U17 grouping. Quinn is an unbelievable 3 event skier and he won both U17 slalom and jump. A couple of years ago Quinn and I were relatively even as slalom skiers struggling to run 32 off at 34 mph and now he is opening at 28 off and running into 38 off. It is great to see an Eastern Region skier winning a National event.

[colo_skier]

Is there an archive to view for those of us that couldn't watch at the weekend?

[jhughes]

@Than_Bogan when are you going to come see it in person?

[Deke]

@jhughes I hear ya on how hard it is to appreciate the pro level if you don't do it yourself and sometimes even if your do it yourself. That goes for ANY sport and on TV especially it all looks like a snooze. Nothing like being live and up close!

[Chef23]

@colo_skier it is all here http://livestream.com/accounts/50695/events/4271148

[colo_skier]

@Chef23 thanks I will enjoy the viewing.