Elliotte Friedman

[Dr Pepper]

The Phelps won is inexcusable. He's literally swimming for a record, there's no reason to even watch anybody but him and yet he screwed it up.

I don't know who else was up in the booth with him during that race, but he said something along the lines of, him making a comment that may have confused Friedman and got him to mix up who was in each lane. Really not that big a deal....but of course embarrassing for Friedman, and he apologized immediately upon realizing his mistake.

 

[Doomsday Device]

Steve Armitage used to mess up in his play by play all the time because of how excited he got. The mistakes from Friedman actually give the swimming broadcasts a nice familiarity.

 

[Roughneck]

Friedman and Bob Cole calling a game together is the logical next step.

 

[Inkling]

The guy is almost universally loved across the country, so he'll get through this fine albeit with some bad memories and youtube videos. Lots of people were jumping to his defence on Twitter.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Steve Armitage used to mess up in his play by play all the time because of how excited he got. The mistakes from Friedman actually give the swimming broadcasts a nice familiarity.

I remember Armitage mixing up Catriona Lemay-Doan and Susan Auch when they were skating against each other for the Gold medal. Luckily for him, it was in Nagano (middle of the night in Canada), so he was able to redo the call for the next day.

 

[Hullois]

I listen to René Pothier and De Koninck instead. Pothier is really intense actually

 

[Tryamkin]

Literally hundreds of esteemed play by play announcers, writers and analysts comforting him on twitter including Bob McKenzie and Bruce Arthur. Could happen to anybody honestly. He was also not really expecting to do play by play and it was kinda forced on him.

 

[RuneMcEres]

He should never have been put in this position. Obviously the guy has no clue about swimming. I mean, if you can't tell the physical difference between Phelps and Lochte, let alone the lanes, apart, you've never seen swimming before. It's like pulling a guy off the street to do the commentary.

 

[Del Preston]

He should never have been put in this position. Obviously the guy has no clue about swimming. I mean, if you can't tell the physical difference between Phelps and Lochte, let alone the lanes, apart, you've never seen swimming before. It's like pulling a guy off the street to do the commentary.

That's kind of what happened. Friedman was supposed to be the sideline reporter for aquatics, with Steve Armitage doing the play-by-play. Armitage announced a week before the Olympics that health problems wouldn't allow him to go, so Friedman was a last minute replacement.

 

[RuneMcEres]

That's kind of what happened. Friedman was supposed to be the sideline reporter for aquatics, with Steve Armitage doing the play-by-play. Armitage announced a week before the Olympics that health problems wouldn't allow him to go, so Friedman was a last minute replacement.

That's brutal on him. He probably has had no time to learn about the swimmers or provide interesting facts or anything.

 

[killer1980]

Typical stupid Canadian TV Sports management decision. Put a highly respected guy in a position he has no experience or expertise in. Have him make a fool of himself and perhaps scar him for life. Good job CBC.You should be ashamed of yourself.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Typical stupid Canadian TV Sports management decision. Put a highly respected guy in a position he has no experience or expertise in. Have him make a fool of himself and perhaps scar him for life. Good job CBC.You should be ashamed of yourself.

...
he's not an intern you know.
I'm sure Friedman will live.

 

[killer1980]

...
he's not an intern you know.
I'm sure Friedman will live.

There is a huge difference between being an analyst and PxP. Don't recall EF ever calling a hockey game or anything for that matter.

 

[Daisy Jane]

There is a huge difference between being an analyst and PxP. Don't recall EF ever calling a hockey game or anything for that matter.

he hasn't. but. until tonight Elliotte was doing fine. He made a mistake, he got his lanes mixed up. it's not a "stupid Canadian Sports tv thing." it's a mistake. it happens.

 

[killer1980]

he hasn't. but. until tonight Elliotte was doing fine. He made a mistake, he got his lanes mixed up. it's not a "stupid Canadian Sports tv thing." it's a mistake. it happens.

I wasn't calling him stupid. I was calling whomever put him in that position stupid. Calling PxP is the toughest job in TV Sports, both professionally and psychologically. You may also have noticed I started this thread long before he blew the call.

 

[HanSolo]

He's right. There's no excuse for it.

 

[nickp91]

Steve Harvey was seen laughing at Elliotte Friedman's call of the Phelps race

 

[Tuggy]

He's a great reporter/journalist but he's not a PBP guy. It was incredibly embarrassing for him and watching it live last night was painful.

He won't be picked to do the job again...

 

[GQS]

Is there any good quality video of the Phelps mixup? Can't find it on the CBC website which isn't a surprise.

 

[kihei]

For heaven's sake. It's like the poor guy shot a puppy after poisoning it and then strangled it before running it over with his car. Some people need to chill.

 

[francis246]

He's a great reporter/journalist but he's not a PBP guy. It was incredibly embarrassing for him and watching it live last night was painful.

He won't be picked to do the job again...

not sure he'll want to do the job again lmao

 

[KaylaJ]

We could give you back Pierre since he is in Rio.

they can also have Tim Daggett for free in that deal.

 

[MarkStone]

Meh, making a mistake as a broadcaster reminds me of that famous Jacques Plante quote about goaltending. He apologized, and I'm not gonna question his professionalism or dedication to his craft for this one incident.

 

[Chicken Chaser]

https://streamable.com/0s9a

for those who haven't heard it

 

[MS]

Meh, making a mistake as a broadcaster reminds me of that famous Jacques Plante quote about goaltending. He apologized, and I'm not gonna question his professionalism or dedication to his craft for this one incident.

The sad thing is that he's actually done a really good job outside of this one gaffe, especially considering the situation he was put into.

And the timing on this one mistake was just horrible. He's probably called 100 heats over the last week, and just happened to make this mistake in the biggest final of the entire meet instead of some morning heat that nobody cared about.