Barbecue, labradors and snail racing ... When confined sports commentators are bored

What to do when the sport is completely stopped and its job is precisely to comment on it? During the Covid-19 pandemic, some sports commentators tried to keep the flame alive, in Great Britain as in the United States, by broadcasting daily scenes on social networks, magnified by their comments as elated as they were offbeat.

"As we enter the last minute and it’s Olive who has possession, but it’s in these moments that Mabel is strongest, when she has to catch up, when she uses this intensity ... "

Some sports are slower. More about the strategy. pic.twitter.com/JMBaGJ1tSd

Andrew Cotter covered the Olympics or Wimbledon for the BBC. But in this video posted on his Twitter account and seen more than 18 million times, it is with his two labradors, engaged in a silent and almost motionless fight for the possession of a large rubber bone, that he captivates the audience.

A few days earlier, in a first video with only comment "I was bored", he had made the race with emphasis to the one who would finish his bowl of kibble the first between Olive and Mabel.

I was bored. pic.twitter.com/bVoC0hyNzC

"Olive, concentrated, determined, feasting, there is nothing left but the licking bowl. Two great rivals, but two friends too, see how they exchange their bowl at the end", he had narrated to more than 10 million spectators divided between tenderness and hilarity.

"It just shows how much we miss sport and what we call 'normal life'. We took all this for granted, it is only now that we realize it," explained the commentator who understood that the popularity of his dogs has far exceeded that of his golf podcast.

The Tour of Tooting

His freelance colleague Nick Heath, a regular speaker on the BBC or Sky, has decided to make his district of Tooting, in south London, his new field of exploration.

His Twitter account has become a kind of newspaper where competition, suspense and the thirst for victory hide in the smallest detail of everyday life.

Giro Di Tooting # LifeCommentary #LiveCommentary pic.twitter.com/lpDEymxsd2

Pedestrians set off when the traffic light turns green and "The rush to cross the street 2020" is launched and won by a woman in leggings. A cyclist struggling on a sloping street participates - without knowing it - in the "Giro di Tooting" and even a snail advancing painfully on the sidewalk is engaged in a "series of 1500 millimeters".

1500mm Heat # LifeCommentary #LiveCommentary pic.twitter.com/fmsIWfcfAK

Nick Heath is the first surprised by the success of his sketches - adorned with the keyword #LifeCommentary (# LaVieCommentée) 0 where the gap between the banality of the images and the emphatic tone of his comments, often humorous, do wonders.

"It has become much more popular than I expected. I just had fun commenting with the voice I used for some sketches I wrote a few years ago," he said. he explained to AFP.

Double Fisted Carry # LifeCommentary #LiveCommentary pic.twitter.com/9aJ6GMenMk

"I saw my character as someone who could make two flies on a wall interesting," he continued. And with its 129,000 subscribers, it has largely succeeded.

A barbecue like a Superbowl

On the other side of the Atlantic, Joe Buck, a Fox Sports commentator, also decided to put his verve at the service of his subscribers to distract them a little from the gloomy mood.

On small videos sent by his 269,000 subscribers, he adds his comments as playful and sharp as if it were Kansas City's victory in the Superbowl (the final of the American football championship) which he was commenting on a few weeks later. early.

We need to be friends. pic.twitter.com/zVtykOv6fK

In one of his most popular videos, a man named Andrew, who grills chicken wings on the barbecue, knows his minute and 19 seconds of Warholian fame.

"Look at that! He's going to look for it, he wants more, (the chicken wings) keep coming out of the bowl. But how much can you give us, Andrew? Amazing!" Enthuses Joe Buck.

"I didn't know if it would take. But this is where we are. I think there is a real appetite in people for these kinds of things," he told the Washington Post.

With AFP

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