Comments on: Enough Already!

By: sportsdiva

sportsdiva — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:23:36 +0000

Her personal struggles, her diving career, her character are not at issue. She is being paid to be a television commentator. She is being paid to comment on diving. If you’ll read my original post, you will see perfectly reasonable criticism of her abilities to do that effectively. Is she knowledgeable? Yes. Does she often lose her way in the hypercriticism of some and acceptance of the errors of others? Yes. She could be Mother Theresa with a handful of gold medals, that would not make her my (or many others’ apparently) idea of the best person for this job. I don’t think I or anyone else here needs to feel ashamed of being irritated by her performance or expressing that in this forum.

By: We love Cynthia

We love Cynthia — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:25:35 +0000

For anyone who has ever MET Cynthia Potter, been trained by her or know her personal background (all of which our family has), you would be ashamed of your comments.
Cynthia has overcome many personal obstacles (the stuff they do NOT publish), is kind and caring, is generous with her time and talents and ALWAYS and works harder than anyone I have known. She is an incredible coach, is respected internationally and by USA Diving and has over 20 National titles.
When she made the 1980 Olympic team, where she was expected to medal again (she was World Champion), the USA boycotted the Olympics. Four years of training and injuries, no Olympics. So the comments about “one medal” are not fair.
I think if you knew Cynthia, you would all be much kinder in your assessments.
You may think her voice is not to your liking, but you would be lucky to have a fraction of her coaching, knowledge, insight and narrative for yourself.
We know, because we have. Try asking anyone who has ever benefitted from her incredible talents.

By: sportsdiva

sportsdiva — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:53:20 +0000

Martin, I am more than willing to say she knows the individual sport very well. And the tone of her commentary got better as the week wore on. She did stop yelling. Perhaps it was exhaustion that had her quietly and compentently discussing the mens platform final, which I think was her best work of the week. It isn’t her fault that NBC ignored the non-Chinese, non-Anglo divers in the finals.

But she needs to acknowlege that there are many judges, seated in different positions around the pool for a reason. And sometimes on replay she can admit there’s something there she didn’t see the first time through the dive. And they need to find a better way to cover the synchro. Because on the synchro (which is what I was responding to with the original post) she was in way over her head and that commentary was missing the discussion of the actual dives and descended into the lame way too often.

Once people had that performance in their memory banks, it was really hard to be won over, particularly because there is nothing winning in her on-air persona.

But we now have four years before we need to think about it again.

By: martinmccrory

martinmccrory — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:17:52 +0000

Sportsdiva, I definitely concede that there are people who are dissatisfied with her commentary. I think that’s true for just about any television commentator, moreso for someone as outspoken as Cynthia. And she’s not perfect. She makes her share of mistakes, though in my opinion the frequency with which she gets things absolutely correct more than balances out the times she messes up (a few examples of which you correctly elucidate in your original post). In fact, I would wager that it’s virtually impossible to “go out on a limb” the way she does with her commentary without occasionally breaking the branch.

But I happen to feel that her “scold”ing tendency, though perhaps slightly acerbic, is a nice change of pace from color commentators who talk a lot without saying anything. And in the spirit of meritocracy, I don’t mind a good “scold”ing, as long as the “scold” is merited.

I cringe when she talks over the diver as they’re taking off (just as you do), and I cringe when she says something dated, eccentric or old-fashioned. But all in all I still enjoy her commentary, and look forward to both her insightful commentary and her occasional misplaced comment.

By: adyzol

adyzol — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:16:43 +0000

I Googled Cynthia Potter because I think her commentary is exceedingly excellent. I’m not a diver, but have studied ballet for many years. I find her voice excellent, command of diving variables excellent, ability to quickly observe what is occurring in front of her eyes exceedingly excellent, her ability to evaluate excellent, and her ability with words to almost simultaneously describe is OUTSTANDING. I also find that often those who sit at home and like to throw mud from their computers, often pick the most excellent to try to muddie them up. And they are LOSERS.

By: Pink Polkadot

Pink Polkadot — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Note to NBC: Please leave Cynthia Potter in China. Take away her passport and her press credentials and let her be heard from no more! Personally, I’d like to stuff one of those Speedo swimsuits in her nasty little mouth ~

By: kris

kris — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:41:26 +0000

i specifically searched the internet for the “annoying olympic commentator.” that voice… the inaccurate, useless, biased, contradictory comments… wow, i got a headache watching the Olympics because it felt like i was getting yelled at over the television set. her voice just cuts through air and strikes a nerve. i couldn’t watch the rest.

By: Luis Mon

Luis Mon — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:44:39 +0000

I love Cynthia Potter! Her voice may be a tad annoying but she knows what she’s talking about. She always nails it on the head. I’ve learned a lot about diving listening to her. What I’m really upset about is NBC’s “Anglocentric” coverage. Why didn’t NBC show Cuba’s dives in the finals on Saturday night? Cuba was in the top 3 for most of the finals. NBC showed the Brits (#16 at one point) and the Aussies. NBC also did not show Mexico & Colombia (who were in the top 10 for the first part of the finals).

By: hilmac

hilmac — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:12:54 +0000

I am so happy to find I am not alone in my feelings for Cynthia Potter. Never before has a commentator evoked such strong emotions from me (ok, maybe Dick Vitale) or caused me to actually search online for others who share my option.

Also, I thought she was a commentator on US Television??? If that’s the case, why is she only capabale of complimenting the Chinese divers?

By: mc

mc — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:06:13 +0000

I can’t stand Cynthia Potter, so much so that it has led me to look her up online and have found this site on her. I love the Olympics but when diving comes on it is hard for me to watch because of her. Just the other night she was commenting on the Chinese diver I believe and said he had ballet moves but she used the word changement. Now I know not everyone is a French expert but most people know not to pronounce t’s in French words such as Monet for example. Coming from a dancing background, this mad me very irritated. Not only that but the woman thinks she knows everything about how the judges are going to score and half the time she is wrong.