Notices
Non Scooby Related Anything Non-Scooby related

Best sports commentator ever? A sad loss - Bill McLaren

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 19 January 2010, 04:56 PM
  #1  
Trout
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
 
Trout's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 15,271
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default Best sports commentator ever? A sad loss - Bill McLaren

Bill Mclaren died today, aged 86. He was my favourite sports commentator of my lifetime - RIP.

Bill McLaren
Old 19 January 2010, 05:35 PM
  #2  
David Lock
Scooby Regular
 
David Lock's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Weston Super Mare, Somerset.
Posts: 14,102
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Bill was certainly in the top drawer. A bit special.

dl
Old 19 January 2010, 10:26 PM
  #3  
WRX_Dazza
Scooby Regular
 
WRX_Dazza's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Going further than the station and back !!! ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
Posts: 11,097
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

he made the scottish international games something special.

a proper gent.
Old 19 January 2010, 10:36 PM
  #4  
SwissTony
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (19)
 
SwissTony's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: In the Doghouse
Posts: 28,226
Received 12 Likes on 3 Posts
Default

Just been watching the 10 oclock news and saw that. Quite upset at the news as I played rugby for over 11 years and have watched it for longer and in that time the voice of Bill Mclaren was always present and by far my favourite
Old 19 January 2010, 11:12 PM
  #5  
Trout
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
 
Trout's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 15,271
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

It was wonderful to see that film of his last commentary. He looked so full of emotion, but had that Borders stoicism holding it all back.

A special man.
Old 20 January 2010, 11:25 AM
  #6  
Leslie
Scooby Regular
 
Leslie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 39,877
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

I played a lot of rugby too and can't say how sorry I am at that news.

Les
Old 20 January 2010, 12:02 PM
  #7  
Trout
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
 
Trout's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 15,271
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Bill at his best...

Scotland v Wales

And lots of Mclaren-isms on Google today.
Old 20 January 2010, 01:15 PM
  #8  
stilover
Scooby Regular
 
stilover's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Here, There, Everywhere
Posts: 10,619
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

I'd say Murray Walker is/was the best.
Old 20 January 2010, 01:31 PM
  #9  
dpb
Scooby Regular
 
dpb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: riding the crest of a wave ...
Posts: 46,493
Likes: 0
Received 13 Likes on 12 Posts
Default

Could make a dull match worth watching,even if you didnt know the rules
Old 20 January 2010, 03:22 PM
  #10  
hodgy0_2
Scooby Regular
 
hodgy0_2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: K
Posts: 15,633
Received 21 Likes on 18 Posts
Default

v sad

his voice was the soundtrack to my childhood -- with my father watching the 4 nations in the sitting room on a TV the size of small house
Old 20 January 2010, 05:57 PM
  #11  
richieh
Scooby Regular
 
richieh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: pencoed s wales
Posts: 1,357
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by stilover
I'd say Murray Walker is/was the best.
sorry but Bill was so good he makes Murray sound about as good as Eddie Jordan-He was a true commentary genius who whould spend days researching the teams before a match-just listen to how many facts and figures he would add to his commentary-even someone who didnt understand rugby would be able to follow it. All IMO of course.
cheers Richie
Old 20 January 2010, 06:10 PM
  #12  
Trout
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
 
Trout's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 15,271
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

My title was intended to be rhetorical and Mclaren was certainly the best in my eyes.

Murray Walker at his best was entertaining but he stayed too long. In his last years at the BBC he was a sad caricature of himself who could barely keep up with his own demonstrative style. Amazingly they were the same age.

Mclaren was humourous without being crass, judicious not judgmental, better informed on each team than many of the team staff, impartial to a level that must have been painful at times. He was inspiring, informed and simply brought a game to life in the way that his contemporaries, Murray, Allis, Maskell never quite did. They were good in defining their sports, Mclaren was just that little bit more special.
Old 20 January 2010, 07:00 PM
  #13  
astraboy
Scooby Regular
 
astraboy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 9,368
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by hodgy0_2
v sad

his voice was the soundtrack to my childhood -- with my father watching the 4 nations in the sitting room on a TV the size of small house
Ditto, i grew up listening to the sound of his voice, there was something strangely comforting about hearing it even last night when watching it on the news.
Sad day indeed.
astraboy.
Old 20 January 2010, 08:03 PM
  #14  
Account deleted by request
Scooby Regular
 
Account deleted by request's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,832
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by Trout
My title was intended to be rhetorical and Mclaren was certainly the best in my eyes.

Murray Walker at his best was entertaining but he stayed too long. In his last years at the BBC he was a sad caricature of himself who could barely keep up with his own demonstrative style. Amazingly they were the same age.

Mclaren was humourous without being crass, judicious not judgmental, better informed on each team than many of the team staff, impartial to a level that must have been painful at times. He was inspiring, informed and simply brought a game to life in the way that his contemporaries, Murray, Allis, Maskell never quite did. They were good in defining their sports, Mclaren was just that little bit more special.
How perfectly put.

A sad loss indeed.

RIP :-(
Old 20 January 2010, 10:02 PM
  #15  
WRX_Dazza
Scooby Regular
 
WRX_Dazza's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Going further than the station and back !!! ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
Posts: 11,097
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Originally Posted by astraboy
Ditto, i grew up listening to the sound of his voice
watching the video clip above took me right back to Childhood saturday afternoons....

just waiting for the wrestling and final footie results now
(East Fife 4, Forfar 5) !!! hahahahaha i used to check the pools for my dad !!

happy days !

Last edited by WRX_Dazza; 20 January 2010 at 10:03 PM.
Old 25 January 2010, 05:30 PM
  #16  
Trout
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
 
Trout's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 15,271
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Pictures from his funeral today. Very moving to see so many, and so many of the great and the good from the world of rugby.

Bill McLaren
Old 06 February 2010, 12:17 PM
  #17  
Trout
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
 
Trout's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 15,271
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

Heads up - There is a special on BBC1 at 1pm today.

Bill McLaren - Flower of Scotland

It will be iPlayer later if you miss it.
Old 06 February 2010, 04:12 PM
  #18  
Maz
Scooby Senior
iTrader: (34)
 
Maz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Yorkshire.
Posts: 15,884
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Default

A sad loss indeed. Some of the imagery he conjured up whilst commentating was classic. 'Arms and legs waving like an octopus'. RIP.
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Frizzle-Dee
Essex Subaru Owners Club
13
01 December 2015 09:37 AM
buckerz69
Wanted
2
03 October 2015 09:55 PM
Ganz1983
Subaru
5
02 October 2015 09:22 AM
dazh71
ScoobyNet General
7
01 October 2015 09:26 AM
InTurbo
ScoobyNet General
21
30 September 2015 08:59 PM



Quick Reply: Best sports commentator ever? A sad loss - Bill McLaren



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:38 AM.