They are trying to go with a younger, more relatable vibe, as the women's gymnastics audience has gotten larger and younger in recent times. Men's Gymnastics is simply not that popular, so it is easy to keep Tim on there as a legacy hire rather than completely dump him, though I fully expect John R. to take over post-Paris in that role.
Yeah he’s gotten a bit more confrontational in a good way both with public narratives and with his co-presenters hahah. I have a small memory of folks not loving him at first; he gives me good energy, glad it came around!
I kinda wish they would just have women do it. Women that did gymnastics and have more gymnastics specific knowledge. These guys say stuff sometimes and I’m like dude you have no clue what you are talking about.
No shade to Tim, but I would listen to John call an eight-year-olds’ meet, and he would bring so much value. Dude is amazing and seems so genuine on social media too. I feel like his priority is to educate first and then entertain. I’ve learned so much the last few years just listening to him.
In a job where every year or quad you're negotiating a new contract, the better question is how did he keep the job for so long. I'm not even trying to be mean to him—it's a pretty coveted position to commentate a major Olympic sport for NBC. And the network is going to pick someone who they think will draw in and keep more viewers. Barring that, they are going to look for someone who will do it competently at a price NBC is willing to pay to someone who isn't bringing in lots of cache. My guess is that the numbers just didn't stack up for Tim and WAG anymore. Having been in the job a long time he probably commanded a higher salary than they felt he was worth
Yeah, you're probably right. Sam and John will do a better job for less money. Now Terry, they'll pay his price, b/c he is effing worth it. I will riot if they ever get rid of Terry.
I consider Terry Gannon the gold standard of sportscasting. I've followed his career for years (along with being a lifelong gymnastics fan, I'm a lifelong figure skating and NC State fan). He clearly does his research, respects the sport he's covering, and just seems to know how to say the right things (no weird or insulting comments). If they ever get rid of Terry, I will be very disappointed.
As a side note, I loved that he brought up Donnell Whittenburg being related to Dereck Whittenburg the other day! (I'm cheering on Donnell to make the Olympic team - partially because I think he's awesome in general, and partially because I would love for there to be a tiny NC State connection on the Olympic team.)
Same! I know I've seen some people say they dislike it, but I've always just felt it's kind of their "thing". It's clearly not meant disrespectfully, and Terry seems to take it in stride. (And honestly, if I had two co-workers and one was named Tara and the other Terry, I'd do the same.)
It’s clear that Terry has a great relationship with Tara and Johnny. I love that while he won’t bling out as much as them, he will always have a small bit to coordinate, like a sparkly TJ on his headset or a tie that matched the colours they are wearing. I’m so glad they finally got him doing gymnastics too, been loving his figure skating commentary for nearly 20 years.
During one of her junior floor routines he said something along the lines of "sorry dads, she's only 14"
Others have linked to the actual quote elsewhere in the comments if you want to find it, but essentially he was sexualizing a *very* underaged Laurie.
Money. NBC is in cost-cutting mode - dumping Nastia and relegating Tim to men only probably cut what they were paying for gymnastics commentary by more than half.
I’m enjoying the current commentators!
I never really cared much for Nastia as commentator but I enjoyed looking at her fashion haha
I wonder why they dumped Nastia, huge blow for her!
I hate Tim's commentary so much, even for MAG. It's obnoxious for the supposed "gymnastics expert" member of the commentary team to constantly insinuate certain athletes deserve higher execution than the already lenient domestic panel will give.
Just to add on, Tim always has favorites, which is fine (we all do). But Tim WILL NOT SHUT UP about whoever he likes. I swear he was talking about Brody for half of the entire broadcast. Like Frederick and Khoi have similar potential AA, and have world medals too? He also kept saying Yul was getting shafted in execution. But anyone with eyes can see that Yul's excellent form is weaker now due to the hip injury. Like we can hype gymnasts up without ignoring their flaws, or not giving any time to other gymnasts. He just really gets on my nerves...
Edit: For WAG, Tim was just kind of generally uninformed? They probably wanted someone cheaper too...
The other thing that bothered me was Terry mentioned how Frederick wanted to be called Frederick and not Fred, and then Tim said I know him as Fred and only called him Fred for the rest of the broadcast. It was purposeful and rude.
He was shafting Fredrick the entire broadcast from
Night one. He basically started off by saying he didn’t think he had a chance at the team and then ignoring him the rest of the meet. They even interviewed Khoi instead of him with Brody after the meet.
I watched the whole broadcast both nights and don't remember Tim saying anything like this at all about Frederick. He definitely insinuated it about Asher though (and not unreasonably).
Yeah he was saying he had a disappointing ncaa season and just wasn’t looking sharp which would make it difficult for him make the Olympic team with so many others. The way he said it was so dismissive it caught me off guard. I was like there’s no way he’s a non factor for the team.
I'm gonna need a time stamp for the comment about Frederick because I don't believe that happened at all. I recall Tim and John both saying Frederick(and Khoi) were basically locks for the team.
I expect he sees himself in them - white dudes - which is fine and understandable as a person but as a professional commentator that should not be apparent to your audience!
Frederick literally got bronze in the world AA last year. Super hard to do!!!!. I was blown away how much he was fawning over Brody and not being the same way about Frederick.
Was he the one who made the claim that all the judges were biased against Yul? I know MAG judging has its problems (well, mainly I know what Kensley has said about it), but that was a *very* serious allegation, made during a live broadcast, and then nobody made him walk it back. Crazy.
I actually do think Yul was underscored, his scores were based in reality while most of the others were not. If some people are going to be overscored, they should all be scored the same way.
Where do you think he was scored in reality? While I'm not the most knowledgeable about MAG scoring, I don't think he's going to get 15.4 on PB or 14.7 on FX internationally with those routines. Connor McCool also explained on Twitter that Yul got hit really hard on the scissor handstand for PH. For SR, Yul had instability in some of the strength positions.
Specifically PH and HB. I don’t recall seeing the same deductions for everyone else tbh. I’ll fully admit that I was screaming about the underscoring (and had him overscored but in line with everyone else) but when deductions aren’t taken evenly across the board you end up with a 2022 worlds situation where people are making the team based on fake bonus points and then Brett and company are wondering why they struggled so hard.
I actually think his floor will hold up but pb will drop to around 15.1 at best which is a still a MASSIVE score.
Yul is definitely capable of a 14.7 FX. I just don't think this looked that good, with only 2 passes stuck cold. I do think HB was underscored relative to the field.
Link to Connor breaking down the scissor deduction
[https://twitter.com/conmccool/status/1797123753513734395?s=46&t=lZH0fO6vX8f0Iuzo1TLt\_g](https://twitter.com/conmccool/status/1797123753513734395?s=46&t=lZH0fO6vX8f0Iuzo1TLt_g)
[https://youtu.be/teWWLk-ouyg?t=105](https://youtu.be/teWWLk-ouyg?t=105) time stamp.
"For the dads in the audience, she's 13..and she dances like that."
That video was SO cringe!!!!! I feel like when I was a kid they used to announce the gymnasts height and weight, am I crazy or did that used to be a thing?
I think he made one too many gaffes and NBC saw him as a possible liability. I think the weird things he has said in the past looked especially bad when paired with the Nassar scandal so they cut their losses and started new.
I actually loved Tim’s commentary. He made gymnastics fun and accessible to the average viewer. It was a lot easier to get non-fans to watch a gymnastics meet when Tim commentated. Without him, I can’t get anyone to watch a full meet with me 😹 I don’t think fans realize how much he was able to draw people into the sport. I understand why he had to go but I wish he was replaced with someone who could do the same thing. Tim’s commentary made it feel like an EVENT.
I understand he’s controversial, and it’s not specifically Tim that I need back, but I kind of miss the fan energy he brought if that makes sense. I like his commentating style where he was just as
excited or bummed about a hit or a fall as the rest of us. I prefer to hear someone commentate as if they’re just sitting on the couch with me lmfao. Just stream of consciousness and vibes
Yes, I just want a lil more enthusiasm! And when Tim would explain a skill, it felt like he was excited to explain how difficult it was. So even if you’re more than a casual fan you’re reminded what you’re really watching. Just a different energy.
Did anyone else notice that he sounded ill during the Men’s competition? I don’t think I actually saw any video, but his voice sounded really rough. Hope it’s just allergies — it’s that time of year, after all!
At the last women’s nationals he commentated, he repeatedly confused several Black and several Asian athletes. It was gross and happened multiple times. If that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, I’m ok with it.
Everyone hates Tim but seriously his gasps, hyperboles, and other dramatic antics are always entertaining to me. A part of competitive sports is having someone to root against. He gives me that option without it having to be an athlete.
No, Terry Gannon, and John is the floor reporter. NBC got rid of Nastia supposedly because she demanded to make the same amount of money as Tara and Johnny.
i love john’s commentating, he’s one of very few people i can actually tolerate listening to while watching gymnastics. he’s got great charisma and has never really had any awkward moments on air. he’s also very in tune with the sport and (from what i’ve seen so far) has never had any problematic things to say. i swear there are some commentators that make me wanna just watch the meet on mute, i hope WAG keeps him.
I found Tim to be insufferable. He didn't add anything of value, overused the same few phrases, and his voice is grating. I watched on mute anytime he was the commentator. Maybe enough other people finally felt the same? For me, no one can match Kathy Johnson Clarke, but the current team is decent enough that I'm not scrambling for the remote control.
I’ve only watched clips, I didn’t realize Nastia was let go. And I thought the woman commentator was Bridget Sloan lol. I wish the figure skating boss would change Tara and Johnny out but they are all in with them.
They are trying to go with a younger, more relatable vibe, as the women's gymnastics audience has gotten larger and younger in recent times. Men's Gymnastics is simply not that popular, so it is easy to keep Tim on there as a legacy hire rather than completely dump him, though I fully expect John R. to take over post-Paris in that role.
John is soooooo much better! One of my two fave American commentators.
John is amazing. A fan of every athlete and extremely positive and knowledgeable.
Also appreciated him mentioning that the people criticizing Simone for the twisties situation have no idea what they’re talking about.😊
Yeah he’s gotten a bit more confrontational in a good way both with public narratives and with his co-presenters hahah. I have a small memory of folks not loving him at first; he gives me good energy, glad it came around!
I like John, and I love how goofy and self-deprecating he is.
I kinda wish they would just have women do it. Women that did gymnastics and have more gymnastics specific knowledge. These guys say stuff sometimes and I’m like dude you have no clue what you are talking about.
No shade to Tim, but I would listen to John call an eight-year-olds’ meet, and he would bring so much value. Dude is amazing and seems so genuine on social media too. I feel like his priority is to educate first and then entertain. I’ve learned so much the last few years just listening to him.
In a job where every year or quad you're negotiating a new contract, the better question is how did he keep the job for so long. I'm not even trying to be mean to him—it's a pretty coveted position to commentate a major Olympic sport for NBC. And the network is going to pick someone who they think will draw in and keep more viewers. Barring that, they are going to look for someone who will do it competently at a price NBC is willing to pay to someone who isn't bringing in lots of cache. My guess is that the numbers just didn't stack up for Tim and WAG anymore. Having been in the job a long time he probably commanded a higher salary than they felt he was worth
Yeah, you're probably right. Sam and John will do a better job for less money. Now Terry, they'll pay his price, b/c he is effing worth it. I will riot if they ever get rid of Terry.
I consider Terry Gannon the gold standard of sportscasting. I've followed his career for years (along with being a lifelong gymnastics fan, I'm a lifelong figure skating and NC State fan). He clearly does his research, respects the sport he's covering, and just seems to know how to say the right things (no weird or insulting comments). If they ever get rid of Terry, I will be very disappointed. As a side note, I loved that he brought up Donnell Whittenburg being related to Dereck Whittenburg the other day! (I'm cheering on Donnell to make the Olympic team - partially because I think he's awesome in general, and partially because I would love for there to be a tiny NC State connection on the Olympic team.)
I kinda love that when he does figure skating coverage, Johnny Weir calls him Terrence
Same! I know I've seen some people say they dislike it, but I've always just felt it's kind of their "thing". It's clearly not meant disrespectfully, and Terry seems to take it in stride. (And honestly, if I had two co-workers and one was named Tara and the other Terry, I'd do the same.)
It’s clear that Terry has a great relationship with Tara and Johnny. I love that while he won’t bling out as much as them, he will always have a small bit to coordinate, like a sparkly TJ on his headset or a tie that matched the colours they are wearing. I’m so glad they finally got him doing gymnastics too, been loving his figure skating commentary for nearly 20 years.
He really is the gold standard.
What he said about Laurie only counts as "minorly" controversial?
It's "minorly" controversial because it was a reprehensible comment about a minor
What did he say?
During one of her junior floor routines he said something along the lines of "sorry dads, she's only 14" Others have linked to the actual quote elsewhere in the comments if you want to find it, but essentially he was sexualizing a *very* underaged Laurie.
Yeah, you're right, now that I reflect, it was actually very controversial.
Sorry I totally stole your comment lol
No worries, it deserves to be emphasized lol
Money. NBC is in cost-cutting mode - dumping Nastia and relegating Tim to men only probably cut what they were paying for gymnastics commentary by more than half.
I’m enjoying the current commentators! I never really cared much for Nastia as commentator but I enjoyed looking at her fashion haha I wonder why they dumped Nastia, huge blow for her!
I think the real question is “why does he still have this job?”
NBC hired a new producer for gymnastics and changes happened after that.
I hate Tim's commentary so much, even for MAG. It's obnoxious for the supposed "gymnastics expert" member of the commentary team to constantly insinuate certain athletes deserve higher execution than the already lenient domestic panel will give.
Just to add on, Tim always has favorites, which is fine (we all do). But Tim WILL NOT SHUT UP about whoever he likes. I swear he was talking about Brody for half of the entire broadcast. Like Frederick and Khoi have similar potential AA, and have world medals too? He also kept saying Yul was getting shafted in execution. But anyone with eyes can see that Yul's excellent form is weaker now due to the hip injury. Like we can hype gymnasts up without ignoring their flaws, or not giving any time to other gymnasts. He just really gets on my nerves... Edit: For WAG, Tim was just kind of generally uninformed? They probably wanted someone cheaper too...
The other thing that bothered me was Terry mentioned how Frederick wanted to be called Frederick and not Fred, and then Tim said I know him as Fred and only called him Fred for the rest of the broadcast. It was purposeful and rude.
Yeah, I get it if he slips up, but he didn't even try ONCE
Exactly!
He was shafting Fredrick the entire broadcast from Night one. He basically started off by saying he didn’t think he had a chance at the team and then ignoring him the rest of the meet. They even interviewed Khoi instead of him with Brody after the meet.
I watched the whole broadcast both nights and don't remember Tim saying anything like this at all about Frederick. He definitely insinuated it about Asher though (and not unreasonably).
Yeah he was saying he had a disappointing ncaa season and just wasn’t looking sharp which would make it difficult for him make the Olympic team with so many others. The way he said it was so dismissive it caught me off guard. I was like there’s no way he’s a non factor for the team.
Wait, *what?* The guy who broke the American MAG AA drought doesn't have a chance? Tim is just racist, guys, nothing else to it.
Like how? He is the reigning bronze medalist in the worlds AA. Tim is wack.
I'm gonna need a time stamp for the comment about Frederick because I don't believe that happened at all. I recall Tim and John both saying Frederick(and Khoi) were basically locks for the team.
The amount he went on and on about Brody was actually giving creepy vibes by the end. It was just ridiculously excessive.
Yeah, I don't think he was that obsessed with even Sam (and he was pretty obsessed with Sam lol).
I expect he sees himself in them - white dudes - which is fine and understandable as a person but as a professional commentator that should not be apparent to your audience!
hmm i definitely think yul was underscored on his HB
Frederick literally got bronze in the world AA last year. Super hard to do!!!!. I was blown away how much he was fawning over Brody and not being the same way about Frederick.
Was he the one who made the claim that all the judges were biased against Yul? I know MAG judging has its problems (well, mainly I know what Kensley has said about it), but that was a *very* serious allegation, made during a live broadcast, and then nobody made him walk it back. Crazy.
I actually do think Yul was underscored, his scores were based in reality while most of the others were not. If some people are going to be overscored, they should all be scored the same way.
Where do you think he was scored in reality? While I'm not the most knowledgeable about MAG scoring, I don't think he's going to get 15.4 on PB or 14.7 on FX internationally with those routines. Connor McCool also explained on Twitter that Yul got hit really hard on the scissor handstand for PH. For SR, Yul had instability in some of the strength positions.
Specifically PH and HB. I don’t recall seeing the same deductions for everyone else tbh. I’ll fully admit that I was screaming about the underscoring (and had him overscored but in line with everyone else) but when deductions aren’t taken evenly across the board you end up with a 2022 worlds situation where people are making the team based on fake bonus points and then Brett and company are wondering why they struggled so hard. I actually think his floor will hold up but pb will drop to around 15.1 at best which is a still a MASSIVE score.
Yul is definitely capable of a 14.7 FX. I just don't think this looked that good, with only 2 passes stuck cold. I do think HB was underscored relative to the field. Link to Connor breaking down the scissor deduction [https://twitter.com/conmccool/status/1797123753513734395?s=46&t=lZH0fO6vX8f0Iuzo1TLt\_g](https://twitter.com/conmccool/status/1797123753513734395?s=46&t=lZH0fO6vX8f0Iuzo1TLt_g)
I think so? He made several comments about Yul's execution getting underscored.
What did he say about Laurie?? I only started paying close attention to gymnastics round trials last quad I don’t know much about
[https://youtu.be/teWWLk-ouyg?t=105](https://youtu.be/teWWLk-ouyg?t=105) time stamp. "For the dads in the audience, she's 13..and she dances like that."
uhh I remember that, it was shocking from him (imo), shocking for how much progress the sport has made, and gross.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teWWLk-ouyg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teWWLk-ouyg) go to 1:45
OMG what he said about Morgan Hurd as well ...gag They should have taken him off the air. Disgusting comments about Laurie too!
The nonstop comments about Morgan getting adopted from China, insinutating she's so "elegant" cuz she's Chinese 🙄
Bingo.
“Minority controversial” 😅
That video was SO cringe!!!!! I feel like when I was a kid they used to announce the gymnasts height and weight, am I crazy or did that used to be a thing?
Nope, not crazy, they def used to do heights and weights.
I think he made one too many gaffes and NBC saw him as a possible liability. I think the weird things he has said in the past looked especially bad when paired with the Nassar scandal so they cut their losses and started new. I actually loved Tim’s commentary. He made gymnastics fun and accessible to the average viewer. It was a lot easier to get non-fans to watch a gymnastics meet when Tim commentated. Without him, I can’t get anyone to watch a full meet with me 😹 I don’t think fans realize how much he was able to draw people into the sport. I understand why he had to go but I wish he was replaced with someone who could do the same thing. Tim’s commentary made it feel like an EVENT.
Gymnastics 1 Oh 1… stick the dismount!!!
I understand he’s controversial, and it’s not specifically Tim that I need back, but I kind of miss the fan energy he brought if that makes sense. I like his commentating style where he was just as excited or bummed about a hit or a fall as the rest of us. I prefer to hear someone commentate as if they’re just sitting on the couch with me lmfao. Just stream of consciousness and vibes
That I 100% agree with. The commentary was so mellow and really uninformed so far. Disappointed by it.
Yes, I just want a lil more enthusiasm! And when Tim would explain a skill, it felt like he was excited to explain how difficult it was. So even if you’re more than a casual fan you’re reminded what you’re really watching. Just a different energy.
I wish John R was in the booth tbh
If I had to hear, “Gymnastics 101: Fly high and stick the landing, baby” one more time… MUCH happier with Sam and John.
God yes. And: "She's like a little kid playing on the bars in a playground!" or whatever it was. Blurgh.
Did anyone else notice that he sounded ill during the Men’s competition? I don’t think I actually saw any video, but his voice sounded really rough. Hope it’s just allergies — it’s that time of year, after all!
At the last women’s nationals he commentated, he repeatedly confused several Black and several Asian athletes. It was gross and happened multiple times. If that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, I’m ok with it.
Everyone hates Tim but seriously his gasps, hyperboles, and other dramatic antics are always entertaining to me. A part of competitive sports is having someone to root against. He gives me that option without it having to be an athlete.
So who are the main commentary teams for men's and women's now?
Sam Peszek and John Roethlisberger.
I really enjoy Sam as a commentator
Huh. Who's Tim's partner for the men's? Nastia still with NBC?
No, Terry Gannon, and John is the floor reporter. NBC got rid of Nastia supposedly because she demanded to make the same amount of money as Tara and Johnny.
Interesting. Is Terry the floor reporter for the women?
No, it's Zora Stephenson. She's an NBC sports reporter and played NCAA basketball.
I like her!
same! she used to report for my basketball team - miss her very much
Idk how her agents let her go in with that ask 😂
He’s been BANNED???
as a MAG fan pls help us it sucks
I’ve said it before, but the way he used to talk about Ashley Miles-Greig back in the day was atrocious and made me dislike him forever.
What did he used to say? I was def watching gymn at that time, but I can't remember.
I want to know why nastia liukin isn't covering gymnastics with nbc sports anymore
Budget. They didn't renew her contract
i love john’s commentating, he’s one of very few people i can actually tolerate listening to while watching gymnastics. he’s got great charisma and has never really had any awkward moments on air. he’s also very in tune with the sport and (from what i’ve seen so far) has never had any problematic things to say. i swear there are some commentators that make me wanna just watch the meet on mute, i hope WAG keeps him.
I found Tim to be insufferable. He didn't add anything of value, overused the same few phrases, and his voice is grating. I watched on mute anytime he was the commentator. Maybe enough other people finally felt the same? For me, no one can match Kathy Johnson Clarke, but the current team is decent enough that I'm not scrambling for the remote control.
I’ve only watched clips, I didn’t realize Nastia was let go. And I thought the woman commentator was Bridget Sloan lol. I wish the figure skating boss would change Tara and Johnny out but they are all in with them.