Sport commentary on Thai TV sucks

I am not fluent in Thai and I cannot read and write Thai well. But, I have been living in Thailand for long enough to be able to absorb enough Thai language so that I understand quite a lot from what people say. I agree that the language spoken on the streets is easier to comprehend than the Thai spoken on TV but, apart from technical terms, sport commentary does not require the use of an extensive vocabulary.

Muay thai practice with Romanian fighter Horatiu Stan (Pattaya, 2009)

I admit that I’m not a big fan of football, so I don’t watch football on TV, and thus I cannot make any remarks about the Thai commentators. But, I am a martial arts aficionado and I watch with interest any martial arts competitions or events that I come across on Thai cable TV.

I recently watched the Breaking Division of the US Open World NASK Martial Arts Tournament and while the participants put on a great show, breaking up to 12 slabs of concrete in one go or 415 wood boards in just 1 minute, the Thai commentator was such a nuisance.

Sweating it out in the ring (2009)

Not only that he spoke over the English commentary, but all he could do was laugh at the athletes who didn’t break all the boards and continuously uttered that annoying sound the Thais make when someone does something special: “OOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooo, mmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmm, oooooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!”