Sad to see David Coleman has passed away. Another of the seemingly ever presents in sports broadcasting through some four decades. Famous for his 'Colemanballs' gaffes but a supreme professional. RIP...
Its funny, I have much more respect for him now than I did when he was permanently on our screens in the 70s and 80s. Obviously he broke the ground in sports broadcasting both behind and in front of the cameras, and was a true journalist. At the time I disliked his commentaries as gurgling inanity/ statements of the bleeding obvious, but compared the the current bunch of presenters and commentators he was a veritable Oscar Wilde. Set Gary Lineker free without an auto cue or script and see what happens, let alone have him anchor a terrorist hostage taking at the next World Cup......
As the television channels were rather limited back in our youth and childhood, I think that David Coleman provided that broad spectrum of consistency across a wide spectrum of sports. He was probably the last in a line of sports commentators that possessed the ability to do this. RIP David Coleman, another childhood piece of the furniture that has been removed. You shall be missed by a huge population growing up through the seventies and eighties.
