Too much of Lawro as Martinez stars for ITV at Euro 2012
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UPDATED:
09:22 GMT, 2 July 2012
And so, it ends. From Warsaw, where ITV had been camped out for the whole tournament, and from where Adrian Chiles rallied his troops for a last 'cheery wave. Even you Roy'.
And from the Olympic Stadium itself, where Gary Lineker managed to rhyme 'Spain' 'reign' 'pain' and 'Ukraine' with the kind of flow that will surely have Lethal Bizzle worried he might lose his gig for the official England World Cup 2014 rap.
As Alan Shearer correctly pointed out while we saw the marvellous Spanish team celebrating their emphatic victory, 'there was a lot of negativity before the tournament but I think it's been brilliant' and there can be no doubt that we've had a right royal time following a fundamentally excellent tournament in very impressive audience numbers indeed.
Three and easy: Spain celebrate a hat-trick of titles after smashing Italy
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Of course, when you have that much air time across two channels and several weeks, there is a lot to take in but from the early days of it I remember how good the short film about Denmark was, as was Gaby Logan's interview with Roy Hodgson, both on BBC.
Equally, I can remember being presented with the mouth-watering prospect of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira turning over a couple of ITV's appalling chairs as they, er, debated a certain point, but tragically that teaming and confrontation never really happened.
More recently, I have been left intrigued as to why Jake Humphrey was still interviewing a pundit in and around the stadiums, even when Lineker and Co had left their Salford home and were also on site
Jake was a busy fella, what with his flitting between F1 and Euro duties, and it just seemed a little pointless going over territory that was covered so thoroughly in the studio. Indeed, I'm a little surprised that he didn't get himself confused and ask Martin Keown if he thought Italy would be on a two tyre change for the game.
Then there was Mark Lawrenson. Now I'm not one of those who is rabidly obsessed about him as a pundit and co-commentator but like how it can get a bit tetchy with friends on holiday and family at Christmas, perhaps there was just too much Lawro, in too short a space of time.
Not content with leaving us wanting more after his semi final cabaret show that included 'Is his wife called Her Flick' and 'is Royce's nickname Rolls', in the Final we were treated to a response to Guy Mowbray's 'like going to Rome and not seeing the Pope' with a 'done that few times' zinger. He may well have dissected the game like a brilliant surgeon, but instead all I was left thinking was he'll now be off to his other job writing gags for Christmas crackers.
Why the sad face: Jake Humphrey (right) pitchside with Alan Shearer
Mind you, the same case could be argued about Adrian Chiles over on ITV. He put in one hell of a shift from that balcony over the square, and perhaps as a result, after a while all those little asides about the goings on outside the window with the weather, the buskers and the like as well as his constant references to Roy Keane's surliness just got a bit repetitive.
What he did have going for him, though, was for me, the best pundit of the tournament, Roberto Martinez, who very patiently kept explaining that the Spanish play that way because it tends to cause them to keep winning. And after that 4-0 drubbing, is there anyone left who fails to see his point
My top night of punditry, though, was for the Germany v Italy game where Jurgen Klinsmann and Gianluca Vialli were quite superb at explaining the nature of both country's styles of play. I thought Luca ran Martinez very close as the best of the bunch, and it was great to see him there for the final on BBC, talking about Italy's new found 'sexy football', hoping 'that the best team doesn't win' and then being extremely classy as he talked about the night over effervescent images of Spain celebrating their win, as tearful Azzurri looked on.
Silverware: Spain celebrate their success in Kiev
All of which you'd have seen – team shots, fireworks, confetti, players celebrating with fans, the works – if you were watching the BBC. If you'd opted for ITV, instead you had some adverts, then a few clips of the above and then, you've guessed it, more adverts – two breaks within about a ten minute period.
Of course I get it's a commercial station and has to pay the bills, but after all the hard work they'd done throughout June, I thought they sold the tournament, themselves and their viewers a bit short there.
Yet the last word on Euro 2012 shouldn't come from me.
So I am now pressing the red button so that we can enjoy the considered insights of the CBBC Crew – presumably brought in for the final to offer a more mature alternative commentary than Chris Moyles mustered.
Hat-trick: The BBC team were steady, if unspectacular, at this summer's tournament
Apart from the rather surprising suggestion from one of them that Italy had won 'the silver medal' it was ultimately down to the young lady in the gang to perfectly sum up the tournament by saying of Spain 'they're the best team of the century'.
Well, she's certainly not wrong about the first 12 years of it. Whether she is about the next 88 remains, of course, to be seen.
WEDGIES
Wednesday on Eurosport at the European Athletics Championships, and during the 100m men's semis, we caught a glimpse of the mascot, which may have been a washing machine. Or a microwave…
Thursday evening on BBC One and Gary Richardson tried to get on Andy Murray's lighter side by referring to the tie break as a 'penalty shoot out'. It hit home like one of the Ashleys…
On Channel 4's Sunday Brunch, Chicago Bulls' Luol Deng reaffirmed his London and GB roots by saying 'the accent will fool you, but I'm from over here'…
