The coles lip mic used by football commentators is a figure 8 ribbon mic. the HF from the rear is actually better than from the front because of all the pop filters and spit catchers that are put on the front. the main benefit from it is that it's side rejection is excellent so you don't get the commentator next to you bleeding into your contribution. the local crowd noise is being projected away from you, the other crowd noise is distant and even if the commentators box is in the middle of the stand you are a physical barrier to audio because you place the mic's guard on your philtrum to speak (being loud to hear yourself think which helps with the output which still needs about 50dB of gain . written down it doesn't sound like it would work but side rejection and the inverse square law is what makes them so good even if journalists manage to break them somehow.?
