I think Heather Mitts is actually pretty good. She is knowledgeable, doesn't rely on her national team stories, and interacts well with the players. The problem is that the rest of the Philly broadcast crew doesn't know how to use her. They use her as the token female character and don't really allow her to really shine. I think she would be a much better color commentator than the guy they have doing it now.
I'm just getting a chance to watch the second leg of the UCL match between Bayern Munich and Man U. Eric Wynalda had a great one: "I just figured out why this is a frustrating referee. What he likes to do is play the advantage. He waits to see where the ball goes before he blows the whistle and it frustrates the players." I thought that's what we were supposed to do.
Last Saturday, she just flat out blew it. She was wrong and there was no way she could defend what she said after replays conclusively backed up Kelly on the location, so she just doubled down on the stupid.
Agreed, she was absolutely wrong, and it made her look silly. But, as I alluded to a little, that's going to happen when she is put in bad situations by the production team - like she was on Saturday. The production team should have never thought it would be a good idea to get an opinion on a foul from someone on the sidelines rather than just showing the replay sooner.
Except she said that "it happened right in front of where they were standing." So that's not the production team, that is on her. "It was pretty close", even "I don't believe it was a foul" would have been a wiser choice of words. She was a homer fan with her contribution, not a sideline reporter.
Right. She said the wrong thing and went too far, softer words would have been wiser. But, people on the sideline often don't see what they think they see. Her mic should have never been turned on to even have a chance to comment on the play. And I expect all local broadcasting teams to be homer fans.
Purchasing MLS Live this year has prompted me to click on this thread more often than I ever have. I'm pretty sure we could just post the transcript from the Dyanmo's color guy--Eddie Robinson, I believe. It's absolutely brutal.
This CSN Houston team is terrible. First, they screwed up who was getting the second yellow, even though it seemed obvious to anyone else watching what was going on, then this gem from the previously mentioned Eddie Robinson: "I'm pretty sure the YC is for time wasting. Which is a stretch. This is another poor decision by a referee that's hampering the Dynamo. We saw it two weeks ago ... The referee hasn't warned any play on either team the entire game about time wasting, there has to be at least a warning. Say, 'Hey guys, here's your warning, you do it again, you're getting a card'. In that instance, I can see it. In this one, *sighs* the referee just showing his inexperience."
Eddie Robinson is pretty terrible in general. Here's your warning: referee gave you a whistle and said hurry it up. What's that? You still didn't put the ball into play in a timely manner? Oh well, here's your card. Oh no, that's your second yellow? Well maybe you should listen to the damn referee when he tells you to stop wasting time and put the ball in play. You're the visiting team with ~10 minutes left to play in a tied game. Of course the referee is going to be watching your team for time wasting.
Bazakos sends off Zach Loyd for 2CT after a pretty obvious reckless tackle. The Dallas color commentator then goes on a rant about how that tackle was yellow, not red. He's clearly oblivious to the fact that it was a second caution and not SFP.
My impression of his comments was that he thought it was a soft yellow, and implied the first one was also. Kind of shocking to me as I thought the second one was worthy of a straight red: http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2014...yd-slides-his-studs-receive-his-second-yellow
WOW! He goes flying in, studs up...this is an easy straight red even at game speed - especially considering he's airborne! Gotta shake my head at this commentator - he's somewhat right that this wasn't a card in the past, Vinnie Jones used to get away with much more than that - but the game has evolved for the better in this area, in my opinion. And it should've been a straight red back then to fly in like this. :-(
While we are talking about those two morons in Dallas, not only are they just as horrible in this red card clip from earlier in that match, whoever is directing the broadcast seems to be just as bad, staying on a wide shot after the foul so no one has any idea what is happening. http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2014-04-26-dc-united-vs-fc-dallas/details/video/14731
As an analyst of the play on the field, Kevin Hartman is very, very good. But he was out of his damn mind on the 2CT.
Arsenal v Newcastle today. "Ozil definitely offside. There were two defenders between him and the goal line when the ball was played, BUT ONE OF THEM WAS NOT THE GOALKEEPER."
I don't think that was what they said. They said there was a defender closer to the goal line than Ozil, but not the keeper also, and there has to be two members of the defending team nearer, one is usually the keeper. What they said was correct. PH
Houston-LA game from last weekend, LA's right back (Gargan) throws it in to his keeper. Keeper, for some reason, doesn't catch the ball, he tries to play it with his feet. Houston steals the ball and scores a relatively easy goal. Announcers blast Gargan for putting his keeper in a difficult position. That's a stupid thing unless the back pass rule has changed and a keeper can't handle a throw in, in which case, my post needs to be in the "posters say the darnedest things" thread.
Law 12 - It's an IFK if a keeper inside his own penalty area "touches the ball with his hands after he has received it directly from a throw-in taken by a team-mate."
It's a change from the original rule (which was between the 1990 and 1994 WCs), but I really think it was adopted in the early 2000s, if not the late 1990s. Definitely not a recent law change. This is the kind of thing @socal lurker usually knows.
I'm willing to guess the first time the rules were written down it wasn't in there. I'll leave it to someone more well versed in soccer history to specify the exact date. I'm afraid I don't think it's terribly recent.
I believe he couldn't pick this up (in 2002), though I guess we don't have evidence for that from the video. Presumably he would have picked it up if he were allowed.