http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX5hkcMcK2o&feature=youtu.be Sorry I don't know the youtube display code thingy His volume is pretty low but what he says makes a lot of sense and pretty much all of his complaints are valid and he tackles them quite expertly. Although, his excellent breakdown of the Clint Dempsey play that opens up more options for him and his teammates against France is much easier with hindsight and time to truly analyze the play. I see what he means but it's almost impossible to call that on the fly with all that's going on. Announcing is more difficult than people think because it's much more than just talking about what you see. It's a team and you can't trip over each other. Some times while the play by play announcer is calling the action, the color analyst will be getting instructions in his earpiece from the producer and he might miss something subtle like the Dempsey play. There is a lot going on in and outside of the booth that never gets seen or heard on air One thing that people need to realize in broadcasting sports is that there are lots of good NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL announcers and there are shit tons of bad ones. All of those sports have layers and layers of announcers at different levels of play that rise up through the ranks to get to broadcast the big games in the biggest leagues. High school football radio might lead to an opportunity at the station of the local division II or III football school which could lead to an opening at a division one school and eventually calling games in the NFL if you apply yourself and constantly look to improve. Those opportunities aren't there yet in America for soccer although it is slowly changing just not fast enough for most people. I fell in love with soccer just before France '98. Back then getting your footy fix wasn't quite what it is now. Fox Sports World was just coming on the air and wasn't easy to get. ESPN would show one La Liga match a week on a two to three day delay and one MLS match a week. That was it. College soccer was non-existant on TV. So I tried looking for some college matches online . . . . . . I found three soccer matches online. Yes. Three. All filmed by handcam uploaded to personal sites and there were maybe 10 people in the stands. Now? ESPNU, Big Ten Network, SEC Network, Fox Sports Net, Comcast all show men's and women's college soccer on TV and there are a hell of a lot more people in the stands, even if many are there only because they knew it was a broadcasted game and want to see if they'll be on TV, who cares . . . they're in attendance and it helps the game. Some of the announcers calling those matches are awful . . . now. Who knows if they'll improve enough to be courted by NBC or FOX or ESPN in 10 years or so . . . they have to start somewhere. All I know is that the AMERICAN Announcer is finally getting a platform to prove and better themselves. That's something that the English announcers have had for years. Not high school or college soccer, theirs is more like baseball with all of the lower leagues but even more complex. I say it's more complex as in they also get many of the foreign league contracts and almost all of the English language international feeds of the larger foreign leagues are done by British announcers. Some are damn good and some aren't. Babysteps, people. Babysteps.
Good video - thanks for posting I agree with premise, but I do think some of the analysis he suggests adding would be hard to present in real time given the lack of fixed stoppages. Sure, game action stops for goal kicks, injuries, etc, but, unlike TV timeouts, they vary in length, which is challenge to put together a real-time analytical replay. Imagine the outcry if a goal was missed during a breakdown of Dempsey's backstep-and-turn. This type of analysis would absolutely be cool as a standalone show similar to the old Edge NFL matchup show, Inside the NFL, something like that, but you're generally not getting casual fans to watch something like that.
I really like his analysis of the game and some things that could be done to usher along the viewers to understanding the game better. I don't feel like a soccer dummy, but he definately has insights that help with the technical/physical aspect of the game.
Post the full link, not the link with the "&feature=youtu.be" You can get it by clicking the share button, then long link option. Or if you can just copy paste and cut out everything from the "&" on in the link. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX5hkcMcK2o"]Soccer and the Mechanics of Sport on T.V. - YouTube[/ame]
Now that I have watched the video, I enjoyed it quite a bit and I think it is a very clever idea to get his foot in the door somewhere in Soccer broadcasting. Some of this stuff could be done while a player is being taken care of by trainers. It could also be done at half time as well as during pregame and post game shows. Even doing it in those few spots will get the viewer looking for those things themselves. If you watch ESPN they will frequently have the segments where they go over to their little mini football field or basketball court and have the analysts act it out as they explain what is going on and why. That is something that can be translated to a show like NBC's soccer show.
Right, if there isn't enough time during a game, there needs to be a MLS show that does actual meaningful soccer analysis in addition to showing highlights. ESPN and FSC have never done this, hopefully NBC will.
If Arlo is part of that show, he has experience doing that already with the Scouting reports he did before each game for the Sounders.
Ya, but his were never this in depth. Arlo's reports were more strategies and tactics rather than techniques.
that clip about barcelona passing won me over. Hope this guy gets a gig somewhere His ideas are very interesting
There is this thing called Armchair Analyst but as you all have known, every writer in mlssoccer.com must've been infected by whatever Greg Lalas has. One thing to note though, I think the analysis has been more interesting because it is a video. Those things called overlays make it easier to understand. I wonder how long did it take him to make the video.
