Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC Frankly, that's my pecking order and that of a lot of US fans. My MLS interest comes below Arsenal and the USMNT.
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC I had to laugh at this quote. How many times can someone say "I" and "my" in just a few sentences? It's all about Eric. I'm so happy he has his dream job now.
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC That's understandable, and there are others like you with the same priorities. But surely you can understand why people whose first love is a local team or MLS would not be unhappy to see Cohen off the air. MAYBE this in part reflects FSC's views as to the priorities of most of their viewers? Don't know if they are sophisticated enough to have done any market research on that point.
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC Yeah I guess we'll see how the show does... not like anyone really has any real numbers or way to gauge how it's doing now anyway... But it will make me tune in, and i haven't watched the show in years, so +1 at the very least.
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC Make that +2. I listened to the podcast and watched the TV show regularly for about a year, but finally got bored with the ignorance and apathy given to MLS, and the latent homoerotic Beckham fixation.
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC I think you hit the nail on the head; Cohen brings a lot of passion and entertainment to the way he covered the World game, and even his detractors continue to listen to him. With this perspective, however, he has the chutzpah to slag the MLS in light of the standards abroad (and don't even get started on the WPS). You can always count that he will give you his personal view regardless of the corporate view, sometimes imprudently no doubt. Most likely, the fan base here really is more interested in rallying around the MLS, and FF brass is looking to build that fan base as they lose the EPL rights. Cohen was always a poor fit for MLS talk. The hooligan activity around him was personal and he did and does the best he can given the mob action. It is not the story. Finally, those who listen to his show know that he is turning more favorable to MLS in tandem with the growth of the league and the play in the field which is consistent. But he will never be the best destination for MLS talk. He will be an important reality check from his perspective however.
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC Cohen probably got sacked because of the Hillsborough comments and his disfavor with many WSD sponsors (many of whom are also FSC sponsors). If it affects their ability to sell adverts, Fox is going to make a change based on that bottom line business. Wynalda will do fine, but he should use this platform to be more pointed and opinionated than he is during normal broadcasts. I think FSC's acquisition of Champions League rights shows where their programming priority ultimately is...the European leagues are the highest level of the game and will remain the biggest draw for that channel. I enjoy MLS, but in reality, they couldn't even draw enough of an audience for ESPN to continue Thursday night broadcasts (and ESPN2 is available on many more systems than FSC).
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC No, he didn't, which is my point. He wasn't sacked and the sponsors and the boycott were never part of the conversation, it was about how FSC wanted to make a change to bring in someone from the game, and Steve was the one out of contract. FFF was started by Steven and Nick Geber. It was never an MLS show, there was other shows on FSW for that. There should be more MLS shows there anyway, but don't FFF wasn't designed to be one of those shows. In the past few years, FSC has changed it's content so it's NOT the same show it started as. And now it has none of the same people. Frankly, I would have just started a new show, but that's their call. I hope they find success, and that Wyn brings some in some fun. Love to have him go after Rome again
Re: to Steve Cohen So that's- Four Four Two (1) Fado Irish Pubs (2) Heineken (3) World Soccer Shop (4) and their other 'shop' templates 365 inc etc. Ruffneck Scarves (5) and that's just the ones i can remember. Now he's running slots that are totally "Sirius" ads and his 'new' sponsors include a wine company and a music company-hardly soccer related are they? "I say old chap, fancy a Beaujolais before the game" BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh and +3.
Nuts...and idiots. Cohen pissed me off at times to but what he added to the American soccer scene was much more valuable than any of his baby critics. He's opinionated but very knowledgeable and with TUB next to him they covered it pretty throughly. He should have been coached... Any Liverpool fan who thinks they had anything to do with it is an idiot, the guy blame it on non ticket holders...but you can't reason with idiots. And Wynalda is about as depressing as it comes. The guy is a typical old school American, loud mouth, believes he's right, and does not know shit about the game. Amazing, watch his deer in the head lights approach. Put him with Weber and Weber will control the show, and he's got no balls and entertainment qualities. They show or host will be gone in a year. I liked to see Rogadino and Wynalda dicusss Socrates and watch their head explodes. Dumb assess, and opinionated....
#1 This is the same "knowledgable" Cohen who didn't even know who the Argentinian National Team Captain is...... #2 Wynalda-the 100+ capped Hall of Famer, who played the game in Europe and Mexico and he doesn't know shit about the game. My money says he knows more than some ex pat-who hasn't lived in England for 27 years, never played the game and who swapped his team, Spurs to Chelsea (via some say Arsenal) oh and add Inter Milan. That's almost as often as Eric, who got paid to....
Re: Steven Cohen fired by FSC Believe what you want, but Heineken is a major, worldwide Champions League sponsor. FSC now has lucrative, expensive CL broadcasting rights. Heineken not happy with Cohen, FSC needs CL sponsors to be happy, Cohen gets a big non-renewal (after 5+ years of successful broadcasting). That's money talking, period. World Soccer Shop and Who Are Ya Designs have advertised on FSC and WSD. They've both distanced themselves from Cohen; FSC doesn't want to lose those kinds of audience-specific sponsors, either. I agree that FFF was never an MLS-focused show, but be fair - they cover MLS every week, bring in players, coaches and GMs to talk and take questions. Wynalda will probably do fine with Nick Webster, but it's obviously become a different show anyway without Steven and Nick Geber.
Re: to Steve Cohen Here's the transcript from June 18... and BTW, Ruffneck is suing him for damages. "Let me read you an email from a member of the official Liverpool supporters group. You ********ing jew rodent you say we killed 96 of our own. Hitler killed six million of you. Ha ha ha … That is who we’re taking about. Ruffneck, I hope you feel good. Heineken, I hope you feel good. Anybody else, FourFourTwo and anybody else who supports that."
Re: to Steve Cohen Just to point out, Based on your post, it reads to me that he is alerting the sponsors who they are aligned with, he does not accuse them off anti-semitism. The logical step is for them to condemn those who spout this way around this action.
Re: to Steve Cohen Go to iTunes, and listen to the audio... it is pretty obvious that he is insinuating they are endorsing anti-semitic rhetoric. Classic Cohen immaturity.
Re: to Steve Cohen Perhaps. But if you take the WTO protesters for example; and you have the minority that are there for violence and property damage; more and more, those that want to distance themselves from this part of the movement are asked to condemn them, and when they do not, they are all generally regarded as anarchist, destroyers now by reputation.
Re: to Steve Cohen so you are advocating listening to his podcasts? Funny thing, once upon a time if you didn't like what was on the TV or radio you just changed the channel/station and moved on. Now people just want to ruin someone for something they said...though I guess having people actually listen to what he said before making up their mind is an improvement. Bottom line, if you don't agree, don't listen. Stop with the censorship. In this country you have every right to dig yourself into a hole by saying what little comes into your mind (re: 90% of elected officials) Stop the damn hate and move on. For all his faults, Cohen has managed to build a career as a sports broadcaster focused on a sport when the mainstream will tell you there's no audience in this country. Now, I'm not sure I buy the Tabloid title of this thread because he clearly wasn't 'fired'. There were discussions about his return to FFF the last couple of summers...long before the Hillsboro comments were blown out of proportion by that guy who does EPLTalk. For the record, I haven't listened to WSD or FFF for a couple of years though I did listen to a handful of his shows when this whole thing blew up just to see for myself what was going on. Honestly, it was a flippant comment which no one would have caught if the EPLTalk guy hadn't brought it to the worlds attention. Move on folks. I've now gone back to not bothering with either show again.
Re: to Steve Cohen Smashing a banks windows is not violence. On one hand you have protesters that are there to make a statement to the elite businessmen of the world and on the other hand you have wussy hippies. They should have burned down every Starbucks. Good on them for standing up for unions and working class people in general.
Re: to Steve Cohen Dude are you serious? Smashing a banks window is not violence? According to Wikipedia, "Intentional property damage may be considered a form of violence, albeit one usually (but not always) less reprehensible than violence which does bodily harm" Even if it isn't "violence" to you. It is theft. Someone has to pay for that, would you like someone to break the windows in your house to "make a statement? If you want to make a statement, purchase some airtime, or use a bullhorn. Do you really think Unions need someone to stand up for them? They are the most powerful entities in the majority of the world. I know we are not supposed to talk politics, but this crap really makes me mad.
Re: to Steve Cohen Let me just say this: There is a forum on BS for political topics. This is not it. We have a common interest in LAG and that's what we come here for. I realize that there is a broad range of political beliefs represented on these boards. Frankly, I would like to put those aside and see us on common grounds. This kind of dogmatic statement is a red flag and screams out for a response. I am not going to respond because I don't think this is the place to do it. I am very interested in your soccer views. Truly. And that is something about which I would be happy to debate and argue. All this kind of statement does is drive us apart, and the beautiful game is supposed to be bringing us together. Sorry for the screed.
Re: to Steve Cohen What he said. As a moderator, keep the politics elsewhere, especially since they have nothing at all to do with the topic. I hate being the mean man who has to delete posts and yell at people, so please don't make me do it!