I fully anticipate this thread to reach 500 pages. Not replies. Pages. Glenn Davis: "A game that had been controlled by Argentina has turned 360 degrees." JP Dellacamera: Whatever he said about Holland playing a 4-4-2, but with three forwards. No wonder Holland wins all the time! When John Harkes is the voice of reason, you know you're in Magic Cookie Land. I'd transcribe the actual quote, but my head seems to have exploded.
Something that Balboa said about "New" England...that's all I remember. Sigh. I guess the Revs do have the same colors as England, though.
Not quite said, but in the Netherlands game there was a graphic in the 16th minute saying SAVES: 12-8. WOW what a game!!!! Too bad it wasn't true.
My favorite comment still comes from the last friendly when O'Brien described Keller as the best keeper in the world.
DOB talking during the Mexico-Iran game about all of the teams that went undefeated in World Cup history and failed to win it all. Celo then had to point out that losing on penalty kicks is not a tie ... but A LOSS. UNBELIEVABLE!!! GET RID OF DOB!!! He is DOA as a Soccer Broadcaster. HE IS HORRIBLE!!! What an embarrassment!!! See https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366148 The Official Complain About ESPN/ABC Thread in the World Cup: Fans area!
By the way ... in case you haven't heard - The U.S. Men's National Team plays the Czech Republic at 11:55 a.m. tomorrow on ABC. AND ... that the US is ranked 5th in the FIFA rankings. HOW MANY TIMES DO THEY HAVE TO TELL US THAT AND SHOW US THAT GRAPHIC???!?!?!?!?! I AM TIRED OF BEING TREATED LIKE TOTAL IDIOTS. The people watching these games ALREADY KNOW!!!!
John Harkes was the very definition of awful today. Everyone on the pitch was a "great player" or a "fantastic player". He was obviously making things up on the spot about what he supposedly knew about some of them, even though most of them he said he had only seen play one time. Koroman a "great player" for Portsmouth....LOL Yesterday in ARG v CIV, Shep Messing made me want to stab myself in the face. He can't possibly have actually played the sport, he knows less than nothing on yesterday's evidence. And the way his voice trails away at the end of every sentence.....gah! Marcelo Balboa is talking as fast as he possibly can every time he opens his gob, and most of it is inane babble. The only pairing I can stand thus far is the English fellow and Tommy Smyth (even though he's awful), because for the most part they know to shut up most of the time and the English guy doesn't start screaming at the top of his lungs just because someone crossed the ball into the area and doesn't say "a chance to tie it!!!!!1111one" like Glenn Davis. Every single pairing needs to right off the top discard fully 75% of the "commentary" they are naturally inclined to spew forth. There is no need to Americanize it and inundate us with useless factoids. I want to enjoy what I'm seeing and in fact do not consider silence "dead air".
My issue was with DOB ... Celo was trying to tactfully set him straight and explain what DOB was saying. NOT an easy task when it comes to the things DOB says. UNREAL!!
All I can figure is that DOB is either ill or drunk, or he is stealing the money they are paying him. I mean how else could he not be able to explain how a team could be "undefeated" in WC play and not win the cup. Even more astoundingly, how could our number 1 PBP man not know the difference between Chivas and Chivas U.S.A. ??? To use one of his beloved baseball analogies, that's like not knowing the difference between the San Francisco Giants and the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. Anyhow, up til now, these top my list, with more to come, no doubt. Gaack....
My favorite is the first 15 minutes of the Sweden-T&T game when they couldn't figure out that Kelvin Jack wasn't in goal. In that period, there were 5, literally 5, closeup shots of the back of Hislop's jersey and one shot of Jack sitting on the bench w/ an ice pack on his leg. What seemed to set them straight was a written notice of some sort from FIFA. Were they watching the video feed at all? (It would explain most of the commentary if they aren't.)
Agreed with everything in your post (except your fav team), but especially this one. God, Shep Messing was awful. What annoyed me most was the constant comparison to other sports: "If this was basketball, it'd be like Shaq vs. Kobe." Yeah, and if it was theoretical physics it's be Einstein vs. Dirac; who cares? I know they're trying to bring in the American non-soccer fan so they have to dumb it down, but does it have to be SO dumb? IMHO the only guy who has come out of this looking good is Max Bretos from FSC; I used to think he was awful, but he's better than 75% of the ABC/ESPN meatheads.
during the england vs paraguay game on the BBC, john motson informed the british public that if they were getting too hot watching the game indoors they could open the windows to get a breeze into the room.
Balboa actually made the comment, man I can't believe i am repeating this...that defenders aren't so good with their feet when someone was up top and took a shot after a corner kick. Well anyway, they never use their feet, they always use their heads. He actually said that. And then I am not sure if anyone else caught this towards the end of the Poland game. But the scottish guy made a racial comment about the Polish. It sounded like he tried to not say it but it slipped out. Then there was a 10 second silence by the other commentator, and then he changed the subject. Priceless!
Very funny. Still after all the excitement England generated in the 2nd half, I can see why this might be necessary... Just kidding
The guys announcing Iran-Mexico could not pronounce HASHEMIAN at all. And it wasn't like they were just saying it a different way, every time they said it it was different from how they said it before. They called him "hash-mani" once, "hash-e-man" another time, and "ha-sheman" another time. But they never got it right. :/ Those same two were doing Portugal-Angola for ESPN2 (I think - it was Tommy Smyth and some British guy... maybe not the same, but anyways...) and around the end of the first half the Irish guy tried to bring up the England-Paraguay game. He said "England should savor the match" and the british guy knew he was taking a shot at England, but tried to be nice and just responded by saying "I'll admit there wasn't much to be savored". But the Irish guy kept pushing it and said something like "well if they keep playing like that then it might be the only win you can savor" so the English guy replies "I don't see too many teams wearing green in the World Cup". The Irish guy mumbles something about "Ivory Coast..." but then shuts up and there is silence for a few seconds before they go back to covering the Portugal-Angola game. Yeah, I noticed that too. And what made it even worse was that I downloaded a European station's coverage of the game afterwards and Gary Bloom (the commentator for that feed) explained the Hislop/Jack situation right after the national anthems and even had Hislop listed on the starting lineup!!! Why does the American media suck so much?!?!?!
Gary Bloom of BBC, referring to Cristiano Ronaldo's frustration at being substituted, "it looks like the teddy bear might be thrown out of its bed."