I watched most of the Mexico-Iran game on Univision, but I did flip over for a little while to catch this bit of Celo mumbling greatness: DOB: So what do you think of the rest of Group E? CELO: It's tough, no ifs buts about it. You have the Czech Republic, Italy, The Ghana....(Celo continues on for 45 seconds yet manages to say absoutely nothing). I'm not expecting Howard Cossell, but this is crazy. These guys are a joke. No ifs buts about it.
"Trinidad & Tobago: The George Mason of the World Cup." I also love it when someone talks about the other teams in Group E; they'll talk about the Italy scandal, then say a few words about the Czech injury problems, and then they'll finish up with, "Nobody knows what you're gonna get from Ghana," as if one of the players has three legs or something. It's as if the fact that they're from Africa makes it OK to not know a single thing about a team that's pretty established as a soccer nation. They were (I thought) one of the best teams in the Olympics two years ago and there are more than a few players on the national team that have quality club careers.
You mean the graphic that says this is the US' fourth straight Cup appearance? The people doing the graphics for these telecasts are complete imbeciles.
So wait, let me get this straight....Claudio Suarez's father passed away from a sudden heart attack on Wednesday just before coming over to Germany to watch his son play, right? I tried keeping track of how many times DOB told us that, but I lost count.
I think the racial comment re: Poland was actually a pun -- he said they had been "poleaxed," which I think refers to a poleaxe or polearm, an old-timey weapon. Dungeons and Dragons, represent!
I'm overseas watching all the games with British commentary.... Every single game so far the commentator (I think it's been the same guy for all of them) has felt it neccessary to point out how "hot" the weather is. (Kinda' reminded me how all of you guys were getting on DOB's case about his cold weather comments during the Poland friendly.)
for me it was the segment between adrian healy and tommy smith during the ecuador-poland game about some drilling thing. i think healy said that the first oil well was dug by a pole (i.E polish person) and smith responded "i always thought it was dug by a bit(drill)" healy then says "um i mean a polish person" to which smith responds by saying something about how he said bit and not brit. i dont really remember the details right now, but i remember it had be laughing.
Maybe there should be sub-category: favorite Tommy Smyth muttering from the depths of his alcohol haze. Todays favorite: "You don't need an umbrella when there are hole in your shoes" Although a close second was when he said that Pawel Janas' personnell choices had "raised many a bushy eyebrow" in Poland. As for insane, I know I posted this elsewhere but Brent Musberger is such an embarassing ass that nothing whatever he says seems to make any sense at all. The worst part is that someone apparently explained to him that in soccer the field is called the "pitch". Now he's like a kid with a shiny new toy, working laboriously to get the word "pitch" into every sentence so we'll all notice what a "footy" type lad he is. And did anyone else sit bolt upright today when they got Brent, Waldo and Julie up in the ESPN "miniature pitch" area in order to do one of the ESPN trademark technical breakdowns like they do with football and basketball? There they were: Waldo in a pair od adidas running shoes, Brent in what looked to be a pair of those canvas things your grandfather gets at JC Penny's, and Julie in three inch heels. Julie made a comment about "not getting the memo", but I was giddy with anticipation of watching Brent knock the old rock around. In the end, Waldo just stood ther ewith a ball, wondering which of these boobs - the one in patent leather pumps or the one in Keds - he was going to use to demonstrate whatever it was. Eventually they did nothing at all, stood there lamely trying to pretend they like each other and then went to commercial. A great World Cup moment all by itself. By the way, did any of you know that in Angola, the life expectancy is about six and a half days or something? They said it so many times during the game I half expected the Angola players to start dropping. As for insane comments, I posted this elsewhere but it's still m favorite so far: Brent Musberger after a replay of Beckham's goal: "That gives a whole new meaning to Bend it like Beckham, folks" Um, well, no, see when someone famous for bending the ball actually goes ahead and bends the ball, it's not "a whole new meaning" to say that he bent the ball. Oh, nevermind.
ON ABC, Saying the Us Player announcers that Omar Bravo played for Chivas USA in the MLS. What a bunch of morons. I also noticed how they diminIsh the credit towards Mexico performance aginst Iran and were totally utelry bias i the part of Alexi Lalas. I can understand the rivalry and so on but at least be objective for crying out loud!
$10 says DOB reminds us that Keller lives in a castle. And $10 says during the Italy game he reminds us how bad it was snowing in March. Thank goodness I am watching the games here, with the german telecast.
So when did omar bravo play for Chivas USA? god this baseball guy is complete crap by far univision has had Superior coverage of the world cup. Its not like the spanish anouncers are any different the guy that that says golazo azo azo azo i horrible doesnt shut up. I dont care what the guy is thinking.
what about during the Ecuador Poland game when Tommy Smyth went on for 5 minutes about how "roundier" these balls were. I was wondering why the balls were rolling like round figures, but i didnt know that these balls were "roundier". By the way, are the announcers actually at the stadium, or are they somewhere else watching it on a feed and announcing the game??
Whoever was calling PBP for Argetina-Ivory Coast claimed that Kone "bought the breast energy" as a sub. Must have been a tactical sub then? The color man for that one was absolutely obnoxious as well. I prefer watching games online in some language I don't understand.
univision is the same way when it comes to US soccer theres a biased for Mexico lets not act like the victim besides Lalas was pulling for them. Said it was good for Concacaf. with mexico making a statement.
Argentina-Cote d'Ivoire was full of ticker and display errors. At one point, the graphic noted that possesion had been "Argentina 100% Invory Coast 0%." And you know how the ticker lists each team's next opponent? For a while, Trinidad was going to face off next against Trinidad. Brazil v. Brazil, now that I'd watch...
Lol I wouldnt comnsider it a baseball coverage more like a hockey call up IT WAS HILARIOUS lol did any one caught that too ? Acually man , theyr not that bias belive it or not, but admit at times they can be impartial . They actually call the US National team , Everyones National team and by far they seem to respect them. I just think it was so obvious the cheap shots Lalalas was taking jabs at Mexico side for their win and being bias and alwasy discrediting Mexico .Immediately Lalas stating it was cause of Iranis goal keeper and main defensive the mainculprit for Iran losign the game . If hes going to say that he needs to go futher and tell the whole story and ot be so impartial . As far as him saying is Good for Concacaf , well of course Heck yeah nothing to congratulate just stating obvious facts.
O'Brien's best nugget today IMO was the apparently brewing controversy about the pesky roofs at the German stadia and how FIFA considered them a big problem and was seeing if something could be done about them.
The teams of O'Brien/Balboa, DellaCamera/Harkes, and Stone/Fraser are broadcasting on site from Germany. The teams of Healey/Smyth and Davis/Messing are calling the games from TV monitors in the USA.
I appreciate how, on every free kick, the ball is a "bullet". The PBP people must all be forced to write out twenty or thirty inane statements/factoids to insert when they can't think of anything else to say. During the England-Paraguay game, we learned that Gamarra called England the "third best" team in the group, and that, I believe, Roberto Acuna called David Beckham a "coward." Not once, nor even twice, but at least three times we heard this claptrap. Yet the PBP idiot has no further information to give us, so that we might put the comments into perspective. Did anyone else know that Beckman is married to a "Spice Girl", by the way? Apparently, it's quite true. And he's noted for his fashion sense and style. Great crosser of the ball, incidentally. Even had a movie named after him. And I appreciated knowing that Cuevas is well known for making TV appearances and playing guitar. Heady stuff.
When John Harkes and JP Dellacamera kept referring to everything in the 1st half that pertained to the Dutch as "DeMarcus Beasley plays for PSV Eindhoven ... You know DeMarcus knows about ..." It was agonizing and my group started ranting on PSV jokes and things like "I look out my front door and the pitch looks like the grounds at PSV", etc. It was stupid, but a mockery of the announcers. This is a funny thread!
"If you are playing this game and you have two feet you have to remember to use them" Who can name the guy who said this
I think it was Harkes pointed out (forget what game) that this one player was really important for his team, and thus wouldn't want to pick up a second yellow. Of course, that's quite true I'm sure.
You know, the presence of alcohol would explain a lot about Smyth's commentary so far. Half the time I get this image of him not even watching the game monitor, and instead staring at Healey trying to figure out how to bait him about England or seeing if Healey is laughing at his most recent bad pun. It's like he desperately wants someone to talk to him, and Healey is just sitting there thinking, "I'm trying to watch the World Cup, you drunk little leprechaun." But at least it is amusing. Some of the others are killing me. Glenn Davis in particular. If he ever manages to say something that isn't just plain wrong, it must be an eloquent proof of the non-zero probabilities associated with quantum physics. I was also quite annoyed at Dellacamera trying to insert politics into the Mexico-Iran game. I'm glad Celo studiously ignored him during those moments. Celo is still annoying at times, but as a broadcaster he has actually improved a lot over the last year or so. I'd have to vote for the "360 degrees" comment as the most insane so far, both because of the error in confusing 180 with 360 and because it was an incorrect observation even if he had said 180 degrees.