Balboa in one of his patented "out of control" rants during the Mexico-Iran game: Borgetti commits a particulary harsh (dumb) foul on an Iranian defender deep in the Iranian end. Balboa describes exactly the action we are watching on the TV replay at high speed, and then ends it with this gem. "...but that's OK. He's supposed to do that." I think he meant that Borgetti is supposed to pressure the defense, not commit harsh, almost cardable fouls deep in the opponents end. SLOW DOWN! CLARITY OF THOUGHT, Celo!
LOL. Can you imagine Brandi trying to talk to some of the coaches while play is going on, a la MLS? That would be priceless. BRANDI: "Herr Bruckner, can you give me your thoughts about how your Czech team is playing?" BRUCKNER: (Translated) "WtF? Who are you? and who allowed you on the Pitch? I'm in the middle of a World Cup Match!!!!! SECURITY!!"
How bout Shep just saying, "NA-KA-TA is the Terrel Owens of this Japanese team" And then the other guy said Zico was a starter for the Brasil's '98 World Cup team.
Spot on. The worst so far has been that waster Glenn Davis, spent the entire ARG v CIV match pronouncing the name of Didier Zokora as "Zakoro". Ugh.
"Japan advanced to the Round of 16 in 2002 then coached by Frenchman Phillippe Troussier. Now coached by Gus Hiddink...." At which point I turned on Univision.
ESPN put up a graphic several times this weekend that the US was playing in it's 4th consecutive world cup. I guess they can't count to 5.
The root cause of this terrible commentary we're being made to suffer through is that ABC/ESPN has completely misunderstood its likely audience for this event. They have naively imagined themselves attracting large numbers of new viewers who can be browbeaten into enjoying the sport with the following: 1. endless statistics to mimic the coverage of mainstream American sports 2. an upbeat, optimistic attitude toward even the most dismal matches 3. pedantic lessons in current events and geography 4. nonstop commentary of EVERY single movement of the ball and endless "analysis" by some guy who professionally kicked a ball a few years ago Crucially, they have miscalculated things from the start. The audience for this event was always going to be Americans who already truly love the sport, football loving expatriates, and....no wait, that's all really. Unlike other sports that have not received "favored" status among the old boys network in the American sports media establishment, football does not simply fly below the radar and get ignored. As we all know is usually held up and specifically targeted for criticism and ridicule by the legion of bashers who have a pulpit from which to pontificate--a weekly newspaper column, an anchor's seat on TV, etc. More and more I'm convinced that evangelism is essentially a pointless venture. That's why this World Cup should have been marketed towards the solid base of people who support the sport in this country. I mean sure, the month of broadcasts will probably attract some people, but not en masse. Instead of rankling the solid base of supporters you have by providing inane, condescending commentary, give them something they'll enjoy and remember. ABC/ESPN isn't going to convert in large numbers the people who have historically been ignorant of the sport, ambivalent, or outright hostile to it. You literally have to wait for these people to grow old and die off. Their children/grandchildren are the ones who are more likely to grow up enjoying it of their own accord.
OK, how about some credit where credit is due? In the JPN-AUS game, both Davis and Shep (especially Shep) immediately reacted strongly (and correctly) on the controversial goal call, saying it had to be a foul. More impressive (and subtle), though, was a few minutes later when Shep was getting through one of the mandated "coming up at halftime" promos for the Keller-Cech piece and in the middle of providing his take on what Keller might be thinking right now, stopped and handed the baton back to Davis so he could pick up the call of a dangerous Australia move. Only after the ball was kicked way up field and out of bounds did Shep finish his point on Keller. Well done, Shep.
I think what happened is that one day Dave O'Brien was like, "Hey Mickey, I think I want to cover the World Cup." The heads at ESPN/ABC were probably thinking, "Wow. One of the pod-people that we've hired actually wants to cover this sport?? Knock yourself out, buddy."
Basically, ESPN/ABC have yet to discover what MLS discovered about 5 years ago. Does Don Garber have a twin brother or a son who does broadcasting?
For the love of God, Keller needs to move out of that castle - for the sake of my sanity. That just gave me an idea... does anyone on bigsoccer own a catapult?
liked the Czechoslovakia comment at halftime. I think that one of the keys to the game will be how our opponents respond to the emotional trauma of the Prague Spring.
I have to back him on this one. I was thinking the same thing that LaVolpe had his head up his a--. I actually agreed with Balboa for the first time on his analysis of this. When he gave benefit for the win to the subs, he did say in some form that he had to give LaVolpe credit for his subs, and that he (Balboa) was wrong. Overall, I hated how DOB kept bringing up the politics of the Iran situation. It did seem a little like he was told to do it though. His slant on the whole situation was a little too practiced it seemed like he was reading a script. I have a feeling there was a little propaganda at play there.
Unfortunately for your career, there must be something other than talent and professionalism involved in becoming a sports broadcaster if the guys involved in broadcasting this World Cup are any example of those who get the best gigs.
Not directly the fault of the announcers, but of the producers... but did anyone notice that after more than 8 minutes of commercials at halftime of Japan/Australia (normal - I understand the bills gotta get paid), we missed the first 30 seconds of the second half while DOB and Celo again hyped the US game? And that they have often been doing a countdown to the US game on the ESPN2 "bottom line" during the AUS/JPN game? I understand what people are saying about hyping the USA. The US feed of ESPN (ESPN2) should hype the US matches. But not at the expense of the other *games*. IM(NS)HO, anyhow.
To be fair I don't think you're giving your average, NFL loving American the credit he's due. I personally have never watched a MLS match, and haven't watched a competetive soccer match since USA/Germany four years ago. Yet this year I am enjoying the World Cup, having watched every game but England/Paraguay. It's kind of like the Olympics. It's interesting because national pride is on the line, and all the players are giving it their all. Add in the festive atmosphere and the fact that there is nothing else of interest on TV and I think some of the games may draw quite a bit of nonfanatical, uneducated soccer fans. Sure there are plenty of ignoramuses who hate Soccer(and every time I see a_random_diving_Euro_04 I can see why) but most Americans want the US to do well. Just my opinion.
You can boil it down like this: The Good JP Dellacamera Adrian Healey Glen Davis Eric Wynalda The previously good but so far just ok with some embarrassing bits but I really like him and think he will eventually be very good at this soccer thing Dave O'Brien No opinion yet Rob Stone (ok he's a cheerleader but I've no real problem with him other than he's too ********ing happy and can't say anything bad about anyone) Robin Fraser Julie Foudy For some reason bad this time around Shep Messing Bad John Harkes Should be taken out and shot Marcello Balboa Should be taken out and shot and have ashes scattered to the four winds Tommy Smyth
"Soak it in, this is a monster moment for the country of Austrailia and severe disappointment for Ausrtailia."
We have a new winner. Unless I heard it incorrectly .... the call, after coming back from 1-0 down to win 3-1, is, "...and great disappointment for Australia."
Wynalda sucks IMO. He looks at the camera like he's modeling for Abercrombie and Fitch and doesn't know what he's talking about, ie how awesome Portugal looked after yesterday's game with Angola. I guess they did look good in the first 5 minutes.
Not really an announcer comment. But on ESPN they had a graphic with the name Claudio Renya. At first I was thinking that they were just not putting in the effort for soccer. But then, I saw a graphic for the Basketball finals that displayed Dwanye Wade. So, maybe that is a good sign. We are getting our players misspelled just like the NBA.
I came BigSoccer this morning because I knew if there was anywhere to find people complaining about American announcers, this was the place. Yes, a lot of it is bad, but I'm surprised that Shep Messing isn't getting more criticism. His blathering is absolutely stunning. The first things I heard out of his mouth this weekend was comparisons to other sports. JUST SHUT UP! He sounds as if he's trying to be the Dick Vitale of the soccer broadcasting community. God help us! It's a bit of a shame that after having to watch these matches for so many years on Spanish-language networks out of necessity, I'm having to watch them now out of an attempt to maintain my sanity. On the plus side, I've only heard the offside rule explained once. Baby steps.