Rob Stone Fires back

[crusio]

Yeahhhhhhh Good job Stoner.... Seemingly lots of people do not, but I like ESPN's Broadcasts. Especially when you put them up against some of the other tandems out there.

[Casper]

As everyone rushes to fellate Stoner, I'll play deviladvocate.

The issues is not Stoner himself. Stoner, Jedwards, whoever.

Consensus Reality of the people paying the bills is that they
need to dumb down the telecasts. I hate it, but i'm not paying
for it. So I just tune it out. I still watch. But I don't listen.

The dumbed-down pbp and color, however, if it was designed
to bring in new fans, now has more than 5 years track record
of failure attracting new viewers.

Way too many I/O's and front offices are erect for the SoccerSmiles
crowd, and the onscreen manifestation of pandering to kids nets you
4th-grade level pbp and color.

No offense to Stoner, you're still as humble as the night I met you
in Indianapolis in '97 after the USOC Final. I'd rep you too for the smackdown.

But Bob Ley and Seamus Malin brought far more class and rep to
the National Team than anyone has since, and in my book they
will be the gold standard that no one will equal or surpass for
probably the next 25 years.

Excelsior.

-bs

I think most of your comments are directly on point, but there's an inherent conflict in your logic.

Here's my read.

1) The people paying Rob ask him to announce the game a certain way.
2) Rob announces the game that way (which happens to fit his personality).
3) Everyone involved is happy, EXCEPT for the knowledgeable adult soccer fan, who may wish the analysis was more sophisticated, that the announcers spoke less, and that the whole production focused less on irrelevant issues.

Your logic implies that Rob change #2.
But I'm pretty sure #1 is true.
That's an inherent problem.

I will say that I've noticed over time that the announcers for MLS and the Nats are slowly assuming a greater and greater amount of knowledge on the part of the viewer. However, MLS Cup, the highest-rated game of the year, really isn't the time for that - it's the time to be as much of an infomercial as possible.

All that being said, I do think Ley and Malin were great, and I remember Malin from 20 years ago (my dad had a love/hate relationship with his announcing). I think the overall production quality now is similar to other ESPN2 fare (college hoops and college football), and for that, I'm very grateful.

[scarshins]

Malin was a pompous bastard, like Gardner the writer, and the original poster was exactly right- the "color" guys are morons who can talk but don't really think, and for some reason are hired as color guys despite poor knowledge of the sport.

Or did you like it during MLS Cup when Lorrie Fair was driveling on about ass zits or something- while on the field DC scores their second goal. At least she understood that she should stop pronto and get attention back on the action.

Or maybe you liked when Gomez then Nelsen made nice tackles/saves to stop a KC chance and Color Guy goes "It looks like he was taken down in the box!" Just yelling it several times. Thing was, it wasn't even close if anything the Wizards player wacked Nelsen in the leg as ryan calmly poked it out of bounds...how is misrepresenting some of the most basic stuff in the game any good for anyone??

Wynalda's the best one...at least he understands. He basically called the game for DC in the 10th minute with DC down 1-0...

[Brownswan]

You get the same prattle in an EPL match -- comments on the players, etc. It's just a different tone of voice, that's all:

ANCR: That's Beretta with the ball.... what a poor effort from the Italian...
that won't win him favor with the management, will it? ... I don't expect he got away with that during his stint with Roma... etc.

You just need to sound as though you're delivering a lecture on the mating habits of snails.

[Sempuukyaku]

Ok.

If you watched MLS cup on ABC this past Sunday, and then watched the nats game on ESPN2 just yesterday, I think you will see why so many people can't stand Rob Stone.


The quality of the commentating between the two matches was simply night and day.

[G Enriquez]

I like Rob Stone. He truly loves the game. He sounds like he's having a great time at the matches.
I remember when he worked for a local TV station here in Tampa,Fl.
He would ocasionally show soccer highlites. And that was before we had the Mutiny.
Keep up the great work Rob.

[copaantl98]

Can't believe I just saw this thread now. Great job Rob.

[Mattbro]

Obviously I never get to see MLS or Nats games, but from what I've seen from the highlights, Stoner does tend to get a bit...... excitable. But that's fine. It pains me to see public lynching of the guys who go to bat for our sport, which is basically what happened to JackenTy.

[copaantl98]

Obviously I never get to see MLS or Nats games, but from what I've seen from the highlights, Stoner does tend to get a bit...... excitable. But that's fine. It pains me to see public lynching of the guys who go to bat for our sport, which is basically what happened to JackenTy.

Amen.

[USvsIRELAND]

A complaint about soccer by non-watching public is that they dont score enough. MLS CUP was ruined by the fact that the most exciting moment (goal) was ruined absolutely ruined by that idiotic airhead Lorrie Fair talking about something. And when the game came to a climax with KC trying to get back in it the commentating was horrible. There was no focus. For me, the game was almost ruined by the commentating.

[Femfa]

I swear, i'm not a Stone basher, but I honestly don't understand how the broadcast the way it's slanted is supposed to attract new fans when it ends up sounding like the broadcasters themselves aren't even interested in the game.

The constant little tidbits at the expense of the on-field action imply, "Well, we know you couldn't possibly be into the game, so let's entertain and distract you so you'll come back and watch another game for our commentary, rather than any love of the sport."

Hey, the commentative asides work well in sports with long pauses like golf, tennis and baseball - but soccer never stops. It's really frustrating to see a team build a play upfield with a solid chance while the announcer drones on about something the coach's mother said to him that inspired him years ago.

If Stone's approach is really to draw in new fans, I don't think commentating that focuses on off-field trivia is the way to do it.

[coachmarino]

I honestly feel Rob Stone is the luckiest person in the world. I cannot believe there is someone so unknowledgable about the sport commentating on it. I mean, I happen to live, breath, and eat this sport, have coaching and playing qualifications. I hated this guy from the first time I saw him on a World Soccer highlight show. Purely because he was a young guy with young preppy hair who was clearly selected to run a show being put to a 'young' soccer audience, and it was like the only soccer show around at the time.

You watch the likes of Bob Costas on Inside the NFL. Then you watch this guy.

I am sure that ex-football players don't always like the commentators of football games, so maybe that is the problem I have. But seriously, even to look at the ABC/ESPN packages. Mike Patrick and Al Michaels are among the best in the football business.

You never really question their knowledge of the game because they really don't pretend to analyze it. They just call it like they see it. They use silence when appropriate.

I feel like Rob Stone is reading out of an NSCAA text book using terms that don't fit and providing analysis where not appropriate.

I am quite surprised there is so much support for this guy on the forum. I have never met anyone that liked the guys that do soccer. That Ty Keough (sp?) guy is awful.

And I am from Boston...Jack Edwards? I remember him when he went to SportsCenter from Channel 7. He never could get a good play by play gig with the majors for years.

All of the sudden he is the play by play guy for the qualifiers?

These guys have to go.

Honestly, I am 27. There are millions like me that are pissed off that we get the castaways or preppy pretty boys. I want Pat Summeral! (pre-alcoholic stage of course)

Now that soccer is a bit more mature and there are viewers such as myself who watch, can't we get some real play by play and analysis?

Sorry, rant over. I had to write in because I just saw the NCAA women's semifinal.

I can't wait til you can get rid of the commentary on the digital feed. US soccer broadcasts will finally be watchable.

[christopher d]

Honestly, I am 27. There are millions like me that are pissed off that we get the castaways or preppy pretty boys. I want Pat Summeral! (pre-alcoholic stage of course)
Pat Summeral would be unwatchable without John Madden (the converse is also true, notice MNF, but I digress). Add Madden, and you'll have folks here bitching about him yelling "Boom" at each hard tackle (how do you think he would have called Franchino clothes-lining Cobi Jones in MLS Cup '02?), and bitching about the way he gushes about the rowdier supporters groups. Not to mention Summeral's dry delivery -- god, does this guy even like soccer?

Whatever. I'm a big Bretos fan, a big Stone fan, and yes "That's why he's here!" was about the stupidest call I've ever heard in a game of any variety, but also the most exuberant, and I loved it. I like soccer because a goal takes about 30 seconds to develop, and could happen at any point during the match, and one might be all you get. That's an exciting moment in a match, and an announcer that sits back and says, dryly: "And look here, a clinical finish from Mathis has put the US up one-nil" (it's one-nothing, first of all, but I digress again) doesn't do the moment justice.

When we have truly big games to watch, either at the club or country level, you'll get the kind of commentary you're looking for. "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" would have worked had we beated Germany (and both of their goalkeepers), but would be (rightly) considered over-the-top for MLS Cup. But until then, let them shout, scream, whoop and holler; let them give the lineage of each player on the bench if they so choose, but if they show a passion and love of the game, it becomes contagious to the audience (save the more jaded, sophisticated viewers, of course), which helps the game overall.

[Casper]

I honestly feel Rob Stone is the luckiest person in the world. I cannot believe there is someone so unknowledgable about the sport commentating on it. I mean, I happen to live, breath, and eat this sport, have coaching and playing qualifications. I hated this guy from the first time I saw him on a World Soccer highlight show. Purely because he was a young guy with young preppy hair who was clearly selected to run a show being put to a 'young' soccer audience, and it was like the only soccer show around at the time.

You watch the likes of Bob Costas on Inside the NFL. Then you watch this guy.

I am sure that ex-football players don't always like the commentators of football games, so maybe that is the problem I have. But seriously, even to look at the ABC/ESPN packages. Mike Patrick and Al Michaels are among the best in the football business.

You never really question their knowledge of the game because they really don't pretend to analyze it. They just call it like they see it. They use silence when appropriate.

I feel like Rob Stone is reading out of an NSCAA text book using terms that don't fit and providing analysis where not appropriate.

I am quite surprised there is so much support for this guy on the forum. I have never met anyone that liked the guys that do soccer. That Ty Keough (sp?) guy is awful.

And I am from Boston...Jack Edwards? I remember him when he went to SportsCenter from Channel 7. He never could get a good play by play gig with the majors for years.

All of the sudden he is the play by play guy for the qualifiers?

These guys have to go.

Honestly, I am 27. There are millions like me that are pissed off that we get the castaways or preppy pretty boys. I want Pat Summeral! (pre-alcoholic stage of course)

Now that soccer is a bit more mature and there are viewers such as myself who watch, can't we get some real play by play and analysis?

Sorry, rant over. I had to write in because I just saw the NCAA women's semifinal.

I can't wait til you can get rid of the commentary on the digital feed. US soccer broadcasts will finally be watchable.

There is a good chance that Rob played the sport at just as high a level as you.

You may know a lot about soccer, good for you. You may well know more than Rob. But there's a reason Costas, Madden, Michaels and Summerall all made tens of millions in that business - they're among the best ever. Stone isn't as good as they are, and may never be? I can accept that. However, no one in this country has a sufficient budget to get Costas to announce soccer.

[MightyMouse]

I hate Costas, I think he looks like a rodent and acts like one too.

I think Stoner is just fine for what we got, he at least has a lot of passion for the game and knows MLS players and teams well enough to practically announce some plays or moves before they happen. Sure he makes mistakes and every once and a while need to be reminded of some obscure rules of the game but overall he is perfect for MLS.

[crusio]

I swear, i'm not a Stone basher, but I honestly don't understand how the broadcast the way it's slanted is supposed to attract new fans when it ends up sounding like the broadcasters themselves aren't even interested in the game.
The ESPN games this season were horrific. Were you interested in these games? Would a new fan watching these games want to tune in for more? NO, to both questions. They were simply awful. Not disputing your take on Stone, but without their chatty banter the broadcast would be akin to watching grass grow.

[hackattack]

Let's stop with the "dumbing down the game" for people in the United States. If they don't get it, they don't get it. The game has been in this country for 100 years! If your mom and 8 year old son don't get it, who cares? They are never going to sustain the game at the pro level anyway. As viewers we just need to be guided through it with occassional comments, not constant banter, we can see what's going on.

[myshap]

Yes, that was greatness from Stoner. I saw that question posted right before I left work last night and was wondering what Rob was going to answer back. I'm glad he didn't hold back too much, the poster deserved it. I've watched soccer broadcasts from all over the world, all kinds of styles, and every single commentator gets off the play by play for a stretch when things are dull. Soccer commentators don't have the luxury of a timeout, a deadball, or the time between pitches to interject interesting stories about the players. 90 straight minutes of "by the book" play by play would bore the hell out of anyone.

I think the phrase is every once in awhile. What gets me is they sometimes never do play by play. If it was just Stone in there I could understand it, but it's a two person team. One person should do play by play and the other guy the color commentary.

They need to tune into Rochester's PBP and color guys, that's how you call a soccer match.

[Jasonisimo]

Our announcing is as sophisticated as our league.

[Soc4Us]

Does anyone remember who did the bulk of the announcing of the broadcasts shown in the US during the last World Cup final round of 32?

That tournament got me hook, line, and sinker on how exciting the game is to watch. I ended up remembering many of the players (be they from US, Europe, Africa, or Asia) from that Final even though I had not watched them previously.

Whoever did the broadcasts, and the style they used, seems to have been effective with me as a new viewer under those circumstances.