MLS on NPR

[ignatz]

There was a great piece about the MLS Playoffs this morning on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. It aired between 7:25 and 7:30 Eastern time.

I caught it in my car, so I couldn't note anything down, but it focused on the improved quality of the league as witnessed by the performance of MLS players in Korea. McBride was interviewed and talked of how much stronger the league was now than when he first came in.

The piece noted that overall attendance was up 6%, and Mike Wotila (sp?) of Soccer America said that the biggest boost from the WC was not in new soccer fans, per se, but in convincing many who sat home and watched foreign matches on TV that MLS was worth watching.

It noted the negatives, too, particularly spotty TV coverage, the fact that only 2 of the playoff games will be on national TV, and the lack of soccer specfic stadiums. Even the last point, however, was given a positive spin. After noting that only Columbus had an SSS, it want on to add "but, next year ..." about the new SSS in LA.

All in all, a very positive piece that took nearly 5 minutes.

[monster]

They post audio archives around noon. I'll getthe link here when it is posted.

[bungadiri]

Thanks guys.

[Unorthodox Yank]

Originally posted by ignatz
There was a great piece about the MLS Playoffs this morning on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. It aired between 7:25 and 7:30 Eastern time.

I caught it in my car, so I couldn't note anything down, but it focused on the improved quality of the league as witnessed by the performance of MLS players in Korea. McBride was interviewed and talked of how much stronger the league was now than when he first came in.

The piece noted that overall attendance was up 6%, and Mike Wotila (sp?) of Soccer America said that the biggest boost from the WC was not in new soccer fans, per se, but in convincing many who sat home and watched foreign matches on TV that MLS was worth watching.

It noted the negatives, too, particularly spotty TV coverage, the fact that only 2 of the playoff games will be on national TV, and the lack of soccer specfic stadiums. Even the last point, however, was given a positive spin. After noting that only Columbus had an SSS, it want on to add "but, next year ..." about the new SSS in LA.

All in all, a very positive piece that took nearly 5 minutes.

heard it.

Liked it.

[Dr. Wankler]

My wife heard it and said it was great. She was hoping that they would put a Frank Deford anti-soccer piece on right after it, so he could look like an even bigger pinhead than he usually does. Alas, Frank was nowhere to be found (and there's something I never thought I'd say).

[Mason16]

I was pleasantly surprised to hear this story this morning during my commute, which included a short McBride interview.

What stood out the most to me was the fairness and accuracy of the piece. I am so accustomed to reading articles on MLS in non-traditional sources that appear to be written by Junior high students with no ability to research facts that I was glad to see NPR get everything right.

[Unorthodox Yank]

Originally posted by Mason16
I was pleasantly surprised to hear this story this morning during my commute, which included a short McBride interview.

What stood out the most to me was the fairness and accuracy of the piece. I am so accustomed to reading articles on MLS in non-traditional sources that appear to be written by Junior high students with no ability to research facts that I was glad to see NPR get everything right.

NPR gets everything right.

Always.

because they are NPR.

I heard it when i as coming out of the shower this morning. i heard Jack edwards saying "scoooooooores!!" on the radio. so i just sortof stood and listened.

[ignatz]

Originally posted by Mason16
I am so accustomed to reading articles on MLS in non-traditional sources that appear to be written by Junior high students with no ability to research facts that I was glad to see NPR get everything right.

Maybe there's a closet soccer fan at NPR.

[saabrian]

Originally posted by ignatz


Maybe there's a closet soccer fan at NPR.

Maybe. I remember just before the World Cup, NPR interviewed a freelance journalist who was going to Asia. He talked about how he took his son to Italia 90. When he was there, an American TV crew asked him if his son could through a brick through a window for them to film. They'd come to do a piece on hooliganism but were frantic when none was found. So maybe the mysterious soccer fan at NPR through this tidbit in there as a counter to the so-called convention wisdom.

[ignatz]

Originally posted by Unorthodox Yank


i heard Jack edwards saying "scoooooooores!!" on the radio. so i just sortof stood and listened.

I saw the game in a hotel dining room in Sao Paulo Brazil, so I never got to hear Jack on that one -- just all the negatives on BS. But I liked his next line, "the US is POUNDING Portugal."

Before the game, the Brazilian TV "experts" were laughing at the US's chances. We weren't considered worth being near the same stadium, let alone on the same field, with Portugal.

Well, the dining room had three of us Yanks whooping it up and about 100 Brazilians, mostly of Portuguese descent, who went around with silent, sick grins on their faces. Loved it.

[SCBozeman]

Sorry I missed it.

Avid NPR listener am I. NPR has, for an American media outlet, a fairly balanced view of the game. They are leftist and elitist and the US has always viewed the game, European as it is, as slightly leftist and elitist. NPR's coverage of the world cup was quite decent, in fact. They will do individual stories, such as the one this morning, but no fountainhead on air to really speak for it.

John Feinstein (one of Morning Edition's sports guys along with Deford) is ignorant of the sport, but doesn't have the reactionary zeal of DeFord -- during the World Cup he said he was told from people who know soccer that the US was playing well. Why a sports writer wouldn't do his damnedest to actually learn the world's most important sport himself rather than accept second hand info is beyond me, but I'll take that.

Deford we all know. Idiot.

I have heard Scott Simon (Saturday morning program) slam soccer. But really he just suffers from that odd American intellectual fondness of everything to do with baseball and Michael Jordan that I don't think he's trying to undercut the sport; he just doesn't know and doesn't care. Garrison Keillor has made the same kind of remarks, along the lines of "Baseball's beautiful, old-world America; soccer is ugly, new-world globalism."

The sports show -- Just A Game -- covers soccer decently. Sometimes even MLS.

[FootyMundo]

I went to the WC qualifier at the Azteca. A guy from NPR's Mexico bureau went into the stadium with us and put together a nice piece on that game - urine bags and firecrackers lobbed our way and all.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by SCBozeman
I have heard Scott Simon (Saturday morning program) slam soccer. But really he just suffers from that odd American intellectual fondness of everything to do with baseball and Michael Jordan

Not to get off topic here... I like Scott Simon, and I like baseball, but I don't like Scott Simon when he talks about baseball. He's nostalgic for a Wrigley Field experience that doesn't exist anymore. When I was a kid, you'd go to Wrigley and sit by an incredibly knowledgable baseball fan, no matter where you sat (and as a Cardinal fan, that's painful to say). Now, if you're sitting by anyone who can even tell you the score without looking at the scoreboard, it's a miracle. Unless of course someone told them through one of their recent cellphone calls.

And you're especially right about sportswriters who use their ignorance of soccer to signifiy credibility -- it's a mystery, but hopefully in a few more years it won't work anymore.

[Anthony]

Originally posted by SCBozeman
Avid NPR listener am I. NPR has, for an American media outlet, a fairly balanced view of the game. They are leftist and elitist and the US has always viewed the game, European as it is, as slightly leftist and elitist.

I'm a leftist and elitist?

Oh no!!

And here I was figuring I was a conservative.

My mother was right I guess. More proof I am the black sheep of the family!

[Memo to the humor impaired among you. I am joking. I know the stereotype, and love making fun of myself for it]

[The Perfesser]

The NPR reporter on this morning's piece was Tom Goldman, who does a lot of sports-related stuff for Morning Edition.

Unlike cretins and charletans like Deford, Goldman actually does his job as a journalist. Namely, he takes the story at face value and gives a balanced view of both the strengths and weaknesses of MLS.

Would that the rest of the mainstream US news and sports crowd could do the same.

:(

[Jimbo]

I missed the MLS piece but was in the car when Deford did his piece on Notre Dame football. I won't bore you with the details. Deford is not a journalist. He's a columnist. He doesn't really care about facts or presenting a balanced perspective in his stories. He's just trying to make a statement and to support whatever thesis he's selling (which by and large tend to be ossified perspectives from a guy who developed his sporting tastes when baseball, boxing and horse racing were the top draws).

[Unorthodox Yank]

Originally posted by ignatz


I saw the game in a hotel dining room in Sao Paulo Brazil, so I never got to hear Jack on that one -- just all the negatives on BS. But I liked his next line, "the US is POUNDING Portugal."

Before the game, the Brazilian TV "experts" were laughing at the US's chances. We weren't considered worth being near the same stadium, let alone on the same field, with Portugal.

Well, the dining room had three of us Yanks whooping it up and about 100 Brazilians, mostly of Portuguese descent, who went around with silent, sick grins on their faces. Loved it.

i missed it too....

But i was there. :)

[ASP]

I heard it, too. I actually thought it was better and more thoughtful than a lot of what went on during the World Cup. Definitely worth the time to hear the archived version.

[Brrca Fan redded]

Don,t waste your time, by 2006 MLS is Bye,Bye. Now I know for a fact that Dallas and San Jose won,t return next year. Why they split the season and play 28 games,because of the 8 team league.

[monster]

No trolling. If you know "facts" post a link or some sort of proof. If not, contribute to a thread in FFA.