MLS Wrap on Fox Sports World

[Lanky134]

Originally posted by AndyMead
He told me to tell you to keep sending in the comments.
Oh, that's just asking for trouble...:)

[AndyMead]

Originally posted by Lanky134
Oh, that's just asking for trouble...:)

I'm still hoping that they start plugging the ECG. Afterall, the latest issue has a wonderful interview with their boss. ;)

[geordienation]

Week 2:

A few things:

1) There was one big problem on MLS Wrap last night: they ended everything at essentially the 48 minute mark. They came back from the last commercial break and essentially filled for 5 minutes and then ended the show at 55 minutes. That's pretty poor, even for a network which routinely fills airtime with its own promos.

2) I know there was one less game on the schedule, but this isn't exactly breaking news. They needed an extra feature in the can (besides the Harkes player retrospective -- come on guys, that looked thrown together).

3) A little tighter camera work would be nice. It would just give a little more intimate feel.

4) Okay, two weeks of Harkes glorification is enough. He is a solid, articulate analyst (even if he's still a little green and uncomfortable at times). Weelock is a very good broadcaster. There should be no more deferential treatment or acknowledgement of Harkes long career except in the sense of "John, you played with Etcheverry, what's his work rate like?" Use him, don't genuflect before him. Everybody watching knows who Mr. Captain for Life is.

5) The prepackaged stadium intros are great. Nice steal.

6) There's something quite obviously compressed about the ESPN game highlights. And it looks like it. MLS has the rights to the feed, can't somebody get the raw version?

7) Speaking of MLS rights, there should be some credit for ESPN. At a minimum, the Wynalda interviews post-game are ESPN work product.

[Lanky134]

I noticed Wheelock wasn't hunching over as much and, when he did, he quickly recovered.

I'll take that as a victory for me, thank you.

This week's was much better than the first week's. Although somebody has to do a better job of telling Harkes which camera is going to be on him when there's a one-shot.

[superdave]

Last week was good, this week was better. They're very smooth for this being the 2nd time working together.

You know what I really like about Wheelock? Alot of guys in that position feed their analysts the answer in the question. "Starting Quaranta and Quinanilla up front, DC United is really young in the attack, aren't they?" What the hell kind of question is that?!?!?

Sean slips up sometimes, but normally, he asks open-ended questions.

What I like about Harkes is that he's not afraid to criticize, but he doesn't force "controversy" like some newbies do. He doesn't look and look for something to criticize. For example, DC's midfield play was not good, and he focused on that, and specifically noted, twice, that he didn't like how Kovalenko was used.

But if you remember back to Wynalda and Chinaglia, they "forced" themselves to be controversial, and it came across as fake.

This is off of the MLS Wrap topic, but the announcers for the DC-Chi game could not possibly have been worse.

[fdp]

Originally posted by Lanky134
...Although somebody has to do a better job of telling Harkes which camera is going to be on him when there's a one-shot.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Isn't there suppose to be some sort of indicator light on the camera to let them know which camera is being used.

Wheelock got into the act also.

Did you notice when Wheelock was giving a report of some sort looking across Harkes towards the far camera; at the same time Harkes was looking at the correct camera straight ahead.

Minor issues though. Enjoyed the show!

[dwinkler]

Last night was alot better than Week 1, and I'm sure it'll continue to improve. Good show overall, and I actually think Harkes does a really good job finding the camera most of the time.

Suggestions:

-Show more of the buildup on the highlights. I especially noticed this during the highlights for the late game, KC/San Jose, so maybe the highlights seemed hurried because they didn't have much time to get the package together. But too many times you'd see Donovan or whoever suddenly at the edge of the box cranking the shot and have no idea how he got there. Show the buildup - it's useful to see and it eats some extra time. (And if time was a problem getting the late highlights package together, then why not flip-flop that package with the Harkes retrospective and buy yourself another 10-15 minutes?)

-The guy who does the VO on the highlights has *got* to get the names right - he screwed up Magee again, and he called the Metrostars coach "Bill" Bradley. Mistakes happen, but...ouch.

-To mix things up a bit during the highlights, why not use the call from the game announcers, at least for the FSW game? If that won't work, then why not have Christian Miles wrap the whole package from the site? He does enough PBP that he'd be fine in that area, and he could provide context for the post-game interviews instead of Wheelock saying "after the game we caught up with so-and-so."

-Can't believe that nobody contributed either via e-mail or by phone to that Fox Populi thing. If you're gonna promote it, make sure it gets on the air. And promote it more than once during the show.

-So what's the deal - is the Save of the Week a vote thing like the Goal of the Week, or do they just pick out one save and feature it? Wheelock didn't make it clear, and the whole thing seemed hurried. The shirt giveaway thing also seemed hurried - if you don't have details, just point people to the website for more information.

-Their timing was a lot better on going over the starting lineups. Good job showing the league table and next week's games.

I think they've got the right talent in place - Harkes has been a pleasant surprise and Wheelock knows his stuff - and I bet this show will be consistently excellent in a couple of months.

[AndyMead]

I really think they need to start having guest analysts on. I'm available the weekend of the opening of the Home Depot Center ;)

[Lanky134]

Originally posted by futbol de primera
I was thinking the exact same thing. Isn't there suppose to be some sort of indicator light on the camera to let them know which camera is being used.

Yes. It's up to the stage manager to let the talent know which camera they will be going to, so that the transition is smooth.

Of course, it's possible that, as an inexperienced broadcaster, Harkes might not be seeing the signal.

[obie]

While I'm happy to have any recap, especially one every Sat night right after the games have ended, they need more material. Last night they ran out of segments at about :52, leaving five minutes of basically open conversation even though Wheelock had already said "well, that's it for this week".

A recap & analysis from the FSW game announcers would be ideal filler. They could just tape it after the match of the week is over.

[BenchRobSmith]

I just went to the FSW web page and voted for MLS Goal Of The Week.

The leader right now?

"Coby Jones"

Coby.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[fdp]

Originally posted by BenchRobSmith
I just went to the FSW web page and voted for MLS Goal Of The Week.

The leader right now?

"Coby Jones"

Coby.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

I clicked on goal of the week and nothing happens.

I wonder if I am too late.

[Hitman]

Glad to see that many of you are enjoying this show, but after two weeks it is obvious that they have bitten off more than they can chew by trying to fill an hour of airtime.

Allow me to explain. I appologize for the length of this post in advance.

This past weekend they covered four soccer matches and were done showing highlights with twenty minutes remaining.

There is almost no tactical analysis going on during this show. John & Sean are limited to the most obvious of comments about the games, teams and players. Go back to ESPN ExtraTime and think about when Dir or Lalas used to use video to show play build-up, how players were showing for themselves, how something that happened upfield was the real reason a goal was scored or how teams were using their formations to their advantage....

There is NONE of this in MLS Wrap.. All it is are two inexperienced studio hosts giggling at John's funny accents and telling us stuff that we can read on the internet or figure out for ourselves by watching the highlights.

My point? If all they are going to do is show highlights, then limit the show to 30 minutes and get it over with. But if they are determined to have an hour long show, well they better start coming up with programming and content worthwhile. A 4 minute John Harkes yank-a-thon tribute was the silliest thing ever. The idea is not bad, but you start with Harkes? I almost died.

I could go on and on. I don't blame Sean & John (although I don't think they are very personable), this all lays at the feet of the producers and directors.

Please note for the record that I am very glad we MLS fans have anything, but I do think we deserve to expect a quality program. Right now it just seems like they aren't thinking about the show in terms of depth. They have the graphics, a soccer knowledgable host, the video from all the games and the time. Why not really give us a soccer show with detail?

Good Luck MLS Wrap.. Hope you take these comments in the good nature they are intended.

peet






>>>MOD NOTE: Merged with existing MLS Wrap thread<<<

[AndyMead]

I went back and rewatched the show. They covered five MLS matches.

I also noticed marked improvement from week 1 to week 2.

[Hitman]

Originally posted by AndyMead
I went back and rewatched the show. They covered five MLS matches.

I also noticed marked improvement from week 1 to week 2.

Thanks. I forgot about the game from the week prior. Well that just makes my point even more valid... Five games and they still had 20 minutes left to kill, and did they ever do that with the Harkes lovefest.

Yes there were improvements from week one to two, but they were mostly eliminating the factual errors in the graphics and not swinging the studio camera from side to side.

The two shows fundamentally lacked any real worthwhile analysis from the games.

peet

[JRstriker12]

I recall at the end of MLS Wrap last week they showed a screen shot of an MLS wrap website. I did search but couldn't find it. anyone know the URL? Does that site exist yet?

BTW- on a positive note. The "shirt of my back" portion of the show is a good addition. I was wondering when they were going to start giving away MLS jerseys.

[alansl]

Was anyone else apprehensive when the deal with FSW announced that the Wrap show would be on the same night as the games?

Hitman hit the nail on the head (no pun intended) regarding the lack of analysis or insightful filler. Is there time to prepare it in just an hour or two after the game? Remember, they didn't even have time to get all the players' jersey numbers in the first show!

I am enjoying the highlights, and I was impressed with the improvement in the second week.

alansl

[Northside Rovers]

I like the show and I will watch everyone. But I will support just about anything MLS especially something a well intentioned as this.

But its pretty weak. The commentary, the highlights, etc...At this point I could get up there after a couple beers and be just as interesting.

I like Harkes, but that montage on him was frgigging weak. I was actually looking forward to seeing some of his old EPL footage and I am still not sure if I saw his EPL goal of the year. I don't think I did.

Its weak. Its early, I like it, but both guys need to spend more time showing highlights and give us some real opinions - maybe say something semi-contreversial like: "I woudl have fired Onstad in the locker room - or subbed him out immediately and sent him back to Canada. Something." The show is done pretty poorly and I hope it continues to get better.

Course last week was one of the worst displays of MLS soccer I have seen in a long time, so there weren't a whole heck of a lot to work with.