UnitedMania: Who's Worse - Balboa or Caligiuri?

[Cweedchop]

Here ya go.


http://unitedmania.com/?c_ID=3263&catID=28

[FCmagic01]

I dk if u can find a difference between the 2.....they are absolutely horrible.

[Tonerl]

I dk if u can find a difference between the 2.....they are absolutely horrible.

Caligiuri makes Balboa look like an auteur of broadcasting artistry.

And Balboa was the worst I had ever heard before yesterday.

Caligiuri does, at least, have a slightly better command of the english language. But only slightly.

[Non-dairy Creamer]

i think balboa is worse

[Sandon Mibut]

Caligiuri must have gone to the Magic Johnson School of Grammar. Dude just shreds the English language. Hard to believe that he is not only a college graduate but currently employed by a university.

Thing is, he actually makes some decent points. Sometimes he says some silly things but he tends to make some good points, too.

But between his grammar and his tendency to just seem like he forgot what he was gonna say mid-sentence and just leave an awkward silence, he is becoming very unbearable to listen to.

[Nutmeg]

Substance aside, Caligiuri's delivery is as bad as it could possibly get. He sounds like Pat from SNL.

[USA2010?]

Had Johnson ever called a soccer game before? I mean, as LD is heading downfield, he's asking if this is history in the making. Does anyone care? Score the damn goal - that's all a real fan cares about.

I watched the game just after watching the Real Madrid game. What a difference. OK, so Phil Schoen is not your stereotypical play-by-play guy, but hey, he knows the game. I don't really want to discuss Ray Hudson. Is there anyone more colorful on the air? These guys called the RM game with knowledge and passion, both lacking in the US telecast.

FSC needs to do something to improve the telecasts. Perhaps they should watch some games called by Paul Green Turner.

[oldguyfc]

And teamed with Dave Johnson, who announces a game like he's doing a pay-per-view WWE event, it is twice as bad.

[RalleeMonkey]

I've thought that DJ has been pretty good in other broadcasts (but, bring back JP Dellawhatever, or Bob Ley, or Jack Edwards), but he was pretty bad yesterday. His stupid "Is this history!?" call being but one example. Since he's been reasonably good before, I've got to believe that this was somehow the producers decision to go cheesy.

As far as Cal goes, I thought he was "exspecially" bad. And, I'm a Bruin.

[wooglin12]

I just watched yesterday's game. That really was the most miserable commentary I've ever heard. Ever. DJ and Paul realize that they don't have to talk the entire time right? DJ was bad... but Paul was dreadful. The guy can't string together a sentence, and clearly does not know when to use an adverb.

[golazo68]

Its like hostel, or Saw 2.

You want to die with a pic axe thru your brain, or flamethrower up yur arsh.

Both painful, both lethal...

[golazo68]

Caligiuri must have gone to the Magic Johnson School of Grammar. Dude just shreds the English language. Hard to believe that he is not only a college graduate but currently employed by a university.

Thing is, he actually makes some decent points. Sometimes he says some silly things but he tends to make some good points, too.

But between his grammar and his tendency to just seem like he forgot what he was gonna say mid-sentence and just leave an awkward silence, he is becoming very unbearable to listen to.

Any good moments he may have had were more than outweighed by the 'everyone's great, US soccer's great..even my dentist is great" commentary along with the going postal commentaries about how far US soccer has come + what a big country it is (future of US soccer) + how great a coach Bob Bradley is...etc.

It was, perhaps, the worst bit of color commentary I have ever heard...any sport..any time.

[jsimm]

Caligiuri speaks as if he has a marble in his mouth.
That being said what is really, really bad on US broadcasts is the direction. By that I mean pointless graffics with large logos reminding us whose playing and whitch team is up 1 nil, pushing the camera into close ups while ignoring play & worst of all taking shots of people in the stands or on the bench while the so called announcers bloviating that that person is kind to his mother or gets gas when he eats baked beans. American TV seems to think that the broadcasts are about them and not the action on the pitch.

[wooglin12]

American TV seems to think that the broadcasts are about them and not the action on the pitch.

To be fair, they are also giving the American consumer what he wants. American TV viewers in general have no attention span, so the producers feel the need to create a circus-like atmosphere with fancy lights and graphics and stats. It's the same with the commentators. They don't need to talk the entire match. Soccer is a pretty simple sport, most of the action speaks for itself. However, most of them feel the need to ramble the whole time.

[S.J. Jim]

Substance aside, Caligiuri's delivery is as bad as it could possibly get. He sounds like Pat from SNL.

He sounds like a young Pat (say, elementary school age). And yes, the pbp guy (never saw him before, thank god) sounded like he was calling a wrestling match after drinking too much coffee (kind of Kevin Harlan-esque, to my ears).

Caligiuri, responding to the comment about Hejduk and Onyewu getting carded against Guatemala: "Those are experienced players. They'll know what to do... how to handle those situations... where they won't get into situations where they get tossed or maybe suspended."

Caligiuri is pretty awful, but he doesn't come anywhere near to the embarassing level of Balboa. Caligiuri is annoying, Balboa is torture. And please, no more Jack Edwards. Ever.

[Papin]

I wish FSC hired someone with knowledge and experience.
Oh... I dunno... say a World-Cup winner with tons of experience at top level football, including Chelsea. A guy who is charismatic, did color commentating during the World Cup for French TV, and speaks pretty good English. A guy who retired only a few years ago and lives in the U.S. and has been looking for work. Oh, and he happens to live in Los Angeles, which is where FSC is based.

Anybody know who I'm talking about?

[Silva 5]

the worst commentary I have ever heard was Ivory Coast v.s. Argentina, in the 06 WC...but this was pretty close. I was on the verge of a nagging head ache by the time that game was over...and actually, I couldn't finish watching, at about the 82nd minute, i swallowed two advils and took a power nap.

[jsimm]

To be fair, they are also giving the American consumer what he wants. American TV viewers in general have no attention span, so the producers feel the need to create a circus-like atmosphere with fancy lights and graphics and stats. It's the same with the commentators. They don't need to talk the entire match. Soccer is a pretty simple sport, most of the action speaks for itself. However, most of them feel the need to ramble the whole time.


That may be true about American football which manages to sandwich 22 seconds of action around 90 seconds of inaction or the NBA which only plays with intent the last two minutes of a game but the beautiful game only needs good camera work. If the announcers have to babble after every play of note why can't they give an end zone or overhead shot so that we can see the play develop. Showing a closeup while in action only goes to deprive the viewer of information. Watch an EPL or Italian league game and see the difference.

[Sandon Mibut]

Regarding the actual TV production (ie NOT the announcers), the quality of the broadcasts isn't the fault of FSC. Those are handled by a production company contracted by CONCACAF and they provide the feeds of their broadcast to every network that has paid the rights fees.

So, the same crappy close-ups that cause us to miss the action on FSC is being fed to folks in Trinidad, Mexico and anywhere else the Gold Cup games are being shown.

The only difference is the announcers and most of the graphics. Those are unique to each broadcast outlet.

And, given that this feed is being shown internationally and was contracted BY a soccer confederation, it's a crying shame that the production quality is so poor.

Of course, they are probably doing it on the cheap because 1/2 of their production costs went straight to Jack Warner's pockets and they don't have much in the budget left to actually hire quality people.

[dncm]

Great thread - they are both awful.

Caliguri was raving about Donovan and how important he is to the MNT, on and on and on.

Would have been a good segue into the debated topic ad-naseum about if Landon should be allowed to skip Copa America.

But no, it doesn;t get past the fluffy "let's rah rah around the US". I'm not saying he needs to slam Donovan - but at least discuss it. This was FSC for chrissake, I would expect they don't need to dumb down the broadcast.