Espn and The Euros

[Vocalz]

lol...I'm anal about that shit, too...


Did Frodo, or whatever her freakin name is just say she was glad the ref did not give out a deserved yellow card to the Croatian because it would have ended up in a red, hence making the game uneven? :eek:

That has about as much credibility for a commentator to say, "I like this team better becuase their uniforms look much nicer..."

It's a thin line, but I disagree with her since he gave the pen. If he gave the yellow on the pen then he should have given the second yellow, that's consistency.

But all in all the game would have been a borefest if Austria was down to ten.

[JeremyEritrea]

Please ESPN, more NBA promos.

In fact, please interrupt a live soccer game to show a full one minute advertisement of the much more important NBA finals.

Soccer is booooooring, and for girly men!

Please tell us when the soccer game was interrupted for a one minute ad.

I've watched every minute of every Euro 2008 game so far, and I've seen nothing of the sort.

[Crimen y Castigo]

4 matches in, and Rae and Healy have been quite good so far.

I too wish they were in the stadia, but I'm assuming they'll have folks in country for the semi's on. Just a guess. Although that might mean it's JP and Harkes -- which is a big plus / minus (in that order).

[ttujosh]

your sig.

it bothers me.

should be:
"rule number 15, you're an idiot"
just looking for proper english, that's all...

It's a joke buddy..it's a quote from someone else, who didn't realize the irony. But I appreciate your lesson.

[srabijr]

I'm just glad Dave O'Brian isn't doing any commentary. And as for sending them into the stadia, there wouldn't be any seating for the fans.

[kopiteinkc]

I think it's fantastic that they have brought Andy Gray in. The coverage is good, no interuptions, better analysis becasue of Gray and they are showing every single match. No complaints from me.

Smyth is an idiot, but maybe Andy will hit him or something, that would be cool!

[Jasonma]

It would be nice if somebody knew the rules of the game and knew that a player off the field not by the direction of the ref still counts towards determining if a player is offside...

[Crimen y Castigo]

i think it's a shame epsn looked so bad on this offside issue -- leaving it so late until they had a real assessment of the ruling.

however, i'm no fan of foudy, but she's played a truckload of matches at the highest level w/ the same rules as the men's game. and andy gray was right there with her, step for step, in his player's analysis of the call.

just saying, it's clearly a subtle piece of officiating -- there's lots of other things to complain about.

[kopiteinkc]

i think it's a shame epsn looked so bad on this offside issue -- leaving it so late until they had a real assessment of the ruling.

however, i'm no fan of foudy, but she's played a truckload of matches at the highest level w/ the same rules as the men's game. and andy gray was right there with her, step for step, in his player's analysis of the call.

just saying, it's clearly a subtle piece of officiating -- there's lots of other things to complain about.

Agreed -- the BBC match report is still referring to it as an offisde goal.

"Van Nistelrooy had better luck when he gave the Dutch the lead in hugely questionable circumstances after 26 minutes, standing in what looked like an offside position when he steered Sneijder's shot past Buffon."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2008/7363339.stm

So it is not exactly a well known rule.

[CFCkm7]

i think it's a shame epsn looked so bad on this offside issue -- leaving it so late until they had a real assessment of the ruling.

however, i'm no fan of foudy, but she's played a truckload of matches at the highest level w/ the same rules as the men's game. and andy gray was right there with her, step for step, in his player's analysis of the call.

just saying, it's clearly a subtle piece of officiating -- there's lots of other things to complain about.

It's not the fact that they got it wrong at first that bothers me. Totally understandable, like you said its a little known rule. It's the fact that even after the rule had been explained over and over, Foudy continued to argue the call till she was blue in the face and kept insisting that the Italian defenders did the correct thing by raising one hand in the air with the other scratching their asses. She should have just done what Tommy did. Pretend that she thought the referee was correct the whole time in a desperate attempt to save some face.

[kopiteinkc]

Agreed -- the BBC match report is still referring to it as an offisde goal.

"Van Nistelrooy had better luck when he gave the Dutch the lead in hugely questionable circumstances after 26 minutes, standing in what looked like an offside position when he steered Sneijder's shot past Buffon."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2008/7363339.stm

So it is not exactly a well known rule.

The beeb added this paragraph after I linked the above:

"Italy were furious, but the chairman of Austria's refereeing commission Gerhard Kapl later insisted that Van Nistelrooy had been played onside by Italy defender Christian Panucci, who had been injured seconds and was lying off the pitch. "

and yeah Foudy is dumb for suggesting they are right to stop and wave their arms.

[MarkRFC_]

Can anyone tell me what sort of role Andy Gray is doing?

Is he there for every match, in the studio etc.?

Just wondering how he reacts to people like Smyth, I mean, Gray is about 1000x more knowledgable than someone like him

[Crimen y Castigo]

Gray and Smyth are both doing color commentary; Gray with Adrian Healy and Smyth with Derek Rae -- so they don't interact during the match. So far each team has called one match each day.

They may be in the studio together pre- or post-match, but I'm not sure I've seen that. Gray is quite enjoyable, ihmo.

[laloyal]

"He may have just been trying to liven things up, but it came across as obnoxious."

That's the Tommy we all love!

Please spare Joulie from your rage, she is an innocent doe!! :cool:

The Tommy we all love !!!.....the man is a constant imposter it was proven again with the argument he had with AG re the Podolski / Schweinsteiger team selection before the Germany game.....his obnoxiousness shone through again today with JF, (who looks more and more hesitant and unsure of herself by the minute)...He has become so infuriating, I wish the man would stop interrupting everyone for a minute ....

BTW....I would LOVE ESPN to grab Graeme Souness for in studio work, that would be a dream come true....

[GoodDead]

Who called the Portugal-Turkey game for ESPN?

I don't see any espn highlights of the Euro on youtube as much as Tommy is Tommy he is entertaining and Derek Rae to me has the best announcing voice in all of broadcasting.

[Dear_Claudio]

Glad they replaced that idiot host with Rece Davis. He at least acts like he knows what he's talking about. Julie Foudy is embarrassing, I don't bother watching the pre, post or HT shows. Tommy is dumb but he's entertaining at times. Andy Gray is like Britain's Tommy Smyth but he's a hell of a lot better than any other color man over here. Rae and Healey are both quality play-by-play men.

I thought it was hilarious when Andy Gray asked what city the NED/ITA match was in:D:D

[Fuera del Area]

Were there no MEN'S US soccer players available to do commentary on the games?

[JeremyEritrea]

Were there no MEN'S US soccer players available to do commentary on the games?
I suppose they could always coax Marcelo Balboa over from HD Net.

Shudder.

Also FWIW, Foudy is not doing commentary. She's in the studio doing "analysis."

[Nicodemus145]

I'm actually enjoying it so far. The PBP especially is much better than in international tournaments of the past. Tommy and Foudy are definitely the weakest links, but they're doing alright. And I love that they got Gray.

They did kinda drop the ball on that offsides rule, or at least their handling of it. One PBP guy during the last World Cup tried to argue that a keeper hadn't committed a handball because his feet were still inside the box. Now that's embarrassing.

And they shouldn't have made Foudy what seems to be the go-to opinion with Gray or Smyth backing her up. I guess they feel she's graduated from the #2 spot. But AG seems fine with it, very understanding at the experience gap, and seems to be enjoying his exchanges with the Americans.

And I think espn is just being nice to Tommy and giving him a role to play as long as he is still in the game, or until he becomes senile and incoherent.

[Fuera del Area]

I suppose they could always coax Marcelo Balboa over from HD Net.

Shudder.

Also FWIW, Foudy is not doing commentary. She's in the studio doing "analysis."

"Analysis" in this case is just "commentary," right?