Espn and The Euros

[Rainer24]

if im not mistaken that was Wynalda who was giving Chinaglia the business in 2006. I dont remember Lalas and him having a go




Maybe. When it's Chinaglia, I'm hoping that anyone in the room will give him on in the kisser. I cannot think of a more obnoxious involved in the game.

[Cris 09]

Lol!!!!!!!!!!!

[HakanGS]

I am glad espn switched Turkey - Czech game from espn360 to normal espn channel. Good decision. They returned from their mistake. Good to see that.
Although i have to watch the game live through the chinese channels, good to see espn is finally picking up world's best tournaments.

[Cris 09]

I am glad espn switched Turkey - Czech game from espn360 to normal espn channel. Good decision. They returned from their mistake. Good to see that.
Although i have to watch the game live through the chinese channels, good to see espn is finally picking up world's best tournaments.

ESPN is showing all the games where the group runner up is still to be decided.

[butchiesboy]

On the one hand, red lass, I appreciate your being geographically observant enough to notice the reference to a country which is no more and to know the difference between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Thanks for speaking up.

On the other, I spent my early boyhood going to fish Fridays at the Slovak Club. Occasionally drink my morning coffee out of a Slovakia coffee cup. Yet I'd be lying to you if I said I myself haven't had to stop myself from saying Czechoslovakia since the early 90s.

I noticed Andy bailing out on the pronunciation of Bilyaletdinov of Russia too. Just the same, his call of the game enhanced what was already a pretty good contest. Found him very entertaining with the Czechs and Turks today too. Was a good match with Derek Rae.


Would love to see ESPN bring him on after Euro. He's a passionate and knowledgeable analyst.

[HakanGS]

Oh, didn't know that... Thanks.
ESPN is showing all the games where the group runner up is still to be decided.

[Tejas]

WTF should I watch a match with no volume? That is even more annoying than listening to this idiot. In any case, I typically watch the game in Spanish when I don't like the English commentators, but that isn't an option today.

Wasn't Tommy Smyth the color guy for the Italy game?

I know Andy Gray was calling Netherlands-France that same day and they split duty, and now that I think of it I'm sure it was Smyth calling Italy-Romania. I assume this was the game you were referring to based on your profile. Smyth has an Irish accent, Gray speaks Scottish (a bizarre form of English..just listen to him!), but I can understand the mixup if you haven't listened to either of them routinely.

I only point this out because in my opinion Gray is substantially more knowledgeable, insightful and entertaining than Smyth. Both of them are anglocentric in their focus, but Gray is still infinitely better for my money.

[Cris 09]

Oh, didn't know that... Thanks.

No worries. By the way - great game!!!! ;)

[Sheva7]

It isn't just the names and countries that he slaughters, in general, I can barely understand him.

[GoodDead]

Why don't you post Euro 2008 youtube clips from other countries' broadcasts then?

Oh wait, there aren't any. Hmm, could it be that UEFA is making sure to get them deleted as soon as someone posts then on the youtube site?

:rolleyes:

There aren't any? I've been watching tons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6vQaIhtbIQ (Spanish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPsRmTpt3Bc (Different Spanish commentary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptBhoqG0Tfo (English)
Not to mention the other sites that could be posted on
http://videos.sapo.pt/lsesiHkKBI4bYviSgyWh (Portuguese)
http://videos.sapo.pt/qaEGy4nvsJFCpZi42M65 (Arabic)
Took me about 1 minute to get all these clips so..

hmmm you stand to be corrected.

Bottom line UEFA is cracking down but still many videos get posted and even if they were getting taken out there is not 1, not 1 espn clip posted here Working or not. If there were dead links because UEFA removed them then fine. But there isn't 1 dead link in this whole thread. A thread which is all about ESPN without 1 clip attempt, so once again...Sad.

[squidward123]

If you are going to get all pissed about him mistakenly calling it Czechoslovakia, you could at least spell it correctly.

lol!!

[Battlecat714]

How can Andy Gray get away with saying Czechoslakia is playing Turkey.
This is just downright insulting to many countries, he said it several times in the studio on ESPN.

Gray also has this habit of forgetting players names. He makes a joke of it like the name is not important just listen to what I have to say. I am willing to bet he never makes that kind of mistake when working a game in England.

Andy may not know it but here in the USA we like to know the players names. Some of them are from where we come from so get it right.

If you are going to get all pissed about him mistakenly calling it Czechoslovakia, you could at least spell it correctly.

PWNED!

[Big Soccer Member]

If all he did was call them Czechoslovakia I wouldn't worry too much. On ITV in England we had a conversation between commentators that went something like this.

Commentator 1: Czechoslovakia need to make some changes.
Commentator 2: Slip of the tongue there?
Commentator 1: Oops, I'm sorry. The Republic of Czechoslovakia.

[MarkRFC_]

Everyone knows David Pleat is a bumbling, loveable guy though :D

It was more like he said it wrong, tried to correct himself, and got it even worse:
"Czechosloavak...Czecho Republic..Of Czechoslovakia" :D


Back to Andy Gray - I absolutely cannot stand him. For me, he typifies everything that is wrong with our anglo-centric view on football. He would gladly admit to not knowing anything about football outside the UK, its painfully clear on Champions League broadcasts.

[ironduke2010]

...

Back to Andy Gray - I absolutely cannot stand him. For me, he typifies everything that is wrong with our anglo-centric view on football. He would gladly admit to not knowing anything about football outside the UK, its painfully clear on Champions League broadcasts.

for those of you that didn't have to suffer through espn soccer broadcasts with *any* team prior to the current euro 2008 broadcast team, in the booth or in the studio, rest assured, this euro 2008 espn broadcast team is light years, LIGHT YEARS better than anything espn has had before.

if andy gray, derek rae, tommy smyth, adrian healy et al all suck, i really don't care. i'd listen to those guys over any previous espn broadcast team anytime.

[code1390]

I'm guess this playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate will take about three hours. What is ESPN going to do about the Euros if it takes too long? The game is scheduled on ESPN, the College World Series in on ESPN2 and the other Group B game is on Classic.

[zippy85]

Why was you all expecting Andy Gray to be good?:confused:

[M]

Why was you all expecting Andy Gray to be good?:confused:

Because he is actually very good as a studio analyst reviewing plays etc. I'm less convinced of his abilities as a co-commentator during the actual game though. And as has been pointed out, for all the moaning in this thread, he - and others - are far far better that the dross that ESPN has served up in the past.

[MNAFETSC]

I'm guess this playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate will take about three hours. What is ESPN going to do about the Euros if it takes too long? The game is scheduled on ESPN, the College World Series in on ESPN2 and the other Group B game is on Classic.

ESPN will cover the first 2 hours of the playoff then it will switch to NBC.

[zippy85]

Because he is actually very good as a studio analyst reviewing plays etc. I'm less convinced of his abilities as a co-commentator during the actual game though. And as has been pointed out, for all the moaning in this thread, he - and others - are far far better that the dross that ESPN has served up in the past.
For me he lost credibility when he started constantly sucking up to Liverpool after their fans complained about him over his view regarding the second leg Inter Milan sending off, i thought the Scottish were meant to be tough.