ABC and Euro 2008

[Master O]

So what matches will ABC specifically be broadcasting? Are they just doing the knockout stages?

[hoboken16]

ABc is doing a Quarterfinal on the 21st and the Final on the 29th

[richsavare]

Andy Gray was a good move by ESPN/ABC/Disney.

Lots of credibilty, and also smart to keep Derek Rae.

Thank God for no Balboa, Dave O' Brien from the World Cup.

The bigwigs must have gotten smart enough to know that will not fly after that WC disaster whenever they did matches.

Studio show would be better off without a couple of the talking head hosts who know next to nothing.

[MNAFETSC]

Lots of credibilty, and also smart to keep Derek Rae.



It makes me wonder is Rae ESPN's big secret? You would think he could easily have a gig in europe. Either he's very underestimated or ESPN pays him a load to stay here.

[huhe888]

It makes me wonder is Rae ESPN's big secret? You would think he could easily have a gig in europe. Either he's very underestimated or ESPN pays him a load to stay here.

Easy explanation.

Derek's wife is from New England. She is American, she has an engineering degree from Cornell, and she has a good gig in New England.

There is much more to life than to live out of a suitcase and chase a bigger pay check every 2-3 years.

==

Now if you are the type that wants a new gig every 2-3 years at a new port of call, there is a place for you in the world as well. Exhibit A: ESPN Australia/ESPN Africa SportsCenter presenter Jason Dasey, who had worked at the BBC in London, KUSA-TV 9 in Denver, CNN Sports Illustrated/CNN International in Atlanta, and ESPN STAR Sports in Singapore before making his latest pit stop in Bristol, Connecticut.

[soccerislife7]

I think ABC should do every single game in the knockouts- big tournaments like this belong on broadcast television.

[nwufooty]

OMG

Rae is the worst bore out there. I want to watch EURO, but every single announcer is English and that puts me out. ABC/ESPN just had it wrong with the American announcers they used. There has to be better American announcers.

Adrian Healey sounds like a little, little boy (like hee, hee.....)
Tommy Smyth is always, always wrong!
Andy Gray is anti-Italy and should stay in England. Not sure if he even knows the rules?
Julie Foudy........puhleeeaase, come on!
Derrick Rae is too much of a boring, geeky, dull yawn, etc.........

Great job by ESPN for carrying the games, but the announcers?????????? This is the US. We need US announcers.

[narko]

OMG

Rae is the worst bore out there. I want to watch EURO, but every single announcer is English and that puts me out. ABC/ESPN just had it wrong with the American announcers they used. There has to be better American announcers.

Adrian Healey sounds like a little, little boy (like hee, hee.....)
Tommy Smyth is always, always wrong!
Andy Gray is anti-Italy and should stay in England. Not sure if he even knows the rules?
Julie Foudy........puhleeeaase, come on!
Derrick Rae is too much of a boring, geeky, dull yawn, etc.........

Great job by ESPN for carrying the games, but the announcers?????????? This is the US. We need US announcers.

Why on earth should there be American announcers? I just want good announcers that speak English.

[ElJefe]

I'm just praying to all that is holy that they keep Brent Musburger away from the ABC coverage. He truly makes me want to go Elvis on my TV set whenever he's on the mike for any sport.

Holy freaking crap. It's bad enough that he ruins college football games (and BTW, a big "f u" to ABC for putting him on predominantly Big XII games), but he has been even worse since he was first unleashed on ABC's international soccer coverage for France '98 and he hasn't gotten any better.

I've got a bad feeling about Saturday's game though.

[Placid Casual]

OMG

I want to watch EURO, but every single announcer is English and that puts me out.

Adrian Healey sounds like a little, little boy (like hee, hee.....)
Tommy Smyth is always, always wrong!
Andy Gray is anti-Italy and should stay in England. Not sure if he even knows the rules?
Derrick Rae is too much of a boring, geeky, dull yawn, etc.........


Adrian Healey is the only one who is English.

Derek Rae and Andy Gray are Scottish.

Tommy Smyth is Irish.

[Visca...]

OMG

Rae is the worst bore out there. I want to watch EURO, but every single announcer is English and that puts me out. ABC/ESPN just had it wrong with the American announcers they used. There has to be better American announcers.

Adrian Healey sounds like a little, little boy (like hee, hee.....)
Tommy Smyth is always, always wrong!
Andy Gray is anti-Italy and should stay in England. Not sure if he even knows the rules?
Julie Foudy........puhleeeaase, come on!
Derrick Rae is too much of a boring, geeky, dull yawn, etc.........

Great job by ESPN for carrying the games, but the announcers?????????? This is the US. We need US announcers.
NO.

[nwufooty]

Adrian Healey is the only one who is English.

Derek Rae and Andy Gray are Scottish.

Tommy Smyth is Irish.


ALL THE SAME = BORING



Who gives a rats arse that Rae can pronounce Klagenforth over and over and over........

[ElJefe]

A big thumbs-up to ABC for keeping Brent Musburger away from the game today.

[Mikeymike15]

I don't want any american anouncers, especially out of the current selection.

Derek Rae is a fantastic choice. Hardly boring, speaks about the game, allows the game to breath on air without some idiotic announcer that feels it is absolutely necessary to fill every single second with some verbal diarrhea.

Now Tommy Smith isn't the greatest color guy in the world however Derek Rae allows you to hear the game while giving you efficient play by play. I am all for Derek Rae and here is to hoping that perhaps he starts doing some USMNT games.

[avenger]

Well, in last World Cup, I used to watch the ESPN signal (because of HD), but would switch the audio to Univision to hear the commentary in Spanish, because I thought it was better than the one provided by the ESPN broadcast.

This time around, I thought I would do the same, since some of the games are being broadcast by ESPN Deportes too... but turned out that I liked the play-by-play in English better! I like Andy Gray (who I had only heard before in the FIFA video games :-) ), like Derek Rae's PBP, and even like what Julie Foudy has to say in the studio interludes

As for ABC showing every game... god forbids! I don't want each game being interrupted because it's raining outside (I can see that if I bother to look out the window), as happened in yesterday's quarterfinal and has happened plenty of times before when soccer matches get moved to the network... I like them in ESPN just fine, thank you.

[JeremyEritrea]

Well, in last World Cup, I used to watch the ESPN signal (because of HD), but would switch the audio to Univision to hear the commentary in Spanish, because I thought it was better than the one provided by the ESPN broadcast.

This time around, I thought I would do the same, since some of the games are being broadcast by ESPN Deportes too... but turned out that I liked the play-by-play in English better! I like Andy Gray (who I had only heard before in the FIFA video games :-) ), like Derek Rae's PBP, and even like what Julie Foudy has to say in the studio interludes

As for ABC showing every game... god forbids! I don't want each game being interrupted because it's raining outside (I can see that if I bother to look out the window), as happened in yesterday's quarterfinal and has happened plenty of times before when soccer matches get moved to the network... I like them in ESPN just fine, thank you.
If the game was interrupted for weather, that was your local ABC affiliate and had nothing to do with ABC itself.

[LupoAS]

Adrian Healey is the only one who is English.

Derek Rae and Andy Gray are Scottish.

Tommy Smyth is Irish.

Tommy Smith, Derek Rae, and Andy Gray are the worst announcers in the sense that they always have to integrate all their personal opinions into the game and completely go away from announcing it. These guys should talk about the game like there wasnt TV they were broadcasting through, but instead a Radio. Their perspectives are all wack, they have no sense of respect for any of the teams except the popular ones or the ones with the most players in the EPL, or SPL.
They can't even comment on a players performance because they end up making up ludicrous lies about how a player did in the club levels because they obviously dont keep track of them when they are NOT playing EURO or WC games.

For Gods Sake, why the hell dont yall people see that if they think american soccer sucks, do you think they would actually let go of good commentators?!?!? (and its not always about the money)

[narko]

It's a color commentator's job to inject his personal opinion into everything.

[Visca...]

Tommy Smith, Derek Rae, and Andy Gray are the worst announcers in the sense that they always have to integrate all their personal opinions into the game and completely go away from announcing it. These guys should talk about the game like there wasnt TV they were broadcasting through, but instead a Radio. Their perspectives are all wack, they have no sense of respect for any of the teams except the popular ones or the ones with the most players in the EPL, or SPL.
They can't even comment on a players performance because they end up making up ludicrous lies about how a player did in the club levels because they obviously dont keep track of them when they are NOT playing EURO or WC games.

For Gods Sake, why the hell dont yall people see that if they think american soccer sucks, do you think they would actually let go of good commentators?!?!? (and its not always about the money)
and even with all that, they are still better than Dave 'Brien, Balboa, Stone...

[JeremyEritrea]

I swear, some people really will bitch about anything.

The fact that these games are on TV at all, and in high definition no less, is good enough for me.

The announcer is completely irrelevant, at least to me.