FOX of course is really awful at sports except for the NFL. Everything else they touch is a disaster and sometimes downright offensive. Joe Buck's MLB broadcasts are just a vehicle so he can interview players during the game and hear himself talk. The soccer broadcasts are just awful. You do not need a sideline reporter in soccer. You probably don't need one in any sport in this day in age. You also don't need three men in the booth. Two is all you've ever needed. I think Holden does a good job. As far as John Strong, he's not cringeworthy like most American PbP guys but he talks through the action too often rather than give the game the space it needs. But with three men in the booth there's no space. Just a lot of talking.
Disagree on the sideline reporter thing, and besides, ESPN does it too so we can't give Fox crap for doing the same. Heck the games I watch in Argentina do it. Sometimes you want to know what's going on as far as subs or what the coach is instructing his players or saying to the officials. I agree on three guys in the booth though.
Fox's direction has been poor during Gold Cup. Too often I find myself saying, "Why are you showing me this?!?" as I hear the crowd roaring for something happening on the field while Fox shows a replay or Bruce Arena waving his arms.
Except the sideline reporter in fox (and espn) broadcasts, if they don't have any injury or sub info, will typically give back story about players. This is something we don't need to hear during the broadcast. Anyone remember the GC a few years ago when Grant Wahl was the sideline reporter? He would just ramble on about how great Landon Donavan is to the point it was nauasiating.
personally, I am just happy as can be, to finally see soccer televised. I remember times when one wanted to find results of games one had to buy foreign language papers. Any broadcast today is so much better than NONE in the past!
I am pretty much in the sane boat. It was not too long ago the Gold Cup could only be seen on Univision with a couple matches on the now defunct Fox Soccer Channel. We have come a long way in a short time.
Fair enough. That seems to be an obsession among American broadcasters in general. I can't stand it either.
This has nothing to do with Fox. What you see on TV during tournaments is the global feed. There are plenty of complaints that you can make about how Fox covers sports, but that's not one of them. Sorry to be blunt. I just see this complaint all the time and it's misguided.
Yeah I've watched a couple games on Univision this GC and they had the same issues so it's the same feed.
But Uni doesn't have a narrator who says "reset" every ten seconds. They do, however, have the semi-literate Marcelo Balboa.
Why did Fox choose Fernando Fiore? Is he just there to add some low brow humor and be South American? What does he know about soccer?
During game we have that dude who just doesn't ever shut the ******** up and is a moron. During pauses in the game we have Lalas and Fiore. Fox SUCKS.
Meh I was pretty satisfied. Minor gripes would be Fiore running off at the mouth and Lalas on the end constantly making stank faces, Donovan and his monotone voice in the booth. But those are all VERY minor. I love that Rob Stone lets his fandom show thru, Stu Holden's commentary in the booth and Eric Wynalda and the chick in the studio who I thought had the best tactical analysis of any of them. Overall I was very satisfied with their work and ecstatic that I didn't have to watch Telemundo or Univision for all the matches like back in 2007 and before that. I hope they keep carrying the tournament.
I think they are trying to replicate their NFL crew which is a bunch of jocks teasing and joking with each other the whole time. I don't think that fits soccer, though. Fiore was great on Republica Deportiva as the main host, but this is a weird spot for him as a foil for Lalas.
Stu Holden has done a terrific job. He has transitioned into broadcasting like a true professional. I also like the work Herculez Gomez is doing for ESPN. I wish we could have Stu & Herc together.
Couldn't agree more, Holden is a really sharp, well thought-out guy and I love Gomez and that he doesn't jack around on camera too much and prefers to comment on the players and tactics. That's why I liked Wynalda and the female, can't remember her name. Holden and Gomez would be a terrific tandem.
Fox decided it would be a good idea to hire Arena as an analyst for the Portugal game. So they did. They're shoving more Arena down our throats the first game after he resigned. Unbelievable.
Hmm, that's actually a pretty interesting broadcast hook. I wasn't going to watch but I actually might now.
If you have Rob Stone you're OK in my book. Fox should hire Arena for color commentary. He was awesome after 2006. Arena called Donovan's Ecuador hat trick if memory serves.