When Michaels and Madden work together, they resort to "Yak-yak" during the blow-outs. If the game is close, they'll stay on the game. DOB is really a baseball guy, who has gotten used to covering 4 hr games with 15 minutes of action, the rest being dead air. But it's shocking that he can't comprehend the difference between the two sports. Shocking.
I can't believe everyone has ignored the gaffe at the end of the 1st half when O'Brien said Cherundolo was a bright, engaging 19 year old!!!
Hmmmmmm. Sounds a lot like me...... https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4711621&postcount=12 Anyway I say we mount a campaign to get the Master behind the American mic: Mr.Toby Charles
I dont know if its been mentioned, but EVERYONE ON HERE SHOULD SIGN THIS PETITION http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/World_Cup_Announcers Over 1200 signatures in 2 days...maybe ESPN will listen
Not everybody can be JP Dellacamera. What's this obsession with U.S. soccer fans, especially fans on here, needing a play by play announcer to be some kind of soccer expert. A play by play announcer should do three things: 1. call the play, 2. have a decent voice, 3. sound like he cares somewhat about the sport. That's it. He does those things adequately in my opinion. Sure he can be better, but so can a lot of guys. If you want analysis, that's Celo's job. If he's not bringing it, look at him. DOB is looking for segways all the time to Celo's analysis and Celo leaves him hanging all the time. If anybody is unprofessional, it's Celo.
You work for the Fed, SUM, or Disney. DOB's performance on Wednesday was the baseball equivalent of calling first downs, blitzes, 3 seconds in the lane, and charging in lieu of balls, strikes, knucklers and doubles. -bs
I don't think he said Cher was 19, although it wasn't real clear. He meant that he was 19 when he came to Germany.
2 hours after reading this for the first time, i'm still trying to understand how you derived this opinion from Wednesday. 1. I've watched the tape 4 times now. DOB "called the play", i.e. attempted to describe what was transpiring on the pitch at that moment, less than 20% of the game. He was "accurate", i.e. something he said resembled what was occurring on the pitch, 2/3rds of that time, or approximately 14% of the entire telecast. 2. DOB has a great voice, no doubt about it. Beguiling. 3. Sound like he cares about the sport - that's a matter of perspective. A quality voice can lend "authentic passion" to any proceeding. If your standard includes factual accuracy of spoken content, he scored very, very low. Re: analysis, segues, and "professionalism" of Celo.... I haven't come out in defense of Celo in this thread because I was hoping the focus would remain on DOB; however I'm not in agreement with the large number of people who are slagging on Celo for whatever reason. I believe Celo is actual quality and a big step up from Keough. And Wednesday proves the point, when on 4 occaisions Celo would follow an inane/inaccurate/unrelevant comment by DOB and go straight to analysis of play. It was brutally obvious. Celo has to work with whoever Disney puts next to him. I feel for the guy. My dream is for a 3-man booth for all US fixtures: JP Dellacamera Bob Ley Seamus Malin and Celo on the sideline. WITH NO MUSBERGER/CHINAGLIA BULLDADA STUDO CRAP. -bs
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] If soccer sells itself, it's not doing a very good job of it in the USA.
Al michaels would have been a great soccer announcer had it not been for the invention of american football
Well, there is a certain base level of soccer knowledge needed to do (1) well (I think O'Brien is a little deficient here, and I'm not sure he'll be up to speed by the WC). But I agree with you that there are also unreasonable expectations being established where he needs to be some sort of super-pbp man who can also do all his own analysis. The guy who's supposed to be doing the analysis is Celo.
i agree. if he would have grown up with the game as a follower, player or supporter ... he has the perfect disposition for it. and he knows his stuff. and he lets the action on the field do the talking.
Al Michaels is a damn smart guy ... I bet that it wouldn't take him more than a few months to learn enough about the game to be an excellent soccer announcer. That said, he comes with too much baggage. Many if not most soccer diehards would write him off as a Yankee football guy without ever giving him a chance. The guys who are too good for MLS certainly will think that they're too good for Al Michaels.
Michaels is a pro and if he were given the assignment with enough time to get ready, he would do a solid job. I n addition to everything else noted about O'Brien on this thread, it was obvious in the Poland match that he either didn't prepare or was incapable of preparing because he doesn't understand soccer well enough to start with. I don't think Michaels would ever go on a network telecast without being properly prepared.
Wrong. You can't do baseball pbp without knowing a fouled "third strike" doesn't count, you can't do football pbp without having some idea what holding is, you can't do basketball pbp without telling a block from a charge, and you can't do soccer pbp without knowing the backpass rule. The analyst can elaborate on these rules, but the pbp guy MUST be at least able to id the situation and make it known to the viewer.