Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I've been trying to give O'Brien a chance. But he continually said that Cherundolo sent in that cross from the left that led to the goal. That was driving me absolutely bonkers. Re: Celo: His second-by-second analysis of Howard scooping up a non-threatening slow shot from distance was genius. "That's what you want to see from Howard.... Easy... Just scoops up the ball ... No problem..." I swear, it was like a Firesign Theatre routine.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Wondering about the post-game comments from Balboa that Mastroeni had made the difference in the 2nd half. Agreed that the team played much better in the 1st, but did Mastro even touch the ball that much? Was he really the one organizing? And then, is there a conflict of interest?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] O'Brien has that awful "baseball twang" in his announcing. It's absolutely painful to listen to him. "You know 'Celo, we'll see Eddie Johnson at the top of the second half. Hopefully the right-footed striker can convince the umpire to give his ball club some good calls in today's game. And considering his upbringing in the rough parts of Palm Coast, Florida, I fully expect him to do just that. Oh, wait! Donovan slips through the defense and hits a grand slam into the back of the Polish net!" Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Oh yeah. Good thing he didn't get a chance to interview Tim Howard after the match and ask him how much playing in the Carling Cup final prepared him for this game - since O'brien made the comment that Howard had just played in the 4-0 win against Wigan. Real professional - the guy never got off the bench. Do your frickin' homework, O'B.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] This may be a really stupid question but indulge me, please. Why doesn't Tommy Smyth do US games? He's located here, and i can't imagine his UEFA duties keep him busy. After DOB, i will take anyone on the mic that knows the game. I could care less who it is. . . what would really be great is a Fanzone type broadcast where a real fan could be given the mic.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I didn't realize Barry Bond's swing had some sort of jerky shoulder move-dance to it, similar to Dempsey's goal celebration in San Francisco.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Anyone catch O'Brien repeatedly say "defenced" instead of "defended"? Or did I hear him right that he said either the jerseys the US was wearing today or the blues we wore against Guatemala were throwbacks to the 1950 World Cup? What a ********ing clown. Get rid of him, he's far worse than Edwards, at least he knew what the hell he was talking about.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] these guys were both horrible. how many times does someone have to - incorrectly I might add - say: "this is how we'll see it in the World Cup, all 11 players getting back, closing you down". What the hell does that mean except total and complete ignorance, hyperbole, stupidity, nonchalance, lack of creativity, or all five. yes, they're going to work hard on defense. in most soccer nations, they ALWAYS work hard on defense, and no, just 'cause it's the World Cup doesn't mean "all 11 players" are going to play behind the ball. Jesus, at least I hope not.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] THAT was the other thing I was trying to remember. Fairly unbelievable mistake.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] It's snowing here . . . . . . . It's really snowing . . . . . . . [Player X] did a great job defencing that. . . . [Player Y] did a great job defencing that ball. . . . [Player Z] defenced that well. . . . Look at the snow . . . wow, it snowing a lot . . . . . . Can you believe this weather? I've never seen anything like it? "Yet, the ref is letting the game continue[!]" . . . Howard just played in the 4-0 win over Wigan . . . O'Brien: So Steve, have you ever played in weather like this? Cherundolo: Uhh . . . yeah . . . all the time. Hannover trains here in Germany and plays games during the winter. . . . Poland beat us in the consolation game at the last WC . . . . . . [Player X] is on the bubble . . . [Player Y] is on the bubble . . . Etc.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] He kept saying it and varied it: "defencing" and "defenced" and he did say that we wore the WC 1950 "inspired" jerseys against Guatemala. Since we wore blue, I assume he reffered to those . . . .
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] if that man keeps picking on Stevie C i'm gonna punch him. he's really obnoxious. even celo and stoner are better. (can't believe i'm saying that)
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] The other thing he kept saying was what a good job Keller or Howard was doing "manning the nets." He's not going fishing -- as far as I can tell there is only one net out there our keeper is minding, not multiple ones . . .
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Well, not ready to go that far. When Stone and Celo are on together, they just yak yak yak--it's like having two drunk guys behind you at a game who are just blabbing all of the time, and not watching the play.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] In every game I have seen broadcasted by O'Brien, it sounds likely he is not watching the game. He keeps on going with his unrelated chatterings. In soccer it is worse because has a difficult time recalling names and using soccer terminology, so he just gives up and talks about the personalities.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] RAY HUDSON for WC06 i thought Jason Wolff had a few nice touches today..
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Indeed. The reality is that Celo works for the Rapids and tends to carry a bias towards the Rapids players. I thought Pablo did well when he came in but he had nothing to do with the goal, what with him not being on the field when it was scored and all, and I wouldn't confuse "doing his job" with "turning point of the game."
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] see i don't think so. dob is the one that seems to talk constantly about stuff that's totally unrelated to the game that's being played. c'mon, it's pretty bad when celo's the one that has to bring the conversation back to the game.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] BA was upset that the polish defense passed the ball to the keeper and the keeper picked it up. Obrien had no clue. Did you know France is 30 miles away? I'm glad he let us know it was snowing about 100 times. I really couldn't tell it was snowing. Just cause it's snowing doesn't mean the game stops, his freakin job is to call play by play not the weather. And he made me believe Howard played in the carling cup. I went and checked and he did not. He sat on the bench the whole game. This guy needs to be fired. He's going to ruin the world cup.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Ray Hudson! I've been saying this all along! at least i'll be there for the first 3 games and won't have to listen to them until we make it further.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] O'Brien simply doesn't know enough about soccer to announce these games. I can't believe he's going to be the World Cup announcer for us.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] DOB sounds like one of those old college football announcers. and Balboa is just dumb. i hate him with all of my heart. did anyone catch when there was a third guy talking? he said like one sentence, i was like what? Id really hate to have to put the worldcup games on mute. but my word.