Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] b/c that would reinforce the stereotype that soccer is a foreigner's game. ESPN won't have anyone with an accent do the American games for that purpose. even if said person is the best person for the job. i understand their point, but we don't have any Americans that are good at soccer PbP at the elite international level.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Well let me first say I gave up cussing for Lent so I really cannot describe how I feel after listening to this crew today. Let me just say that today's debacle of a broadcast only reinforces my belief that ESPN is one sorry organization. It's obvious ESPN doesn't give 2 toots about the beautiful game. To have the audacity to put someone behind a microphone with ZERO knowledge of the sport and provide this poor soul with ERRONEOUS background info to boot is just too much for me to stomach anymore. I am not going to pick the so-called "PBP" guy apart here because it's not really his fault. I'm sure the Bristol BONEHEADS selected this guy because he was either available and /or cheap. As I have posted previously ESPN has been covering soccer since @ least Espana '82 so I do not want to here any lame excuses about the game being "new" in this country or "give them more time to figure it out". That just doesn't cut it anymore. They have failed miserably on their telecasts and unbelievably they DON'T CARE that they have failed miserably. I will not watch ONE MINUTE from GER this summer on this station as I feel they are really sticking it to the real fan. I don't care if it's in HD or Orgy D. They are holding the game back with their non-stop, revolving door duos of Dumb and Dumber dimwits who have obsolutely no FEEL for the game. Adios and muchas gracias por Univision.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Tea Men Tom is having an Asprilla9-level rant on this ... and it is hilarious to watch it unfold... I gotta agree. after today, I got the distinct impression that he has never sat through an entire WC game IN HIS LIFE. i would bet money on it. and this guy gets to call soccer for a national team AT THE WORLD CUP??? you have got to be &#$*ING KIDDING ME!! i've been backing the guy, but i'm afraid i've got to turn on him after today's performance. the US/Polska match was a step back for DOB. it's one thing to do glorified youth friendlies (US-Norway) or low stakes friendlies versus an unqualified Guat. team -- this was a whole new ballgame for DOB, and he really screwed the pooch. if you've got a game on foreign soil versus a WC-level opponent, you just have to be able to talk soccer. not geography, not meteorology, not 1000 yr old castles ..... i mean, you just have to have the goods for a game like this. doing SIDE research isn't gonna cut it for high stakes matches. i had cut him some slack b/c I thought for the bigger matches (inc. WC), I thought he would kick it up a notch and drop the kiddie side stories ... but he is sticking to his guns and we should all be very discouraged for the WC broadcasts. sorry DOB, but you suck.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] no, he negotiated the WC job into his new contract. ESPN wanted him so bad for MLB and NCAA hoops that they succumbed to his demands. i'm sure some execs new it would be a train wreck, but hey, it's soccer, who cares ... getting DOB for MLB and college hoops is what really matters. i'm not there yet but i am very close ...
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I can't understand a lick of spanish but if O'Brien's there I'll be on Univision too. When the choices are a guy who knows nothing about soccer and Celo vs. two guys who you can't understand but at least get excited at the right times, I'll take the Univision guys every time. (anything else you'd like me to add Asprilla? I just got done watching the broadcast, that's why I'm so livid)
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I think so much of the criticism levelled at DOB is really a lot of self-congratulatory BS BS - people looking down on someone who knows less than them and giving themselves an ole' pat on the back for being such knowledgable soccer fans. He's far from perfect, we all know soccer better than he does, but he is still a very polished commentator and I'm sure he will get better as the WC approaches. Cut the guy a little slack. On another note...whatever happened to Bob Ley? He does "Outside the Lines" for ESPN, but not sure what else he is up to. Can't remember if he was any good as a commentator, but I know he is passionate and knows a fair bit about soccer.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I can't believe how bad Dave O'Brien Suks. He has a decent voice and that is it. Is that all it takes to get a commentator job these days. There are probably 30-40 BS poster who could do a better job. Let me say this again. This guy sucks so frickin bad. Who the hell hires these people. This guy has never seen a professional/international game before he got his new job. WTF is going on at ESPN. We all know how clueless they are but for god's sake! I get embarrassed for him and our country while I am sitting on my couch. Please make him stop!
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] People who don't like O'Brien and Balboa should be forced to listen to Brent Musburger and Dennis Miller.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I can't believe you actually like him. He screws everything up. He makes up clubs that don't exist. He makes up players names. The only thing he ever talks about is how cold it is. The list goes on and on... Your not related or something are you? If so I take it back.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I beleive Univision is doing CC in english now. I beleive it was on CC3 for the Gold Cup. Can anyone confirm that? Univision was like 10 seconds ahead last time anyway. Bring back Stoner.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Nobody. Only that he undoubtedly makes better money calling the Atlanta Thrashers TV games (and probably still the Metros during the MLS season) than doing MLS and the US Nats for SUM/ESPN.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Some people on here seem to think that ESPN made a mistake that they might come to regret by hiring this guy. Thats not true, as someone mentioned earlier they knew what they were getting. They hired him for MLB and NCAA hoops. Now I'm trying to look on the bright side, he has a good pbp voice and knowledge of the game is something that you can learn. As for the complaints about him telling to many stories, your right, but it won't stop. This is what commentating is all about now. If any of you have been watching sports over the past couple of decades you probably noticed this trend. If they can get some guy to keep watching because he thinks it's neat that KK has a castle then thats good for them. Watch sports center and then watch sky sports, you can tell the divergence in style. The american policy with sports is to stuff as much crap in as you possibly can. Try to count how many stories SC fits into a 30 second clip. I'm sure the producers love the fact that he managed to squeze in all the info.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] O'Brien's "left footed kicker" freaking driving me crazy ... The game itself was hard enough to watch, miserable conditions, from cold to blizzard, pitch hard and bumpy ... but listening to O'Brien on top of this was excruciatingly painful ... Can't we find someone with announcing "skills" and an ounce of soccer knowledge.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] DOB is suffering from three large problems: 1) He doesn't know soccer at all (Most recently evidenced by his having no idea why Bruce Arena was pissed in the second half) 2) He calls soccer like it's a baseball game, with mindless storytelling that's meant to fill space. Today's game was unwatchable, for the most part, but jeez, let it breathe a little bit. Sometimes (a lot of times) less is more. 3) He's partnered with Balboa, who probably wouldn't match Vince Young's Wonderlic test score. What a vapid moron.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I don't admit I'm wrong too often, but after the Norway match I said "give him time, he'll learn, don't worry, he's got a great voice." Well, DOB, you let me down big time today. You don't follow the sport. You haven't spent the past few weeks studying up on it when you could've been. And I don't believe you'll give anything but misinformation to the public at large come June. You either have a PASSION for this game or you don't. That's not a daughter playing club ball in Florida, DOB, that's A PASSION. DOB has reached the limits of where professionalism will take you and where passion must carry you the rest of the way. And he doesn't have the passion. He's not, as our soon-to-be-rivals the Italians say, "tifosi". He hasn't been infected. I would love for a man of his vocal skills to become a TRUE believer, but he isn't, he's a faker and it's painfully obvious. This is not gloating, believe me, I'm sad about this as I defended him before...
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] You know, I've been willing to give DOB a chance, but he was AWFUL today. Absolutely awful. And Celo isn't much better. Seriously, these guys are making me cry out for Wynalda-Stone.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] How many times did he say "Fritz-Walter Stadion"? Or "Kaiserslautern"? CONSTANTLY!!! He LOVES to talk about the weather, too, he just LOVES IT!! i thought that he'd get better but this was really bad. i didn't even realize that Tim Howard didn't play in the Carling Cup final. That's a pretty bad error on DOB's part.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] This thread reminds me of some of the Max Bretos bashing on the TV forum, but least Max knows a little about the game. For my part, they didn't ruin the game, but I did notice that DOB just didn't really contribute anything useful. They talked about going to TWO of the Poland practices but had absolutely NO insight. At least DOB cared about us enough to TWICE mention that he hoped we were warm and cozy watching the game. What a tard. Why can't they just pick up the best of the MLS broadcast teams and send them to the WC? You all do realize that with 64 games, there will be more than one team doing broadcasts? Perhaps DOB will be pushed to some of the other first round matches. They might be giving him some practice. I think we'll hear some familiar voices come June 12th, 17th, and 22nd.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Another thing, i'm sure this has been mentioned...but Celo was just freakin' silent for a lot of the time, just letting DOB go on and on and not stepping in with anything. i'm all for silence at times, letting the game speak for itself, but it just sounded awkward with DOB going on about snow, 295 miles from Hanover, 30 minutes from France, 7 hours from Poland, etc., and Celo just sitting there. why can't they (ESPN) get it right?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Exactly right, or to put it another way... American sports reporting style = Microsoft Sky Sports reporting style = Mac Anyway, the thing O'Brien kept saying over and over that drove me bonkers tonight was that the US team had recently been scoring a "BARRAGE" of goals. Over and over again. A barrage of goals. That's right, against Norway, Japan, and Guatemala, we scored a BARRAGE of goals. This is what I really think. I think he really does like the game, and I think he likes the job of announcing, but his knowledge is so limited that he has to fall back on the same old thing over and over again. Somebody needs to clue him in to stick to the pbp and let the color guy handle the color. We don't need two color guys in the booth! My dream announcing team = JP Dellacamera and Drew Carey
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I think I'll go to one of his kid's games, sit next to him in the stands, and talk about the weather for 90 minutes.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] That is because ESPN has realized they don't have to cater to any sports fan. They own sports in the US and sports fans are addicted. They are out to get people that aren't sports fans. Haven't watched today's game yet due to a busy class schedule but peaking through this thread has made me dread it. I was supporting DOB but if he hasn't improved then ESPN needs to can him. Does anybody know why DOB requested the WC? Perhaps he wanted a free trip to Europe?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Maybe my German is a little rusty but I thought it was Kaiserslautern. Was it just me or did O'Brien prounce it like it ended in slaughter? Maybe I am just nuts. Where are our German people do confirm this or tell me I am wrong?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] ESPN doesn't give a rip about catering us ussoccer fans, because they know we'll be there no matter what. They are shooting for viewers new to the sport. If I was new to the game I would be more interested in snow soccer or kasey kellers house than tactics.