Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] And when he is following the play he's following so close he's practically telling us when the player puts down his right foot and when he puts down the left. It's annoying like hell. I was begging for him to just shut up sometime, but as soon as he does Celo starts talking.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] First Bob Ley, then Phil Schoen, and then JP Dellacamera, all proved that it's possible to know wtf you're doing with an USian accent. -bs
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I thought DOB's first game was weak but gave him a chance. He's second game was a big improvement but today's game was just bad. BTW, have you guys heard about the "Goal socring barrage" the US has been on lately? I've got Jack Edwards' email address around here somewhere. Anyone want to start up a collection to pay him to do internet audio broadcasts of the game so we can simulcast it against the TV pictures?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] The mystery Howard minutes v. Wigan sent me over the edge... It's DOB's job to have a clue, and it takes me less than 30 minutes a week to have a clue as to what every single player in the Nats pool, 50 deep, was doing during the prior week. DOB has no excuse for not knowing WTF is going on; the Polish keeper picking up the backpass while DOB was oblivious to it was the sealer. The place to complain is not ESPN. It's SUM. They are the ones who spent the incredible coin for the rights. DOB was obviously thrown a bone by someone high up in Bristol to land this gig. What is shocking to me is that SUM didn't have any oversight. They have a monstrous investment, and this guy single- handedly devalues the brand by millions of dollars every time he opens his mouth. Did he do any test runs? What was the process to determine his ability to call World Cup Football? J-O-K-E. -bs
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Yeah, it's too bad that the Poles defensed our barrage of left and right footed kickers today . . . yet the ref let the game continue, despite the snow. I never saw anything like it . . . in Germany, in winter.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] So Howard didn't play in the carling cup final? Right. I guess he was just hoping that noone here watched the carling cup final. the worst one was when he said poland beat usa in the consolation round at the 2002 world cup. again he must of thought that noone here watched the 2002 world cup. don't know about most of you but i liked Rob Stone. He was genuinly excited about our sport.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] last time the teams for the world cup were: 1. Edwards-Keough 2. Mike Hill-Tommy Smyth 3. somebody and Seamus Malinn ??? 4. Glenn Davis and Giorgio??? (or was it Shep Messing?) Definitely not sure about all of these. This time around I would expect: 1. O'Brien and Balboa (seems set in stone) 2. Derek from Scotland and Tommy from Ireland 3. Mike Hill and ???? 4. maybe the guy from WFAN who called some MLS games last year? I think JP or Glenn Davis would be good again, but I'm guessing they will be tied up with MLS gigs. Whomever suggested them forgets that those teams are not shutting down.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] i think the guy you are talking about from WFAN is Joe Tolleson. He used to do Metrostars games back in the day. (wow we can say that about MLS) ....back in the day!
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Well that was substantive. Dismissive comments aside, he was good, not great - and not the difference in the match.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] That's the guy. And I did catch him doing a match or two on espn2 last summer, so maybe he is in the mix. I'm guessing they wouldn't use Rob Stone in the studio to call Poland-Ecuador, etc... Sean Wheelock did do some college games with espn last fall so I guess he's a possibility, but I seem to remember he passed up the chance to do the same last time, citing the fact the comms were doing the games from a studio in North Carolina.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Right . . . randomly, someway, somehow our attack opened up, the midfielfd became cohesive, we were able to move the ball . . . etc. It had nothing to do with Pablo replacing KZ.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Well said, Who's D**K did O'Brien suck? We really shouldn't be blaming O'Brien, but rather the suits at the top making ill-informed, rash decisions based on what? you got me... Once more, its not so much the errant information that irks me as much the obvious lack of knowledge, respect for the beautiful game , interchangeable sporting lingo, the finer points of the game that go overlooked in lieu of unending fluff and chatter. Clearly O'Brien likes to hear himself talk, and thats not what soccer is all about, its about the passion that makes soccer the most popular sport in the world - and trying to come off as if you have passion without knowledge is a dangerous game. Would you throw a McDonalds burger flipper behind the stove of a fine french restaurant, because he cooks up a mean Big Mac - maybe if you're ESPN
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] A lot of people commented about the professionalism DOB would bring to the broadcast when it was announced that he would broadcast the World Cup. I think the Howard Carling Cup comment shows a severe lack of professionalism. He's about to broadcast one of the biggest sporting events of the year, and he can't be bothered to check out a soccer website once a day to find out what's going on in the sport? I would think he'd be trying to educate himself as much as possible on the game, and the clubs, and the players since he isn't very familiar with the sport. Also, it would be nice if someone could show Celo how to use the cough button on his mike, his sniffles around the 12 minute mark drove me nuts. He might have been trying to get DOB to shut up for a second, so I'll cut him some slack.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] hey guys what do you think would be the quickest route into a broadcasting carrer for a HS student like me?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] As long as Ty Keough doesnt come back into the picture for this world cup I dont care who announces, keough was the Bill Walton of US soccer...
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] you know what bill walton would say about gooch?... "Stare him down big man!"
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Did he actually ever mention who Fritz Walter was and why the stadion was named after him? I don't think he did. BTW, this is really picking nits but he kept pronouncing it "Fritz Wolter Stadee-ohn" as if doing it in "real German". An actual German would say ~ "Fritz Val'teh Shta-dee-ohn". And that's a thing really. There's some pretty good background info right there, on Fritz Walter, the "Miracle of Bern", German "fußball" in general but all he was talking about was Cherundolo playing in the "German Bundesliga" and Kasey living in the 1,000 year old castle with a moat. Pityful.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] was fritz walter the guy they had the moment of silence for before the US-germany quarterfinal match?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Terribble performance. They got worse as the game progressed... Did not agree with Celo assessment of Lewis play in the first half. It was obvious that DMB was going to get subbed. Was it cold?