Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] The second half torrent was frozen, but I got to watch a bit of England-Uruguay with Derek Rae at PBP. This is the guy you guys want to do the World Cup? In ten minutes there's probably two minutes worth of good PBP on the actual events on the field. What a joke.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] DOB: We're in Germany. Celo: Gooch is very strong. That's how strong he is. DOB: The US lost to Poland in the consolation round of the last World Cup. Celo: Let me tell you ... here's the thing ... DOB: It's snowing. DOB: It's snowing here in Germany.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] maybe he will get better with time? how many soccer matches has he done?
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Celone of gooches strengths is how strong he is, and his upper body. hes a big guy. DOB: yea it seems onyewu is out muscling them out there. he has a line backers body. Celone of gooches strengths is how strong he is, and his upper body. hes a big guy. So i agree that we should ALL write espn, which i am currently doing, im asking for both of these announcers resignations. i should never ever ever mutter shut up to the TV while an announcer is talking. ever. i swear.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] This is one of the least intelligent conversations I've ever read on this board.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] its a foolish man who criticizes a fools conversation, for then he will become them. say what you will, but I love hearing the crowds during the game, and intellegent announcing is always a bonus. but the one man i think i would hate over them all is bobby mcmahon.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] i thought so too, before the Poland game. the mistakes he made yesterday were much worse than his 1st 2 outings -- "Jason" Wolff, etc. those were relatively minor. the mistakes he made in the Poland game clearly indicated that he is INCREDIBLY ignorant about the game of soccer. that's the problem: this was his 3rd broadcast and he REGRESSED considerably. this was a very big/important game in comparison to his first 2, and he did a much worse job. he was armed with even less relevant research/talking points, thus he was forced to continually comment on things like "K-slauterns distance from France" and Kasey's castle and THE SNOW. that stuff was OK, in the first 2 b/c they were crappy, low stakes games. but this one was a biggie: a Euro try-out versus a respected WC team on foreign soil. any soccer fan knows that the action in such a game should dominate the commentary. 5-0 drubbing of the Norway U-23's??? tell your side stories all you want. but not in a game like yesterday's. that error in judgement represents a critical misunderstanding he has of the game of soccer. and he ain't gonna change that much for even the WC.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] There's no "etc." after that. That's the only name I've heard him drop. Go watch the other games today, I've heard nothing better.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] hey .... that shines a new light on our WC 2002 performance. not only did we make it to the quarterfinals -- but we actually had to climb out of the consolation round to get there!! of course, such an occurence violates all the core tenets of sport and competition, but don't anyone tell DOB that. this will just add to the mythical WC 2002 run: [cue sappy, triumph-themed background music] "there we were, all but eliminated, just fighting it out in the consolation round. but through are own fighting spirit and determination, we made it back into the winner's bracket. from there we beat Mexico and were a hand-ball away from the semifinals!" [music climaxes] our kids will never believe it, but we were there. no one tells a story like Dave O'Brien. no one. [eyes tear up]
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] actually Roehl Sybing the whole forum is pointless, but if everything were serious wed always be mad. but i guess you might not get it. DOB is horrible, bring soccer to life, dont bring your american football style to the mic. please. its not all little stats and little facts, you gotta have some emotion and comment on THE GAME. and yes the big letters makes it emphasized.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] So you're saying I should not take you seriously? Your posts have no meaning? Alright. I'm cool with that.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] yea do what you want man, i could care less. i wrote my letter to espn, i hope they find replacements, and let celo do MLS and maybe let DOB be in mls a couple of years before moving up.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] I gotta say, you weren't that much of an intellectual challenge for me.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Roehl?? hmm .... that name rhymes with "troll." is that a coincidence or what? and just a coincidence, i tell you. from what I can tell, all your posts make positive contributions to the volition of each thread. and i'm never sarcastic.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] They will most likely only send the US crew to Germany. Meaning JP would probably be able to do the games.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] dave o'brien is fine sure, he's flubbed several things... but he's three games in, that's it... three fricking games now, i'll admit that i would love to see him with wynalda... mainly because wynalda is the best color man that's ever done us soccer (pretty easy to say, although dir gave good comments, he just sounded like crap... deer stuck in headlights crap) but also because i'd love to see wynalda go off on dob... just like he did ty, although i would imagine that dob would actually be able to handle it and REALLY learn from it it's unfortunate wynalda's role has been insanely diminished, he literally was exactly what mls and us soccer needed... a commentator that provided solid criticism, got people's attention and really fricking knew what he was doing wynalda, in a very small way, is a bit like keith olberman they both were the best thing that ever happened to their art, unfortunately, they both rubbed the right people the wrong way... olberman's slow re-introduction to espn is giving me hope for wynalda's prominent return to the booth though... we don't need ray, ray's an idiot... we need wynalda...
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] lol roehl, the fact that you wanted to pick a fight with me on a soccer forum proves your intellegence.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] i know we're going over this stuff with an awful fine-toothed comb, so if it's not your scene -- just stay away. i urge you to not read this stuff. yes, this is the PbP for a "game," i understand that ... but overanalysation is my milieu. that being said: it's true. but i will point out that he has regressed from game 1 to game 3. it's kind of hard to stick with the "he'll get better" line, when he is literally getting worse right in front of our eyes. he only has a few more games before they count June 9th. if he's not really showing any improvement, there's no reason to think he'll be any better at the WC. and the WC is a special event that happens once every 4 years (or more if you're not lucky ... 36 for Australia). it should be a special experience for the fans, who spend their time and money supporting this team for the arduous 2 1/2 year WCQ process. it's not fair that the WC experience should be cheapened at all, frankly. to have a commentator that just sh1ts all over our passion is insulting.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] O'Brien had a few slips, but Celo is absolutely awful. He would go several minutes without saying a word, which is inexcuseable when you have a partner with limited experience in the sport.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Do you really think broadcasters are picked to make hard-core fans happy? They are there for the casual fan who might turn off the game because they don't find it interesting, not for the die-hard who will turn to Univision because the announcer doesn't meet some mythical gold standard.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] Silly question: Who called the WC 2002 games? Was that Jack Edwards? Where is that guy now? I don't know about everyone else, but I liked his work. Why can't he do the job again? I can still hear the excitement in his voice when US scored the 1st and 3rd goals against Portugal.
Re: O'Brien/Celo - US v Pol [R] mythical gold standard?? come on monster, that is completely disingenuous. you know i'm not looking for anything special, just 2 things: 1. someone with passion and knowledge for the game of soccer. 2. someone skilled in broadcasting. don't give me that "mythical gold standard" crap. i'm not asking for anything that every other sports doesn't provide for its fans. and you act like every other major sport just trots out a smooth talking face to bring in a broad range of viewers. they actually do: every national announcer there is, whether it be college football, nfl, nba, college basketball ... any name you can come up with, if they do national games, their no. 1 objective (as directed to them) is to be appealing to the casual viewer. all the way down to freaking Curling on the Olympics: their job 1 is to bring in the non-fans, BUT every single person doing those games knew the ins and outs of curling. the catch is ... all of those guys grew up with the sport they cover. and no one gets thrown onto the NBA Finals who doesn't know the ins and outs of the game. this is the WC, the biggest sporting event in the world ... i've yet to hear a sound argument for why I should accept what no other fans in this country have to accept. cripes, even for log rolling they manage to find guys knowledgeable about log rolling. it's an amazing concept.