Yea, but if Hudson had won two championships with DC you'd be on your knees. Hudson is funny, and has a good grip of the game. Just watch his Gol TV commentary, it's great television.
That said, Rob Stone and Eric Wynalda weren't half bad today. Glen Davis wasn't bad, though he slipped into homerism. ("Fortunately Sanchez made a mess of it.") Even 'Celo wasn't as bad as I'm used to. The only true drag was the coaching interviews.
U get Repped 4 that, but add the our ref's to that tally....oh how there so horrible... BTW, I absolutely HATE rob stone... PEACE
None of these guys hold a candle to Christopher Sullivan...and I wish they would...preferrably after dousing him with kerosene.
Because there is nothing more annoying than an American who constantly tries to recreate another language’s accent. It is insulting to the citizens of those countries, or anyone with a non-American accent. Imagine a commentator in the Olympics, introducing a Chinese figure skater by pronouncing L’s as “R’s? “Ahhh, Ree randed that jump perfectry”. The guy would be fired before the medals were handed out. He’s an arrogant idiot, which is great for irony, but bad for TV. As popular as FSC is, I’d think they could upgrade. Fire Bretos!
Way to go for Rob Stone. that guy had it coming to him. I like the way they call games. that's the way it is done in ever sport. If you don't like it don't listen to announcers, ever.
Great response. I've gained new respect for this guy. He's right, the games are not being broadcast to make seasoned viewers happy. They have to do it in a way that makes it interesting for the guy flipping through the channels to stop for a second, listen and maybe get a little interested in what's going on. If they just call the names of the players and talk about the usual subtle stuff then the casual viewer will not get it and keep flipping thru the channels. It's reality everyone, they need to build this sport somehow. Let's stop making a big deal about all these little things and enjoy the fact that we get to watch live games on national TV.
That's such utter ********ing bullshit. I don't know what kind of complex you guys have, but there are more than enough fans of the sport here in the States to make a bottom line out of them... The simple fact is that they can't stand the utter stupidity...and they turn to other leagues, other countries, and other languages...anything to get away from the demeaning and often downright insulting coverage the sport typically receives through normally sports-friendly channels... And perpetuating the lame ass image the sport already has amongst the "uninitiated" is not going to do any single thing other than to put off your average Joe Sportsfan, for exactly the same reason... By "teaching" the viewer, they very very obviously piss off the soccer fan. They can't afford that. This tack also immediately frames the context of the sport as something alien to the otherwise avid fan of "sports in general". ********ing retarded. A perfect example is the World Cup coverage on ABC/ESPN/2, etc... The coverage didn't suck because Marcelo Balboa repeated every single sentence three times... Marcelo Balboa did...and so did Dave O'Brien's casual neglect of the game itself... Your color guy sucks...OK, that happens...but your PbP guy has to at least know WTF is going on. But, I'll tell you what, the 'World Cup Live' segments were the saving grace of the WC coverage...and not just for the brutal honesty that you'd see in coverage of any other popularly accepted sport...but because they were primarily occupied with they're own assessment of goings-on, and not the viewer's...and that a makes for a powerful and subtle psychological shift in the perception of the sport in the eyes of the average viewer...which is vastly more important than Kasey Keller's egg farm. Here's a nice analogy for those who need it: 1~ You're a turd farmer. 2~ You want to sell more turds. 3~ Some people do like turds, but the popular conception is that turds stink. You can: 1~ Try to convice the turd-haters that turds don't stink. 2~ Give away free turds to anyone you can, and hope they like them. 3~ Tell stories that are so funny that people will buy turds just to listen to them. 4~ Try to convice land owners that you can pretend turds are popular enough to get land grants for more turd farms, and start planting potatoes when no one's looking... or 5~ Focus on the already established turd-lovers' community... Find out what they want in a good turd, concentrate on making the best turds possible, corner the turd market, and use the market's resources to expand from there. Whatever though...who wants forever anyway? YiS
Brilliant sarcasm. I like how you led up to the argumentum ad absurdum precisely to undermine the argument you previously pretended to make. The way you went on an insecure foulmouthed rampage to make said pretended argument look bad. The way you feigned the stupidity of telling us the PbP guy has to know more about the game than the color man. You could be the greatest satirist since Swift. Congratualtions.
Words by themselves don't mean much... ...nor do the concepts they carry with them, when lost in the echoes of an empty mind.
Stan, I think you missunderstood, and didn't simply post to be ironic. He's saying Marcelo is a bad announcer, fair enough, he's the color guy. He's there for his insider's knowledge of the game, not his presenter's accumen. But your PbP announcer does have to know something about the game because he's there to call the plays, which O'Brien couldn't/can't do. I think this is a bad business move by ESPN, not to mention a little insulting to the knowledgeable audience. He definitely did NOT say that the PbP announcer has to know more about the game than the color analyst.
Man I love the fan zone! when I first came acrross it I could'nt stop watching, this would be good for some MLS games I wonder how that would be imagine a Galaxy fan with a Chiva in a booth screaming their heads off at each other yet composed enough not to kill each other and keep the game as the primary subject oH and by the waY with a ticker running across the bottom of the screen from fans of different teams putting their two cents the fan zone was a great idea i wish i thoiught of give those marketing guys/girls a raise!
Get rid of the coach interview during the game!!! things happen in a second in this game if your distracting me with jiber jaber about what some coach is thinking and in a small square in the background on my TV screen there is a work up leading to a great run at a score your taking away from the real reason we are here the game itself, talk to the coach after the game at the press conferrence or at the half time break, please go way sideline reporters!
The point is that many people want to urge soccer from following the direction of the other sports. It is exactly the 'storylines' and push to get new fans that make the broadcasts so painful to the established fans. And of course this is a tried (and true?) formula for all things ESPN. Put the priority of the boardcast on gaining new fans above the satisfaction of your true fanbase. While I understand Stone's point of bringing in new viewership - I think the message is that there is a potential for it being overdone. While I think it does help attract a casual fan to have a connection with the player to learn tht Brian Ching is Hawaiin - it doesn't have to be said every 15 minutes the guy in on the field for 3 years! And if it is done, yes, the announcers deserve to be criticized for it. The commitment to new fans ($$$) is put too far above the commitment to producing the highest quality of broadcast for that specific game. And perhaps, just perhaps - producing a high quality broadcast will attract new fans without annoying the fans that you've already got hooked. Yes, you will get emails and complaints because the die-hards simply feel that you stopped caring about us once you had our loyal viewership. Are you truly vehement in your opposition to listening to the concerns of your die-hard viewers? The NFL is the worst league I've ever seen in this regard. And to be honest, the Dave O'Brien, Arena, Wynalda broadcasts w/ Stone doing pre-game and halftime in the last 9 months were about the best I've ever heard. There was the perfect mix of play by play, color, and TRUE ANALYSIS of the game from a technical perspective of each player and tactical perspective of the whole team. That type of broadcast is what will educate the new fan as to the intricacies of the game, making them want to watch and learn more. NOT talking about player that went to Seton Hall - 8 years ago.
Can it not be said that we are a culture of enablers and, by continuing to dumb down these broadcasts and cater to the average american (aka the moron), we are never going to get what we want because nobody's ever going to get any smarter? Someone needs to re-animate Howard Cosell and give him the MLS job.
Who remembers the "Eric Wynalda overcame dyslexia to become a star in German soccer" human interest story during the 1998 world cup?