Strong is standable doing games with foreign teams he doesn't have much access to. But sheesh that US-Iran game was designed for his more cards of banalities.
To all those who posted that ESPN has done a better job with analysis of the games, spot on! Just saw ESPN FC show post US-Netherlands and the guys made lots of insightful comments compared to the tire fire that’s mostly Fox.
I know we got to get the human interest stories in, but the cuts to Jenny have been terrible. the game is going on, tense moments, and she's going on about something virtually irrelevant. It's not Jenny's fault. The game of soccer just doesn't give time for the "Sideline Reporter". The NFL can cut to Erin Andrews for a 3 minute segment and it works perfectly. But soccer, nope. Don't force shit that don't work.
Thank you for posting this! Completely spot on. This passage in this piece sums up perfectly my feelings about Fox's "coverage:" On the field things may be developing nicely, but off it US football – or the version of it that Fox Sports serves up to us every four years – seems destined to remain stuck in a permanent 1994, forever on the brink of becoming America’s next big thing, forever hostage to a cabal of C-suite cable bros intent on translating this exotic, bewildering sport into the language of touchdowns, home runs, and alley oops for what they see as the country’s blinking, insular Yankee Doodle millions. This bizarre cultural parochialism does a disservice to both America’s players, now a sizeable constituency in European club football, and the legions of fans on these shores whose understanding of the sport is every bit as sophisticated as anything you’ll find on the terraces of Camp Nou, Anfield, or La Bombonera.
Alas, Fox will not GAF as long as their ratings are good/great. Besides the US games, I’ve watched very few games in their entirety (England versus Senegal and Japan versus Croatia). That’s it. I watch the nightly recap show making very generous use of the fast forward button. The only thing Fox will care about is ratings. Maybe ratings will tank now that the US are out.
This is a funny article. Got some truth to it as a lot of stereotypes do. But it's basically a "racist" (I know that's not the right word, "culturalist"... I don't know) trope. English need something since we were the better team on the pitch a week ago, i guess.
I didn’t view the article in the Guardian as a swipe/revenge against the US for being the better team versus England. Indeed, the writer actually complimented the US twice: First, he extolled this USMNT as having “a generation of footballers with the technical quality to challenge the world’s best”; then secondly he criticized Fox’s coverage of the WC as “a disservice to both America’s players, now a sizable contingency in European club football, and the legions of fans…whose understanding of the sport is every bit as sophisticated as anything you’ll find on the terraces of Camp Nou, Anfield or La Bombonera.” Bottom line: the writer was absolutely right on with his criticism of the parochial, circus coverage of the tournament - - - especially how Fox has gone out of their way NOT to talk about any of the off the field problems leading up to Qatar as host. (And we know the reason why)
Honestly, Fox has a challenge and this is where using the internet more would be better but they don't have the assets ESPN does. There's a growing and much, much more educated soccer fanbase in the US. There's still a massive number of people who know NOTHING about the sport. The Spanish speakers in the country tend to do better, but English language ratings for even the top club matches don't get much over a million. You're pulling 15-20M for US matches. Not sure what the rest are doing. So at least for the US matches, you absolutely need to dumb it down a bit. The problem is, for everyone else ... there's no outlet for something more sophisticated or interesting. Well, actually, there just is nothing else. A short pre and post game that's mostly commercials? OK. No alternate feeds, no analysis shows, no real wave of complementary internet content.
I mean but like you don't. And the problem isn't a lack of soccer sophistication anyway, it's the flopsweatty unseriousness of it. The tone is literally like the legendary Simpsons bit.
What do you mean? I don't really find the in game commentary one way or the other. Are you just talking the studio?
Yeah, to be clear I am. The game commentary itself has been basically fine, a few errors aside. Strong and Holden are good, the quality varies a bit from there. I'm actually kinda charmed by the Darke and Donovan thing, though the Guardian article is fair enough on them. But the studio is an absolute disaster. Alexi Lalas is bad at TV and that's never gonna change.
I loved the symmetry of Darke/Donovan doing commentary together solely because of 2010's "go go USA!" They are forever tied together based on that one Donovan goal.
Oh God! Donovan is awful. Most of the game commentary is terrible. The studio stuff is a joke. Dumbing things down only hurts the game in this country. Soccer fans hate it and it only keeps newbies dumb. It has been a strange strategy to me to try and grow the game by not appealing to soccer fans. US Soccer and MLS seems to think it is the only way. MLS fans being as dumb as they are is a pretty good sign it isnt working.
I've only caught bits but I think Donovan has interesting commentary it's his delivery that's awful. I think he would be more suited to halftime analysis breaking things down in detail rather than a 90+ min color commentary. His breakdown of our 3-0 win over Morocco for ESPN was really nice for instance.
Yeah, Donovan knows what he's talking about but has the personality of a wet noodle. He also struggles to keep up with the awful NBA on TNT-ification thing in the studio. Also Clint Dempsey, put on some big boy shoes, you freaking schlub. Fox is awful.
I heard a voice talking from the TV and thought, my god what hick cowboy did these Fox dweebs dredge up to talk soccer! It was Clint Dempsey! That comment is just about his accent btw. I have loved Clint throughout this WC. He is more of a fan’s commentator than someone like Lalas who is too serious for my liking.
You don't need to dumb down the presentation just because the majority of people watching have minimal soccer knowledge. Rest assured it's not why Fox are doing it anyway. They simply don't have the competence to do any better. It's all so barebones and thoughtless. ESPN's presentation of World Cup 2010 was superior and that was over a damn decade ago. Give me a group who cares to do this art well. Fox clearly doesn't.
Rob Stone should stick with football. He's the head of the clown show. As an aside I have to imagine in a different format guys like Edu and Dempsey can analyze the game far better than they are. I've head Holden's analysis post match on BBC5 is far superior to what we see from him on Fox. With the USA to hype endlessly and fill time, the lack of analysis is even more apparent. Fox can barely fill their time slots.
And the sad thing is, he's a D1 varsity soccer player and has been a broadcaster and advocate for the sport since the dark ages. But to the rest of your post and what others have said, it's really coming from above. Fox has made the choice to feed us this garbage.