I love this guy. Simon Borg is not particularly knowledgeable, nor especially bright, nor even entertaining, but he is totally passionate. He's like the Dick Vitale of MLS. Anyhoo, Simon says the darnedest things. I've had it with admiring this borderline-autist's featherbrained musings by myself. It's about damn time we had a thread which compiles some of the wacky things which emanate from Mr. Borg's dulcet vocal chords. OK, I'll start. "Here's a team I consider a guarantee to win the Supporters' Shield. And that is the New York Red Bulls. On paper, right now, New York Red Bulls, the best team in MLS history." --March 7, 2011.
I don't know anyone who takes him seriously. He's just a pompous gas bag with no credibility. He's the major reason Extratime Radio sucks. Sometimes he does say stuff that makes sense. Give him credit for being on the FC Dallas bandwagon before everyone else last year.
Simon Borg is, by himself, the worst area of MLSsoccer.com. Getting rid of him would instantly bring the site more credibility. I'm also not sure I agree with you pdid10 that this should be in general. If Simon Borg actually had an awesome quote it would certainly be news and up for discussion. The man is, as far as I know, incapable of such a thing.
I think he trolls. He can't possibly hold those opinions. He said that donovan is the only player in thee league her trade dc's draft pick that I'm banking on for.
I love Borg. His passion alone is worth the price of admission and for every ridiculous insight he makes, he makes a pretty good one. Also, his Kick Off feature every morning which he runs/edits is a great way to start every (U.S. Soccer) day.
Is there anyone Bigsoccer fans actually like that is involved in the sport in the US? I listen to extra time radio, but not every day. He's not that bad. It's not like we are filled to the brim with passionate tv/radio personalities who are fans of the worlds game.
I did enjoy is distaste for Freddie Ljundberg. I don't have a problem with him. I actually like him better than Jason.
Not a quote, but I loved how Borg and Saghini left out the number #1 pick, Omar Salgado in both of their mock drafts... http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011-mls-superdraft-first-round-mock-draft
Borg actually thinks Victor Estupinan will score 30 goals this season! He's no Tim Vickery or Sid Lowe, but his rhetoric is infectious. He's definately out there. His Spanish is pretty good, too.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4FGvMdhG80"]YouTube - Star Trek Voyager - 'Don't Provoke The Borg'[/ame]
This was one of the things that makes me think he's a troll. There's no way anybody could possible think that. Then when he was called on it he claimed that he was including preseason games. There's no way anybody would think that either. He's either quite literally insane, or he's trolling. Trolling makes more sense.
Come on man, that was viewed as a total stunner by EVERYONE. I didn't see a single mock draft that had Salgado #1.
Borg stated categorically that the Toronto vs Vancouver rivalry was greater than the entire Cascadia Rivalry. Look, I'm biased as ******** but that closed out any hint of intelligence I thought Borg might have had.
Estupinan was the one who made the claim ... Borg just went with it. Granted, Borg is also the same one who wrote the article about Freddy Adu and being a good first with Nowak/the Union if he decided to return to MLS.
I think my favorite Borg moment was when he said that he would hypothetically prefer Steve Zakuani for the US to Danny Mwanga (among Congolese-born players) because the US lacks strong options in midfield service. Never mind the lack of goals by American forwards at the World Cup since 2002. I like ExtraTime radio quite a bit (have even come around from my distaste for Greg Lalas), but he tries way too hard to take bold stances and winds up just saying things that are ridiculous.
Borg's a gas bag, but round-table podcasts need a gas bag to provide entertaining crap for the more thoughtful panelists to respond to and provide a counter to. By himself he's insufferable.
he's not there for credibility... he's there to argue. He always seems to play devils advocate even if its completely wrong.