The commentators for the MISL Championship on ESPN2 were really good actually spoke about the soccer game and were excited about it. Stone and Wynalda are, well, not very good. Stone seems lost and Wynalda seems to cocky. my humble opinion.
Stop right there dude... To compare Wynalda to anyone who is doing PBP for the MISL championship is ridiculous. The MISL is a horrendous abuse of the word soccer. Think about it... Wynalda is one of, if not the top American players retired from MLS. He doesn't just show up to stadiums on Saturday's to do color commentary. He is there several days prior to. Thus, he has to interview and attend training sessions for both teams leading up to the match from both teams. With me? THEN, he steps into the booth and performs his job. His job is to critique plays and players. He is not Dan Dierdorf from the NFL. He will not kiss #ss to to appease MLS players who TIVO games to remain "Buddy's" with them. Eric Wynalda has a passion for US soccer. He wants to see our american players reach the pinnacle of the sport. If he appears critical to you so be it. He is a Hall of Famer whose whole life is dedicated to our country's success in the sport. I hope he remains in his position until someone more passionate takes his place!
Wrong. Eric Wyanalda has a passion for himself, and several players of his liking. Who? Mullan, the whole Revs team, Landon, and certain other chosen ones. If you happen to wear a Metros jersey or have the last name Hankinson (wait...it wasn't the coach?) you are basically a piece of shti to this idiot. as for the whole COMMENTary comment. That's inane, because he doesn't DO any commentary on the match. Most of the time him and his gay buddy Stone are waxing on and on about Dayak's alfalfa farm, how Heaps played basketball for Duke (so I guess that makes him a SOCCER player...right?), and other retarded comments that have NOTHING to do with the game at hand. He is the absolute worst color commentator in sports. On ESPN, the only sport that had worst production values was the NHL, where Clement (another retard like Wynalda) would say NOTHING. Absolutely NOTHING. Melrose with his greasy hair, and that stupid laugh. Jesus, who could listen to those clowns. Well that same opinion holds true for MLS broadcasts on ESPN. They are the worst produced thing on ESPN. From the camera, to the info, to the half-time cheesey interviews, to the Radioshak minute ("the fastest minute in sports folks") everything about it sucks. BLOWS. Can we get those English broadcastors from FSC who do EPL matches (no not bretos folks). At least those people take the game seriously. Eric and Stone don't. We have the blind leading the blind there. Stone is a lapdog, who says "folks" every four minutes. Wynalda, invariably at the 9 minute mark says some variation of "this is going to get pretty good." And every now and then the are flat out wrong, like when Brandi asked Bob Bradley what the U-20s experience of Gaven and Ward brings to the Metros. Bob said it's the other way around, the Metros help the U-20s, and all of a sudden one of the major talking points that some idiot peddled to those two idiots held no water, yet they kept on using it. Whoever says Hudson isn't better at commentating than these guys needs to get help.
wah wah wah wah wah wah He's a color guy--he is PAID to state his opinions. How is he any different from Walton or Stephen A Smith or John Kruk or Tim McCarver? These guys are paid to say "that was a stupid play" or "that was a great decision". And I'm glad someone will. He's not the best commentator in the world, but hell, we've done a lot worse.
But he's freaking boring. His comments are divisive, not because they are extreme (which they def. aren't...), but because of the manner, style, and the pomoposity with which he states them. Not only that, but these two bums, and I don't say that lightly, don't take MLS seriously. If a game is kind of boring, all of a sudden we go into 15 minute tangents about nothing. I understand these two love themselves, but that makes the league look amateurish. And until the league corrects that problem, I don't take MLS seriously. I take the Metros seriously, with the super production values of MSG (camera work, pre-game show, half-time show), it's all about Metros, and NOTHING else. And that's the way it should be. On a NATIONAL broadcast, it's all about that team Wynalda wants to win. In last weeks match, it was the Revs. So every second we heard how incredible the Revs are, how unique their game is, and how much better they are than anybody else, yet in the match, because those two idiots are devoid from reality, the Revs were holding onto their undefeated record by the smallest of margins. So there you go. This guy sucks, he doesn't take the league seriously. How anybody can actually listen to this prick blow hot air, is beyond me.
It's too bad that ESPN2 doesn't use a former coach like Dave Dir or Ray Hudson for its color guy rather than a former player like Wynalda. The typical "insights" Wynalda adds to a broadcast -- "Great pass!", "He should have done better with that chance", "Just you wait, these last 5 minutes are going to be exciting" -- are the same type of thing you overhear in the stands from a guy trying to impress his date. Former coaches, on the other hand, tend to be much better at articulating the strengths and weaknesses of the players, why plays did (or did not) succeed, etc, and one can actually learn a thing or two listening to them.
Hey, give the guy a break. It isn't easy to live with the fact that your wife was screwing John Harkes.
Have we ever found out what he did to get himself fired from the Las Vegas Lights WHILE NO SOCCER WAS GOING ON BECAUSE OF A PANDEMIC?
I live about 20 minutes from Fordham U. (NAFC was supposed to use their field as home field) so I was stoked for them initially, the more I read about the owner and their operation though I can't help but get a SF Deltas like vibe. I hope I'm wrong but I'm not really enthusiastic about their chances.