I thought he didn't do a bad job. Stumbled a couple of times, oozed about how great Altidore was but other than that not too bad. I miss Wynalda he's always good for a couple of water cooler quotes a game.
Very good. Criticized the team and individual players when they needed it. And without that smerking "I can do it better" attitude. I'll give him an A.
I thought he did a really good job. I wasn't really annoyed by him at any point, which was a pleasant change. I did however find it incredibly annoying that ESPN found it imperative to "Remind" us that the Duke UNC game was on. It was said with a hint of disbelief that we were watching soccer over that game - at least that's the way I took it. Good old ESPN ;-)
Idk if this was him or not but whoever said Convey flopped at the beginning got that wrong, that looked like a pretty flagrant foul to me. Otherwise i guess the commentating was pretty good.
It was the first time in a long time that the announcers did not interupt my concentration on the match. Wynalda would have been great in the studio but I like the future with Harkes.
Best job in a longtime! Well done Harkes and JP. I've gotten used to the ESPN 30 at 30 but really wish they would stop trying to sell us on "other" games while we enjoy a soccer match. Certainly an A for Harkes and JP tonight.
He was soooo boring. I could write a computer program to do what he does. A color guy is supposed to give color, not tell us what we are perfectly capable of seeing ourselves. If you are a former soccer player and manager, you should be tell us some inside stuff about managing and tactics, not limit yourself to stuff an AYSO player knows.
I agree with the above. Dellacamera is the best home grown play by play guy that I'm aware of in this country, solid, serious with a great voice. The perfect color guy should be someone who brings excitement and drama to the broadcast, someone who can lead a casual viewer to feel that he or she is viewing a big event and might want to watch again. Not sure Harkes brings brings this to the table. Neither did Wynalda with his constant criticism and non-broadcaster voice. Plus way too many pitch and side references from Harkes for me. I've never heard Ray Hudson on color but someone with that temperment and flair might be the ticket. In reality dispite his lack of a big time broadcasting voice ESPN might have considered just bringing the entire Red Bulls team to the national broadcast. Shep Messing brings a good level of excitement and is not just grounded in soccer but also has the ability to draw connections between soccer and other sports, a definite plus for a struggling sport trying to find its place and grow its audience in the crowded sports scene in this country.
I'll take boring over the incessant chest pounding of a guy like Wynalda. It was refreshing to hear a broadcast without hear how great the color guy was back in 1998 for 90 minutes, or hear about how "you gotta do *this*" and "you gotta do *that.*" Wynalda is an insufferable prick who thinks we enjoy hearing him jerk himself off and talk about how great he is. At least Harkes is a bit humble...even though he is kinda boring. Also, I'd rather have a color guy let the game speak for itself. Harkes did have a tendency to point out the painfully obvious last night, but he didn't talk too much, and that was nice.
Didn't see the game last night but I have always loved JP and wondered when he would get the top spot back. As for our boy Shep, he is generally OK, but if I hear him say "Unbelievable play" one more time I will kill myself. NO play is unbelievable, or we would have never seen it before. That and "No question about it!" Please Shep, get some new catch phrases! Did Harkes have that British accent going last night?
Tinge of a British accent during the pre-game, but it seemed to disappear....or I just got used to it. At least we all know now that Michael Bradley is "the coach's son"....Harkes must have mentioned that at least 5 times during the broadcast.
LOL I remember the first time I heard Harkes interviewed after he joined Derby as a player I thought his accent veered between Northern Irish and Scottish, but never American. Mind you his dad is/was? a Scot. John sounds a lot more American now.
Well ESPN did it again ... The "new" announcing team of JP and Harkes showed that the "world's leading sports network" still sucks ! I like John Harkes as a player and a coach. He requires much more honing as an announcer. I was bored to tears. JP reminds me of the late 1980's when we had commercials in the middle of live coverage. He is soooo yesterday's announcer. Was I the only one who wondered why ESPN (English speaking coverage) was so divided in its bias toward the "home" team ? Lauding plays by Mexico and ho-humming plays by the Americans. I watched Univision for all the 30 at 30 segments and there were at least 3 important plays that were missed by ESPN. (Sorry for those people who were not able to switch between channels.) Univision was all game, all excitement and all passion. ESPN was boring, bias and blithering. Why can't the English speaking networks improve rather than digress ? No wonder so many people (wrongly) still think soccer is boring ! When your announcers say its a surpise that its 2:1 in the first half ! Oh, Jeapordy - I'll take Wynalda for 500 please.
He needs to focus on the game more. There was an important free kick for the US late in the game and he's talking about what bad words Feilhaber was saying instead of focusing on the play. Also, it's going to be really nice to have JP doing play-by-play for the qualifiers. I know some will miss Dave O'Brien but he was more Olympics commentator than soccer commentator and I like the latter better.
I think its a tough call about who a good color guy would be. When my friends come over and watch soccer (most of them dont really like it all that much) they laugh at Ray Hudson on GolTv. So maybe the casual fan doesnt really like the over the top color guy but un "intelligent" fans enjoy that excitment and flair.
I might have to throw something at the TV if I have to hear Harkes say that another player has "good characteristics on the ball". What the hell does that mean? Skill? Say skill then...the extra syllables are not making you sound smarter.
I like Harkes in this role.....thought he did well. However, it shocks me that he hasn't picked up a thesaurus in an effort to expand his use of adjectives. How many times is he going to use the word fantastic during a game?