I like Rob Stone. He truly loves the game. He sounds like he's having a great time at the matches. I remember when he worked for a local TV station here in Tampa,Fl. He would ocasionally show soccer highlites. And that was before we had the Mutiny. Keep up the great work Rob.
Obviously I never get to see MLS or Nats games, but from what I've seen from the highlights, Stoner does tend to get a bit...... excitable. But that's fine. It pains me to see public lynching of the guys who go to bat for our sport, which is basically what happened to JackenTy.
A complaint about soccer by non-watching public is that they dont score enough. MLS CUP was ruined by the fact that the most exciting moment (goal) was ruined absolutely ruined by that idiotic airhead Lorrie Fair talking about something. And when the game came to a climax with KC trying to get back in it the commentating was horrible. There was no focus. For me, the game was almost ruined by the commentating.
I swear, i'm not a Stone basher, but I honestly don't understand how the broadcast the way it's slanted is supposed to attract new fans when it ends up sounding like the broadcasters themselves aren't even interested in the game. The constant little tidbits at the expense of the on-field action imply, "Well, we know you couldn't possibly be into the game, so let's entertain and distract you so you'll come back and watch another game for our commentary, rather than any love of the sport." Hey, the commentative asides work well in sports with long pauses like golf, tennis and baseball - but soccer never stops. It's really frustrating to see a team build a play upfield with a solid chance while the announcer drones on about something the coach's mother said to him that inspired him years ago. If Stone's approach is really to draw in new fans, I don't think commentating that focuses on off-field trivia is the way to do it.
I honestly feel Rob Stone is the luckiest person in the world. I cannot believe there is someone so unknowledgable about the sport commentating on it. I mean, I happen to live, breath, and eat this sport, have coaching and playing qualifications. I hated this guy from the first time I saw him on a World Soccer highlight show. Purely because he was a young guy with young preppy hair who was clearly selected to run a show being put to a 'young' soccer audience, and it was like the only soccer show around at the time. You watch the likes of Bob Costas on Inside the NFL. Then you watch this guy. I am sure that ex-football players don't always like the commentators of football games, so maybe that is the problem I have. But seriously, even to look at the ABC/ESPN packages. Mike Patrick and Al Michaels are among the best in the football business. You never really question their knowledge of the game because they really don't pretend to analyze it. They just call it like they see it. They use silence when appropriate. I feel like Rob Stone is reading out of an NSCAA text book using terms that don't fit and providing analysis where not appropriate. I am quite surprised there is so much support for this guy on the forum. I have never met anyone that liked the guys that do soccer. That Ty Keough (sp?) guy is awful. And I am from Boston...Jack Edwards? I remember him when he went to SportsCenter from Channel 7. He never could get a good play by play gig with the majors for years. All of the sudden he is the play by play guy for the qualifiers? These guys have to go. Honestly, I am 27. There are millions like me that are pissed off that we get the castaways or preppy pretty boys. I want Pat Summeral! (pre-alcoholic stage of course) Now that soccer is a bit more mature and there are viewers such as myself who watch, can't we get some real play by play and analysis? Sorry, rant over. I had to write in because I just saw the NCAA women's semifinal. I can't wait til you can get rid of the commentary on the digital feed. US soccer broadcasts will finally be watchable.
Pat Summeral would be unwatchable without John Madden (the converse is also true, notice MNF, but I digress). Add Madden, and you'll have folks here bitching about him yelling "Boom" at each hard tackle (how do you think he would have called Franchino clothes-lining Cobi Jones in MLS Cup '02?), and bitching about the way he gushes about the rowdier supporters groups. Not to mention Summeral's dry delivery -- god, does this guy even like soccer? Whatever. I'm a big Bretos fan, a big Stone fan, and yes "That's why he's here!" was about the stupidest call I've ever heard in a game of any variety, but also the most exuberant, and I loved it. I like soccer because a goal takes about 30 seconds to develop, and could happen at any point during the match, and one might be all you get. That's an exciting moment in a match, and an announcer that sits back and says, dryly: "And look here, a clinical finish from Mathis has put the US up one-nil" (it's one-nothing, first of all, but I digress again) doesn't do the moment justice. When we have truly big games to watch, either at the club or country level, you'll get the kind of commentary you're looking for. "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" would have worked had we beated Germany (and both of their goalkeepers), but would be (rightly) considered over-the-top for MLS Cup. But until then, let them shout, scream, whoop and holler; let them give the lineage of each player on the bench if they so choose, but if they show a passion and love of the game, it becomes contagious to the audience (save the more jaded, sophisticated viewers, of course), which helps the game overall.
There is a good chance that Rob played the sport at just as high a level as you. You may know a lot about soccer, good for you. You may well know more than Rob. But there's a reason Costas, Madden, Michaels and Summerall all made tens of millions in that business - they're among the best ever. Stone isn't as good as they are, and may never be? I can accept that. However, no one in this country has a sufficient budget to get Costas to announce soccer.
I hate Costas, I think he looks like a rodent and acts like one too. I think Stoner is just fine for what we got, he at least has a lot of passion for the game and knows MLS players and teams well enough to practically announce some plays or moves before they happen. Sure he makes mistakes and every once and a while need to be reminded of some obscure rules of the game but overall he is perfect for MLS.
The ESPN games this season were horrific. Were you interested in these games? Would a new fan watching these games want to tune in for more? NO, to both questions. They were simply awful. Not disputing your take on Stone, but without their chatty banter the broadcast would be akin to watching grass grow.
Let's stop with the "dumbing down the game" for people in the United States. If they don't get it, they don't get it. The game has been in this country for 100 years! If your mom and 8 year old son don't get it, who cares? They are never going to sustain the game at the pro level anyway. As viewers we just need to be guided through it with occassional comments, not constant banter, we can see what's going on.
I think the phrase is every once in awhile. What gets me is they sometimes never do play by play. If it was just Stone in there I could understand it, but it's a two person team. One person should do play by play and the other guy the color commentary. They need to tune into Rochester's PBP and color guys, that's how you call a soccer match.
Does anyone remember who did the bulk of the announcing of the broadcasts shown in the US during the last World Cup final round of 32? That tournament got me hook, line, and sinker on how exciting the game is to watch. I ended up remembering many of the players (be they from US, Europe, Africa, or Asia) from that Final even though I had not watched them previously. Whoever did the broadcasts, and the style they used, seems to have been effective with me as a new viewer under those circumstances.
Unless you are very young, you know that the only soccer you used to see on TV was 1. The World Cup every 4 years; 2) "Soccer Made in Germany"; 3) Weekly English league games on PBS (maybe); and 4) very spotty coverage of NASL. I remember the "Soccer Bowls" a lot, but remember very few, if any non-Cosmos regular season games being broadcast. It has been 100 years, but the public at large hasn't really been exposed until let's say the period covering WC '94 to WC '02, with the advent of MLS and the development of better and more visible US players. And I'm that 8 year old kid back in the 70s who didn't know anything about soccer, and now I'm the one "sustaining" it. So just to say it's been 100 years don't mean....
Sounds like you're talking about Jack Edwards and Ty Keough, and it's kind of interesting to hear you praise them. Jack was a Sportscenter guy and I think a hockey announcer too, while Ty is a former national team player and was the analyst for MLS and nats games. The pair of them really went to bat for soccer in America. Jack especially was unapologetic in his enthusiasm for the game, but for some reason most BS posters just hated them. Check out this column by our own Dan Loney: http://www.cybersoccernews.com/columnists/loney/2002archives/020409jack.shtml Their biggest transgression was that they were real homers and they occasionally got a little carried away. Some of Jack's most frequently ridiculed lines from the last World Cup included "This scoreline is stopping traffic all over Europe!", "Another victory for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!" and "It's 3-0 and the U.S. is drubbing//drumming/bombing/throbbing Portugal!" (nobody could quite figure out exactly what he said there). Jack got so worked up over in Korea that he lost his voice. And back home he and Ty were basically subjected to a public lynching by angry soccer nerds around the country, until SUM (I think that's who it was) replaced them on the telecasts.
Oh yeah, and Ty used to pronounce the word havock like "hav-AWK!!!!" That really drove people here crazy.
I confused. What makes a good announcer? If you listen to say, BBC Radio during games, those guys occaisionally reference a game, and its radio so you would think the PBP would be a bit more. For TV, I don't need Stone telling me that Cunningham just dribbled into the corner and got stuck again, I am watching it, I see that. And if this truely bothers you, do everybody a favor, turn the sound down, put on your fav Barry Manilow album and watch the game. Last time I checked, when the schedule said Columbus versus the Metrostars, I didn't think to myself, "Hmmm, wonder if Stone will be interesting this time..." I do this for football, the TV guys are awful , Madden the whole lot, they are all annoying, so I turn them down and listen to my hometwon homers, at least I know I will agree with what they are saying. I think that Stone and Waldo are head and shoulders better than TyJack, but that doens't mean it can't get better. It's part of both the announcers growth and the sports. So just chill out, it's sports commentary. Nobody will agree 100% on it.
Oh and whatever the annoucers wanna do, if you are reading, pleasee, pleasee dont use the line "It's in the net", "its in the back of the net", "its in the net" over and over again after a goal. We arnt catching fish, we are playing soccer. Its obvious if its a goal its in the net, and if your going to say it, at least dont repeat it over and over again.
Thats DC United announcer Dave Johnson's bit. --People around here actaully like it man. Of course thats usually because he does it the most when we score a goal
I love that, I understand he got it from the English announcer on the German game of the week that used to be shown on PBS.