I'm a Yankee fan and I want to kill him I think we should send a petition to Fox to fire McCarver Unfortunately I have been finding out that crappy sports commentating is across the American landscape - not just American soccer. (sadly, Madden has turned into a parody of himself. So has Berman. McCarver's gotten worse too - give me Morgan any day of the week. So has Vitale and Billy Packer. But I digress). Like anything else in the media the dross crap outweighs the good stuff. There are ten Ron Atkinson's to one Jon Motson, one Cantor to ten of those clowns doing the PPV sportscast. One Vin Scully to ten Brent Musbergers (post Wild Turkey). It is a damn shame that regardless of sport, announcers by in large suck. I could go on at very great lengths on the crap I am subjected to on a daily basis sports-wise. I wouldn't wish Jon Sterling on anyone. People want to be the news rather than simply report it. I wonder if this is a mostly American thing? Note : my ideal studio would be JP Dellacamera and Ray Hudson or Alexi Lalas for now. The Budweiser/Joe Buck/Shamalamadingdong commercial captures this perfectly. Broadcasters that are watcable : Vin Scully Mike Emerick/ John Davidson Marv Albert Keith Jackson Joe Buck Gary Thorne I'm probably missing a few this is straight off the top of my head
We should differentiate between PBP and color commentators. I agree that Vin Scully is classic. Has encyclopedic knowledge without being condescending. I find Keith Jackson a bit too folksy, but he's OK. I know some will disagree, but I like Al Michaels. In soccer, I still think Cantor is the best. Sure, many will say his "gooollllll!" is played out by now, but the guy has sincere passion and a respect for the game, and that's why I don't get tired of his trademark call. JP is among the best of the English language PBP announcers. You always get the impression that he's been around the sport and actually knows the difference between Anderlecht and Club Brugge.
Thanks to living between two markets, I had my choice of nine college football games at noon on Saturday. I didn't hear anything awful because I was flipping around, but I hardly think that the 18 or 20-some guys doing those games were gold. Commentary sucks because: 1. There are so many positions to fill. b. Speaking clearly and without stumbling outweighs actually knowing what you are talking about.
"Now to be a really top football reporter or commentator you've got to have a real passion for the game, you've got to be very enthusiastic, you've got to be prepared to work hard and you've also got to be a very good communicator." Oh yeah, and you've got have a swimsuit calendar behind you're desk when you're interviewed on TV. Just classic.
1. I guess season ticket holders in supporters sections are the reason why the sport is failing, or a joke. You little twit. The sport is not supported, in part, because TV is still a time buy on espn so they don't allocate their best resources to do the games. The last half century of American sports has proven that successful leagues, enjoy even more success once they have good TV coverage. For right now, I'll take a guy who is passionate about the sport, even if he is a bit dorky, over someone who falsely overly reverant about the game. I watched a Liverpool telecast three weeks ago and their commentators sounded like two sauced up Scousers. Frankly it was entertaining to watch. 2. "The great John Motson" - I doubt you would have heard of him if not for EA Sports' FIFA series 3. Sports commentators won't take it seriously until it has enough financial power to be taken seriously. The economic reality is that MLS doesn't have enough of a National footprint to warrant regular coverage and not enough attendance or TV viewership to warrant SportsCenter or out of market sports coverage, I hate to break it to you, but Rob Stone is not the reason why soccer is failing. But maybe, just maybe, if John Motson could come on loan for a summer, all of America would become soccer fans.
Where do I sign? Stone is terrible and less Wynalda would be welcome, move him back to the sidelines.
Al Michaels. I'll never forget his PBP for the 1980 Olympic hockey when the US beat the Russians and then the Finns for the gold medal. Mike Emerick and Jon Davidson are just the best. I don't even like hockey that much anymore, but I'll watch if those guys are doing the game. Top notch all the way. I don't think Rob Stone is that great, but he is not that bad, either. He'll grow out of those sophomoric lines he uses, I hope . . . and hopefully in the process he will focus more on the game than the personalities. I have to admit I do not understand the knocks on Balboa. I though he did fine with the color, and brought a lot of technical insight as one would expect from a former player. Though he struggled a couple of times to think of something to say during the USA-PAN match, overall I thought he did a creditable job. I do think it time, though, that he get a haircut. I think the worst announcers are the british ones who, though very knowledgeable about the game, sound as if they are bored to tears.
I agree that Rob Stone is painful to listen to. But do you remember Ty Keogh? UGH! Now this is just my opinion, but the ESPN crew severely detracts from the game for me. It might help get kids into the game, and that's a good thing, but I can't stand Rob Stone. I'll sign the petition.
Christ, those El Salvador broadcast guys absolutely are kind of like having Wayne and Garth do the...no, never mind, that would be an insult to Wayne and Garth. At least my Mom could have pronounced everyone's name correctly. I see Stone and Balboa as stopgap measures until we get some quality commentators who are both American and good. They aren't horrible by any stretch, but they aren't anywhere near excellent, either. I don't think Jack and Ty are good either, but they are so fun to make fun of. "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory!" God, those were the days... What about Lionel Bievenue
Why not throw Ridge Mahoney in the mix and make it a 3 man clusterfvck? I couldn't think of any other pairing that would cause me to shotput my cable box out the window quicker.
I don't really have a problem with Stone even though he say's some corny remarks, and I like Balboa, but I hate Wynalda. I think out of the three I would like to see Wynalda go cause I think he's freakn' idiot. And why in the world does ESPN2 keep teaming Stone and Wynalda up? It's now getting to the point where I mute the tv cause I don't want to listen to him.
I hear you guys loud and clear. Rob Stone is a character. You know, though, this world needs characters. At this point, I'd be disappointed if they replaced Rob with somebody else. But, if I could pick the announcers myself, anyone I wanted, I would have Mike Haynes do the play-by-play and Thomas Rongen do the analysis, that would be an awesome combination. My username is USA_2014 because that's the year I predict the USA will win the world cup! I'm a big fan of MLS, and I have a lot of tolerance for little things that might need improving, because overall I am so ecstactically happy that we have a real professional soccer league in this country and I will support it to the end! Go USA!!!
this thread is such bs. and i don't mean "bigsoccer". stone loves the game, is passionate about the team and actually cares about the result on the pitch. he's one of us. who would you have instead dave "jason wolff" o'brien??!!
hell yes. Lionel had the right personality for it. that EPL show he did was outstanding. come to think of it, I miss old Buccigross on NHL2nite as well (lockout fallout, I guess). That guy was funny. Great Austin Powers references...and he knows his rock...very cool. Unlike Barry "pinstripe" Melrose! But I digress...
We are forgetting that when you come down to it, THEY (MLS, ESPN) doesn't really know what they are doing when it comes to soccer. If THEY are trying to pitch this to 10 year old kids...then why shut down THE only Bay Area soccer team that has demonstrated to have one of the largest number of kids playing organized soccer in the US? IF they ESPN/TV is pitching to kids as their target audience based on what MLS/League is telling ESPN/TV who their target audience is.... Well this proves that neither side knows what the #@%()@ they are doing. As one poster said...turn off the volume.
I can't believe anyone here would defend Bretos. The guy is WAY worse than Stone. I honestly can't sit through one of his games on FSC to screaming at him to shut the ******** up.
Maybe they should hire deaf mutes using sign language for the broadcasts, that would make them tolerable. I am just dreading the day they put Rob "I sound like I just got my nuts caught in a vice" Stone alongside Christian "I like to speak wih a Spanish accent to sound sophisticated" Miles for a broadcast. It would come across like 2 high pitched high schoolers discussing the previous nights prom.
...and how much more fun it would have been if they'd been able to get dates. Stone and Wynalda just spend too much time questioning the officials.... ...and I may be alone in this, but instead of calling a foul 'professional' I'd like to hear one of them, just once, call it a 'cheap shot because the defender got beat and that's all he could do'.
Hear, hear . . . fire that puzzy I'm tired of the hyperbole. And, in the wake of the world cup broadcasts, the only ESPN broadcasters I think get passing marks are Glenn Davis, John Harkes, JP Dellacamera and Shep Messing. Balboa's broadcasting skills have improved but I disagree with about 90% of what he has to say. Tommy Smyth should just go back to wherever the hell he's from, sounds like Darby O'Gill or something off a cartoon. Wynalda really gets a kick out of himself, thinks he's why we're all watching. Chinaglia still can't speak English and he's lived in New York about 35 years. Dave O'Brien is a joke as play-by-play on our LEAD BROADCAST TEAM, he calls soccer about as well as Curt Gowdy did back in 86.
What a bunch of **************! Yes they suck but of all the things to talk about this world cup, you jackasses want to cry about the announcers. Posts like this want to make me puke. Change the channel (to spanish), mute the TV. Just pull up your big boy panties and get over it