Since when do you have to be an expert to think that a person babbling at you on TV is or isn't irritating?
Rae and Wynalda would be an interesting pairing. those two could really make the Thursday night MLS game exciting. for some reason i think that they would really work well with each other, chemistry-wise. i could be completely wrong on that ... but of course we'll never find out.
point taken, but he was right about people not knowing the difference between a PbPer and a color commentator. they are completely different skills. 99% of the time the skills of one job don't easily transfer to another. and most people on here don't seem to understand that. the only person i can think of -- in any sport -- that has switched from analyst to PbP is Dan Fouts, and trust me, he ain't exactly rollin' in the Emmys for his work as a PbP. to be a lead PbP guy, you really have to be a polished broadcaster. you have to have hosting skills. you have to lead the broadcast. most analysts cannot do this. so people that are tossing around scenarios of Tommy Smyth moving from color to PbP or Seamus Malin doing it ... don't have a f-in clue what they're talking about generally.
Derek and Seamus used to call the Revs together, they were the one nice highlight of some very dark years....
Seamus Malin? You must be joking. He was the worst. Seriously, you guys thought he was good? Wow. You must also like Chinaglia. If you want a good color commentator, look no further than Harkes - he was consistently good during the world cup. He's also unique among the current crop of analysts in that he's not prone to hyperbole (yes I'm talking about you, Eric and Marcelo).
Notice how you're in the small minority on this one. Harkes now is an assistant coach with the Red Bulls, so he's kind of busy.
About a year ago, I watched some old USA-Argentina highlights. I was really surprized at how much I liked the pbp. At the end of the game, I caught his name: Bob Ley. I didn't appreciate him as much as I should have, considering the turkey that followed him. Seamus, I could take or leave. I like Bruce better -- he's closer to the action and knows more about what players are going through. Seamus seems a little too academic for my taste. But again, way better than some of those who followed. (cough-cough, Keou-ough, Balboaugh-cough)
Well, if the head coach of the Red Bulls can find time to share the booth with his (contrived) nemesis Wynalda, I see no reason why the assistant can't slip away every once in a while to do some color. Seriously, Harkes is a better commentator, and Wynalda's schtik as a controversial "bad boy" doesn't do enough to excuse his poor commentating skills.
Ley & Malin were the broadcast team when I first started watching the USMNT. I was new to the game, but I loved them both, especially Malin. He had a wonderful turn of phrase.
The best of both worlds would be someone with genuine excitment for the game and a high level of knowledge but the Deuce seems to go for an either/or type of a deal. BTW, I've been watching the NHL play-offs and most announcing teams are very good. Doc Emrick is the best PBP guy in the biz while Pierre McGuire is the best "sideline" reporter ever.
Bob Ley and Seamus Malin, like others have said on here were great together. I still remember watching the '98 World Cup and having them as the main two commentators and thought that they did an absolutely fabulous job. Does anyone else think that we have digressed from that world cup? I thought that most of the people who did the games in France were excellent.
I think DOB and Malin would form a good pair for Thursday night games. Malin is good enough to keep DOB from wandering too much off course. Also, DOB is getting better each game. Yes, he rambles a bit, but that's because he's told to by the producers (read: references to Beckham). PBP guys are prisoners of the game's producers whims and there's no getting around that, unfortunately. Smythe's talents in the booth are wasted because he's the third man and therefore has to compete with faultless Eric for time. Bob Ley was good calling matches back in 1982 and 1994. I've always been mystified why ESPN hasn't used him more often. I think there are a number of good announcers and analyts available to broadcast MLS and Nats games; the problem is matching them up so they can play off each other. Stoner would be decent if he quit his high school rah-rah stuff and just call the games; that said, I think he does well as the pre-game and half-time host.
you are aware that an assistant coach does a whole hell of a lot more than gets bruce's coffee right?
Resurrecting this to honor the man on his retirement. An intelligent commentator who never talked down to his audience. Genuine, smart, and funny, and a tonic to the dehydrated thrills of the domination by canned sounding US sportscaster. Been watching him since 86 and I think the world of him.
Thanks for posting this - do you have a link or anything. I'd love to read more - Malin was witty, amazing, and I have yet to hear any color commentator do better.
Some thoughts on Malin and American soccer here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=18455550
I didn't realize that Malin was retiring and ESPN was doing the half-time lead which led me to believe that he passed away. I did get a bit misty and I was relieved to find out that he was just retiring. I learned quite a bit about soccer and it role in the world and the role of the world in soccer, too from Malin. Yes, he was uppercrust, but it was he did a great job with the backstory between countries and players facing history on the pitch. The US could use more broadly educated and informed color analysts to elevate the public's understanding of the game. In short, Malin was a bright spot in the bad old days of when American soccer was taped-delayed, by-passed and pre-empted. I too see it as a symbolic passing of the torch to the mainstream; Malin helped usher televised soccer from a rare and infrequent event to one that has become height and ubiquitousness. What a perfect summer of televised soccer: USNMT qualifiers, Confederation Cup, Gold Cup, WPS, USWNT friendlies, MLS, USL-1, and the Super-Euro club tune-ups. What a lasting tribute his body of work has left. You know what they say about professionals. They work to eliminate their need by society. Seamus Malin was a consumate professional and his contribution to soccer is evident by the coverage it gets now, much of it due to his work in the early days of network and cable coverage. I don't know if I will be the first to nominate Malin to Oneonta, but it's an honor he richly deserves in my opinion. Note: Oops, he's already there. I didn't see him when I checked the Soccer Builders. For more: http://national.soccerhall.org/CJMA/SeamusMalin.htm.