Didn't Shep use to commercials for chewing tobacco? I thought I remember watching him during the "Soccer Made in Germany" hour back in the day. Just to keep this on topic, the only time I heard him was during the WC last year. So if you only have to listen to him every four years he's not that bad.
If you could get a check for talking about soccer and not be required to do any research or stay current on things, you'd take the money too. It's obvious, for one thing, that Shep has no clue on the biz end of MLS.
He also has no clue as to the meaning of words in the English language; in the pre-game he was talking about Pope coming back for the game.....called him "the invincible Eddie Pope"...think he might have meant indispenasable?
JP isn't exactly knocking my socks off either. Last night they were going on about how Guevara was starting unusually slowly staying on the defensive side of the half line. Anybody who watches these games know this is how Guevara starts out almost every game. Patiently playing back, spreading the ball around, picking his spots to move forward and then bringing it in the last half hour or so. How do they think the Metro are tied for the league lead for goals after 75 minutes? The only game I can remember him pushing the issue from the beginning was the LA game and that was after the Chicago loss and Bradley may have told him to get more involved from the start. Speaking of the coach, last week JP was going on about Magee, how "nobody knew about him, I didn't know about him but Bob Bradley knew." That's just ridiculous. According to the Metro site Magee is "one of the most highly-touted youngsters to come out of the U.S. youth national teams. Magee has proved to be a goal scorer at every level…" Anybody familiar with the US youth teams or anybody involved in the MLS draft would have to know about his success at that level. Bradley is responsible for drafting him and developing him but Magee wasn't found on the sandlots of Illinois, he was a big success in the US youth program. Faria on the other hand was on the sandlots of NYC when the Metro found him and he went on to be Rookie of the Year.
I'm surprised no one here has blamed Shep for the loss. If you watch NBA games, the analysts are awful "homers" who basically summarize the same thing you just saw on TV. On the other hand, whether you agree with his opinions or not, Shep's not afraid to criticize the Metros (on most occasions) and does have some interesting insight into the games. Speaking of Joe Tolleson, he was doing the Power match on MSG just before the Metro game. Does anyone recall the real reason he was removed from Metro telecasts?
I actually like Shep's work! He is intelligent, knows the game, and is not affraid to say what is on his mind!
JT and Tommy were the best Metro Star announcers we've ever had. Shep is shaky at best and not a real pro- metro guy I would like to be doing the job.
Would you rather he sound like John Sterling? It's refreshing to see a local analyst say what is on his mind. Shep's job is to give insight, not be a cheerleader.
Homers are much better this. He seems to hate our team. All the national broadcast anouncer root against us hard enough we don't need it on our own network , thank you.
I think on the whole, Shep is pretty good. If you watch the other broadcasts from the other teams in MLS, they all pale in comparison to JP and Shep. So what if he is not pro-Metro 100% of the time. He calls a spade a spade and especially last year when he consistantly ripped Oz.
I like Shep's attitute of just saying what on his mind. It's just too bad that everything thats on it is crap. For what is worth alot of people on these very boards used to bitch about how JT and Smyth didn't really say anything about the MFO's/MLS stupidity. So you gotta give SHep some credit, you may not like what he says but you gotta admire the fact that he's outspoken. I'll still take JT and Smyth over these two anyday tho. Cause they made it fun to watch games and were just like 2 MetroFans up in the booth, except they werent drunk and you could understand what they said.
Do you have any examples of this to support your argument? I don't think you will. What was he supposed to say when Guevara was red carded? "Great job Amado"? The example of John Sterling is perfect. Also, when the YES Network took over the Nets games, they replaced Bill Raftery (known to speak his mind on occasions) and replaced him with Kelly Tripucka. Do you want a "yes" man (no pun intended) to do the games or someone who is opinionated and isn't afraid to criticize a Metro player if warranted? In that case, let's get those 2 guys who bang the drums at home games to be the analysts.