Is it just me or does the Soccer coverage, especially Toronto FC coverage on Toronto radio, particularly on the FAN590 absolutely SUCK? Actually it's pretty much non-existant except for a one-hour show on Thursday nights @ 11pm on the FAN. You'd think with the Leafs and Raps season's done, and with the Jays and TFC the only other major pro sports teams still active in Toronto, they'd be in the spotlight a bit more. What's the deal???
I seriously think the media underestimated the hype Toronto FC would have and now they are trying to catch up fast. Give it time, Toronto FC will be huge in this city soon enough, until then though this forum is great!
I'm saying that half-an-hour a week, at such a pathetic time slot (11pm) is not enough for one of Toronto's major pro sports teams. The show itself is great, Nigel and Bob do a great job. The problem isn't the quality of the coverage, the problem is the quantity of coverage.
You dont want the guys on the Fan talking soccer, especially MLS. They have no clue what they are talking about. They only make the team, and the league, look worse whenever they bring it up. Nigel Reed is the only one who has any idea what he is talking about. None of the Fan590's hosts know the first thing about soccer, and especially not MLS.
The problem with Toronto, like most American cities is that they only focus ont eh big four. None of the presenters (except maybe the Schwarsk (SP)) have a clue about soccer and want to in teh "Club" with the big boys and the NFL, NBA etc. CFL gets about as much coverage as TFC and that's an established league. What annoys me is when they go on and on and on about the Yankees and the Red Sox. Who give a crap, seriously, I don't mind Jays talk. There are guests who know a little, though. Brunt is good when he is on Prime Time. THe only beef I have is the schedule right now with there having been very little momentum in TFC games, but the next week should see some significant publicity. Now if we can put a winning streak together. We could be in a playoff spot by the end of next Saturday!! (optimist)
It's not just the lack of TFC coverage that upsets me, but also the lack of knowledgeable media people--especially as the U-20 World Cup is just around the corner. There's no regular host (Mon - Fri) at The FAN that is interested in soccer.
Ya, none of the Fans primary hosts seem to know, or care at all about soccer. And the dont think the Swirsk knows much about soccer. Ive never heard him talk it, but at least the Swirsk isnt a senile old bastard like Bob McCown. FC wont be being ignored much longer. After this week the local media will see how much Toronto cares about FC. The Blue Jays shitting the bed isnt going to hurt FC coverage either.
Well, with a 2-week break in the schedule, it is also difficult to find things to talk about, especially being a fledgling franchise. Let's see if they get any coverage through the next 8 days, as they play 3 games...
Listening to 'Prime Time Sports w/ Bob McCown', it's a round table kinda thing with 4 guys talking sports, and they just finished cutting up TFC At least they took a couple minutes of their time to actually acknowledge TFC exists. Because we all know, Golf and the re-signing Ponikarovsky is way more exciting!
Bob McCown is an annoying twit anyway. And I don't mean annoying in the way he wants us to think in those crappy commercials where he wears sunglasses with a cheesy guitar in the background while saying something 'contreversial'. I mean annoying in that he's lame and about 30 years out of date. "People hate me because I tell it like it is"... no Bob, people hate you because you're useless.
No. He's been in Toronto for decades ... and while I don't like his soccer opinions at all, his show is by far the best general sports program on the Fan. B
yeah i was pissed about the game not being on radio, the tv broadcast was electric as a basketball game. But then you realize why, Rogers, owners of the blue jays owns like half of all the radio stations.
You gotta expect it. It took the Raps a long time to get the coverage they get. Also, Bobcat never worked for the Fusion, he did work for the Blue Jays though.
Rogers also owns Sportnet. They broadcast Toronto games on television. They showed the inaugural game.
The day after a huge win for TFC and what is Mike Hogan on 'the fan' talking about this morning....BOXING!!!!????.....WTF?!?!?!?
he's been in Toronto in decades, because the sports radio hosts in Toronto suck, they are all garbage, they never say anything good, its all repetitive BS, they were so desperate they hired a former maple lauhgs gm and the raptors announcer.
Tonight, on Prime Time Sports (FAN590), McCown started up by trying to start up a discussion about the future of horseracing (Preakness this weekend)! His guests had little more than a passing knowledge of this "sport" and even less interest in discussing it! Can you imagine how the listeners felt??! He almost never acknowledges the team's existence other than to make some assinine wisecrack. He likes to refer to anyone that's taking interest in TFC as being cult followers that "drank the Kool-aid".
Thats why I never listen to the clown. For a Toronto station they are very negative to all Toronto teams. Its one thing for the rest of the country to hate T.O, but when you have a local station hiring anti - Toronto personnel, that crosses the line.
The problem with the sports media in Toronto is that we still have an infrastructure that is built around hockey, and few announcers/reporters who can talk intelligently about anything else. I remember a few years ago listening to the Fan one July after the strike had been on for a year and still the only thing they talked about was hockey...even though there hadn't been a game played in over a year. The newspapers aren't much better than the radio. While the newspapers in this city are giving some press to Toronto FC, they are really only covering TFC, not MLS in general. If you want to find out what happened in the DC United - Columbus game you have to go elsewhere. And even with their coverage of Toronto FC, they mostly have someone report on the game - nobody is capable of doing any analysis of it. As a number of people have pointed out, basketball didn't get much coverage either, until the Raptors started up, so there is hope that things can improve. On the other hand, the Rock have been around for several years now, continue to fill the ACC yet lacrosse gets even less coverage than soccer.
Ya I really dont listen to the Fan anymore. The only guy on that station with a positive attitude is Chuck Swirsky. The station is 75% complaining about the Leafs.
It's bad alright. There's a lotta issues. What annoys me most is their claim that they only reflect what people call about. All their hosts claim this ... but it's not true. You can see it's not true when somebody calls up and starts talking about track and field, say. The host will make some joke and cut em off. I heard this very thing happen a number of times! Or if Swirsky has trivia, call in and pick 'track and field,' see what happens. I bet anything he makes a joke and cuts you off. And mission accomplished, cuz this will discourage anybody else. So much for that. And who knows how many don't get thru the screener? If they want, they can only allow hockey thru, and then claim that's what all the callers are calling about!! It's partly cuz the hosts are lazy, and don't bother to learn about any sport outside of their own Big Four interests ... They're hired for their personality on air. They're told to stick to the big sports, and they don't care, that's fine by them, less work! They are also strongly influenced by ESPN (hey, late at night, they become ESPN), I expect there's a strong push down south for more NFL. But I believe it will all change ... just slowly ... I think it's changing already in the listeners, which are more international, and it's the hosts and management that are the standing in the way across their 'blue line,' but they can only hold out for so long.