I'm sure this is somewhere else on these boards, but did anyone catch the great new tandem on the DC-Fire game last night? Some guy and Paul Caligiuri. I am happy to have MLS on FSW, but those two suck. Classic moment of the match: Etcheverry scores but the crosser on the left was offside when he received the pass. NOBODY celebrates after the score, not the crowd, not Etch nor any of his teammates... except our new FSW broadcast team. They procede to laud the great play leading up to the "goal", even though the replay is showing the offside and not the "goal". Everyone in America knew something was not right about that play, except the brilliant announcers. Anyone time how long FSW had the score at 1-0 up on the screen and how long they talked about the great play before realizing that it wasn't valid? I know that they are doing the game remote and watching it on the screen, but why did everyone else know what was going on, except those who should? CLASSIC MOMENT...
Nothing ambiguous about them. They were just plain bad. Misidentifying players, completely missing the fact that the goal was called back, using bad, bad grammar, and the most unpardonable sin of all, whoever the other guy was besides Caliguri referred to DC as "the United" at least twice.
Even worse than that, he used the dreaded phrase "climb the ladder" at least 3 times! Jack Edwards has no idea the forces that he has unleashed.
I've heard better in the lower leagues. Maybe they'll improve wth time, but it hasn't been a good start for those Hacks this season.
With all the other WC vets getting jobs, where's Tab Ramos? He'd probably be more interesting than Caliguri. Or maybe Lalas will retire again.
Regarding Kenny Stern, if you mean "kissed the Fire's collective ass for 90 minutes" when you says "good job," I agree. Jack was OK. Kenny was horrible. Both teams were thugging it up on the defensive end and diving on the offensive end, but you would have thought the Fire were getting gang-raped the way he called the game. The only think Kenny did right all night was catch the early offside call on the disallowed goal.
Kenny's a turd. He always was. One thing I don't understand is people's obsession on these Boards with announcing. I barely even listen. Aren't you watching the game? Do you need someone to tell you what is going on? Just tune these guys out and you'll probably have a much more enjoyable experience. May I suggest heavy drinking?
Probably in New Jersey, not LA. They're gonna do this on the cheap, so they're gonna get someone who lives in or near LA.
The FSW crew was the worst I've ever heard. Paul Caligiuri was incredibly bad: one inane comment after another. Some of them were barely above the gibberish level. He reminded me of Prof. Irwin Corey, only Cal wasn't trying to be funny. My son and I were laughing out loud at some of Cal's comments. Not only did they not recognize the offside call, but Cal thought this was DC's first game of the season. At one point he said Chi was playing like it was its first game, instead of DC. Also, he said it was Earnie Stewart's first MLS game. The other guy (Mark Rudibaga?) couldn't get the names Quaranta and Quantanilla right. And that's just for starters. It really was a pathetic broadcast, but then it was a pathetic game. The only interesting part (and I hope Eskandarian is ok) was the fall Eskandarian took when Convey crashed into him. I've never seen anyone's neck bent back like that. It was scary. My favorite part was Etch getting a yellow card for dissent. There should be more of those "awarded."
Was it Mark Rogondino? He is one of the broadcasters for the San Diego Sockers of the MISL, obviously lives in San Diego, and was (from what I'm told) the "disembodied voice" on the highlights on the first edition of MLS Wrap. I've met him. Very nice guy. Played at San Diego State.
I loved how, in the first half, Cal was saying Chicago wasn't being patient enough on offense. Then, in the second half, he said they were being too patient on offense. How many times did he screw up the "ask Miles/Fire/DC" email plug?
all I can figure is Cal must have heard someone say that it was DC's home opener and he figured that meant season opener... good to see he follows the league closely.
Yes. He and Caligiuri were horrible. I would much rather have Bretos and Hopkins back for the next match.
Man that game was just painful to watch. Brutal style of soccer by both sides, no goals, and the play-by-play guy was so unexcited. It was awful. On the positive side I really like the hour long MLS Wrap and Harkes and the other guy do a great job.
There is no homer announcer quite like Kenny Stern. Bocanegra could sprint across the entire pitch, lunge both feet first (spike's showing) at an opposing player who is forty yards away from the ball, thus snapping his legs in half and Stern would act dumbfounded, during the slo-mo replay of Boca assaulting somebody, on how the ref could even consider giving a card. Just using Boca for example, it could be any Fire player. I enjoy watching the Fire games on Fox Sports Chicago, but he really needs to be a smidgen more impartial.
Uh, yeah. Everytime I go to a baseball game, someone near me has a pocket radio tuned to the game. That's partly because we're in left field and our seats are closer to Saturn than they are to the plate, but most of it is because the announcers are part of the game. I mean, even purists need a John Motson or an Alan Parry. Save for JP, there's not really anyone who's like that on the MLS side. And that hurts the game because the announcers can't convert casual fans into regulars because they can't tell a good story.
I think Bretos and Hopkins will normally be doing the games, like they did in the opener for KC v. DC. But Bretos and Hopkins are also the local announcers for the Galaxy (KCAL? Channel 9) so when the Galaxy are televising a game (usually a road game if I'm not mistaken), they're on the road and the backup crew at FSW has to take over. I listened to two minutes and switched over the Edwards and Stern on the Shootout Package, who were at least tolerable.
Well, he did read my column on the Fire site, judging from one comment in overtime. So I guess I have to be nice. And to be fair, Caligiuri was sort of right about the Fire's play, he just needs to use something other than "patience" to describe their offense. Later, COZ <-- sellout
Last week during the Metro-Crew match, the commentary was lost for like 15 minutes and it was heaven. Just watching the action but yet still hearing the crowd and the thump of the ball. I would prefer that to crap play by play. But when the announcers are capable, I like to have it. I was wishing that it would happen again during DC-Fire.