Just caught Tommy Smyth on the air with Tony you know who.As ususal Tony was calling for Peter Nowaks head over Freddy Adu. Loved it when Tommy told him NFL is not football its Throw Ball. This was in response to Tommy saying that soccer is hard to play on a frozen pitch. Tony said our footballer players seem to have no issues with it. Great answer from Tommy who started off by saying all those guy do is run on it and then the throw ball stuff. Tommy mentioned Bara Brava and Screaming Eagles not sure Tony knew what he was on about and I was a little confused myself. All in all I felt it was all pretty balanced.
i heard it too. from tony's comments after tommy left i got the impression that they either knew each other or he was a frequent guest. cant say for sure. one topic that i thought tommy handled particularly well was when tony asked about fans not getting their money's worth if freddy didn't play the whole game. tommy replied something like "if thats all they did was come out to see freddy, then yes they did not get their money's worth. but if they came out to see good soccer and support their club, then they got more than their money's worth" or something like that they touched on topics like: *the length of the season: tony thought it was too long, tommy agreed, but said he didnt have any idea as to how they would fix it. he pointed out steps that the league has taken to deal like shortening the playoffs from 3game series to home-and-away 1st round and single-elimination thereafter. he also noted that MLS used to play wed night games, but stopped due to low attendance. *DC vs KC in LA: tony thought it should be in one of the team's home stadium to make sure attendance was high. tommy said that probably it had more to due with showcasing a new stadium (HDC) and having the site picked out far in advance for scheduling conflict reasons. and some others which i dont remember. all in all i thought it was a good piece as tony was attacking soccer (for the most part) and tommy was defending. and as they say, any news is good news....
Yea Tommy has been on alot of Tonys show because he also give Horse race predictions a classic show was when during the world cup he had Ray Hudson and Tommy on and they were argueing over the dismissal of Roy Keene on the Irish nat team Tony could not get a word in it was classic.I never laugh so hard hearing those two go at it.
Just on the Tony show: Tony calls Soccer 'Gar-bage' in his own inimitable style. He says Baseball is not sharing the stadium with soccer, that DCU is third class tennants who are being evicted. Much smirking, sneering and guffawing ensued. This can be heard again at 11:20 am
Please, everyone, quit listening to that sphincter! Then complain to the FCC about them for offending your something ... anything. Give them some paperwork to file. GM
That stations monthly ratings speak for themselves. Ever since that station started in 1992 they have been either last or near dead last in the ratings. I used to listen at work, but have moved on to XM radio. Tony who? Let him and his side kick Andy have their little guffaw fest. I'd rather celebrate United's accomplishments in a more positive manner.
So Tony continues to badmouth soccer, yet still occasionally talks about it and has Tommy Smyth on as a guest. Repeat after me: It's an act, folks.
For Tony, yeah it's an act as he has had Bruce Arena on in the past in addition to Tommy. Andy Pollin and Steve Czaban who host Sports Reporters in the afternoon, unfortunately it's not an act. They love trashing the team. It's not worth it anymore to convince them otherwise.
As someone who has listned to that station since it's inception, Dave (Lanky) hit's it right on the head.. It's an act.. Don't get too carried away with what Kornheiser says because he rips everything and anything.. Obviously, we soccer geeks are a small but vocal minority.. It's not worth our time or Tony's to try and convince them otherwise.. The way I look at it, they are the one's missing out on a good thing, not us.. Let them bash away all they want.. It's simply not worth the effort to respond to them.. We (soccer geek nation) have to grow a little thicker skin.. We're making strides and it definitely hurts when the ill-informed take shots at us on a much larger forum, but it's the cross that we have to bear to be unique.. I probably consider myself a bit of an oddity in that I am a huge sports fan in general, not just a United fan and regularly listen to that station and other sports talk stations along the east coast ( due to my job).. It's not just limited to DC, it's a full blown bias nationwide.. We are the few, the very small few.....
I forgot to add in my last reply the best thing one can do is simply not listen to their station, switch the dial or pop in a CD. Be thankful we have Diceson's show and this place for getting info and talking about the United and the sport. Give thanks to guys like Dave Johnson and Tim Brant when they appear at celebrations like last night.
More and more I don't care what people like Tony think, what fans of other sports who feel they have to tear down soccer think, what Europeans and Eurosnobs think. It looks like our little piece of the world's game is on its way to stability. I'm enjoying the product on the field. We're continuing to make progress internationally. Our kids are able to play this great game. So the rest of them just aren't important to me...'cept it would be nice to build enought interest from others that the TV ratings would result in more revenue to the league. I guess I care that much.
I have to say that is the most revolting description I have seen in a long, long time. Congratulations.
I'm a TK and PTI fan who's a bit annoyed at the soccer bashing that has been going on lately on the radio show and the MLS Cup being ignored as a discussion topic on PTI. I had hoped that the continuance of the league and the forward progress with 1) Stadiums, 2) Players agreement and reserve teams 3) Sponsorship/partnering (Adidas) would have convinced the media that soccer was a professional sport worth keeping an eye on. Apparently the anti-soccer bias is deeply held and ingrained in the local sports media specifically WTEM and PTI. The comment that really got me was that United was a "third rate Tennant at RFK" (or something similar). The comment is past laughable, past ignorant. It's just factually incorrect and blatantly wrong to anyone paying attention. It's the kind of comment that calls into question that persons intellect and character. I'm sure I'll listen in from time to time for traffic reports or the NASCAR minute, but for now WTEM/980/TK is off my dial. As soon as I can get home to configure my TiVo, PTI will be deleted from my season pass list.
That's a good rant. You would do yourself and all of us a favor sending that to Tony's boss. After all, the only thing that Tony really wants is more listeners. If he continues to lose them, and reasonable ones like you show, then it will hit home. This kind of response is exactly what they do not expect. It is a shame that we all can't respond the way you just did. Had we been writing letters like this for 9 years instead of whining, it might have made a difference. And by "we" I mostly mean me. Tim
No need to worry... 1. People who bash us will never affect people who already love the game, and for those who might be on the fence, just as many fall on our side to see what all the hate is about, as on their side that are swayed. 2. We don't need to worry about people who bash us retarding our growth or product quality. The beautiful game is it's own drug and intoxicates it's viewers. We gained/converted more fans with the last two games at RFK than have been turned away from attending by kornhole and others in the last two years. "Experiences" like that last a lifetime, and give a big fix to first time viewers that can only be sought out again, not ignored. 3. No news is bad news. I would welcome daily bashing on Sports Center, because at least we'd be on sports center. Reference 1 and 2 above as to why this wouldn't be a bad thing. 4. How can 2 Billion people be wrong. These guys don't know jack about soccer, and they should be scared because how can anyone who calls themselves a professional sports reporter not know jack about the world's most popular game. They are scared because they couldn't get a night shift at a free community paper in any other country in the world. 5. MLS is doing the right thing, and we're all going to benefit. They are running a business, with the FIRST priority being survival. Most agree we've accomplished this goal for the foreseeable future. In five years when almost every team has a properly-sized stadium and control over all revenues, people like Kornhole will; A) Be dead or retired from public view - replaced by younger reporters who grew up understanding our game and not affraid of it like these a-holes, and B) Tempted to finally come see what all the fuss is about every week in that SOLD OUT stadium with all the noise that can be over heard while they sit in a half empty and quiet (becuase everyone will be sleeping... why else do they need a designated time to stand up and stretch???) Washington Nationals BB stadium accross the river Once they come, they'll understand too. But their opinion still won't matter to the real fans. By the time Freddy Adu retires, soccer will be in the big 3 sports main stream in the US... ahead of baseball and behind NFL and NBA.