The haters thing was a joke. No offense intended. You have to keep in mind that they're still trying to spread the game to an audience that doesn't really understand it, so a lot of Gus' "confusion" is more of an "audience stand-in" than anything else. I played and coached lacrosse for a lot of years, so I when coverage started to pick up on ESPNU and things, I often wondered if the announcers had ever seen a goal before. Then I realized that the problem was that he wasn't talking to me, he was talking to a lot of people who don't understand the game as well as I do. I've only really gotten seriously into soccer in the last four or five years, so maybe that's why I don't mind as much. For a pbp guy, the most important thing for me is that he respond to the gravity of the situation. Gus does this about as well as anyone, and I think it makes any game he calls a lot more fun.
Much appreciated. There are a fair number of US soccer pbp guys who do the instructional thing. I get that. I think with Gus there is more than the usual amount of ignorance of the game, though. That does not bother me, either. As he does it more, that clumsiness will go away. As for the rest, I'm happy to agree to disagree. I find his enthusiasm too pre-programmed to add anything. He might be completely sincere, but it doesn't sound that way to me.
I will say this. I appreciate that Gus is now getting to call some lower profile games such as US/Cuba and US/ES. Besides some Earthquakes radio calls, he was pretty much thrown into the fire with some of the biggest matches in the world and the nerves really came out. I do wish that Fox had some other venues to get the guy some live on-air practice.
Additionally his enthusiasm is often mis-timed. At least he's improved from his first few games. I remember when he called Man City vs ??? and Clichy was in the corner trying to beat a defender - Gus said "Clichy" six times in the space of about 12 seconds. He was trying to do the name thing and it just didn't work like that. I haven't heard him ask any silly leading questions for Wynalda the last few games, so that's good (for me anyway - I guess some guys like it).
I can understand some of the criticism but overall Gus is a great professional. Saying that, if he was doing the World Cup next summer I would have concerns but since he won't be doing the World Cup for Fox until 2018, that is plenty of time for him to find his groove in play by play for soccer. I think he may be one of the better ones out there by that time because he is such a great professional at what he does IMO. Again, I understand some of the complaints but I can live with the growing pains personally.
I'm generally ok with him as well - in part because I heard him interviewed on The Football Show when he got the 2018 gig and I was impressed by him, his interest in soccer, and his desire to do well and right by the game. I think by 2018 he could be pretty good. I still think he would really improve with better color guys.
You know what, this is a good point for me to quit banging on the guy. My concerns, such as they are, about the guy are trivial enough and it's good to be reminded that he's a hard working professional, my quibbles about his style notwithstanding.