I've just finished a Boxing day feast. Three EPL matches from the comfort of my home. Steven Hawking and Charro could do the commentary and I could live with it. FSW shows HUNDREDS of quality matches each year, from leagues all over the world. If a couple of commentators are what you have to complain about, then you should start a stupid thread about it. Oops. Too late.
Ahhh the Sky feed and Martin Tyler calling the ManU-Boro match. Maybe they heard you Cantona? A Boxing Day delight. Err.. I mean the day after Christmas. And it sucked. And where was Veronica Paysee with her pitch...err...field side insight. Down with England and the rest of the Axis of Evil. LETS ROLL!
That's what my thinking was. Having their own comms insures that scores from games being shown later aren't given away.
If thats the case - then it didnt work. There were a couple inferences of the Man U-Blackburn match result.
Thanks for making me laugh out loud so that everyone in the house could hear. It was a fine day for soccer, wasn't it? Just got FSW on 12/24. A little Christmas present to myself.
Thanks, that oughta clear things up. I'm sure mr fsw producer won't provide any details, but does anybody else have an idea what these guys have said that might be considered offensive?
Wait, am I hallucinating or was there JUST a post here from FSW Producer explaining that some fans had complained about the way the English announcers were talking about the Chinese players. With that post gone, mine (above) sounds pretty ridiculous, no? FSW Producer? Where art thou?
The wonderful world of Cantona. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=243241#post243241 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=264285#post264285 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=266533#post266533 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=322391#post322391 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=397403#post397403 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=401550#post401550 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=433506#post433506 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=433591#post433591 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=439777#post439777
Well, since nobody seems to care about my ON-TOPIC posts, I'll explain. I was not hallucinating - there WAS a statement here, briefly, in which a poster with the handle of "FSW Producer" explained that some viewers had complained about how the English announcers spoke of the Chinese players, so that - for the time being - games involving the teams that have Chinese players (Man City and Everton, is it?) would use FSW announcers. But then the post was yanked immediately, for some reason.
Did the English announcers made insulting comments about the Chinese players? What statements were used to spark the complaints?
That's my question, too. The briefly-existent post went into no further details. Perhaps it was simply a matter of them (unfairly?) criticizing the players' abilities. Or maybe there was some wording which is considered a slur in the US but is not in the UK. Anybody have a clue? Whatever, if this was the real reason, it demonstrates that Chinese-Americans make up a good (and vocal!) segment of the FSW audience. Something I did not know.
Jesus, you people... Let me see if I have this right. A company is losing money to bring you live and tape delayed matches that you really, really want to see (and indeed, would have NO other way to see them)...and you're telling me that you WON'T watch anymore just because the announcers are annoying?? Yea, those guys really do suck. No way around it. They were annoying me all weekend. But, if I'm stuck with the choice of watching the Merseyside derby with lame announcers, or not watching it at all...well, that's a pretty easy choice. What a bunch of f'ing ingrates.
I remember an FSW game, with the original announcers, calling a player a "Chinaman," which isn't PC. I think that word was used in the late 19th century in a derogatory way, but I'm not sure. Anyway, when I heard it on FSW, it really stuck out...sort of like if you hear a black person described as a Negro. It's just a word you don't hear here anymore.
That's probably it, then. I've seen the same word used in reference to Inter's Uruguayan player Alvaro Recoba, whose nickname is "El Chino". To me, that stands on its own and doesn't need translating, but English articles tend to refer to him as "the Chinaman".
It's kind of similar to calling a black player a "boy". I think in other places, it's not such a problem, but in the US, forget it. I remember an old hockey announcer calling one of the first black players in the NHL a "boy", while praising his abilities. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what the problem was. The history of black - and Asian - servitude in this country makes these words unacceptable here, whereas they might not have quite the same meaning elsewhere.
I recall that "Chinaman" reference as well. It really jumped out at me because, as superdave points out, it's just not something you hear in the US. But the "El Chino" reference about Recoba, points out how differently these things are viewed in other societies. It's very common in Latin American broadcasts for the announcers to refer to players by some racial or ethnic term that would be completely unacceptable in the US. You can actually hear those terms pretty regularly on the FSE broadcasts from Argentina, Colombia, and Chile. In Brazil, some players' nicknames are based entirely on their racial or ethnic backgrounds (Preto, Indio, Pretinha, Alemao, etc.).
cj90red... thanks for the research... maybe you learned something............. *************************** Boxing day indeed was a treat.... even the Sky feed.... lovely.... *************************** regarding this chinese thing.. TWI had complaints from S.Africans regarding the pronounciation of Lucas Radabe'.... they corrected themselves.. ***************************** to everyone who says dont complain at least your watching it... your wrong... the feeds are already in the contract... you actually are paying these two idiots to do what already is being done... so you getting less for more... doesnt make business sense does it.... ****************************** about the spoiler thing... i think most people realise now that on sunday the live game is played after the delayed FSW game... most just time shift ****************************** there have been many complaints to FSW.... maybe they ARE listening..... Cantona---
Yeah, that you complain too much. How about talking about the match itself instead of who's calling or not calling the match. And for christ sake RELAX and enjoy the beautiful game. Life's too short to get angry over a little thing.
FSW announcers Hey, I don't think anyone should be termed a whiner because the FSW announcers are not their number one choice. Hell, I'd still watch no matter who was calling the game. I sure would like to see some official confirmation that the "chinaman" thing caused the change. Anyway, it seems we're back to normal on the broadcasts for now.
I have to agree. The announcers were bad. I don't get FSW so thankfully I don't have to hear them that much. It was great hearing Martin Tyler and Ian Darke and whoever else does the Sunday matches. That reminds me. The guy who did the Bundesliga en Espanol was good. He at least didn't try to talk a mile a minute and allowed for the crowd to make some noise instead of talking over them.