Fox Soccer's not going to have the EPL for much longer, but I've heard his work on San Jose Earthquakes matches. He's passable, but this is a big jump to such a huge event with a huge audience, he might crash and burn early.

/Still wonder what the hell ESPN's going to do with Macca and Darke after the season's over

Is it really so hard to take someone who knows soccer and get them better in the booth than someone who is good in the booth but knows dick about soccer?  I expect more from FSC.

The guys that do MLS on NBC Sports aren't too bad, couldn't they get them? I didn't read the article, but there are plenty of guys that do MLS regularly now that are really good that they could get. I would hate to get someone that doesn't do soccer as their normal sport start to announce it. Or worse, we could go back to having JP Dellacamera or whatever his name is do announcing and me contemplating shooting my TV.

Gus Johnson. I guess I'll judge after I've heard him do a match. As long as he does him homework and doesn't come across as a complete idiot (Jack Edwards) or try to explain every little nuance like his audience has never seen a game before (Rick Davis/Marcelo Balboa) then he'll be OK.

Injury Time will reach new levels of excitement.

Never heard Gus.  Just answer me this, is he better or worse than Taylor Twellman?

He's decent on his MLS broadcasts, plus he has a lot of time to get better before the world cup, unlike Dave O'Brien who improved a lot and became a somewhat respectable soccer announcer after doing it for a few years but only started calling soccer a few months before the world cup began.

Plus, I kind of perfer this to the obnoxious insistence that a British accent is required to do commentary. I like Darke's call of games for ESPN, but he'd get hammered for the errors he makes if he sounded like he was raised in Ohio.

/and I happen to find Tyler irritating.

They should've brought in Doc Emrick.

Longtime Lurker: Plus, I kind of perfer this to the obnoxious insistence that a British accent is required to do commentary. I like Darke's call of games for ESPN, but he'd get hammered for the errors he makes if he sounded like he was raised in Ohio.

/and I happen to find Tyler irritating.

The problem isn't the accent, the problem is that American broadcasters feel the need to fill every second of airtime with words.  Apparently nobody told them that TV is a visual medium so all we really need is for you to identify who has the ball - not describe every bit of action we can plainly see.

And I don't particularly care for Gus Johnson's brand of broadcasting - I don't need someone yelling at me to decide when something is exciting.

Now I might actually watch soccer.
Go Spurs!

Yanks_RSJ: The problem isn't the accent, the problem is that American broadcasters feel the need to fill every second of airtime with words.

It's painfully evident in soccer. If two CBs/defenders want to lazily pass the ball back and forth to one another for 10 minutes, an American broadcaster will probably just spend the entire 10 minutes going "Smith, to Gomez, now back to Smith, Smith now passes it back to Gomez. Gomez surveys and now back to Smith it goes...." By the 10th time Smith and Gomez pass it back to one another at least, please either stop talking until something else happens, or just share with us your favorite chili recipes. Jesus.

If nothing of substance is happening, we don't need a literal translation of every single pass or on-pitch movement. Most EPL broadcasts I see on Sky Sports or whatever will often go significant stretches of the game just rambling about various league storylines and whatnot and only jump back into actually "calling" the game when a significant scoring chance develops.

Killer Cars: It's painfully evident in soccer. If two CBs/defenders want to lazily pass the ball back and forth to one another for 10 minutes, an American broadcaster will probably just spend the entire 10 minutes going "Smith, to Gomez, now back to Smith, Smith now passes it back to Gomez. Gomez surveys and now back to Smith it goes...." By the 10th time Smith and Gomez pass it back to one another at least, please either stop talking until something else happens, or just share with us your favorite chili recipes. Jesus.

Exactly - you don't need to tell me what the guy is doing in real time when I can SEE what he's doing.

mitchcumstein1: Really? He's pretty much the gold standard.

Agreed.  How might Gus have called this?

"Manchester City are still alive ... Balotelli ...  AGUERRRRRROOOOOO!"  Perfect.

Killer Cars: If nothing of substance is happening, we don't need a literal translation of every single pass or on-pitch movement. Most EPL broadcasts I see on Sky Sports or whatever will often go significant stretches of the game just rambling about various league storylines and whatnot and only jump back into actually "calling" the game when a significant scoring chance develops.

So FOX should have gone with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman then?

mitchcumstein1: Yanks_RSJ: Agreed. How might Gus have called this?

"Manchester City are still alive ... Balotelli ... AGUERRRRRROOOOOO!" Perfect.

My personal favorite. Knowing that Martin Tyler is a massive Arsenal supporter makes it so much better. He's legitimately geeked about Arshavin's goal.

Yeah I remember watching that game live, I must have gone back on the DVR 10 times afterwards just listening to Tyler's call.  He's the best.

Gus Johnson's standout trait is screaming. How's he going to do that during 90 minutes when nothing happens? He will have to fall back on whatever announcing talent he has (and from his work on college football, it ain't much). He works on basketball - keep him there.

howaboutno.jpg

It will be interesting to see how it goes with him. Hoping he can handle this pressure as this is a slightly bigger audience than a college basketball game between Gonzaga and St. Marys.


/GO MAN City
/Any thread for USMNT hex game been submitted yet?

PowerSlacker: So FOX should have gone with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman then?

Heh.

But in all honesty, soccer is the ONE sport I don't mind random, even to some degree completely nonsensical commentary at least IN PLACE of constant linear, obvious play-by-play calling. With two halves of 45+ minute, non stop play, to have nothing but player names being regurgitated over and over again every time they touch the ball is f*cking nauseating.

Killer Cars: PowerSlacker: So FOX should have gone with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman then?

Heh.

But in all honesty, soccer is the ONE sport I don't mind random, even to some degree completely nonsensical commentary at least IN PLACE of constant linear, obvious play-by-play calling. With two halves of 45+ minute, non stop play, to have nothing but player names being regurgitated over and over again every time they touch the ball is f*cking nauseating.

Ian Darke and McManaman have perfected their conversational broadcasts, they're not afraid to be pointed and critical when the situation warrants, but they also bring a good deal of humor to the game.  It's really not rocket science, unfortunately broadcasters here think they have to be "on" for the entire game.  Nobody is tuning in to hear your voice, your voice is supposed to be in the background of the game.

Let's not forget when ESPN made their lead announcer for the 2006 World Cup Dave O'Brien, a pretty good basketball and baseball announcer who had no experience calling soccer

He's got five and half years to practice on MLS/other stuff first. And it means no Gary Farking Neville, I'm all for it.

Trocadero: He's got five and half years to practice on MLS/other stuff first. And it means no Gary Farking Neville, I'm all for it.

Gary Neville is an amazing color commentator, one of the best I would say. He points out things you don't notice, explains things perfectly and will give you a behind the scenes looks at tactics and positioning.  He doesn't say anything extra and does a great job backing up Tyler. I'm not sure how anyone couldn't like him broadcasting, I think he should do it all the time.

So this has been posted on the MLS site, it's audio of Johnson calling a match.

I have to say, it was OK. Definitely has work to do, but he did the minimum of what he needed to do as a play by play guy. With all the time he has to work on it, this might not be as disastrous as one may fear.

Stimied in a Rut: I'm not sure how anyone couldn't like him broadcasting, I think he should do it all the time.

Was there a goal scored during last year's Champions League where Neville DID NOT audibly cream himself? He's otherwise perfectly fine.

/excited announcers are cool
//ones shrieking in orgasm however...

I like Gary Neville.  Maybe it's his whiny voice, or Utd background, but he is turning out to be a decent pundit.  He does need to be harder on English players though, he is apparently giving them a bit of slack as compared to other international players.

nickp91: Let's not forget when ESPN made their lead announcer for the 2006 World Cup Dave O'Brien, a pretty good basketball and baseball announcer who had no experience calling soccer

Yeah, but he didn't have the years of practice, they just threw him in there.  At least Fox is acknowledging that such a plan wouldn't work, and Gus seems to have bought in to putting in the work over the next 5 years.

Rwa2play: Killer Cars: Yanks_RSJ: The problem isn't the accent, the problem is that American broadcasters feel the need to fill every second of airtime with words.

It's painfully evident in soccer. If two CBs/defenders want to lazily pass the ball back and forth to one another for 10 minutes, an American broadcaster will probably just spend the entire 10 minutes going "Smith, to Gomez, now back to Smith, Smith now passes it back to Gomez. Gomez surveys and now back to Smith it goes...." By the 10th time Smith and Gomez pass it back to one another at least, please either stop talking until something else happens, or just share with us your favorite chili recipes. Jesus.

If nothing of substance is happening, we don't need a literal translation of every single pass or on-pitch movement. Most EPL broadcasts I see on Sky Sports or whatever will often go significant stretches of the game just rambling about various league storylines and whatnot and only jump back into actually "calling" the game when a significant scoring chance develops.

All of this and, BTW, Fox Sports can't get Martin Tyler from Sky Sports to do it when Sky Sports doesn't have the rights in the UK?

Why is this so difficult to pull off when it is the heart of baseball coverage?  Hell, they literally have a guy called the color commentator whose job is to just ramble while nothing is going on (which is 90% of most baseball games)

Get two color commentators for each soccer game who know nothing about the sport, let them just ramble.  Then every 5 minutes someone enters the booth who knows what is going on and the color guys get to ask him questions for 1 minute. Or do like NFL and go to the person on the sidelines.

My god...internet haters.  Gus screams when the game gets exciting.  I love Sir Ian Darke, but can you imagine Gus calling the USA goal vs Algeria?  Or heck, the Man City vs QPR game last season.

It's 5 years.  That's plenty of time to get it down.  If you decided to hold it against him after one game next week, you are stupid. If he puts the time and effort into it after 5 years, he'll be a good anouncer at worst.  This is a high ceiling idea, and I'm glad for it.

salukiboy: My god...internet haters.  Gus screams when the game gets exciting.  I love Sir Ian Darke, but can you imagine Gus calling the USA goal vs Algeria?  Or heck, the Man City vs QPR game last season.

Yeah, I can, and it's awful.  Those moments were exciting because of the circumstances, if you need a screaming announcer to convey that, I feel sorry for you.

FYI i submitted a thread for the friendlies and CONCACAF WCC games

They should just hired Ray Hudson from BeIN Sport and called it a night, that dude would make anybody want to watch football. Magisterial!

I'm kinda new to watching soccer, and to me the biggest difference in watching how the Premiere League games are called and other "American" sporting events is the the complete honesty the announcers have. It's not the typical "that was a bad decision to pass the ball" or "I'm sure he'd like to take that back" generic statements we hear for every sport. These guys say things like "Oh that was absolutely dreadful"  or "A full-blooded encounter for a number of reasons, many of them illegitimate" (Champion).I guess it's just refreshing to hear a commentator with a large vocabulary, rather than hearing how a soccer player is somehow "in beast mode".

 
/ I guess I'm a sucker for British accents

Monitoring 2 feeds here at work today. Brazil v England and France v Germany. Everyone around here is pissed soccer is on. If they didnt piss me off all day i would have kept off France v Germany

Disaster Transport: I'm kinda new to watching soccer, and to me the biggest difference in watching how the Premiere League games are called and other "American" sporting events is the the complete honesty the announcers have. It's not the typical "that was a bad decision to pass the ball" or "I'm sure he'd like to take that back" generic statements we hear for every sport. These guys say things like "Oh that was absolutely dreadful"  or "A full-blooded encounter for a number of reasons, many of them illegitimate" (Champion).I guess it's just refreshing to hear a commentator with a large vocabulary, rather than hearing how a soccer player is somehow "in beast mode".

 
/ I guess I'm a sucker for British accents

Reggie Miller rips players and refs all the time, which I like. He's still a jack ass, but at least he's a jack ass on our side.

Also, Ronaldinho should be sent to the glue factory. That was a terrible penalty.

Motogp69: They should just hired Ray Hudson from BeIN Sport and called it a night, that dude would make anybody want to watch football. Magisterial!

Gus and Ray. Book it.

Disaster Transport: I guess it's just refreshing to hear a commentator with a large vocabulary, rather than hearing how a soccer player is somehow "in beast mode".

It's refreshing that the commentators don't care about having access to players or being their pals so they don't need to suck up to them all game long.

FARKING ENGLAND....UGG..Friend is a HUGE Rooney fan