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ESPN's ombudsman, George Solomon of the Washington Post says that he's gotten lots of complaints about ESPN's announcers.
But Solomon says he's talked to everybody at ESPN and they all say that everything is just peachy!
Solomon also wrote that he couldn't tell which guys were live and which guys were in a studio. Apparently, he has never watched a soccer match before on TV. Calling soccer matches off of monitors has been going on, since there have been satellites. It's rare that a match is actually announced by someone at the site. (MLS games are a notable exception.)
This passage shook my faith in Solomon's judgment.
Scanlan takes exception to that, pointing out ESPN's commentators are experienced broadcasters and had extensive briefings before the competition. Still, more background on the players and coaches -- such as the way Joe Morgan dishes out inside baseball to viewers on Sunday nights -- would help. Shelley Smith's features, though, are good and do add to the coverage.
Emphasis added by me!
Soccer commentators like Joe Morgan!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make the bad man stop!!
Once ESPN's soccer announcers turn into Joe Morgan, you'll find me curled up in the fetal position underneath my kitchen table.
I'll stick with Jorge Pérez-Navarro and José Luis Chilavert then.
Tom Hoffarth of the Daily News had a scathing criticism of O'Brien and ESPN.
"What I love about soccer is no smarmy know-it-all statheads acting like they invented the damn game in the first place. Thank god, Billy Beane didn't write that book soccer."
I just want to take this opportunity to say that I really don't like George Solomon as the ESPN Ombudsman, his criticisms always seem incredibly mild and most of what he writes is defending ESPN and its personalities against the readers. It's fine to do that on occasion, but he does it for almost every complaint brought in. I prefer the Washington Post Ombudsman who really seems to mix it up with the writers.
I can't wait until he finds the Chad Bradford of footie. That should be fun to watch.
I (heart) you!
I actually sent an e-mail to Solomon complaining about Morgan a few weeks ago. I got a response a couple of weeks later from his assistant, thanking me for my interest.
blah blah blah ...
I've watched many a minute but I'm still sketchy on the names of the PBP guys, so here goes...
The team of JP Dellacamera (?) and John Harkes: Dellacamera has terrific pace in his voice; he seems to get when to be excited, when to bring it down. He never sounds bored and you'd be surprised how rare that is any broadcaster. Harkes sounds like a rookie feeling his way. He's getting better but his weaknesses are too many generalities, cliches and not enough original thinking that could facilitate the game for the viewer.
Dave O'Brien/Marcelo Balboa: O'Brien needs to add to the game when he's not finding it exciting. He just doesn't get excited unless there's a shot or a goal. Basically, he's only as good as the game--if he finds it interesting, he's great. If not, oh well. Balboa is the master of the incomplete sentence. He's like the guy trying to make a layup on a sprained ankle: it's painful to watch but you find yourself cheering for the guy.
Shep Messing and the guy who works with Shep Messing: If they teamed up Dellacamera with Messing, I'd never turn off the television. More than anything else, Messing is into the game. He's talking about the game, paying attention to defensive plays, passes... the guy is interested in the game and because of that, we're interested. I can't say enough about him.
The studio folk: Foudy started off weak but got very strong with each passing day. She had her best day when she was away at a camp in Chicago and she was doing a remote. I haven't seen much of her since. Giorgio Chinaglia is what he is: a passionate Italian fan who no one seems to object to being on the set. Alexi Lalas needs a little more fire in his conversation; he just seems too nice.
The real firebrand has been Wynalda. I thought he was terrible his first week but man, has he come on strong. Agree or disagree he is interesting because he's informative, controversial and as yet, not a blowhard like many of the ESPN guys on that reporters show. If soccer in this country becomes Soccer, Wynalda will be a star.
I might add that I would rather listen to all of the above rather than Joe Morgan.
Rece Davis and Brent Musberger seem more like caretakers and not very interesting one's at that. Davis looks like he can't wait for it all to be over and Musberger's enthusiasm sounds contrived rather than genuine (though I believe he is genuinely enthusiastic).
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