RE: Fox's announcers...
Stu Holden is benign. I can take him or leave him, but he adds nothing. He's not good at it though. His colleague, John Strong, is flat out awful though. ALWAYS talking. Never shuts up. He tries to make every kick of the ball the next, "Do you believe in miracles?" call. He epitomizes what's wrong with Americans commentating on soccer. They just don't know how to do it well. They want to make the game about their commentary and not let the play on the pitch speak for itself, which it does almost all of the time.
Tony Meola is Eeyore, the donkey. He's so monotonous and plodding with his speech. Sounds like it's impossible for him to get excited about anything. Seriously dude, take a Zoloft, the world's not that bad. Can't stand him. His partner, JP Dellacamera (sp?) is ok. He doesn't bother me. He's been at it a very long time, and you know what you're going to get with him. Nothing great. But he won't be a distraction either, the way John Strong is w/Holden.
The Mexican duo need no grade. How they have a job is beyond me.
The best tandem, by far, and I'm shocked I heard so much dissent over them, is Derek Rae and Aly Wagner though. Derek Rae speaks for himself. He's awesome. But Aly Wagner, the half that I heard a lot of you complaining about, is great too. She only speaks when necessary. This is a subtle but very important point. She doesn't try to make the game about her calls...rather only comments when commenting is warranted. I think this is probably just good old fashioned case of, "I don't like a woman calling sports" b/c if you don't like her, you probably won't give any woman a shot at calling any sport. Just my personal opinion, and obviously you'll all say that's not the case...and maybe it isn't. What do I know?
Regarding other networks, and ABC/ESPN in particular...Ian Darke is the man. I wish ABC won the rights to the World Cup just to listen to him. He's fantastic. An ideal world would have a team led by Ian Darke, a team led by Derek Rae, doing the in-person matches, and then all the other no-talent schmoes back in the studio in LA doing the Egypt/Saudi Arabia-caliber matches.
I believe guys like John Champion, Arlo White, Martin Tyler, et. al..ie. all the other really good commentators, are beholden to their networks in the UK, so I don't think we'd ever get them anyway, regardless of which US network had the rights.
Stu Holden is benign. I can take him or leave him, but he adds nothing. He's not good at it though. His colleague, John Strong, is flat out awful though. ALWAYS talking. Never shuts up. He tries to make every kick of the ball the next, "Do you believe in miracles?" call. He epitomizes what's wrong with Americans commentating on soccer. They just don't know how to do it well. They want to make the game about their commentary and not let the play on the pitch speak for itself, which it does almost all of the time.
Tony Meola is Eeyore, the donkey. He's so monotonous and plodding with his speech. Sounds like it's impossible for him to get excited about anything. Seriously dude, take a Zoloft, the world's not that bad. Can't stand him. His partner, JP Dellacamera (sp?) is ok. He doesn't bother me. He's been at it a very long time, and you know what you're going to get with him. Nothing great. But he won't be a distraction either, the way John Strong is w/Holden.
The Mexican duo need no grade. How they have a job is beyond me.
The best tandem, by far, and I'm shocked I heard so much dissent over them, is Derek Rae and Aly Wagner though. Derek Rae speaks for himself. He's awesome. But Aly Wagner, the half that I heard a lot of you complaining about, is great too. She only speaks when necessary. This is a subtle but very important point. She doesn't try to make the game about her calls...rather only comments when commenting is warranted. I think this is probably just good old fashioned case of, "I don't like a woman calling sports" b/c if you don't like her, you probably won't give any woman a shot at calling any sport. Just my personal opinion, and obviously you'll all say that's not the case...and maybe it isn't. What do I know?
Regarding other networks, and ABC/ESPN in particular...Ian Darke is the man. I wish ABC won the rights to the World Cup just to listen to him. He's fantastic. An ideal world would have a team led by Ian Darke, a team led by Derek Rae, doing the in-person matches, and then all the other no-talent schmoes back in the studio in LA doing the Egypt/Saudi Arabia-caliber matches.
I believe guys like John Champion, Arlo White, Martin Tyler, et. al..ie. all the other really good commentators, are beholden to their networks in the UK, so I don't think we'd ever get them anyway, regardless of which US network had the rights.
