ESPN commentators

[taconinja]

Whereas I would think to myself, "Oh, they must not know the term for that or they have their own term for it. Language is a funny thing, isn't it?"

 

[afhald]

English, Polish nd Arabian commentators are the best, thein the lations.

you forgot italian commentators

 

[Blue Theatre]

Do we really need commentators on TV matches ? ... after all, if you were sat at COMS (sorry, Etihad Stadium) and the guy next to you was constantly talking in your ear, reading out the name of each player as he touched the ball, and saying "it's a corner !" when you could see it was a corner, and so on for the full 90 minutes .. you'd probably tell him to shut-up.

 

[MarylandBlue]

But the ones that are always become commentators..;)
Tbh Football is our number 1 sport so we do tend to get protective over it.

You're right on both accounts. I don't have a problem with it. I suppose if I was watching ice hockey and the announcer kept calling a stick a "hockey club" or something, I'd be hacked off.

Yep..In a funny way its disrespectful...I like watchin American Football and if the British commentators called a "touchdown" a try or a "field goal" a conversion id be unhappy cos id want the correct term used..

I agree with you once again. During the World Cup, when a bunch of American's that don't normally follow "soccer" pretend to care for a few weeks, commentators that normally do the football matches were trying to "convert" things to normal American words. It annoyed me. I get up at 6 or 7 on Saturday mornings to watch City or any other big matches that weekend, and I prefer the proper terms for all things football related, and feel that the commentators shouldn't dumb things down for people that don't normally watch the sport. Let the new people pick up the terminology.

That said, I love listening to Ian Dark, he doesn't change anything up when he does the World Cup or Women's Wolrd Cup games. The WWC was painful because he was paired with Julie Fouty who had such wonderful insight like "corner kicks are a good scoring opportunity".<br /><br />-- Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:46 am --<br /><br />

Do we really need commentators on TV matches ? ... after all, if you were sat at COMS (sorry, Etihad Stadium) and the guy next to you was constantly talking in your ear, reading out the name of each player as he touched the ball, and saying "it's a corner !" when you could see it was a corner, and so on for the full 90 minutes .. you'd probably tell him to shut-up.

It's different when you're watching a match on TV though. It's hard to get the full atmosphere and emotion of the match through the screen. A good commentator can convey that to the viewers, he doesn't add to the match, he complements it.

 

[mammyjam]

English, Polish nd Arabian commentators are the best, thein the lations.

you forgot italian commentators

this i used to watch italian football just for the comentators when a goal was scored 'gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooala goala goal goal goooooooooooooala lazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzio'

 

[baylorblue]

I don't think you'll find any Americans who are really knowledgeable in the game who wouldn't agree that the standard of our announcers is shocking from the perspective of anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the game. That being said they serve a purpose and if they turn even a handful of people into students of the game then it's worth all the mixed metaphors, terrible pronunciations, and embarrassing comments. Twellman is awful btw, truly awful. I never much cared for him as a player, he was good in MLS when the standard was really really bad but he could never make a step up.

 

[MarylandBlue]

I don't think you'll find any Americans who are really knowledgeable in the game who wouldn't agree that the standard of our announcers is shocking from the perspective of anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the game. That being said they serve a purpose and if they turn even a handful of people into students of the game then it's worth all the mixed metaphors, terrible pronunciations, and embarrassing comments. Twellman is awful btw, truly awful. I never much cared for him as a player, he was good in MLS when the standard was really really bad but he could never make a step up.

Agree 100%

 

[1.618034]

But the ones that are always become commentators..;)
Tbh Football is our number 1 sport so we do tend to get protective over it.

You're right on both accounts. I don't have a problem with it. I suppose if I was watching ice hockey and the announcer kept calling a stick a "hockey club" or something, I'd be hacked off.

Yep..In a funny way its disrespectful...I like watchin American Football and if the British commentators called a "touchdown" a try or a "field goal" a conversion id be unhappy cos id want the correct term used..

Exactly!

I'm really into watching MLB (Baseball) now it's on ESPN America and the terminology is all part of the game and it's culture. I would want someone patronising me and Anglicising it because then I'd feel outside if and when discussing it with any Americans.

Which brings me onto something else which they referred to.. that last season's 3rd place was our "best EPL finish". Well yeah that's strictly true but the "EPL" only started in 92(?), there was a championship before that that actually does count. In MLB they still credit teams like the SF Giants with World Series wins from when they were in New York at the beginning of the last century, so why not offer the same courtesy to us and all the other teams who won the League before football was invented.

It's ignorant and I hope you states-siders are on to them about it.

Also I have to agree with the use of the word "soccer" over there... I know it's to differentiate from American Football but that is AMERICAN FOOTBALL or NFL so call it that and call Football FOOTBALL.

So long as you continue to be the only nation to use the term "soccer" in the name of the league then you're always going to be on the said "outside".

If Baseball became popular over here then it would be to the detriment of the sport for us to start to change it to suit us. The magic of the game is in it's heritage and culture. Either embrace it or don't bother and stick to the sports you do have.

This really isn't a rant against City supporting yanks but a comment on how the game is being covered/run over there. From what I can see it's about the level of League 1 over there in terms of ability, pitches and entertainment. And part of that is the appalling and patronising tv coverage. To get a good show you need decent crowds, good playing surfaces and professionally directed camera shots that get you in to the game and the player's characters, informs you correctly of the facts and includes and educates you in the game's culture and heritage.

At the moment it seems you're not getting much of any of that.

Rant over.

 

[afhald]

English, Polish nd Arabian commentators are the best, thein the lations.

you forgot italian commentators

this i used to watch italian football just for the comentators when a goal was scored 'gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooala goala goal goal goooooooooooooala lazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzio'

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viVqhzcjQSQ[/youtube]

 

[1.618034]

I don't think you'll find any Americans who are really knowledgeable in the game who wouldn't agree that the standard of our announcers is shocking from the perspective of anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the game. That being said they serve a purpose and if they turn even a handful of people into students of the game then it's worth all the mixed metaphors, terrible pronunciations, and embarrassing comments. Twellman is awful btw, truly awful. I never much cared for him as a player, he was good in MLS when the standard was really really bad but he could never make a step up.

They won't create many "students of the game" if they keep Americanising it. I wouldn't be a student of the game of baseball if I was being told that a "change-up" is a "slow ball". It is a slower ball but that's not what it's been called for over a hundred years so "change-up" it is! A "touch down" even though it rarely get's touched down is a "touch down" and not a try... I could go on.

My rant wasn't quite over was it?

Anyway. What I'm saying is that people aren't really THAT stupid that they won't get the correct terminology. If you're at all interested then you'll get it and you will then be part of the global FOOTBALL community. Like I said it's all a part of the game, so get with it.<br /><br />-- Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:08 pm --<br /><br />

English, Polish nd Arabian commentators are the best, thein the lations.

you forgot italian commentators

Italians are lations. (Well they're Latin actually)


-)