ESPN Still Getting It Wrong
John Harkes
ESPN’s radical decision to dump American commentators in favor of several British based ones has created much consternation among the supporters of the game stateside. Those reared on the domestic game and American commentating styles decried the move away from the traditional nationalistic fervor around the World Cup to a more objective based analysis provided by the likes of Ally McCoist, Efan Ekoku, and others.
The two American commentators remaining in ESPN’s lineup, British born Adrian Healey and former US Captain John Harkes were paired on Tuesday Night’s broadcast of US-Czech Republic friendly. While the duo did not have a terrible night, other aspects of ESPN’s limitations impeded the ability of the commentators to properly call the match.
Healey and Harkes attempted to provide something beyond the usual pro American commentary, but ESPN’s camera work and replay angles were shockingly poor. Neither commentator properly dissected the roots of the third and fourth Czech Republic goals which were created by unforced American giveaways leading to Czech Republic possession. Perhaps Harkes and Healey neglected to discuss the root of goals because ESPN provided no replays of Heath Pearce’s unforced poor clearance or Sacha Kljestan’s easy midfield giveaway.
ESPN’s commitment to providing the best World Cup coverage ever for the US audience is commendable. But, at the same time the camera work by ESPN when they produce the games is poor, despite the high quality of their production. Thankfully, for the World Cup, ESPN will be using the international feed which will give the likes of Martin Tyler and Ian Darke more material to work with.
10 Responses to ESPN Still Getting It Wrong
Agreed on the coverage. someone needs to loan ESPN the “offsides telestrator” so they display offsides on the replays. the coverage and the play was poor. need to do much better on Saturday in Philly.
Like you say, the fact that ESPN are making a huge effort in covering and promotion this World Cup is commendable and “proper” coverage of “proper” football has been a long time coming. Watching select Premier League and La Liga games in HD on ESPN this season has been terrific!
But the US commentating has always left something to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, there are some UK (co) commentators that are pants too (Trevor Francis, David Pleat, Mark Lawrenson to name a few). But when I hear the US commentators talk about good hustle, offsides (why the “S” on the end?), centers and just general either waffling or extended periods of silence I missed Martin Tyler!
You cannot, for my money, beat Martin Tyler and Andy Gray as a commentary team. When I picked up Fifa 10 with the two of them commentating together, it was pure magic!
Good to see ESPN got Mr. Tyler on board for WC2010! Best decision they made!
Harkes was actually more pro-US than usual. Normally he spends most of his color time criticizing the team, even when we’re beating Spain 2-0.
I heard a critical remark of Kljestan but it was long after the giveaway that led to the goal. I also heard Pearce get called out too. But none of these things were said right after those goals. As much as I hate to say it Wynalda was a much better commentator than Harkes during games. I think he’s a little out of sorts as a host type guy for FSC. Who else do we have that ESPN could have hired from an American standpoint? To me I could careless what nationality the guy is just as long as he is good.
As an American I say the US commentators are terrible. Thank god they hired Brits. Fringe fans as well want quality and to be in the presence of authentic commentary. For the super bowl does anyone want someone using rugby tens or dumbing it down.. no.
That Czech goal which was ruled offside was clearly onside on the replay. Harkes blatantly lied and said that it was offside.
It’s a step 20 years into the past to hire British commentators. We’ve got some good U.S. guys, but regardless, if you don’t develop your own, you’ll never reach a decent level. The NASL is the best example of that.
It’s pathetic.
Alexi Lalas is a terrible commentator. What he says doesn’t matter.
I don’t understand a word of what the Australian commentator is saying…. Therefore … I don’t know if he is saying something that even makes sense… They should have used basketball or ice hockey commentators…
GHANA VS AUSTRALIA this espn commentator is pissing me off he needs to stop talking i swear he keeps talking about how Africans are disorganized and need to play smart…..what an asshole.even though Ghana is obviously pressing why don’t they just move to Austrilia. Or stick to commentating for basketball and American football (not soccer).