I support this petition. I will not watch the ESPN coverage if there are not quality announcers. I will watch non English commentary rather than put myself through this pain. Please respect the game and the fans.
I support this petition. get the commetators from the champions league telecast, derek rae and tommy smith. they bring more passion and intellect to the game.
I support this petition. Please start living up to your nickname of the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" by treating the the world's most popular sport with the respect it deserves.
I support this petition. Although it's amusing that a Chinese-American family ends up watching Telemundo (the Spanish language channel) in order to watch proper World Cup broadcasting.
I strongly support this petition. US football fans deserve your respect; for too long we've tolerated your uninformed and annoying announcers, if you want to retain us get people who know the game.
Stop trying to Americanize football commentary ...Have you heard Max Bretos He's a joke . Derek and Tommy ..light years ahead of the rest !!. I will be forced to watch the World Cup on Univision again if those play by play bozos are let loose on the box again !
People who tune-in are already soccer fans. We don't need to be "educated" by announcers who think they have to explain the game. Please let established announcers who don't patronize the viewers announce the World Cup games. It deserves no less.
ESPN you guys should really know better! Myself along with many others will boycott ESPN if you guys don't wake up and get some real announcing! This is seen as a slap in the face to all educated football/soccer fans across the nation and the entire world.
do you really think we're that ignorant!!
Please show some respect to the biggest sporting event on the planet and hire somebody who knows the game. "The Worldwide Leader in Sports"? This move doesn't seem to reflect that.
I support this petition. All I can say is that to use a soccer neophyte to cover the biggest event in sport smacks of extreme naivety or, even worse, indicates a more significant problem of unabashed stupidity.
C'mon ESPN.
It's bad enough that you opt to show reruns of fishing shows instead of Champions League matches. Now you're putting a complete soccer novice in charge of covering the largest sporting event IN THE WORLD (including the Olympics). It's a bit like hiring Paris Hilton to cover the Super Bowl.
If ESPN has any justification for that at all, I'd love to hear it.
Please please please do your viewers a favor. If you can't hire someone who has covered a professional soccer league at least once in their careers, just nix the commentary alltogether and give us only the crowd noise. Better that than having to listen to O'Brien make an ass of himself again.
It's shocking to me that for an event as big as the World Cup, ESPN would assign a guy who knows nothing about soccer to be it's lead PBP announcer for US National Team games. It's bad enough that you have a guy like Balboa who adds absolutely nothing to the broadcast because all he's capable of is stating the obvious, but in O'Brien, you have a guy who is clueless about the the sport. His ignorance was never more apparent than during the Poland match, when it was obvious that a.) He didn't prepare, b.) He never watched the last World Cup, c.) He has no understanding about the professional game in Europe or the US and d.) Just by the phrases he used i.e. "left sided kicker" it's obvious he has next to zero soccer knowledge.
When you have quality announcers on your payroll like Rob Stone and any of your Champions League broadcasters, to put a neophyte like O'Brien on the World Cup is as insulting to soccer fans as it is just a stupid decision.
He KILLED the Poland broadcast to the point where it wrecked my enjoyment of an real good game and you really have to be an awful announcer (in that particular sport) to do that. But O'Brien managed to pull it off.
Please get him off the WC broadcasts.
I think ESPN's lack of respect for the American soccer fan is a part of the reason why it continues to be such a poor performer in this country. Look at Fox and GolTV. They have announcers who really know and love the game. Time and time again I find Tommy Smyth's commentary annoying and ill-informed.
Surely you must be able to find someone with credible knowledge of the game who can provide analysis and insight.
I support this petition. Once again an American sporting company shows no respect to the most popular sport in the world. You already screwup the Champions league broadcasts by only showing 1 out of four in a day. The only thing that is right about your champions league coverage is the Commentators! Bring those guys in and add Eric Wynalda with them for the American side. That would be perfect.
My wishes for ESPN/ABC telecast of the 2006 World Cup in order of importance
1. Hire commentators that actually know something about World Cup Soccer
2. Broadcast in HD
3. No commercials
I support this position. ESPN clearly does not respect soccer and it's fans in America. I wish they would make a real effort or leave it to another broadcaster who will.
This is the biggest sprting event in the world and ESPN are putting in a complete novice. The logic behind this decision is beyond me. ESPN have some excellent commentators available to them that actually know and understand the game - why not use them!
ESPN can cover the games and show more of them to the US, just let us hear the British commentators!
By the way, if we are watching the games, we already know the rules, NO NEED to explain the game to us!
Sorry ESPN, your American voices feel that American need to "fill" the broadcast with chatter" a la Tim McCarver. I understand this, but I do not like it. Soccer is a different sport. PLEASE give us announcers who know when to SHUT THE HELL UP and let the action flow. The game will not be improved with wall-to-wall anecdotes and idle chatter.
what he said: "The problem with uneducated commentators is theirunexplainable need to "fill" what theybelieve to be a "lull" in the action.Most commentators feel, with the score 0-0, theyneed to tell us about a player's mom going outto the store for a loaf of bread. Let the gamespeak to the fans."
HIRE ENGLISH LEAGUE COMMENTATORS. At least they are not afraid to add some color, insult to injury, and let you know when a player is playing horribly.
This is the first time the US actually has a chance to make it to the finals. Get the right commentators or I'll be forced to watch it from the Spanish channel and I don't even speak Spanish.
I support this petition and I don't want Smyth on there either. He favors English teams too much. It's time that ESPN got announcers that were a little more in line with european announcers and not people who think they are announcing a baseball game. In soccer, less is more.
