JP, You'd Better Swap That Mic Out For A Radio
Surely still feeling the burn over letting Dave O’Brien and Marcelo “Opines As If He’s Concussed Like Rocky” Balboa run roughshod (and shoddily) over the 2006 World Cup broadcasts, ESPN has decided to drop out its American rotation in favor of an English vibe.
Martin Tyler was hired a while back, but the rest of the gang has been filled out: Adrian Healey, Derek Rae and Ian Darke will join the esteemed play-by-play hero in the box and between them, all 64 games will be covered.
It’s a bittersweet thing, really.
While John Harkes and Efan Ekoku will still get work as the color commentators (pairings have yet to be figured out), there’s a rather obvious sea change in the works that’ll see idiot Tommy Smyth (thank mercy) and old-timer JP Dellacamera (shame, really) dumped to the ESPN radio broadcasts exclusively.
It’s progress that Smyth is being nudged gently to one side, I shall miss Dellacamera as the clear “dumb Americans” subtext is clear. To be taken more seriously as soccer broadcasters, ESPN is obviously taking their cue from the birthplace of the game, though one would hope the transition isn’t permanent as eventually, a couple of credible Yanks will need to be groomed to be proper soccer pundits/prognosticators/commentators once all the Englishmen move on.
Yes, Alexi Lalas and grumpy man extraordinaire Eric Wynalda should never been seen or heard from again — can they take Julie Foudy too? — and soccer coverage in the USA needs to regain a lot of credibility (FSC, you’re on notice too, with that Super Sunday pub thing and the one useless Brit, Warren Barton), but there had better be room for the next wave of US-born experts to eventually take root. They can’t keep farming out work overseas, can they?
/South Park-esque “They’re takin’ our jaaaaaeeeeerrrrrbbbbbs!”
What about Canadian announcers? They could do the jobs too!!
What about Andy Gray? I thought he was in as well.
bergkampesdios: he’s working for FSC on their daily review show during the WC
I’m still waiting for ESPN to do something really stupid like hiring Rush Limbaugh.
I know opinions on JP vary wildly, but he got shafted. The other four guys are great, but JP deserved a chance.
as a young american i can assure you all that my generation will be much more footy savy than our forefathers
As I stated on another thread, Josh Elliott of ESPN. I don’t think he’s done other play-by-play, but he could be really good.
“JP, You’d Better Swap That Mic Out For A Radio’
James I’m not sure how you think radio works, but they use microphones too you know.
Bring Back Max!
YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!
Canada suffers from the same anglo-envy that the US has. Heck, they do the same thing even in french where tehy import french from France (which is an even bigger accent switch than a brit in US). But to their credit, this year they went to home grown announcers in french.
As long as we cant get north american announcers, soccer will always have a foreign vibe to it.
Seriously, its not that hard a sport to figure out. Its even harder to believe than we still cant a north american crew.
Of course, if that’s the price to pay to get Smuth out, then it was worth it.
There’s no relegation in American soccer.
I don’t mind Dellacamera, but Harkes blows. So boring, so reluctant to being critical. Ugh.
I met JP through a mutual friend… really nice guy and he’s been calling soccer forever. I agree with others, he’s the odd man out in this one.
I’m torn. I’m not the biggest fan of the JP/Harkes pairing, and like the rest of humanity I love Martin Tyler, but man… JP is our guy, you know? He just went through the trenches with all of us during this cycle, through qualifying, friendlies, the whole bit. And now we have to hear a bunch of English dudes take our national team to the finish line.
So I’m not sure what to think. Definitely sucks for JP, though.
@Love The Smell
I’m kinda right there with you. JP has done more than enough to merit a spot in the TV booth, yet the mandate from Bristol is probably something along the lines of “Hire Me The Best That You Can To Give Us Instant Credibility” (which is more or less that ESPN did in the UK when setting up their stall on Sky).