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New low for ESPN commentators

July 9th, 2006 | By: Luis | 37 Comments »

I have grown accustomed to the biased views offered by the announcers on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, but today I heard one of the all time most cynical sports commentaries ever. For the match between Portugal and Germany, ESPN assigned JP Dellacamera the play-by-play duties with analysis and commentary from John Harkes.

If you recorded the game, in the 44th minute, you can hear the following exchange take place between the two announcers. Commenting on a German fast break along the right side of the Portuguese wing JP Dellacamer said:

“No room on that flank, in front of Scolari, who is so close to the touchline that’s it’s almost like he’s on the field at times.”

To which John Harkes responded, “Wouldn’t surprise me if he actually stuck out his leg to make a tackle, with some of the theatrics we’ve seen from him.”

JP did his best to smooth over the comment with a joke but it was enough to make your hair stand on end – so much for fairness in broadcasting. I mean, why not just come out and call him a cheat?

Mr Harkes, you’re entitled to your own point of view, but don’t you think that’s a bit low? I mean how cynical can you be? Regardless of how you feel about the guy, Scolari is a defending world champion and has more years in football then you have whiskers on your chin. Don’t you think he deserves a little more respect then that? How can you guys jump all over him for having heart and passion for his job, for showing leadership on the sidelines? Your comment was in very bad taste and I think an apology is in order.

If you, the reader, agree with me then please take a few minutes of your time and leave a comment for ESPN. Let them know that you find that kind of commentary unsavory and frankly unprofessional. Remind them that they have a wide audience that supports a variety of teams, including Portugal, and demand more unbiased commentary or at least some basic professionalism. Let them know how you feel here.

I also included a profile for each commentator from the ESPN website. They sound impressive on paper but they don’t show their expertise when they announce games. John Harkes was a bad choice ESPN, hopefully next World Cup you’ll make a better pick.

Força Portugal!

John Harkes (Analyst) – making his debut as an ESPN soccer commentator…retired from professional soccer in 2003 after a 13-year international career…played in the English Premier League between 1991 and 1996…the first American to play a professional match at Wembley Stadium (and has played there a U.S. record six times) or to play in a UEFA Cup match…the only U.S. player to score in a League Cup final…captained the D.C. United team to back-to-back MLS titles in 1996 and 1997, and to the 1998 CONCACAF Champions’ Cup and Inter-American Cup championships…in MLS, scored 16 goals and 42 assists in 167 matches, and was a five-time All-Star…starred as Ed McIlvenny in the movie The Game of Their Lives, a film about the United States’ historic 1-0 victory over England in the 1950 World Cup.

JP Dellacamera (Play-by-Play) – One of the leading authorities on international soccer in the U.S…has worked with ESPN since 1985…the 2006 World Cup will mark his sixth straight participation in men’s World Cup play-by-play plus the last three Women’s World Cups… he has worked as a play-by-play commentator for two teams in the MLS, the Columbus Crew and New York Red Bulls (formerly the MetroStars).

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 37 comments.

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By alex | July 9th, 2006 at 6:22 pm

Wynalda is awful. ESPN is clueless about soccer. Worse, they have no problem showcasing their lack of knowledge behind thin veil of humour. It’s not just them. Some on the The Fan 590 in Toronto are just as questionable. They’re not sports fans per se but followers of specific sports. Never understood how men in North America in such positions could find the audacity to downplay other sports – especially soccer.

Posted from Canada

By Troglodyte | July 9th, 2006 at 6:55 pm

I gave up on them, and went to Univision…and I don’t speak a word of Spanish.

Posted from United States

By Jacques Strapp | July 10th, 2006 at 12:06 am

Luis,
I am a Portugal fan so I agree with you on most stuff. But you gotta learn to be a bit more unbiased in this column. Seriously, if you can’t take people talking smack about your team, you need to grow up my friend. You’ve been complaining about a lot these past few weeks. It’s getting annoying reading this column because you’re so biased. I think you’re a good person with a big heart, but please stop your damn complaining about everything negative said about portugal. It’s embarrassing.

For the record, yes I think the American announcers are generally bad, which is why it’s useless to take them seriously and get ticked off.

Forca Portugal.

Good day.

Posted from United States

By Bell | July 10th, 2006 at 12:07 am

ESPN does not take football (soccer) very seriously so what do you expect. Most US sports stations give soccer little or no coverage. Thank goodness my cable company got Fox Soccer recently, the one American station that does justice to soccer. I can’t wait until the English premier season starts.

Posted from United States

By Coelho | July 10th, 2006 at 12:19 am

Those guys were pretty bad, I got sick of their constant bad mouthing the Portuguese team. Calling the team divers, when they went to the slow motion video it was abvious that they were foul. Ronaldo had a few fouls in the box against them that didn’t get call. Ronaldo and the Portuguese teams needs to do what the French do so well carefully pick when you fake a dive or injury…otherwise your never going to get any calls…and we got very little.

Posted from United States

By Luis | July 10th, 2006 at 12:29 am

Jacques – unbiased? It’s a PT fan blog. And who said, I was so ticked off? I just pointed out how poorly ESPN serves it’s viewers. When a team is attacked unfairly, as occurred in this World Cup, I think we have every right to speak our minds, as you just did. I’m sorry if you find my posts so embarrassing. Thanks for your comment anyway.

Let me ask you another thing. Do you think Zidane will be crucified for his headbutt, the way Figo was? I doubt it.

Forca Portugal!

Posted from United States

By Mon | July 10th, 2006 at 1:23 am

Luis,
very good point there, one I was thinking of as Zidane walked away from the match. I admire the man, but his actions were a bit much. Needless to say, I doubt he’s gonna be chewed up and spat out by the media the way Figo was after his headbutt.
Btw, anyone saw that handshake between the ref and the german player (forget who he was) during the Por-Ger match. What an uproar it wld have caused had England been playing.

Posted from Australia

By Joka | July 10th, 2006 at 2:49 am

I just watch Univision… The guys at Univision are away and better than the American announcer…

By allan | July 10th, 2006 at 3:29 am

all the broadcasters are not great.we had Brits in Canada and they said stupid things like footballers have as much going on during a game as little computers and need to react as quick as processors Well the great Zidane sure did in the final game!!

By Final Game | July 10th, 2006 at 4:21 am

I wonder if Italy feels the same way we do about the commentators. They were horrible at today’s game. They were against Italy just like they were against Portugal. So glad France didn’t win.

Posted from United States

By Rita | July 10th, 2006 at 4:27 am

I did send an email to ESPN/ABC telling them how biased their commentators were especially right after the semi-final game between France and Portugal. It was ridiculous…they were dogging so many teams and in particular Portugal. Don’t know why…must have been a little jealous or frustrated that Portugal went so far.

Posted from United States

By SoccerFan | July 10th, 2006 at 4:44 am

I totally agree with you Luis, I too sent them a couple of letters regarding their coverage.

On Zidane, I think everyone forgot about it already! If you ask me that was a well-deserved red! What a shame that, that’s how his career ended!

The great Zidane, I wonder what the guy said to him to make him lose it like that!

Posted from United States

By Luis | July 10th, 2006 at 3:29 pm

They not only didn’t crucify Zidane. They actually gave him the golden ball award. I admire his career, but after that display in the final, I wouldn’t have given him that award.

Forca Portugal!

Posted from United States

By Ze | July 10th, 2006 at 6:14 pm

“The great Zidane, I wonder what the guy said to him to make him lose it like that!”

I read in a Portuguese newspaper that the Italian player called him “terrorist”
Guess it did get to him, being Arabic and all that

By Adam | July 11th, 2006 at 5:00 pm

This blog entry is certainly ridiculous. As bad as ESPN commentators are, Harkes was actually the best one. He had the best voice and most knowledge out of them all. What he said about Scolarli was just funny. It wasn’t meant to offend, but poke fun. Considering how bland american soccer broadcasters are, let them have their fun! Don’t be mad at the criticism because any unbiased viewer knew it was true.

And for my money Ronaldo and Scolarli should be embarrased as hell at their disgraceful comments after the France match. Ronaldo flopped more than any fish in the sea and they had the audacity to blame the refs??? The refs are to blame for not giving Ronaldo yellow cards for such silly looking dives. The problem with Portugal was not that they are cheats. It was that they were such bad cheats. At least other teams had the sense to cheat well. They just gave the game a bad name with their ridiculous flops everywhere.

Posted from United States

By Luis | July 11th, 2006 at 6:31 pm

Adam – Thanks for your comment. I disagree with the notion that Harkes was making an attempt at levity and more importantly, he should know that there are plenty of first time viewers in the World Cup and anyone listening to his nonsense might actually think that Scolari was underhanded enough to actually do something like that. Either way, it’s unfair.

I’m glad to hear you admit that there are far better divers out there, so why didn’t Harkes single out those teams? Maybe you don’t mind all the villainizing and racial commentary targeted toward Portugal in this World Cup, but I do. I understand that this is nothing new and that other teams have had to deal with it in the past, but the media should be held to a higher standard then the average hooligan blogger. The media can help these kinds of mis-representation to take hold and spread or they could offer a more balanced view that actually educates their viewers. As your comments suggest, these problems are not unique to Portugal so why paint it that way?

If ESPN is going to continue to broadcast football, then I see nothing wrong with holding them to higher standard.

Forca Portugal!

Posted from United States

By Adam | July 13th, 2006 at 6:39 am

Luis,

From an objective perspective Portugal dove the most, not just the worst. That is why they were singled out more than other teams. To call that racists is pretty silly, you should admit. Most teams in the world cup are of a different race!!! That is just an unreasonable assumption to make. Secondly, Scolarli is a bit theaterical from anybody’s view. If you listen to Harkes again, I think even someone has extremely biased as yourself may come to find you are off on your assessment. His tone of voice wasn’t serious, it’s called exageration, hyperbole, it’s a device used for commedy (see Bill Cosby) again, I use the word commedy. It’s only funny though because it is an exageration of the truth. Scolarli wouldn’t really do that, but his personality isn’t far removed from the behaivor of a person who would. That is true. It’s not that serious. It’s a joke.

Posted from United States

By Luis | July 13th, 2006 at 2:37 pm

Adam – did you even try to understand the spirit of what I wrote? First, I never called anyone at ESPN or Harkes racist. My point was that ignorance about the game often descends into racial taunts like “Portugal are cheats and divers” or “all southern europeans are cheat and divers” or even worse, and I swear I read this on many a post “all grease balls are cheats” etc. Just add your own racial slur. Go back and read many of the posts on this very site and you’ll get the idea.

While I’m not suggesting that every new viewer will automatically have such a pathetic view from listening to Harke’s commentaries, it’s clear that ignorance about the game leads to this kind of mentality.

ESPN has a clear responsibility to educate it’s viewers on the game as most American’s are totally ignorant about it. To suggest that Portugal are a bunch of cheats and divers is rediculous and only someone that doesn’t watch football regularly would try to insenuate that. Anyone that knows the game, knows that it’s a tactic used by just about every team in every league at one time or another. It’s part of the game and painting Portugal in such a light is totally wrong, especially when we had so many clear examples of other teams taking dives, time waisting, headbutts, and referee crowding.

Furthermore, there are plenty of statistics out there that prove that Portugal did not take the most dives in the World Cup. I suggest you google for it and inform yourself before you make such statements.

Forca Portugal!

Posted from United States

By Ana | July 15th, 2006 at 1:42 am

Luis,I want to tell you that I have enjoyed reading your posts.I too wrote to ESPN to remind them that they have a wide variety of viewers ,and a big portuguse community that would have appreciated unbiased comments.Watching this world cup really has me hooked and I would like to follow our team, does anyone know how I can watch the games, will they be on the fox soccer channel?Or if I get RTP1 from dish network, will the portugese soccer games be shown on there?

Posted from United States

By Luis | July 15th, 2006 at 3:37 am

Dish carries RTPi for around $4 extra. In some cases, you may need another dish to get the international channels. If you have a SuperDish, you’re covered. All national team games are broadcast on RTPi, friendly matches included. You have to keep an eye on broadcast schedules as RTP is notorious for not having it’s program guide up to date.

Good luck.

Posted from United States

By Helena | July 15th, 2006 at 5:01 am

Luis, thank you for the weblink. I to wrote ESPN about their coverage. Fortunately, my parents have satellite and I could watch the games on the Brazilian or Portuguese channel. Unfortunately, I had to watch the final on ABC. I found myself constantly turning to the spanish channel. I get tired of listening to endless statistics and nonsense from the commentators. Also, the bar at the top and bottom of the screen made the field so small. It really bothered me that they made the field so small. Lastly, I don’t need to be taught the game and most Americans who did watch the game instead of baseball, know the game already and don’t need lessons. Again thanks for the link.

Posted from United States

By Adam | July 15th, 2006 at 6:13 am

You didn’t allow my posts which refute your statemens? Lame.

Posted from United States

By Luis | July 15th, 2006 at 7:15 am

Adam – I didn’t delete any posts. Some get caught in spam filters. Feel free to post again, if you like.

Posted from United States

By Tracy | July 29th, 2006 at 2:46 am

I think adam is an idiot…. u sure told him luis!!! forca portugal!!! n dont call me biased because i am happily a Portuguese-American!!!

Posted from United States

By Mike | January 29th, 2008 at 11:23 am

Hey Luis, great post…sorry this is like a year late, but I was just thinking about who would be doing the games for the upcoming Euro’s on ESPN. World Cup ‘06 was awful for ESPN, and at least in France ‘98, they had Bob Ley(sp?) and Schamus Malin(sp?) do the commentary, as they kept the commentary respectable, insightful, and did a great job not to annoy soccer fans.

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