OT: Bryant Gumbel Soccer rant

Submitted by M-Wolverine on

For your commentary -

“Finally tonight, a few words about this year’s World Cup. I confess that I love everything about it, particularly, those aspects that many Americans are whining about. Where the game is concerned, I love that they have running time and don’t compromise the flow for the sake of TV commercials. I love that the referees don’t stop the action to let replays warp their beautiful game and I love that their announcers, unlike Americans, don’t feel the need to characterize everything that’s surprising as also unbelievable. As for the players, I love how they mimic NBA stars and go down dramatically, as if they have been shot whenever they are fouled. I love the single names: Ronaldo, Kaka, Drogba — all of which sound a lot more elegant than Manny, Pudge and Big Baby. And, I love the national pride that is shown each game. It’s real and it’s genuine, the kind the Olympics tries to force on us every four years. Off the field, I love how the crowds never stoop to something as silly as ‘the wave.’ I love the purity of their sidelines — no hangers on, no mascots and best of all, no cheerleaders. I even love the vuvuzelas. Yes, they are noisy, but they are preferable to the deafening din of the weekly Billy Bob 500, or the phony piped in efforts at U.S. arenas, where choreographed chants of ‘dee-fense’ pass for originality. Lastly, I love that at the World Cup, there are sporting people representing cultures from all over the world and befitting grownups, not a one of them seems obsessed with what conference Texas plays in, whether Brett Favre ever comes back, or where LeBron James ultimately goes. At least we’ve one pocket of sanity, if only for two more weeks.”

http://sportsmedianews.com/06/bryant-gumbel-closing-commentary-on-real-… (It's back to off-topic now that said the WC coverage has ended according to Brian, right?)

mds315

June 28th, 2010 at 1:57 PM ^

Mr. Bryant Gumbel elegantly says everything us die hard futbol fans believe in.  There is a reason soccer is the number one sport for our greath youth.  Hopefully the drama and flair of the match vs Algeria and then the disappointing defeat to Ghana will spark some interest into our great nation. 

mds315

June 28th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^

Alas, you have read my post incorrectly.  I did not state that those were the reasons that youth soccer was the most popular sport.  To elaborate, however, I believe the game starts to lose its luster because of the afterthought that is the MLS.  There are no LeBrons, Ovechkins, Strausburgs, or Brady's in the MLS that kids try to emulate and grow up cheering for.

ChitownWolverine82

June 28th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^

That lost to Ghana might have been easily as detrimental as the win over Algeria.  2 years of West African beat downs that lead to our ouster?  Not exactly gripping stuff.  An asshole at the bar said it best when asked by his girlfriend if he was upset.

"Nah, fuck it. Two months to kickoff."

Paly33

June 28th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^

I'm not a huge futbol fan at all but I will say that Mr. Gumbel made some very good points.  I was very excited to watch every USA game, and came away impressed with the product on the field as a whole.  Do I think it will change the perception of futbol in the US, probably not. 

thesauce2424

June 28th, 2010 at 2:06 PM ^

I'm pretty sure I don't have to elaborate on why this is important.  Yes, their fans are much more sophisticated.  "Oh my god..haha..the stupid Americans do the wave..haha. Let's go murder one of our players now because that game sucked"

GVBlue86

June 28th, 2010 at 2:06 PM ^

Mr. G makes good points. Soccer almost has a charm that other sports don't for the reasons he mentioned. Also, I respect a crowd that comes up with it's own unique chants rather than ones forced down our throats with giant cheesy graphics on the jumbotron. For the record, I like the vuvuzelas.

MGoShoe

June 28th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^

...destroy the power of the organic fan chants you say you like.  Watch one EPL game when the season starts up (just turn on ESPN on Saturday morning while you eat your eggs and toast).  I challenge you to tell me after you experience that that the din of vuvuzelas is a good thing. 

GVBlue86

June 28th, 2010 at 2:39 PM ^

I like both. I don't think it is contradictory to say I like the fans chants as well as I like vuvuzelas. Now in saying that, I wouldn't like them at every sporting event. I guess I like them at the World Cup in South Africa. I would not like them at the big house. Should have qualified that.

Hail-Storm

June 28th, 2010 at 2:52 PM ^

I was able to attend a match in Germany finally this year. The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing. They had a main cheering section that lead most of the elaborate cheers that reminded me much of the student section at Michigan (I wish I spoke German to know what they were saying as the German I was with didn't want to repeat the cheers it to us in English). The opposing fans were fenced off by barbed wire from the home team and did a decent job of doing cheers back and had some huge drums to add to the cheers. The home announcer had no problem either of showing his bias as he announced the players and score. It felt like the Yost crowd at the Big House. I think the Vuvuzelas take away from fans doing the cheers, and diminish some of the oohs and aahs from close games. Still, the US definately had some great games and some dramatics that aren't always seen in soccer.

(as a side note, I totally disagree with Mr. G on the dives. Having played soccer for over 20 years it can be a physical game, but will never like flops or the faked agony of hurt after a flop to get a call. In such a fluid game, it is hard to watch certain teams do this constantly. I hate it in the NBA and hate it in soccer)

Mr. Robot

June 28th, 2010 at 2:50 PM ^

You have never been to a hockey game at Yost Ice Arena if you think soccer is the only place to get unique chants.

Our hockey team isn't alone either. I will grant that professional teams are a little lacking hte in creativity department at times, but in college, every school worth mentioning has a huge slew of tradition that goes into their game and their fans. Also, I don't care what anybody says, doing the wave and then slowing it down, speeding it up, and splitting it is a lot of fun when you're destroying your opponent late in the game.

GVBlue86

June 28th, 2010 at 3:05 PM ^

I don't mean to generalize and say I don't like any game atmospheres of U.S sports. I was merely saying I don't like "DE-FENSE!" (most annoying to me for some reason) and other jumbotron chants like that. It was just a reason for me to like soccer. Not a reason to dislike other sports. I will not endorse hatred of the wave however (especially the superfast and split ones from the student section).

Maizeforlife

June 28th, 2010 at 2:08 PM ^

He's right, all the reasons he listed for why he loves soccer is exactly why I hate soccer.

edit- hate is a harsh word, i'll tone it down to "am not a fan of"

MGoShoe

June 28th, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^

...this is pretty dumb.  I actually saw several waves in the stands and the vuvuzelas are beyond ridiculous. 

Pockets of sanity?  Apparently Bryant is choosing to ignore the Italian, French or British press and their reactions to their team' performances.  The behavior of fans and press in soccer countries is as obssessive as anything that goes on in the US.  How many stories about the misdeeds of footballers and pictorials on WAGS do you have to see before you realize that the public eats up every bit of football minutiae that the press creates?

Noahdb

June 28th, 2010 at 2:40 PM ^

Soccer looks like it's probably a helluva lot of fun to play...but it's like watching paint dry as a spectator sport.

I heard Keith Olberman and Dan Patrick talking about it a few years ago. KO opined that baseball, if you didn't play it as a kid, didn't keep score, and didn't have someone to talk to at the game, was probably pretty damn boring. The reason it has a fan base is because a lot of us remember watching the game with our dads (or maybe our mom) and it evokes a lot of pleasant memories of our youth. He suggested that if those moments involved soccer instead of baseball, we'd see the same passion for it here that we see in other countries.

Tim Waymen

June 28th, 2010 at 2:29 PM ^

but look at Zinedine Zidane.  Granted, we've had plenty of our own altercations in American sports and Zidane might just be one bad apple, but seriously, he headbutts a guy for some amateurish trashtalk about his sister?  It's like, call us when someone actually does insult you (unless there actually is some unwritten rule about family members being off-limits or if Zidane's sister really was a whore and it was a sensitive topic).

Tim Waymen

June 28th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^

Hey, I never said I thought the German guy was a good trash-talker.  In fact, I said quite the contrary.  You should enjoy the sport if it's your cup of tea.  It's just that on the other side of the Atlantic, the people who, according to half of Gumble2Gumbel, make soccer so awesome are weak and embarrassments to sports in general.

Needs

June 28th, 2010 at 3:34 PM ^

Didn't the wave actually get its start at the World Cup? You'll hear the English announcers refer to it when it occurs (and it has in this cup during the more boring matches) as "A Mexican Wave," which I assume refers to the 1986 World Cup. I'm no expert on the history of the wave, but that sounds about the time it started to become popular.

Yeah, so I agree with some of the sentiments, especially vis a vis the Olympics, he doesn't really know what he's talking about.

jmblue

June 28th, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^

Want to make more Americans appreciate soccer?  Don't do this.  Spare the hard sell.  Just treat it like a normal sport and stop talking down to us.  Stop comparing it to the established North American sports.  I mean really, I love the World Cup and even I cringe when our media get all preachy about it. 

kdhoffma

June 28th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^

As for the players, I love how they mimic NBA stars and go down dramatically, as if they have been shot whenever they are fouled.

 

Ugh... this is what I hate about soccer.  I come from a hockey mentality where the unwritten rule is, unless you are near death, you get your ass up and skate off the ice.  I realize diving happens in hockey, and I hate it, but soccer takes it to a new low.  Late in the US-Ghana match, I watched a guy fall (by himself) on his ass (maybe he broke his vagina?), and proceed to lay there in a coffin position for 5 minutes until they brought out a stretcher and carried him off.  It's disgraceful, and worst of all, it seems to be fully accepted as being "part of the game" by soccer faithful. 

MGoShoe

June 28th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^

...we hate it as much as you do.  If you pay attention to the announcers that ESPN has, they are pretty much universally entirely disdainful of such histrionics.  Such behavior should not be tolerated by the referee.  That incident was close enough to the referee's assistant that he could have given the referee information that would have provided ample cause to allow play to continue.  That display was all on the officials who allowed it to happen.  Referees often admonish players who are obviously play acting to get up and if they don't, they risk a booking.

joeyb

June 28th, 2010 at 2:54 PM ^

If he's talking about the play I'm thinking of, play did continue, at least for another 30 seconds or so. When he still didn't get up, they got the stretcher and brought him off the field. He sat upright as they carted him off. As soon as they got him off the field, he was standing and he was fine. I believe that was the play that added 3 minutes to the clock.

stmccoy

June 28th, 2010 at 5:11 PM ^

The problem you run into in soccer is that everyone falls on the ground and acts like their spleen exploded every time there is contact.  You then have the guys who fall after not being hit at all like the play at the end of the US-Ghana game.  Clearly, both are diving.  Where as an official do you draw the line between good diving and bad diving and call a penalty?  The whole thing is so subjective, the officials can't possibly call one or the other. 

Sgt. Wolverine

June 28th, 2010 at 5:29 PM ^

should be treated the same, as they both harm the game and make it less appealing.  There's really no reason to allow either one.  Heavily penalize both until they're not a common part of the game.

Blue in Yarmouth

June 28th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^

but I disagree that it is fully accepted by the soccer faithful. In my experience every soccer fan I have ever conversed with hates the diving, it is only accepted as part of the game by Fifa. As manifested by their insistance on not moving the game toward instant replay, we know they care very little about the fans or the games perception outside their offices.

briangoblue

June 28th, 2010 at 6:37 PM ^

I love how Gumbel blames the NBA for diving when I don't remember any flopping before all the Euros started showing up, particularly Vlade Divac.

 

Feel free to move to Europe and call soccer games instead of ruining another Thursday night NFL game for me, Bryant. Don't start "whining" about American sports because you're bitter that A) your brother Greg is better at announcing them than you, and B) he also has much cooler "Soul Glo" hair. 

Blue-Chip

June 28th, 2010 at 2:35 PM ^

In my opinion, you've hit on one of the biggest reasons soccer struggles for ratings here.  American sports fans love big hits in football.  There's a certain enjoyment of hockey fights and home plate collisions.  It's a very macho thing and guys flopping will always be more mocked than an accepted type of gamesmanship.

Blue-Chip

June 28th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^

My original post was probably a bit over-simplifying.  I think depending on the individual fan involved its one of these two, or even a combination of both.  Either way, the diving issue does not sit well with most people watching soccer here.  That was the larger point I wanted to make.