More on the Gus Johnson Debacle

Scott Felt Exactly the Same as this Viewer Upon Hearing the News

Scott has some thoughts regarding Gus Johnson's appointment as that network's lead announcer for the Champions League and the World Cup broadcasts in the US.  And they're not good ones....:

Oh my God!  Just when I thought the US was finally getting on the right foot with soccer, and defending the spread of the game in this country just the other day to an ignorant buffoon, it seems that FOX, and soon NBC, will conspire to provide more fodder to the soccer haters.  Of the billions of people on this planet who love and know the game and the millions in the US who know and love the game, they pick a freaking basketball guy??!!

The fact that they try to make hay of him playing pickup soccer at the park is belittling and pathetic (and probably untrue aside from the one time he did it so they could say it).  I still have PTSD flashes from Brent Musburger’s insulting commentary at the 1994 World Cup and now they have flared up again.

Did you watch the clip of Gus Johnson’s play calling that was shown on the blog yesterday?  Really bad....  Among other things that ruffled me during the 1 minute and 45 seconds: “Chips it forward” ( there was no chip) and “Near post cross past the keeper” (the error there is self-evident, I believe).


FOX needs to cater to the people who actually watch – soccer-educated and discerning – not Joe-football/basketball/baseball who barely knows anything about the sport.  As has been said by others, we need more intelligent commentary, not dumber.  And if FOX is trying to tell us that Johnson will make up for his inexperience with enthusiasm, first of all, NO, and second of all, enthusiasm can be fun (a la Andres Cantor) but the excitement should come from the game, not the decibel level or lung capacity of the commentator.

This is farlieonfootie for February 7.