The Beautiful Game: FC Dallas vs San Jose Earthquakes
May 8th, 2008 . 5:03 pm . By: Lorenzo de Medici
Being somewhat familiar with the behind the scenes goings on during a soccer telecast (several years ago, in my home country, I was involved with the televising of soccer games on a regular basis) I have been appalled by the quality, or lack of, of the production of recent FC Dallas games as well as some of the other MLS games. The recent game at San Jose gives a good staring point for legitimate criticism of the whole affair from start to finish and I’m left wondering just what in the heck goes on and is discussed during these pre-game production meetings. Typically these take place several hours prior to going on the air and include the placement of any interviews, timing of disclaimers (”this telecast is the sole property of so-an-so and any unauthorized use”…etc, etc) and other promotional considerations, camera angles, pre, half and post game ideas and other related topics that may be brought up by either the announcers or off-air staff. These meetings are generally run by the producer and it is the producer who decides, during the action, which camera shots go out over the airwaves. And as far as FC Dallas games go this, to me, is the problem. No sooner had Brad Sham or Dave Dir mentioned a players name we were immediately treated to 10-15 seconds of an isolated camera shot of this player while the game was going on around him. A game we, as viewers, were unable to see. This ludicrous situation happened several times during this particular contest and led to a dreadful game being almost unwatchable. As fans of the game and of FC Dallas I’m sure most of us stayed on to the bitter end, although I cannot imagine more than the most avid fans staying with this match unless their remote had fallen in the commode or the batteries had failed. As a regular viewer of The Barclays Premier League watching this game on TV is akin to watching a different sport, never mind a different contest. Unless FC Dallas in particular and MLS in general addresses this problem the game will continue to be a niche sport for some time to come. One wonders if it would be possible to import entire production crews from England (it’s not as if they have much else to do this summer) to basically teach the locals just how to do it right. The inane, non stop banter between the announcers is so distracting and infuriating that I prefer to watch, when available, the games in Spanish even though my knowledge of the language is minimal at best. Of course (and I’ll change horses here for a minute) the lack of much real action on the field didn’t help the game or the talking heads and I’ll address this issue at length in another column. For now I’ll leave you with a couple of points. Fact is, Steve Morrow’s idea that “it’s always good to get a tie on the road” (he certainly isn’t the only MLS coach with this mindset) helps neither the game, the producer, or the announcers. The ludicrous, 1970’s English third division tactic at seemingly each FC Dallas kick-off (park Cooper wide right, and hoof the ball in the general direction of the corner flag on that side) hasn’t worked, won’t work and has been scouted by every team in the league to the point that they are all looking for it and all know it’s coming. To describe this “tactic” as primitive does a great disservice to the word. I note with interest in today’s Dallas Morning News a quote from Steve Morrow where he says he would like Cooper to “stay more central” to “not drift out wide so much”. Maybe beginning games by having him take kick-offs (as most center forwards in the world do) would be a step in the right direction. 11 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
It was the worst Telecast of Soccer I’ve ever seen for exactly the reason you stated.
Totally agree about the telecast. I HATE the graphics they keep showing that take up half the screen, and then close up shots of players while the games goes on — I was yelling at the TV because of that very reason (oh, and because of the bad possession, too). I also prefer the Telefutura broadcast because the announces are so fun to listen to, if FCD manages to score. I do understand enough Spanish, also, to know that they actually call the game pretty well.
OTOH, I think that ESPN2 is much better, imho, now (especially without Wynalda). They seem to have less annoying graphics than they did last year.
If you want to talk about an annoying aspect about MLS, i have to point out that there is no convenient way to watch all games on tv. You can’t pay one amount and get every game of your fav team. You have to pay for Direct Kick, your cable or dish has to also offer Telefutura (no common out of the South), and some games are HDNet only. You’re talking about 3 seperate outlets. Why can’t I pay one price and get all the games on my tv? MLStv.com is alright if you don’t mind a jumpy picture and like watching a computer. It’s a strange setup.
For those who watched any of the Dallas Cup on TV, it was amazing that the production was BETTER than it is for the FC Dallas games.
Soccer features theoretically uninterrupted play, but in reality there are contrasting periods of build-up when the cameras should seriously show the play, but then there’s like the “receding wave” moments, such as between the ball going out and the goalie finally taking his goal kick.
The European crews know the difference and insert their editorial comment images or their fun (fan reactions) images at appropriate moments.
In defense of the indefensible, S.J. x Dallas WAS the first MLS broadcast from the new venue, though that wouldn’t explain the ill-timed close-ups. [i'll just stop there! don't get me started!]
ESPN2 DCU x ChiFi {R}
re: non-stop banter: Harkes and dellaCammera were guilty of NOT REFERING to the match in front of them pretty much from the point when the score reached what it did. If the announcers aren’t interested in the match,… just whistle the game OVER and DONE at that very point? save on electricity for the stadium lights? ESPN2 can just switch to lawnmower races. Sham and Dir need to be caned with the urgency stick.
The crew was probably a baseball production crew. That might help explain the numerous graphics and ill-timed cut-aways. If you ever watch baseball on tv, something I don’t advise, the broadcast is full with such time wasting shots. Pissst, that’s because, despite what the majority in America think, baseball is THE boring sport.
Don’t knock Sham; the man is a local hero. Who else can call a yellow card a piece of cheese and get away with it?
I agree with Teddy…it’s all about game knowledge. There doesn’t appear to be a large supply of TV production guys in America that really know the game of soccer and how it should be presented. The player zoom-ins are incredibly frustrating and clearly the product of people who are used to mainstream American sports that feature regular, predicatable stoppages. Its interesting that these tactics aren’t utilized by European production crews even when they are doing basketball and hockey games. It’s because they are used to soccer.
I know a TV guy that knows soccer…
btw – Can you imagine an NBA broadcast showing an inbounds pass where the athlete’s image is like 1/35 the height of the TV screen? But OTOH in MLS sometimes you can barely make out the corner-kicker WAY over there amongst the photogs, cables, signboards, stairs, golf carts, security guys, what have you. I say to MLS/broadcasters, “Don’t act like you are ashamed of the corner kick, like it’s a regrettable, inconvenient bit of unavoidable necessity: GLORIFY the corner kick through stadium design and camera image.” I was just now watching Schalke ‘04 x Frankfurt and the TV switcherman switched perfectly between the corner-kicker and the goal area scrum once the ball was on its way. And MLS has this season had a great CK angle on TV: Two-yard-line, low-angle camera shows only the ball and the flag – the kicker enters the frame suddenly. But that excellent angle has not caught on as SOP. [granted: I can't expect there to be a sideline cam for each corner of the field][don't get me started]
and it seems to that former Galaxy broadcast station KCAL-TV had a better idea in graphics: Their scorebug was across the bottom of the screen. I ask you, is your speedometer up at the top edge of your windshield? On my car it’s down on the dash. That was an analogy: scorebug = speedometer. So, Buzz… is that TV guy you know who I think it is?
Sham paired a hi-energy guy would be good. As it is, the match has to be HIGHLY competitive for a Sham Dir broadcast to be OK. imho
Teddy has it right. That had to be a baseball production crew doing this game, just had to be, otherwise this game is in trouble.
A few weeks ago I watched the Arsenal – Chelsea in match on ESPN360. It came up when I tried to watch a Russian Soccer match.
The only audio was field level ambient sound in full high definition audio.
Scintillating! I started to wonder why we need commentary when we could have THAT!