2014 World Cup

ESPN is working from the assumption that every viewer is a great soccer mind.

 

No, you were lying about the Univision guys explaining basics to their audience.

It's one thing to be a troll. It's another to be a liar like that.

 

When is the US team getting back? I wonder if there will be a big airport celebration

 

This is simply not true. The game is not that damn complicated. What do you want them to explain? Do they explain the offside rule when you watch hockey, or what a suicide squeeze is in a baseball game? Very rarely. Someone PLEASE tell me what you want them to explain! I beg of you!

 

Tim McCarver did

 

And nearly everyone hated him for it.

 

Explain what they're trying to achieve tactically.
Because honestly- not trying to agitate- I don't quite understand what it is when I watch soccer.

 

I played soccer most of my young life, and I still know very little about the tactics. Soccer tactics seems to be far more complicated than they should be, and I wouldn't think it would be easy to explain. I mean, I know the formation of a 4-4-2 or 3-5-1, but don't really know what the players' roles are. Nor do I really know all that much about the 46 defense or the Cover. And I don't really care to. I know the object of the game, and the rules, and that's enough for me. If you want to go in depth, buy a book, or research online. I have friends who played college football, and one is a successful high school coach now. When they start talking football, my eyes glaze over, because I have no idea what they are talking about.

 

Then we watch sports differently, dude...

 

That's fine, but the Brits have a bigger claim on the mile than the Yanks. A Brit ran the first sub-4:00 mile, and all the great milers of the late 1970s and 80s (Coe, Cram, Ovett) were British. Jim Ryun is the only U.S. miler of the era that leaps to mind.

 

Fair enough. But you won't get that sort of explanation from very many commentators, no matter what sport it is. I mean, I can see the plays develop and know what they are trying to achieve, but I don't know what the left midfielder's job is in a given formation. I mean I can SEE what's going on, but I don't know all the ins and outs. Unless you have played at that level or really studied it, it's tough to get from just watching.

 

The average soccer fan has no idea how complex soccer plays really are
and how much practice time it takes. One trip or bad pass can throw off an
entire play.