Disqus - Latest Comments for mookie

Re: Recognizing Premier League’s Best of the Rest

mookie — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:30:11 -0000

Tottenham and Newcastle at this point better hope they stay at the mid table.

Re: Barnsley Shocks Liverpool in FA Cup

mookie — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:55:22 -0000

Rafa's job in trouble, my Red Devils thrashing the Gooners....this has to be one of my best days ever!

Re: Max Bretos is my hero …

mookie — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:32:24 -0000

This is why the league no longer cares about the type of fan it attracts just that the crowd numbers are passable: so the initial investors can cut their losses and new investors can be hoodwinked.

Re: Max Bretos is my hero …

mookie — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:35:55 -0000

DOH!! TAKE TWO!

This is why the league no longer cares about the type of fan it attracts just that the crowd numbers are passable: so the initial investors can cut their losses and new investors can be hoodwinked.

The MLS folks must have a different viewpoint of passable number of fans than me. I expect the stadium to be at least 90% filled, and seeing how the only team that doesn't need David Beckham to fill up a stadium is in Canada (Mookie's fav Toronto FC)...MLS should follow Europe.

I mean, the fans don't make a noise. They just blow a horn and bang the drums. Where are the chants? Where are the songs?

Oh yeah, Bretos. If I have to hear "YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!" one more time.....

Re: Fulham FC: American Grit

mookie — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:45:12 -0000

American Grit? Disagree there.

We aren't going to be happy when we see the supposed top American soccer players going to Fulham and basically start winning at the last minute.

I like Dempsey, but he can't finish if his life depended on it.

McBride is old, he has to retire, he has had a great career.

Bocanegra is probably the worst player on the US roster now.

Keller....is 506.

Eddie Johnson is just pathetic, a royal bust.

Fulham have been driven into the ground thanks to making the team up of Northern Ireland and the US. I can't see them staying in the Premiership much longer. It is indeed a great escape, but I don't see a West Ham type of improvement.

Re: Top 5 Sources for Adult-Only Football Coverage | EPL Talk

mookie — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:48:38 -0000

I'm guessing you studied at least 50 of them very thoroughly eh?

Re: Fulham Would Be Mad Not To Visit America This Summer

mookie — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:28:47 -0000

@ T, I can't wait until the mighty West Ham go to Toronto.:)

I don't think having clubs from England like Fulham will help too much. I don't care how many Americans there are, you have the MLS anyways.

They need a team like Liverpool or Arsenal to tour, not Fulham.

Re: Where To Find The England vs USA Friendly On TV

mookie — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:47:03 -0000

Hogwash that this game with BECKS mind you lovers, is on digital cable.

Re: Chelsea Fans Voted Worst Behaved By Premier League

mookie — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:48:17 -0000

Bolton has fans?

Back the train up for a second........

Re: ESPN Deserves Praise For Excellent Champions League Coverage

mookie — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:16:49 -0000

Smith is so-so, gets calls correct but sometimes speaks a little bit too much.

Derek Rae is fantastic, one problem with him. Stop saying "Rooney for United" or "Malouda for Chelsea".

GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED!!!

Oh yeah, and kudos to ESPN, great coverage, no annoying graphics at the top of the screen, I may be able to watch Euro 08 without desperately looking for an online feed.

Hey guys, it could be worse. We could be in England listening to David Pleat call Frank Lampard, Frank Redknapp.

Re: Carlos Bocanegra Released By Fulham

mookie — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:50:30 -0000

Bocanegra is a clumsy tackler, poor defender, good move by Fulham.

Re: Day One: First Impressions of ESPN’s Euro ‘08 Coverage

mookie — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:49:59 -0000

Julie Foudy = Blech

The commentary is great but the studio stuff is awful.

Shame they never bothered to send those guys to Austria or Switzerland.

Re: Euro 2008 Semi Final Preview Germany v Turkey

mookie — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:57:52 -0000

Great game affected by lousy weather.

I believe Healey and Gray will do the final....isn't that a bit odd?

Re: Jack Bell Is A Wanker, Part II

mookie — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:58:42 -0000

I see you guys want O'Brien/Balboa back?

Re: How Fox Soccer Channel Can Improve Its Summer Programming

mookie — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:56:51 -0000

Get rid of the reality shows for one.

I could care less about Dream Team to be honest with you.

Soccer Saturday from Sky Sports should be aired in place of the usually dull Wigan/Bolton 7:00 AM match.

Air more of "Classic English Soccer".

Give Max Bretos some valium. :)

Re: 2008/2009 Premier League TV Schedule For US Residents

mookie — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:18:34 -0000

Wow, only 3 Fulham games?

What's going on!

Re: Fox Soccer Channel & Setanta Sports Announce 08/09 EPL TV Schedule

mookie — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:55:47 -0000

Wow, not that many Fulham games on FSC.

Probably the case of the American players leaving?

Re: 2008 Community Shield On Fox Soccer Channel In U.S.

mookie — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:01:23 -0000

Good, 'cause I'm losing it with FSC airing Dream Team and Barcelona "classics" with that awful dubbed commentary.

Re: Liverpool Does the Right Thing: German Clubs Do Not

mookie — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:04:43 -0000

@ Harold:

.......

Re: ESPN Coverage Hits New Low With West Ham vs MLS All-Stars

mookie — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:16:47 -0000

Hate to break it to ya Gaffer, but ESPN does most of this for MLS games, much less an exhibition.

I watched the game on ESPN, then watched it again on CBC.

Nigel Reed and Jason DeVos were in the booth, with Mitch Peacock from FSC on the touchline for some useful tidbits. Never cut to his face, while he was talking, they stuck to game footage.

CBC, after the pre-game, were in no way enamored with Beckham like JP and Harkes were. Beckham could've been 10 yards away from the goal and not done a thing and they would say "Beckham is happy".......not so with the CBC.

Sadly, they also did in-booth interviews with Nash and Don Garber, but they never cut away from the game to show a stupid hawk at the top of the stadium. That doesn't annoy me as much as cutting away from the game.

On a side note, if you want some sneaks at the CBC coverage of games, please go to azorean10, a Youtube user who has a string of Toronto FC game videos.

If you guys expect anything competent from ESPN then you're delusional. Euro 2008 was good, but notice, and I hate to bring it up, they made it as British of a telecast as possible to the point where it could rank with the BBC (minus Julie Foudy). Other than that and the Champions League, American "soccer" telecasts are dreadful, and yes, I am an American.

Re: Liverpool Does the Right Thing: German Clubs Do Not

mookie — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:18:20 -0000

It has nothing to do with Anti-Americanism......did he not call the BRAZILIAN league slow?

He's probably just upset the England team will never ever possess the quality that the Brazilians have.

Re: Poll: Landon Donovan Heading To The EPL? | EPL Talk

mookie — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:21:58 -0000

Landycakes misses too many easy chances, I don't care if he is the MLS goal scoring machine.

He would get steamrolled in the EPL.

Re: Join The I Know The Score Prediction League From EPL Talk

mookie — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:32:44 -0000

Would've been easier if this was Serie A. ;-)

Re: Premier League Teams Appearing Most Often On Setanta Sports

mookie — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:39:13 -0000

Surprise, more Chelsea bias from FSC.

Re: Premier League Teams Appearing Most Often On Setanta Sports

mookie — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:40:13 -0000

Surprise, more Chelsea bias from Setanta.

I blame AtlantaPompey. :D

Re: How Often Your Favorite Premier League Club Will Be Shown On US TV

mookie — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:42:36 -0000

I'd like to know why Bolton got that many matches with their unwatchable football.

Re: Beijing 2008: EPL Players on Squads

mookie — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:33:44 -0000

This is very important for China to be playing with Dong. ;D

I love being juvenile and immature!

Re: How Fox Soccer Channel Can Improve Its Summer Programming

mookie — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:35:12 -0000

Really? I think FSC is a little too Serie A biased...

Come on, in the summer time they have aired more Italian games than Premiership games.

Re: Why Sky Sports News Sucks

mookie — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:27:37 -0000

@ Darlington, I know, the Netherlands suck, it's not like they were favorites to come out of the group and possibly win the tournament.....nothing like that at all.

SSN to me is better than SportsCenter, which shoves the Yankees down our throats and Brett Favre 24/7.

Sky Sports cannot show highlights of events that they do not have the rights to, so that's the reason why that happened.

Re: 2008/2009 Premier League Table Predictions

mookie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:51:01 -0000

1. Glory Glory Man United!

2. Liverpool

3. Chelsea

4. Arsenal

5. Aston Villa

6. Everton

7. Tottenham

8. Pompey

9. Blackburn

10. Newcastle

11. West Ham

12. Boro

13. Sunderland

14. Man City

15. WBA

16. Bolton

17. Hull (surprise team)

_________________

18. Fulham

19. Sunderland

20. Stoke

Re: Fox Soccer Channel Drops The Ball With Premier League TV Coverage

mookie — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:20:11 -0000

Believe it or not I've heard of FSC delays as long as 15 minutes.

Now, the Match Day program is terrible, Warren Barton should've stuck with calling games for Sky at the stadiums instead of being with Christian Miles (cringes).

The halftime show is something that has always bugged me. Two minutes of highlights of Everton/Blackburn, commercial. Highlights of Sunderland/Scousers, other scores from the Premier League, commercial.

They don't even know who the commentators are half the time (I've heard Bretos and Miles get the commentary names wrong before).

And in case you're wondering, in Canada (and I'm 2 1/2 hours away from the border), Rogers Sportsnet gets 1 Saturday game and The Score gets the main Sunday game, while Setanta gets everything else.

I bring this up because both channels are on basic cable for most companies up north, and what would you prefer to have, FSC giving you poor broadcasts for 4 low rate matches and having to pay extra for digital? Or the Canadian networks providing more in-depth coverage for 2 games on basic cable and ends up costing you less?

I haven't looked at Setanta, and I don't think Comcast even has it, but I'm hearing plenty of good reviews.

For Sky Sports: Very big day for Bill Leslie, getting to commentate with Andy Gray for I believe his first live Premier League game.

Finally, this is a list of SOME OF THE TWI commentators for today, and all were at the stadiums instead of in London:

Arsenal v West Brom - Ian Crocker and Efan Ekoku
Bolton v Stoke - ?
Everton v Blackburn - Daniel Mann and Davie Provan
Hull v Fulham - Rob Hawthorne and Brian Marwood
Middlesbrough v Tottenham - ?
Sunderland v Liverpool - Alan Parry and Paul Walsh
West Ham v Wigan - John Anderson and Tony Gale

Re: Harry Redknapp Interested In Coaching 2012 UK Team

mookie — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:59:30 -0000

Why did you put up the London Olympics logo?

Can't you tell looking at ugly things is not all that great? :)

Re: Portsmouth vs Manchester United (Your Running Commentary)

mookie — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:26:11 -0000

A pre-season friendly in South Africa, Trey.

Re: Who Are The Premier League Players You Love To Hate The Most?

mookie — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:36:22 -0000

Michael Ballack......overrated, injured, and he plays for Chelski.

Re: Why So Many Empty Seats For Cup Competitions?

mookie — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:04:16 -0000

Is it because no one really cares about the Carling Cup?

Re: Play Match Magazine’s Super League Football Game

mookie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:48:25 -0000

I was awarded 6 penalties against Athletics.

Re: How to Watch the Best Premier League Game of the Day

mookie — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:46:07 -0000

So I guess Bolton will be getting 2s and 3s forever? :D

Re: Premier League Predictions: Gameweek Three | EPL Talk

mookie — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:49:57 -0000

Another Sunderland and Man City game? Grr......if FSC can't hang on to Fulham they have to hang onto Sunderland and Man City.

Chelsea 4 Tottenham 2

Bolton 1 WBA 1

Hull 2 Wigan 2

Boro 2 Stoke 0

Arsenal 1 Newcastle 1

Blackburn 1 West Ham 0

Sunderland 0 Man City 0

Everton 2 Portsmouth 1

Aston Villa 3 Liverpool 2

Re: Premier League Gameweek Three (Your Running Commentary) | EPL Talk

mookie — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:08:37 -0000

If I had to base which teams that were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League would be relegated after these 3 games, West Brom and Stoke are headed for 19th and 20th.

Re: Real Madrid Accepts Manchester City £32.5 Million Bid For Robinho | EPL Talk

mookie — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:19:16 -0000

Man City are runaway winners in the transfer derby.

Robinho, Wright-Phillips already with a big impact, maybe Berbatov, trying to get Villa, unbelievable.

If Man City aren't in the top 6 then this is a gigantic failure.

Well done to the Citizens, because all the stars must stay away from Chelsea. :D :D

Re: BREAKING NEWS: Manchester United Match Manchester City’s Bid For Berbatov And Throw In Campbell

mookie — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:23:59 -0000

Setanta is reporting that Berba will sign with Manchester United.

Re: BREAKING NEWS: Manchester United Match Manchester City’s Bid For Berbatov And Throw In Campbell

mookie — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:53:27 -0000

Confirmed, BBC have Berbatov to Man Utd.

Big day for the Manchester clubs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_pr...

Re: Newcastle United Hits New Low In 2-1 Carling Cup Loss To Tottenham

mookie — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:51:55 -0000

Unless Newcastle strike it rich in the other transfer window or Venables is a competent manager then I think Newcastle are going to be relegated. That's right...

Tottenham started slow last year and rebounded, but Newcastle are just in shambles.....they cannot stay up IMO.

Re: Tell Us What’s Missing In Your Soccer Experience

mookie — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:54:35 -0000

I'm missing competent American commentators, and FSC has to stop showing Newcastle or West Ham.......if that is supposedly the cream of the crop then FSC has given up its soul to Setanta.

Re: Interview With Gary Taphouse, Football Commentator

mookie — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:05:13 -0000

Well done Patrick.......you show him....whatever.

Good interview Gaffer, may I suggest Daniel Mann next time?

As for TWI Chiswick, I'll drill it into your brains, when Sky produces a Football First broadcast that is only shown live to international viewers, the commentators are at the grounds as is the case on BBC's Match of the Day.

When it's not a Football First game and it's a live Sky Sports game or Setanta Sports game, TWI brings in their own commentating team (like Steve Banyard and Efan Ekoku) for international viewers.

Games like Arsenal/Bolton from Ian Darke and Gary O'Reilly are from the studio, but Manchester United/Chelsea from Jon Champion and Robbie Earle are in the TV gantry. Monday night matches from Martin Tyler and Paul Walsh are almost guaranteed to be from a studio, with the exception of Man United/Portsmouth from Alan Parry and Paul Walsh, which was at the ground.

I notice that when there are 3 live Setanta/Sky games on, TWI sends 1 or even 2 commentators to the grounds, but never all of them, but that is another misconception that 90% of their fixtures are off a monitor.

So to summarize:

Football First games = Commentators at the game from Sky that are broadcast on TWI

Live Sky Sports and Setanta Games = TWI commentators separate from Sky and Setanta's live broadcast, with 1 or 2 sent to the actual gantry.

From what I know only Taphouse's World Cup work and TWI International Feed games are done off-tube.

Hope this helps.

-SSR

Re: England vs Kazakhstan Live and Online

mookie — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:56:40 -0000

Warren Barton is a really boring man, good analysis but he is just bland. Nick Webster should stop commentating and stick to Super Sunday.

If this makes you upset, look away. Martin Tyler and Gary Stevens were on the international feed that they could've used.

Re: Bolton Giving Away Free Beer To Lure Fans

mookie — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:46:13 -0000

Must be giving away free beer knowing that this game would end 0-0 and feature some really awful football.

Re: 2008/2009 Premier League TV Schedule On U.S. TV: Nov to Feb

mookie — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:38:42 -0000

I have to say, even though Setanta has snapped up the bulk of North American Premier League coverage, FSC has the stronger schedule. They have all of the Big 4 matches...

Setanta getting Liverpool vs. Everton is stunning.

Lastly, stop airing Newcastle to both Setanta and FSC!

Re: Fox Soccer Snooze Day

mookie — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:09:33 -0000

I just wish FSC would stop showing Newcastle......they have shown this team nearly every week and they are boring to watch.

Re: First, the NFL...

mookie — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:19:24 -0000

Thanks for the shout-out man!

I could write a novel about what I think of Tom Brady, but Boston sports fans may shut down my site in fury.

Re: 2007/11/28/open-web-awards-sports/

mookie — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:01:40 -0000

I NOMINATE www.armchairgm.com, they are huge help in my blogging, and they rock!