A pretty accurate summary today in the NY Times of the televisual dross served up by Disney’s three channels during the World Cup: ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, which, as the article pointed out did not actually pay for the rights, that was paid for by Major League Soccer, which then sold the ads to offset the cost – an admirably bold gamble on its part.
The one thing I would add that increased the annoyance level and drove many English speakers to watch in Spanish on Univision was the commentator’s obsession withy “yardage,” as in “Beckham hits a 60-yard pass,” or “the ball goes 50 feet in the air,” or “he hit that shot from fully 38 yards,” which I heard on Sunday and made me wonder how he’d measured it.
Still, at least we’ve lost the “Red Zone” that was had forced down our throats by ESPN four years ago, indicating, NFL-style the final 20 or so yards of the field.
How else could people be expected to understand football unless it was compared with, er, football, as it were?
How can that compare with “Il Capitan – Spicy Beckham!” that was heard on Univision. It can’t, that’s how.
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