Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Sky Sports did their best to give Liverpool v Manchester United the big game treatment but it was ’embarrassing’ compared to the Scottish coverage.
Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist looked like they were enjoying themselves in last Saturday’s opening game. The Scotsman always looks like he’s having a good time and I’d suggest he gets the best out of anyone he works with. He brings informality and a fundamental love of football. You can’t fake passion.
Fletch is sometimes overlooked in reviews of good commentators but he is exceptionally crisp and consistent as well as very well prepared and creates great warmth when alongside McCoist. I’ve seen criticism of them unfairly highlighting what is called ‘over-meatness’ but this feels really wrong and can lead to less effective support. While some are trying too hard to be impressive and go over the top, Darren avoids that trap and just gets the job done simply and efficiently.
It was an entertaining game and brought to us in a sympathetic manner. Some of the broad joys in the Pandit role are too big for him.
Saturday Night Football on Sky Was at Brighton for a massively poor quality weapon game. They looked increasingly limp, self-pitying and anemic, less champions than Nottingham Forest.. This meant that pundits and presenters stood in front of the big screen with bare legs on display, looking rather isolated and exposed. I don’t see what is gained by this presentation fashion. We don’t need to see a full-length Steve Sidwell. We just don’t. You become distracted by staring at their legs and toes, analyzing their choice of clothes and shoes. It’s like when you had to stand up in front of the class and speak.
They are not the graceful dancers we enjoy watching twirl. The truth of this fact was proven to me once when Don looked up and said, ‘He’s got a woman’s ass and hips,’ and asked if Jamie Redknapp was wearing Skechers slip-ons. Shouldn’t be.
As soon as a lecture-type thing appears after the game, everyone visibly eases up and the body language improves. Likewise with footballers and managers who speak before and after games who are trained by the media not to say anything interesting or simply unable to. Boring. Waste of time. Just because it has always been done is no reason to keep doing it.
On a bitterly cold day – the temperature inside Easter Road is always freezing and I’ve lost some precious limbs to the cold there – Sky brought us Hibs v Rangers with the usual crowd: Eilidh Barbour (who from a crowd resembles when she peeps out.a large woolen coat), Neil Lennon, Fiddy and Boy.
For some reason, they are sitting out. Lenny’s watery eyes look pinker than a rabbit in an animal testing lab. Boydy (who was, it must be said, one of the best strikers I’ve ever seen, a master of the art form and a man I’d love to see in a bare-knuckle fight with Nigel Farage) looks angrier than usual. and is dressed as a polar explorer, looking away while others are talking manfully. Fiddy, dressed in a Binman aesthetic, looks like he might die from exposure.
These cats have had it tough, man, but it was a great game played in freezing rain and driving rain that ended 3-3. Those who do not watch the Scottish League but condemn it have never shown their stupidity more clearly.
I ignored the first half. Fulham at Ipswich On Sky as anyone will be vaguely sentimental and recall a bloodless match enlivened by some VAR nonsense which no doubt contradicts some other VAR nonsense, with three penalties awarded. Still, drama had to be put in somehow because football wouldn’t do it. Another non-premier Premier League game for the overrated bin. A very stark contrast to the Hibs game. Pink shirts, though pretty, are probably worn because blue clashes terribly with white.
I was struck by the Kieran Maguire/Gavin Williamson comparison last week by an observant reader, although it seems unfair to compare the Northern Irishman to someone who would make a wheelbarrow of mud look intellectual. He is now a bloodthirsty lord. Boy! Put on your kicking boots, I have another cheat for you.
The Liverpool v Manchester United pre-game ‘taster’ clips on Sky clearly lacked United’s last decade. That shit is so depressing, man. The big game of the weekend, Ruben Amorim expresses a man who has been waiting for a bus for an hour only to find out that it has been cancelled: resigned, sad, frustrated and disappointed.
Roy’s general disdain for United is from the start as he calls them “one of the worst teams” he has ever seen. Kira is in the field to try to improve the environment under one umbrella. Daniel Sturridge has shiny teeth. But everyone sees it as one-sided, the excitement in the confrontation is not really there. It’s so interesting that I fall asleep after eating salmon and risotto. Of course, when viewed as a pushover, The United body came to life and I woke up and Liverpool certainly got sloppy. Prediction.
Peter Drury shouting his full name in a choked voice is annoying and he still shouts Mo Salah, completely meaningless, when he scores a penalty, like we don’t know who’s taking it. is Finally a few bright spots and a hilarious Harry Maguire miss. Kira says it’s ‘a wonderful game’. A few interesting moments work a lot in this ‘fantastic’. Dave Jones furiously rattled it off for a full hour, riffing on the game, overselling it without hesitation until you think there’s been a second coming. Did you expect to see a god today, Roy? My question is, where has he been for two thousand years? Skye does this all the time, trying to squeeze juice out of dried fruit after the game. Embarrassing exaggeration.
For a reminder of what a real derby actually looks like, we go to the Rome derby. TNT With Adam Summerton and ever-informed former Hartlepool player Don Hutchinson. It has covered the whole world and the atmosphere is tough, football is constantly tense and thrilling. Comms guys naturally communicate with knowledge when needed and emotional when under attack. It lacks the pretensions of Sky’s big game. Summerton realizes that he is not meant to strive for greatness and strikes a fine balance between intellect and passion. Don Hutch is a wonderful collaborator because he brings intelligence and knowledge rather than mere observation. His accent is also very good. I’d rate it as, if not the best, co-comm and I imagine it’s gone out of the tube but that doesn’t diminish the involvement. It flies. He is also the best in goal show. No studio hype. Very good contrast.
The first leg of the League Cup semi-final was on both Sky and ITV Weird for some reason. Sky had Chippers, Shay Gavin and Mr Slip-On Boots with an intelligent, impossibly smooth, unenhanced and young-looking Theo Walcott. ITV had Pougers with Headless and Righty appearing to be dressed for a polar expedition. His shirt team is Sam Matterface and the downbeat Lee Dixon, while Sky have Bill Leslie and the ever-cheerful Andy Hinchcliffe.
Spending half with each is instructive. Leslie is less concerned with filling in all the space, which more amateur commentators do, Matterface is more concerned with trying to insert what sounds like a preformed sentence. Arsenal is a bland, tedious watch with no cutting edge.. Newcastle’s defensive bosses. They are beaten badly. Keep playing like this and Arteta will have to come up with more creative excuses than blaming the ball. Clever diversion or desperate folly by a man running out of time? You decide. Theo then was a whole league above the standard of the Pandit, like an intelligent person. He looks too young to retire, despite being just four years younger than Wayne Rooney. Bodies react very differently to life.
Tottenham v Liverpool was the only one on Sky which, for some reason, had to have Jamie Redknapp as pundit. Not sure why they are so used to it. It is always there, like poverty and war. David Spence is interviewed but appears to be partially unsettled. Diego Jota is more lively. Thankfully at least the sane Rob Hawthorne was with Alan Smith and not the increasingly over-the-top utopia drury.
A pitiful no-advance minor offside VAR goal decision was called on the tannoy for the first time but would have been no less respectable if it hadn’t been. Endless attempts to justify a hopeless system only emphasize its weaknesses.
Everton v Peterborough was the focus of the football world on Thursday after Sean Dye’s strange dismissal four hours earlier with rumors of David Moyes’ euthanasia ball return. gave The BBC Steve Bower and Martin were on iPlayer with Kevin. Everton now had Leighton Baines in interim charge. Disappointed that he no longer looked like a member of the Small Faces and now resembled the bass player in Bludwin Pig (heades ahooey!!). Despite the good crowd the FA Cup game felt low key and subdued and reflected that with the 10 second silence, which I don’t mind. No studio chat. 2-0, hard to tell from one side to the other.
Sky’s usual Scottish Premiership crew were in Dundee for the Rangers game. Bodie must have had his dinner because he was in a good mood. His contempt for Rangers’ draw was palpable, as was his contempt for Philip Clement’s excuse. “It can’t go on,” he said, shaking his head after the 1-1 draw. Chris Sutton, Fiddy, Boy and Elide are often together and seem to really enjoy themselves. It’s a good balance of characters and a joy to watch.
