Yup. Football's one of those strange areas where we don't even have a single national team. So while the Olympics has Team GB, at the World Cup it's England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales (well probably only a maximum of two of them qualify). That's pretty unique, and I can't think of a single other country that gets that privilege.
It also means that it's still not clear whether there'll be a GB football team at the London Olympics in 2012. There are fears it would lead to GB (or UK) teams in big FIFA and UEFA tournaments in future. As for the sports commentaries on ESPN or Fox, I'm never sure why they don't just take the UK commentators. In my experience of standing in New York sports bars at unseemly early hours of the day watching football, most people watching know a pretty good amount about the game, so there's no real need to pitch the commentary at an audience who's less familiar. The reverse is becoming true in the UK. Both the BBC and Sky who broadcast the Superbowl, took the US network feed this year rather than the world feed as if you're bothering to stay up until 2am on a Monday morning to watch the game, you probably know the rules pretty well and don't need them explaining more than normal. Adam On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 5:43 PM, David Lynch <djly...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Actually, it's the European Champions League > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uefa_Champions_League]. England, > Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their own governing > bodies, national teams, tournaments, etc. FIFA's trying to push > Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to agree to a "Team GB" in the > 2012 Olympics (England has already signed on,) but I don't see it > happening without drastic measures being taken. The United Kingdom is > pretty much united in name only at this point -- the divides between > the English and non-English have been deepened by giving Scotland, > Wales, and Northern Ireland their own elected assemblies (where > parties advocating independence either hold a plurality of seats or > came in a close second) while some bills in the House of Commons only > impact England but are voted on by MPs from outside of England. > > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 10:16, Mark J. <mjeffr...@marcrealty.com> wrote: >> >> Many U.S. soccer fans are happy that UK Champions League rights are >> going from ESPN to Fox Soccer Channel, if only for the fact that they >> won't hear incompetent, corny catch-phrase wielding, Lucky the Lucky >> Charms Leprechaun soundalike announcer Tommy Smyth anymore: >> >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/apr/15/tommy-smyth-us-soccer-espn >> >> And now I ask: If the sports fan blogosphere hates the Worldwide >> Leader and its announcers so much, who does love them? And why hasn't >> anyone (like Fox and Comcast) been able to knock them off their smug >> pedestal? Could it be because Fox's idea of fighting with ESPN is >> "The Best Damn Sports Show Period?" Or is it because ESPN has such a >> stranglehold on the major sports rights contracts? >> >> And more telling: If FSN or Vs. tried doing a sports studio show >> built on extensive highlights and intelligent analysis against >> "SportsCenter," would anyone watch? And was there another reason >> besides 9/11 and the closing of CNN/SI for CNN to drop Nick and Fred >> and "Sports Tonight?" >> > >> > > > > -- > David J. Lynch > djly...@gmail.com > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
