By the way, if you look at the ESPN Soccernet website it pales in comparison to SI or FOX Sports in MLS exposure. The MLS is buried on ESPN while the other two sites at least make the MLS link easy to find.

I also love Tommy Smyth, the thing is he tries too hard sometimes and that’s when he gets campy. He’s at his best when he’s really into the game, which is why he shines for the champions league.

You forgot to mention barring those horrendous split-screens from any point in match play. The rule above all others should be: always have game play on full-screen. I can tolerate ‘bugs’ (like having a sponsor logo next to the score) but more than once they’ve missed a goal or build-up while they were showing some lame cutaway of a coach or stupid interview.

Finally, rule 1A to rule 1 above is DON’T SCROLL ALL THE SCORES OF OTHER GAMES ACROSS THE SCREEN!!! ESPN seems to have come to their senses about this, but some of us are Tivo’ing games because we can’t watch more than one at once. The game is ruined if you know the score before-hand.

ESPN: Lose the cheese and promote the game.

Improving the broadcasters is really the main deal here though in my opinion. I know there isn’t a ‘magic pill’ as you said to improve them but what I was trying to get across here is that ESPN needs people who KNOW the game and don’t just want to be on the telly for a couple more hours a week because they think they are good at it. Its getting generally knowledgeable people about the sport that will really drastically improve the quality of the broadcasts. Believe me, I may be young but I have been around the sports media business to know what a good broadcast sounds like for a soccer game.

I know they will never do any radio for it and that’s their deal. It’s all a money thing anyways.

Improve the broadcasters – This is like improve the referees and improve the players. How? What magic pill is there to “improve” them? And improvement is an incredibly relative term. I know I am in the minority of hardcore MLS fans, but I like O’Brien. And I like Stone. One man’s “improvement” is another man’s destruction.

Roster before the game – Well, ESPN doesn’t have a lot of time to sell commercials so any 30-45 seconds before the game showing lineups is 30-45 seconds of time they can’t make as much money. It all comes down to money.

Mic the supporter’s sections – Good idea in theory. Totally backfires when some of the less mature members see it as a chance to say dirty words on TV instead of showing how fun the sections can be.

As for all of your TV and radio news hopes, yeah, it would be nice, but it’s apples and oranges from the game presentation. And you honestly say you’re a radio guy and want them to cover MLS? They hardly cover hockey. They hardly cover NASCAR for God’s sake. Face it – the state of radio is so far out of the hands of intelligent people, it’s really past salvaging.

Some things could be better in all areas, but I think this is another case of hypersensitive fans. Relax about how many people are in the booth. Don’t have a cow if a name is mispronounced. Stop worrying about whether there were 10 or 15 seconds of highlights and just let time take care of things.