Comments on: Idiots Guide To MLS Broadcasting

By: pattie

pattie — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:03:58 +0000

In Houston, Charlie Palillo is the go to guy for sports. He knows his stuff and is often considered the intellectual host. I have listened to him for years, followed him to different radio stations. He may not talk about sports much during his radio show on the Sports Animal 790, but he does a pretty good job on the Dynamo tv play by play.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:13:22 +0000

I’m not a big fan of John Harkes, but only because when he calls United games, it’s obvious he goes out of his way to seem unbiased by saying uncalled fouls against United are good calls, or that united never deserves to win.

it annoys the crap out of me.

By: Mrewers

Mrewers — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:15:29 +0000

You are absolutely right about the Altitude broadcasts. Occasionally they have Marcelo Balboa co-call the game which makes it tolerable but they need to get rid of Kosmicki. That guy is aweful. He misses so much stuff during the game it seems like he doesn’t even pay attention. Besides that he seems to know nothing about the game, the league, or the players on his own team. Its like he doesn’t even have a list of names and numbers in front of him. Quite frankly I’d rather watch the game on mute, but at least it means I can watch Rapids games rather than following them on espn’s or mls’s online gamecasts.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:06:20 +0000

KTBU has excellent coverage and commentary. Glenn Davis is outstanding. Charlie Pallio is an outstanding play by play commentator although I think he comes from a general sports background. He does his homework. He’s like a walking encyclopedia on every sport. He’s very sharp and I like his commentary. He works well with Glenn Davis but is just as good when Glenn isn’t around. I think he taps into Glenn’s experience and depth of knowledge.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:01:55 +0000

Regarding the Dynamo broadcasts, I am guessing Davis has been unavailable for alot of games. Brian Dunseth has been filling in for Davis even though Ty Keough was supposed to be working some games. Palillo is more than competent as a broadcaster. He does his research, knows the game and doesn’t dominate the game with an over-the-top personality (Kosmicki!). He knows his role and allows the picture to tell the story and gives the necessary “captioning”. Heck, he even allows soccer calls on his daily radio show.

By: ben

ben — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:20:08 +0000

PS-On the RSL thing, I believe they have a listen live link on the KALL 700 website. The radio and TV announcing is identical (it is a simulcast), and tonight’s game wouldn’t matter either way, since there is no local TV. So if you’re curious on RSL’s broadcasts, hit up the KALL link during the RSL/SJ game tonight (7 Mtn./9 Eastern).

By: ben

ben — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:16:25 +0000

Bill Riley (http://www.kall700sports.com/) does the play by play on TV and radio. One reason you can’t find info on it is that RSL games are rarely, if ever, televised locally. And when they are, they are on KSL’s digital channel 5.3, NOT the main KSL channel 5 (the one that people can easily watch). It’s a shame as Riley is REALLY good and knows a lot about the team (he does the radio “RSL Coaches Show” and weekly interviews with Garth Lagerwey among other things). I can’t think of one color guy that stands out as doing all the games, it seems to be a revolving door. That said, I think Brian Dunseth probably does more of them than anyone. The two make a pretty solid team, especially for a smaller market.

By: Gord

Gord — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:10:04 +0000

In Canada we get no MLS game coverage unless the games involve TFC, which are all covered; about 40% CBC, 40% Rogers Sportsnet and 20% The Score, which picks up the local teams broadcast.

CBC’s broadcast team last year was Nigel Reed and Craig Forrest, but Mr Forrset left this year to do the Rogers Sportsnet games exclusively (I believe he was providing colour for both broadcasts last year). Jason De Vos only joined CBC in late May (?) this year, after he completed the season with Ipswich Town. So the colour guy for the first game at home last year, against KC was Craig Forrest.

Between the games picked up on the Score, and watching other games on MLSNet, I have got to listen to alot of the local teams home broadcasts. I found the Houston broadcast June 8th somewhat annoying.

Jarrod Smith came on for the second half, and while they announced the substitution correctly, they then proceeded to call him Brown for the rest of the game. Particularily disconcerting as there is noone named Brown on the TFC roster.

By: bkupp

bkupp — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:46:24 +0000

Brad Feldman is the Revs’ director of communications, or something like that, so it’s no duh that he’s a homer. In fact, the worst part of the Revs’ broadcast is when Feldman and Lalas do their playful little arguments. Lalas is by far the better and is usually on the same page with Steve Nicol, whose thoughts they probe after the first 20+ of the match.

The biggest problem for Rev fans is remembering who we used to have. Aidan Healey was very popular, but the early years had a great team of Seamus Malin and Derek Rae (who mysteriously had no silly accent then).

By: Drew Epperley

Drew Epperley — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:13:14 +0000

thanks Mike. No wonder I had trouble keeping up with who did the Wizards games besides Arena. That’s a few too many people to keep up with I think, especially if I were a Wizards fan. I will add that into this post Mike…thanks again!