ESPN: Did You See Smyth (Trying To) Walk All Over Faudy Foudy?
By: Sam | June 9th, 2008
Please. Please. Please. Lose Tommy Smyth!
Did you see him contradicting Julie Faoudy — the sublime, relaxed, brilliant, knowledgeable, funny, ironic & witty Julie Faoudy — with inane banter and forceful platitudes? Surely he was no credit to himself and to ESPN. Take Smyth away before he implodes.
Faoudy is so professional & comfortable in her skin that she includes in her analysis stuff like, “… must be a girl-thing …” regarding the uncomfortable relationships with van Basten and the handsome Luca Toni. Keep her.
I don’t even remember what Smyth was saying today — it must have been related to the Dutch and the sad, sad Italy performance. But the noise coming from his pie-hole is deafening & meaningless. I tune it out.
Andy Gray is excellent. Keep him. And keep the other Scot who sounds like Sean Connery; but please take Tommy Smyth away from the facility.
Please clear football of this menace of ignorance.
If you feel you must pander to the Irish-American segment, find an Irishman with class & intelligence — I know so many — like the Stephen Dedalus-type who does the AC Milan games with an Irish-Italian catch in his voice. (Who am I talking about, people?)
If you keep Smyth in, I will accuse you of an underhanded plot to poison the beautiful game in the dull American mind. Or a plot sponsored by Platini & Blatter to keep stupid American assholes like Hicks & Gillette out of the Prem. (The Glazers & Learner, all class, do not make that cut. For myself, I’d like to see Mark Cuban buy York FC and take them up, however, we shall save that for another post.)
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Comments
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agreed, Tommy smyth sucks.
Posted from
United States
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The studio segments were my least favorite part of the Euro coverage so far, as I expected. I’ve actually enjoyed the match commentary, Smyth included. Seeing matches in HD – best of all!
Posted from
United States -
The studio segments make me cringe to be honest…
But HERE HERE to HD
Posted from
United States -
Julie is the worse tv personnel ever. She doesn’t even open her mouth when talking. It seems like she has not watched any soccer for the last 10 years (Ya, ya I know she was in WC ‘06), and merely playing catch up watching some pre-euro game. She is just a joke, coming from a sport network like ESPN. Is there any way to petition to get rid of her for the rest of the game?
Tommy Smyth doesn’t sound so bad any more sitting next to her. And I agreed with his comment about the Crotia game that referee has to be consistent and not care about how the game is going to play out.
Posted from
United States -
you guys finally realized this ?
We ( Lyon Fans ) and Inara have been complaining about Tommy Smith for years now ( seriously, you can check inara’s blog to see that im not lying ).
Its like someone stabbing me in the ear when i listen to Tommy Smyth sometimes ( ” remember, thats Smyth with a Y ” errrrrrrgggggg ).
Posted from
United States -
“like the Stephen Dedalus-type who does the AC Milan games with an Irish-Italian catch in his voice. (Who am I talking about, people?)”
I LOVE that man! Any idea what his name is? Seriously, he always makes me smile during Milan matches. Everytime a player get injured….*insert magical Irish/Italian accent here* “Ahh…yes, they’re bringin’ out that magic sprey therrr. Oughta be good in no time”
I love the way he says magic spray…mah-geek spreeey. I am way too happy that someone else likes this dude as well
Posted from
United States -
Tommy (Wong) -
Yes that was reffing. These FIFA refs (Henning-Ovrebo and several others) were excellent throughout the Champions League. I forget who that was in Croatia | Austria: not good. The grey-haired fellow who winked at Gattuso when he should have given Rino a second yellow for hacking off that poor Austrian’s leg.
And I believe that first Netherlands goal against Italy was grotesquely offsides. The Assistant ref surely was aware that Gigi Buffon had knocked his own defender insensate there over the endline. Perhaps he was invoking the nuanced not-interfering rule?
Do not deflect me from my purpose. If we agree with Tommy Smyth, does that make use stupid or him brilliant?
Posted from
United States -
Hana -
Alas! Put Stephen Dedalus in and BRING BACK TOBY CHARLES!
Posted from
United States -
What are you on about? Foudy is horrible. Symth isn’t greatest, but Foudy is just plain awful.
Posted from
United States -
Tommy Smyth is WAY better than Julie Foudy. This blog entry lost all credibility by even hinting at praising her.
Posted from
United States -
Smyth is an utter fucking idiot. He did try to shout cliche Julie down yesterday. I am Irish and every time I hear him I feel like I’m listening to some bar stool commentator who can’t believe his luck to be on the air. His voice has the resonance of rusted metal. Made watching the champions league painful.
Posted from
United States -
James – LOL! The voice of a Guinness tugboat scraping against the Quay in a thunder storm.
I was thinking of suitable Irish (or almost Irish) replacements for Mr Smyth and it might come down to …
A) Roy Keane;
B) Bono;
C) Bono’s best friend, Googie; or
D) Wim WendersPosted from
United States -
Foudy is awful. She has no knowledge of the players and even offered that she doesn’t really follow european football that closely. As for the dull american mind you might want to remember the last several paradigm shifts in the world (industrial revolution, representative democracy, modern warfare, e-revolution, and globalization) are a direct result of american innovation. So you can shove that up your red coat. Oh and Tommy Smyth is awesome. He is amusing and takes Foudy to task for her boarish comments. I cannot believe Stanford let her into medschool. I wouldn’t let her put a bandaid on me.
Posted from
United States -
People disagree.
The reason I like Julie Foudy’s commentary is, Colin, that her intelligence does mean that she is efficient in her points and they are often meaningful and subtle, which is to say non-obvious.
She can do this because she has a World Cup medal in her not-too-empty trophy case; which is to say she gets the game.
The opposite is true of Mr Smyth, who merely gets himself. It becomes obvious as soon as he opens his mouth and you count the words and then try to find the information-content and, trying hard to do that, it is quite difficult to find any content.
He did not play.
I believe this is why many people dislike Max Bretos’ commentary. Though he did play in college, it’s clear sometimes that he did not play professionally & win things. In Max’s case, he is such a self-effacing and cheery fellow — and intelligent — that I do enjoy his commentary. But I recognize the Max-hatred is related to my troubles with Mr Smyth.
So my rules are not hard and fast; however, Tommy Smyth is an onerous & distracting presence in the booth.
Posted from
United States -
a pro Foudy thread? I never thought I would see the day . . .
Posted from
United States -
eh jule foudy doesnt do it for me.
smyth not great but more knowledge and insight than foudy, in my opinionPosted from
United States -
Sam, I had to re-read your comments to make sure they were not tongue-in-cheek. The “brilliant, knowledgeable, funny, ironic & witty Julie Faoudy.” What planet do you live on? Agreed, Tommy Smyth’s voice and comments are grating, but Foudy is way out of her element. Do you really think winning a women’s world cup gives her the credibility to analyze and comment on world class football? Seriously, I think you are the first person I have come across that thinks she is good at what she does. I’ll give you props at least for taking an opposing view to the rest of the world but she really is horrible.
Posted from
United States -
So, after doing some youtube digging, I finally found out what his name is: Bryan Hamilton. Former Northern Ireland player. He’s a love/hate kind of guy (seriously, the debate on why he rocks or sucks are pretty amusing to read, but I think this guy put it best):
I like Bryan Hamilton as a co-commentator. He tends to talk a tad too much, but at least he offers something different when he speaks about the reasons the game is playing out as it is, instead of just rehashing what happened. And his pronunciations of Kaka’ (Karkar) and space (speeass) and shape “sheeap” are parodies of the Norn Irish accent. Oh, not forgetting “he’s a talent” at every mention of Kaka’.
Posted from
United States -
Being a Brit I’ve been watching the Euro’s on our normal TV, but I do know from watching loads of Serie A via the interweb, that Bryan Hamilton is pretty good.
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Excellent thread, people.
Hana, splendid research! Many thanks. Bryan Hamilton it is … obviously not a memorable footballer or I would have registered the name. Like great coaches …
What ever shall we talk about in July and early August? I’m at sixes & sevens, here.
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United States -
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julie foudy tells it like it is. easy to understand and right to the point. espn could use more of her. euro cup is the best.
Posted from
United States -
She is a total muppet. When asked about difficult venues to play in Gray brings up Millwall and Turkey, Smyth brings up the Old Firm and Foudy says Portugal because she was always wanting to be on the beach. What an idiot.
Posted from
United States -
Yes, please remove Tommy… I cannot take it anymore… the man was good enough for America when anybody when any kind of accent would have worked… but please, I think we deserve to get to the next level, ESPN, don’t you? And what about the rest of the world (where I immigrated from)? Get someone with knowledge and class PLEASE.
Posted from
United States -
Tommy Smyth is awesome for god sake! He is insightful and a little rough but then he just states facts !! Julie Foudy is a player who doesnt no a shit about european circuit. She just annoys Smyth to utter his worst. Mens Soccer is a different ball game guys !!! Get rid of Julie Foudy ESPN
Posted from
United States
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