A B C D
E F G H
Straight A's for BBC, F for ABC
Understated British approach to Cup worlds better than in-your-face U.S. call
And, for once, when BBC's John Motson said "it doesn't get any bigger than this," a sportscaster's hyperbole was more or less accurate.
As was the case throughout this marathon World Cup, the BBC commentary -- yesterday provided by Motson and Trevor Booking -- was an easy choice over the overdone version pitched by ABC.
It's fair to say that in terms of pace, soccer requires a telecast tone more like baseball than hockey. That's why the BBC show, carried on TSN, was easier to digest than the intense ABC version.
The ABC crew, led by Bob Ley, preferred clogging the commentary with stats and obvious observations. Safe to say that if there were more than three straight seconds of sustained silence, someone had made a mistake.
The BBC stayed away from the obvious, adding analysis and description only when necessary.
If anything, the BBC may have been a little too understated when at the end of the game, Booking rather dryly said: "That's the final whistle."
But it was Motson who kept things moving, saying at half time that "Brazil is pretty much in shambles. Who would have believed this?"
Motson also observed that the three goals were "a welcome change from the past two World Cup finals," in which there were no goals in regulation time.
MORE SOCCER: ABC's coverage may not have seemed so in-your-face if it weren't for Brent Musburger, who, if he's not the most annoying U.S. studio host is certainly in the running ... Speaking of that studio, how silly did the set look with a soccer ball sitting on the desk? ... TSN should have pulled the plug on a Gino Reda live halftime report with Brazilian fans in Toronto. Screaming, whistle-blowing fans in the face of their team losing looked out of place and the time could have been much better used with commentary ... After working every day for more than a month, will Vic Rauter be on vacation until the curling season starts? ... An ABC feature by Jim McKay on Brazilian star Ronaldo had the same clips and video of one that aired on TSN last week ... TSN missed a little of the atmosphere by not having one of its reporters in the stadium. A phone interview with a distant-sounding Graham Leggat didn't quite cut it ... The best technical aspect of the World Cup shows were the quick and multi-angle replays provided by the BBC.
GROSS MISCONDUCT: Perhaps the phone lines from France distorted Peter Gross' words Saturday. What else would explain the 680 News sports director's question to a Croatian fan following that country's win over the Netherlands in the third-place match? Gross asked the fan if the win "helped to forget" the war six years ago.
BLACK MARK: Just who and what is the CFL protecting with the return of its archaic blackout policies? The Argos home opener wasn't televised anywhere and still the defending Grey Cup champs attracted a crowd of more than 15,000. The notion of a blackout protecting the live gate is a proven disaster in the CFL, as it should have learned in the 1980s. Even worse, the league suffered further embarrassment last Thursday when a Hamilton-area cable company didn't black out all of its subscribers.
QUICK CUTS: Comedy on nightly sportscasts straddles a fine line, something TSN's Sportsdesk often ends up on the wrong side of. Witness the banter between Mike Toth and Lisa Bowes last week. Whether Bowes was nervous (possible) or Toth just isn't funny (probable), the attempts at humor led to several awkward on-air moments with seemingly forced laughter from Bowes ... Global's Sportsline will get a new addition later this summer. Sources say Lori Belanger, who worked on Raptors telecasts on City TV, will become the host of weekend editions. That will free up Don Martin and Bill Bird for more reporting duties ... Good line from TSN's James Duthie on a Sportsbreak in the middle of the World Cup final yesterday (at least the mike was working this time, unlike last week). "I'm James Duthie -- but just call me Jimaldo."
NEXT ROUNDS: Round of 16 || Quarter-finals || Semi-finals
GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan