'The Guy Has Some Touch Issues'
Last night, I caught the replay of the Japan v USA game on (UK) Channel 5. The difference between this and their usual mediocre football coverage was that this was just a rebroadcast of the American ESPN2 coverage, complete with odd ad-breaks midway through the first half and, of course, American commentators who were - as you might expect - quite a culture shock.
All American commentators for all sports talk too much and distract from the match and they all do that irritating 'double act' thing, so that wasn't much of a surprise. Annoying, but not surprising.
But the terminology used was odd to say the least. When Japan went to 4-4-2, they described it as a '4-4-2 alignment' rather than formation and several times when a player crossed the ball, they referred to 'Wolff [or whoever] has surfed the ball into a dangerous area'. Surfed ? Oh, please.
The pick of the bunch : "This guy has some touch issues" used to describe a Japanese player with a poor first touch. "Touch issues" ?!?!? That really is priceless.
All American commentators for all sports talk too much and distract from the match and they all do that irritating 'double act' thing, so that wasn't much of a surprise. Annoying, but not surprising.
But the terminology used was odd to say the least. When Japan went to 4-4-2, they described it as a '4-4-2 alignment' rather than formation and several times when a player crossed the ball, they referred to 'Wolff [or whoever] has surfed the ball into a dangerous area'. Surfed ? Oh, please.
The pick of the bunch : "This guy has some touch issues" used to describe a Japanese player with a poor first touch. "Touch issues" ?!?!? That really is priceless.
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posted by mark_s at 12:38 PM
2 Comments:
I think you have to keep in mind that the commentators are attempting to reach an American audience. Frankly, so it's not all that surprising that they would cater to them.
Alos, they didn't say that wolff "surfed" the ball in on a cross, they said "served".
Now, the "touch issues" well that is amateur.
You're right, Oscar, it was 'served' not 'surfed'. I was watching it at 2 am so my memory is a little fuzzy.
And yeah, I know that it was aimed at an American audience...that was what interested me about the commentary. I do find the constant talking back and forth between commentators extremely annoying though. Shut up and let me watch the damn match :)
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