Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [390]
IAN DARKE, Soccer Commentator:
It was quite a big decision to go with English commentators who were not American on a major American network. But as it was explained to me, I think they’d had some criticism in the past and they wanted, in their words, the “authentic voices of the sport as used in the English Premier League,” and didn’t want to open themselves up to that kind of criticism again. So I was asked if I would do it, and I was very happy to say yes.
My feeling doing the U.S.A. games was that I would call them basically from a neutral standpoint, and I think it would be the same if I’d been covering England in England or France in France, wherever. You’re aware that most of the people watching you are wanting the U.S.A. to win and they’re rooting for the U.S.A. whether they’re watching at home or in bars or whatever, and it’s an ongoing drama. You’re not setting out to do a biased commentary or anything like that, you call the game accurately, I think I said at some point. John Harkes got it into his head that the officials were set against the U.S.A. because a couple of bad calls had gone against them, and I think I said in the commentary, there’s no big campaign here.
LANDON DONOVAN, Soccer Player:
The way they promoted the World Cup in general, specifically the way they promoted our team, made this World Cup the most fun to be a part of for all of us, because it meant that so many more people back home were paying attention. ESPN has the ability to market and push things just because of their resources, but the passion and the creativity really struck me. And it starts with John Skipper, who is a very, very big fan of soccer. He’s a big fan of our team. He wanted to make this a really big deal, and it wouldn’t have happened without him. We’re very grateful to have him. One of my favorite moments for the entire World Cup was walking off the field after the England game and looking up and seeing a man literally jumping up and down like he was a young kid with excitement. And I looked and it was Skipper. I just remember seeing him and smiling and making eye contact and just feeling so proud that a company of that stature was willing to go the extra mile. And some of the things they did were just so cool for us and just so memorable.
After we advanced against Algeria, we were very aware that they were continuing to push and push and push and support us. It was such a nice feeling to know that we were finally going to have the type of audience that we’ve always wanted to have. The most beautiful thing for me to watch was the YouTube videos and all the different reactions, you’re watching people that are in some cases not very wealthy, casual fans. In some cases hardcore fans, in some cases very affluent, wealthy CEOs of companies, high-level executives. You’re watching them all have the exact same organic, real reaction. These are people who see sports every day, in some ways they’re desensitized to these moments, but what I gathered from all of it was there was such a real, genuine joyous eruption in that moment, and that for me makes it awesome.
IAN DARKE:
I suppose if you just heard that bit of commentary now it sounds kind of incongruous and maybe a bit frantic and biased. But I believe all commentary moments are of their moment. It was almost the last kick of the game so it was just this amazing outpouring of emotion, really. I was aware that my audience was sitting and watching that and were exploding with joy. You hope you say something that captures the moment. I don’t know if it did, but I hope it did.
LANDON DONOVAN:
I guess at the end of the day, people, no matter what is going on in their life, can appreciate a genuine moment like that. And they want to be a part of that, it makes them feel good, no matter how conflicted we