no dave o'brien = cries of joy from futbol fans

This is absolutely fantastic to hear that Andy Gray will be a part of their coverage. He's got a lot of talent, experience and skill, and will be familiar to anyone who has played the recent Fifa Soccer franchise here in the states. Good move by the Leader.

where's heather mitts?

a link of reference in case y'all forgot...
http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2007/09/rob-stone-straight-pimpin-plus-spielman.html

Poor Rece Davis. He doesn't deserve to cover this trash.

whoa whoa whoa... Julie Foudy is a great analyst????

Yeah, I'm with dcjonesy on this one. I thought she was awful when she was covering the World Cup in 2006. I don't think I agreed with anything she said.

Pedro Gomez is perhaps ESPNs worst personality. Hard choice between him and ol' "Sal" Sal Palontonio

Andy Grey adds immediate credibility to the Euro 08 coverage. Not to put down the existing PBP and booth analysts, Rae and company, who have always been solid. Excellent move by ESPN here. Euro 2008 should get better raitings than the garbage they put on in the afternoon (NFL Live, 1st Take and SC reruns).

Andy Gray is a huge, huge get.

That'd be like some Italian broadcast team for the NFL getting John Madden in his prime.

tommy smyth is torture to listen to he doesn't know what he's talking about

getting gray will take the coverage to another level, he nows his onions - how smyth still has a job is beyond me he is clueless and lacking in any knowledge at all

Adding Gray is a great move for ESPN.

Guessing Rae and Smyth will be one of the teams. That happened in 2006 and they were together during the Champions League matches.

"What a hit son! What a hit! - Andy Gray

classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1JDOB6EdLo

Julie Foudy a great analyst? HAHAHAHAHAHA. She is awful, and her moronic support of the whole petty sorority girl mentality of the U.S. women's team is reprehensible.

No Dave O'Brien or Eric Wynaldo or Marcelo? Yeah!

No JP or Ray Hudson? Nooooooo!

No Alexei Lalas and his cool 'do? Meh.

Andy Gray? As mentioned awesome!

Pedro Gomez? WTF?

Rece Davis? Interesting. He's uber-talented but he's never done this before.

Julie Foudy was the best out of three (her, Lalas, and Wynalda) in the World Cup. Alexei who could not rip the US National Team since 95% of the team was the LA Galaxy roster and Wynalda kept on repeating his "play like men" and getting into a war of words between Landon Donovan made him so unbearable.

I like Tommy Smyth and I do not know why. He's what got me into the sport so no matter how much edge he has lost is meaningless to me.

gmoney, if you hate soccer so much than don't waste your time commenting on it.

Tommy Smyth is beyond terrible. He is boring, useless, and negative. He should never be on TV commenting on soccer.
Andy Grey is great.

Two days in and I am already sick of Julie Foudy.

I have to agree with Tommy Smyth being beyond terrible. His raging hard-on for ManU is kind of disturbing. And he's only known for his incredibly moronic, onion bag saying, which if you here anybody say after a goal, you instantly know they are a douchebag.

I can actually listen to Tommy Smyth with Julie Foudy beside her. Is there anyway we can ask EPSN to pay her, and let her stay home?

How can such a person be speaking on TV? She doesn't even open her mouth. And how about football? Yes she was once a great player. But I doubt she has watched any game in the last 10 years. Perhaps she just did some catch up works from watching some pre-Euro programs.
AWEFUL beyond description.

I remember watching last World Cup '06 final on ESPN, I had to switch to the Spanish channel because I just couldn't stand Tommy Smyth. I don't even understand Spanish but it just felt better. Here he is again. :(

that julie foudy is god awful. she has no idea what she is talking about and needs to be shot. id rather listen to nails on a chalkboard than her...

I am so sick of listening to these bums covering the Euros. On SportsCenter Monday night, Neil Everett did the highlights of the Romania/France draw. Not only did he butcher Thierry Henry name (as he paused, said "uh.. Thierry.. uh Henry." As Anelka's header went wide he pronounced it as "An..An..Anelka" Sounded like he was back in third grade....
Here's my beef: If you are going show footie highlights on your show, you should get the Super Stars names right; What if he pronounced, Alex Rodreguez? People would be all over him.

As for Tommy Smyth and Julie Foudy, can some one PLEASE tell me what they have to do with European football? I get that Tommy does the Champions League with Derrerk, so why don't they sit at the desk and talk better football than Foudy. If ESPN was trying to get someone that Americans know by their face, they surely dropped the ball.

Seriously, if you are going to put this competition on ESPN Classic, that means that real football fans are going to watch it, not some bum just flicking around. Therefore, get more in depth analysis for us more interested in the competition.

Finally, I do like some of the things ESPN have brought to the plate. Does anybody love the 'ESPN Axis' technology they have? That is freaking cool as hell.

The only things that ESPN has done right this time around are the following: 1) the commercial promos (The Italy one is my favorite); 2) Rece Davis, and 3) Andy Gray. Julie Foudy has been incompetent since the 1998 World Cup and continues to show that she has no interest in the game besides her Summer Camp and the Women's team.

I am also sick of being treated as if this was the first time I've ever seen this strange, foreign game called "soccer". The people who are watching are there because they are fans and because they know the teams, players, and game quite well. And if there are people who are new to the game then let them learn from experts, not the equivalent of kindergarten teachers. I wish ESPN could deliver us a John Madden and let him or her be themselves. (Andy Gray is a start.) We don't need our hands held. Give us analysis. Show us how, for example, a 4-2-3-1 differs from a 4-4-1-1, in the same way that NFL games analyze the Cover 2's and Zone Blitzes. Cultivate the soccer fan, don't try to create them out of silly puddy!

FORZA AZZURRI!!!

Getting Gray is a coup, but it may be less of a coup than you might imagine. his contract with Sky presumably stops him from working for the other British broadcasters during Euro 2008 -- Sky doesn't have the rights to show it -- and either he or ESPN decided to see if that allowed him across the pond.

Not having to deal with Dave O'Brien, though, is a relief. And we're getting the first hint that ESPN might try showing a bit of tactical analysis.

julie foudy is the worst commentator ever. please fire her. bring in max bretos... good grief.