NFR: US WC Coverage is…wretched

[YankeeJim]

The problem with Fox is that it try's to be ESPN. The latter broadcast everything as if it is the show and not the match. They come up with the weirdest statistics, i.e. " Jones is the first player on any team that has farted twice in the same half since Smith in 1994" or some such thing. As soon as someone scored they'd put up a graphic showing the group standings and say something like, "if this holds and Costa Rica beats Germany by five or more goals, Ghana  will advance". Really stupid.
Worst of all, they take a pay cut if they allow more than five seconds of silence.

[cottage expat]

Not sure who else has the misfortune of watching the tournament stateside but it's about the most dire sports coverage I've ever seen, and I tend to be pretty forgiving. Clint and Landon, bless their hearts, have the combined personality of a pile of broken rocks, and Lalas gets old quick. The play by play announcers, if anything, are worse: acid, boring, and vain (that last one is single worst quality a play by play announcer can have, imo — your ego needs to come second to the action).

Never thought I'd say this, but here's praying NBC has the rights next time.

I largely agree although at least Donovan talks some sense whereas Lalas spouts a lot of opinionated nonsense. Makes onereally appreciate NBC

[Colton F.C.]

We don't know how lucky we are here with Lineker etc.

Just out of curiosity why do people have a go at Lineker, I just don't see what the problem is, seems ok to me.

I find that the people who dislike Lineker, do so mainly due to his politics.

Neville Southall is a footballing great and national hero.  He also has left wing political views that he is unhesitant in promoting.  This is perfectly legitimate as people in the United Kingdom are lucky enough to live in a free society.

The case of Gary Lineker is somewhat different.  He is an employee of the BBC an important national institution where staff have an obligation to be seen as politically impartial.  The fact that he continually flouts this is disrespectful to the organisation and to the people who pay their licence fee and a good reason for his unpopularity.

He also form in promoting unhealthy snack foods

[WolverineFFC]

And what makes the poor Fox product particularly tough to take is that ESPN (who had the US WC rights prior to 2018) did an excellent job with their WC coverage.

Fox makes every broadcast they take over poorer. It favors sensational and superficial over substance every time.

[Logicalman]

Totally agree with the OP.
After being brought up listening to some great commentators, the recent group of UK aren't great, but they are Prem standard when it comes to a comparison to the Blue Square league of US commentators, lead by footie's own Lord HawHaw in the guise of Ian Darke, inably assisted by Landon (I'm a WCF hero) Donovan, and some Dr Phil or something who does his best to provide the most stupid 'Expert opinion' on the rulings.
Will someone tell them it's called 'EXTRA' time when they play the EXTRA 30 minutes when it's an FT draw.
Anyways, onwards and upwards, seeing if I can get Spanish commentary, it has to be more entertaining than the dire crap Fox is putting out in English!