Live sports are back!!

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
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Hoping the folks here who follow soccer can help me appreciate this morning’s matches. My only other resource is a 14-year old whose knowledge of German soccer is mostly derived from video games.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Aug 23, 2008
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Hoping the folks here who follow soccer can help me appreciate this morning’s matches. My only other resource is a 14-year old whose knowledge of German soccer is mostly derived from video games.
Gio Reyna is the 17 year old son of former USMNT great Claudio Reyna. Extremely skilled player who is one of our best prospects, getting his first Bundesliga start today. Potential superstar in the making.

McKennie maybe does not have as high a ceiling but he’s going to be a core NT mainstay in the midfield for the next few cycles. Strong player, always around the ball, and can do a lot of different things out there. Same age as Pulisic.

Edit: FACK
 

StupendousMan

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Jul 20, 2005
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In case anyone else looked at the picture of the player in yellow above and wondered, "Can that really be a 17-year-old?" -- no, it isn't. The picture doesn't show 17-year-old Gio Reyna, but 27-year-old Thorgan Hazard, who is taking Reyna's place.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
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Would like the announcers to STFU for a bit and allow us to hear the players and coaches shouting. Not that I’d understand what’s being said (I presume they’re speaking German), but they’re blabbering over the most extraordinary part of this event.
 

BernieRicoBoomer

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Sep 20, 2007
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As the most casual of observers, I’m always surprised at how much attention is paid in soccer to the goal scorer, relative to the players who set it up. Absolutely brilliant touch by the guy who fed the ball to the crosser, and I don’t think the announcers even mentioned it.
I think they read your post...talking about it now.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
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Wow, that was a bad turnover by the goalie. You teach young children not to do that as soon as they reach the point where they are playing positions and keeping score.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Aug 23, 2008
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I think the NBC/Fox announcers may be contractually obligated to say that any American player has played well on any given day.

Not that McKennie was bad per se but he was loose with the ball on several occasions and way overshot a couple balls to the corner. On the other hand his defending near the ball was solid and he broke up a number of possible connections with great positioning. Up and down half, and a struggle overall for Schalke.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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I'm interested because of McKennie and Everton loanee Jonjoe Kenny, who has been having a good season at RB for Schalke. The situation at RB for Everton is unsettled, and there are rumblings that Kenny wants to stay at Schalke. I caught some of other Schalke games this season to peek in.

Dortmund are bright and Schalke doesn't have much in response. Kenny was nowhere to be found for the second goal, which went right through his bailiwick.
 

slamminsammya

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Jul 31, 2006
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Good to see that the Schalke squad are still adhering to social distancing guidelines.
I look forward to at least a year of coronavirus themed sports puns. Anytime someone is playing bad defense in any sport - "social distancing hardeharhar", plenty of flattening the curve jokes in baseball, vaccinated against scoring etc. I would like to see the announcers get these out of their systems in one game.
 
I look forward to at least a year of coronavirus themed sports puns. Anytime someone is playing bad defense in any sport - "social distancing hardeharhar", plenty of flattening the curve jokes in baseball, vaccinated against scoring etc. I would like to see the announcers get these out of their systems in one game.
Interesting use of "looking forward to" there.
 

coremiller

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Jul 14, 2005
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I guess we don't have to worry about the "it kills the experience for the supporters in the stadium" argument against VAR anymore.
 

Stanley Steamer

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I’m experiencing a constant low-level anxiety at the sight of these guys coming at each other full speed without masks.

Is that weird?
I'm the opposite, feeling reassured by some small return to normalcy.
I watched a game back in March in an empty stadium, and thought it was so weird. Now the lack of fans is less noticeable to me. Sports on TV!
 

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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Chicago
I think the NBC/Fox announcers may be contractually obligated to say that any American player has played well on any given day.

Not that McKennie was bad per se but he was loose with the ball on several occasions and way overshot a couple balls to the corner. On the other hand his defending near the ball was solid and he broke up a number of possible connections with great positioning. Up and down half, and a struggle overall for Schalke.
I think Fox is using the global feed for these games?
 
I mentioned that Paul Dempsey was the play-by-play commentator for Dortmund v Schalke here in the UK on BT Sport yesterday. Speaking as a commentator, I'm pretty irked to see that he wound up calling a second match yesterday as well as both matches today - he's currently calling Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (now at halftime). Not that these are matches I ever would have been involved with myself, but there are literally dozens of good commentators who would appreciate the work, many of whom have higher profiles than Dempsey, and he's getting four matches in one weekend. Not that he's a bad commentator, but unless there's a specific pandemic-related health reason to have him calling every game from the one studio - and I can't imagine that there is one that couldn't have been worked around - that really bothers me.
 

Kliq

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NASCAR about to start from Darlington; Ryan Newman back behind the wheel after his incredible crash at the Daytona 500.
 

staz

Intangible
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Dec 2, 2004
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The cradle of the game.
NASCAR about to start from Darlington; Ryan Newman back behind the wheel after his incredible crash at the Daytona 500.
FOX is going a very decent job considering the complicated production plan they put together in the name of staff safety. Lack of fans was a little awkward at the start, but of minimal impact once the race began. Not a huge NASCAR fan, but the theater helps the psyche.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Jun 15, 2002
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Well, at least Bremen's abjectness is not Josh Sargent's fault today, but ooof, they are abject.
 

Section30

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Aug 2, 2010
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Watching Mainz/Leipzig. Leipzig is putting on a clinic. Mainz looks like what I would expect a MLS team put in the same situation would look like.

Also the ref has issued several yellow cards on Mainz. Some of them apparently for breathing.
 

The Raccoon

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Jul 24, 2018
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Tomorrow (Tuesday) will feature probably the biggest game in the Bundesliga this season with Borussia Dortmund hosting FC Bayern München.

The kickoff will be at 12:30 ET, so tune in during lunch and support BVB (my team) against the Evil Empire of german Fußball.
 

blueline

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Nov 23, 2012
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Will be interesting to see what happens if today's match is a draw and Bayern eventually end up winning the league on GD or by 1 pt. Will people see it as a legitimate title given Dortmund had to play with crowds in Munich, while Bayern gets empty stands in Dortmund?
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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The PA system is pumping in crowd noise. It’s a really strange contrast with the empty stands.
They were doing this earlier this week, I actually really like it, especially the jeering at the appropriate time, like when Bayern just started passing the ball aimlessly around the back.
 

The Raccoon

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Jul 24, 2018
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Germany
I'm guessing broadcast. It's being done quite well, mind you. Chanting most of the time, some whistles and boos on back passes and claps for exceptional play. Must be fun to DJ.
It's the broadcast. Sky (Broadcast in Germany) offers the game with fake audience or real sound. There is def. no sound playing in the stadium itself.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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If I could go back in time the first thing I would do is find a way to get Alphonso Davies family to America before they ended up in Canada.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
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Sep 9, 2008
42,281
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Wow -- not even a suggestion of handling? Arm away from body and saved a shot on goal. Nobody even raised a peep.

Obviously not intentional but for all the handling calls in the box that get called on crosses or balls that are no serious threat, I'm surprised they didn't even have a look. I guess he gets the "I was falling down" exception.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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Haaland probably should scored today, he had a lot of chances to give Dortmund a goal, especially with his reputation as such a clinical finisher. Tough day for him.