World Cup Notes: Alexi Lalas, Oprah-Secada & Vuvuzela Accidents

By WADE MURRAY
One Great Season

Alexi Lalas has proven to be a punishing announcer. If you don't play well he will spite you.

Don't go run any quick errands during halftime; you just might miss another entertaining gem. Though I don't agree with all his comments, he's absolutely brutal in his assessment of pretty much every team and every player on it. Here's a Lalas dagger about the play of Greece during their lackluster 2-0 loss to South Korea:

"Great performance by South Korea. I said that Greece was beautiful sometimes in the dullness of their play. Well, they weren't dull. (They were) entertaining in their complete ineptitude. They were horrible all over the field."

And his commentary on the first half of the Nigeria-Argentina game:

"Nigeria got called for a bad throw-in. Enough said. I mean, mark people on a corner kick. This is the World Cup."

Job Well Done: I'll be interested to see what the television ratings were for the USA-England match. In the buildup, it was likely the most promoted match in USMNT history. During the match, I received texts from a buddy in Indianapolis, another in Atlanta and a phone call from my dad in Miami. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, none of them give a monkey's arse about soccer, but all were interested in -- and watching -- the match. Perhaps this match attracted far more than just the ever-growing group of football diehards in this country. If so, very cool, and kudos to ESPN and ABC. -- Mike Dick

Winfrey-Secada Follow-Up: A buddy who was with me for the opening match of World Cup USA 1994 is promising to scan and send me photos of Oprah Winfrey and Jon Secada "in the hole." If I receive, I will ask the venerable potentate of OGS to post them. -- Mike Dick

TV Timeout? ITV apologized to soccer fans who missed England's early goal against the USA Saturday. Just a few minutes into the highly anticipated match, the British broadcaster inexplicably switched to a commercial and when it returned, England was celebrating its only goal, by Steven Gerrard.

ITV1 presenter Adrian Chiles offered an apology during halftime, telling viewers "I believe there was some interruption in your coverage." If the ITV1 phones were lighting up the way the Twitterverse was after Saturday's gaffe, one can only hope ITV1 at least splurged for a few Chelsea Buns for those overworked operators. -- Steve Susi/John P. Wise

More Links

+ Switching the TV from a Yankees game is a rare event at Pete's Taven, New York's oldest continually operated pub. But the England-USA match was a worthy occasion for its patrons Saturday. (Guardian.co.uk)

+ A Sky News reporter suffered an embarrassing vuvuzela accident during a live World Cup report. (Youtube)

+ How many recycled plastic bottles go into the manufacture of every one of Nike's 2010 World Cup jerseys? (Selectism.com)

Comments

[triciac]

lalas was really pulling for greece (for obvious reasons), but glad to see he could be brutally honest in his assessment... i really enjoy his commentary. wish ABC would have at least ONE american announcer, instead of these two brits. i understand more on univision!