Take on Soccer on the Radio

The WorldCup has been thrilling, nerve-racking, excruciating and
devastating over the last few weeks, especially for fans of the USMT.
Most people, like myself, do not watch soccer regularly but many if us
find it incredibly exciting when this event comes at us every four
years. Although it is probably better live, it is a pretty good
watch on TV as the angle is large enough to give you enough of the
field to see and watch plays develop and the fact there are no
commercials makes sitting them for a total of 2 hours -including
intermission- very manageable. Even an amateur soccer fan can get a
grasp of how the game is played, defended and strategized even though
there are a bunch of wacky rules to deal with.
What I've struggled with is listening on the radio. It's not that the
announcers aren't good because the Irish dude Tommy Smyth is
fantastic. That dude could make you want to watch paint dry or
whiskey distill I cannot tell you how insightful this dude is and how
lyrical he is in his descriptions. Think an Irish Vin Scully about
six whiskeys deep

But even with Smyth and his play-by-play partner JP Dellacamera
calling as good a game as you can imagine, this sport just doesn't
translate to radio. You have no idea where on the pitch they are,
what the players without the ball are doing and what kind of defense
they are playing. Plus the fact you only know a handful of players in
either team, it takes a full half to even know which team has the ball
when they announce a guys name

The guys on TV are good, too. But they have the visual medium that
they can rely on to keep the amateur fan captivated