Worst sports announcer - Sami on worldsport.

[vurbano]

IS there a bigger geek than Sami on worldsport? I just saw him announcing a basketball game. Same two clowns from the soccer shows. Sami is AWEFULL!! I think he even has a lisp. Stumbling over words etc, absolutely terrible on camera. And why does Voom use these foreign announcers to announce to an american audience? Are the camera men foreign as well?

 

[Sean Mota]

Man, aren't you too harsh on guys trying to do a job? Obviously, I know what you are talking about but have some respect. I did not get the part about Soccer since they are not the ones doing the basketball game.

 

[gross67]

The Football announcers are very good actually. I agree with Vurbano that the B-Ball announcers do not do well when on camera - they are fine off camera. To be real, let's hear some americans announce the Spanish Soccer League Games - they would not be as good ......... I can't wait to hear the color-commentary on the demolition derby program! They should get Jeff Foxworthy!

Cheers.

 

[vurbano]

Man, aren't you too harsh on guys trying to do a job? Obviously, I know what you are talking about but have some respect. I did not get the part about Soccer since they are not the ones doing the basketball game.

They sure sound like them. IMO Sami stutters, slurs and frankly looks a mental patient that walked off the set of "one flew over the cookoos nest" There is absolutely no way he would be put On air in the US. And certainly not on camera. Why not strive for the same standards as (US) big boy TV?

Sean can you add the word "Worlds" to the begininng of this thread. I have slighted Sami's international ineptitude.

 

[Smiley79]

IS there a bigger geek than Sami on worldsport? I just saw him announcing a basketball game. Same two clowns from the soccer shows. Sami is AWEFULL!! I think he even has a lisp. Stumbling over words etc, absolutely terrible on camera. And why does Voom use these foreign announcers to announce to an american audience? Are the camera men foreign as well?

This is the first time that I've had the opportunity to watch a Worldsport show (and it won't be the last), and I have to agree with you. I know, these guys were just doing their jobs, but I've never seen guys stumble over words like that before like they both did. At times, I found myself listening to them more closely just to see what they would mess up next (kind of funny).

 

[vurbano]

I would swear that this is the same announcer team Ive heard on some soccer broadcasts.

 

[Walter L.]

I would swear that this is the same announcer team Ive heard on some soccer broadcasts.

Why? Did any of them say GOOOOAAAALLLL!!! when a team scored the 1st basket?

 

[Weaver]

I agree that Sami wasn´t very good, even I would say he was poor. But I did like the other guy a lot, despite he is foreigner (although he speaks pretty good English, though). Sami I think is American, I didn´t catch any weird accen. Also I don´t think they´re the ones who do soccer, but this one -I mean the foreigner- probably was with Paul at the beginning. I think the soccer announcers are Paul and Sid, and these were Sami and this guy, whatever his name is. I liked the two who did Siena-Maccabi b-ball.

 

[davekendra]

These two were announcing soccer towards the end of last season

The two that were announcing the Euro basketball match, Siena vs. Tel-Aviv, were announcing for La Liga Soccer matches towards the end of last season's games...after they got rid of the two Americans that announced the beginning of last season. Then, at the very end of last season, Sami and other dude were sent packing in favor of Paul Giblin (a Brit with a bit of a difficult dialect in his speech) and Sid Lowe (a Brit that is really quite understandable and professional). So, yes, vurbano, you have heard them before, but not in this season's soccer matches. This season has been exclusively Paul and Sid. BTW, the beginning of last season's American announcers performed in a mixed manner. Their lead announcer was professional and interesting, but the technical soccer guy was just horrible in his announcing, imho. Then Sami and sidekick came on and they were worse. Lastly, Paul and Sid have settled into the gig on Spanish soccer and are really a lot of fun. They are both very knowledgeable about Euro-soccer and bring a lot of fun to the broadcast. Americans would be good announcers for MLS here, but they just don't know the intricacies of the European style of play for my taste. Brits are good choices for announcing any soccer matches in Europe as they know the European style of game and also speak English as their native tongue. Paul, even though he is the lead announcer in soccer, could work a bit harder on crisping up his enunciation and perhaps on trying to avoid misidentifying players (which he does periodically). Sid has to correct him and it sounds unfortunate "on air." They both also look better on camera than Sami & Co. In short, Sami's accent brings some humor to the Euro-basketball games, no doubt, but it is not a professional broadcast and the basketball broadcasts need to upgrade their play-by-play people. If feel sorry for Sami and his employment loss (if this happens), but his pronunciation of the language HAS to improve markedly before Americans can listen to him without snickering. The hockey games, on the other hand, were well done and needed no improvement.

As a dedicated fan of WorldSport channel and as a charter member, that's my $0.02.

Respectfully,

 

[riffjim4069]

I won't disagree with your assessment of the B-Ball announcer, but I personally don't care because I am very happy with the added coverage. Now if Sami would only announce some Sumo.

 

[Sean Mota]

Sean can you add the word "Worlds" to the begininng of this thread. I have slighted Sami's international ineptitude.

How do you want the title to read?

 

[vurbano]

How do you want the title to read?

Its ok the way it is. Im starting to feel real sorry for ole Sami. He got kicked off the soccer broadcasts and I dont think he will be on the basketball much longer either. Announcing just isnt in his future unless its "wanna supersize that order?". I can just picture him on ESPN Dream job.

 

[vurbano]

The two that were announcing the Euro basketball match, Siena vs. Tel-Aviv, were announcing for La Liga Soccer matches towards the end of last season's games...after they got rid of the two Americans that announced the beginning of last season. Then, at the very end of last season, Sami and other dude were sent packing in favor of Paul Giblin (a Brit with a bit of a difficult dialect in his speech) and Sid Lowe (a Brit that is really quite understandable and professional). So, yes, vurbano, you have heard them before, but not in this season's soccer matches.

Thanks I knew I had heard them before. I just didnt watch any soccer this season. To me its a novelty that lasts a little longer than Moov. Without any ties to any of those regional euro teams theres just no real excitement for me. Im sure its great for the european transplants in the US though.

 

[Sean Mota]

I believe that you guys are not correct about Sami. He has never broadcasted any soccer games on WorldSport. It is wrong to say he was 'kicked off football' because he never did it anyway. Carlos, who is doing the Basketball, did some Soccer when Sid was out and will continue doing Soccer whenever either Paul or Sid are out. None of the commentators are American as suggested before. This information I am not making up but got it from the lion's mouth.

I can understand what you guys were saying about Sami but to me he was just nervous. I have been in nervous situations and can relate to what he went through. I have seen American announcers who have been on the job for years and are still making the same mistakes.

 

[TheTimm]

I'm a little late to this discussion, and I have no idea who Sami is. But I am currently watching the basketball game betwee Unicaja and some team that's abbreviated PAU. Before this, I caught the last few minutes of the Real Madrid/Somebody-or-other game. Words do not exist to express how terrible the announcing was for the Madrid game. And the game that's on now is even worse! I think the guy who did the commentary in the first game is doing the play-by-play in the current one. And the new commentator is even worse than the play-by-play guy. Neither one speaks English well at all. I can barely understand them. Why would you hire guys who don't speak English well to broadcast a game in English? It's amusing as hell, but makes it very hard to take the game seriously. If none of these guys is the Sami in question, then my guess is that he's not the worst. How could he possibly be worse than these guys?

I'm actually having trouble watching the game because the announcing is so distractingly awful. I can't wait till I have someone over when this is on -- it's not like you could do it justice trying to describe how bad it is! I'm torn -- I can't decide if I love it or wanna chop my ears off.

 

[Walter L.]

have you try the "Mute" button?

 

[TheTimm]

have you try the "Mute" button?

That would be like not looking when I drive by a car accident.

 

[TheTimm]

And I'm also hoping that by posting how strongly I feel about how much the announcers are hurting the broadcast, maybe I can help change things for the better. Not likely I realize, but if no one says anything when something sucks, nothing changes. They have a great product here and are doing it a disservice by airing it with such terrible announcers. Good announcers would add to the broadcast -- perhaps by pointing out differences in the international game, giving a little history of the teams/players, describing the action in words and accents the average viewer could actually understand -- that sort of stuff.

Or I suppose I could just try the "mute" button.

 

[Walter L.]

TheTimm,
I agree with you & vurbano in that the basketball announcers suck. We should tell VOOM by writing to:
http://voom.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/voom.cfg/php/enduser/cci/std_cont.php

BTW, don't you guys agree that both the Soccer and Hockey announcers are great.

 

[TheTimm]

TheTimm,
I agree with you & vurbano in that the basketball announcers suck. We should tell VOOM by writing to:
http://voom.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/voom.cfg/php/enduser/cci/std_cont.php

BTW, don't you guys agree that both the Soccer and Hockey announcers are great.

Good idea on the e-mail. I just sent one (I used TheNiceTimm as opposed to TheSmartAssTimm, and made suggestions instead of simply complaining ).

As far as soccer and hockey go...dunno. Don't have any interest in either.