get more educated

So, Hope Solo is talking, again. I missed the match about which the current controversy arose, because I was, sadly, at China Basin watching the Dodgers destroy the Giants, 10-0.

In their second match of the 2012 Olympics, the U.S. women’s team defeated Colombia, 3-0. By all accounts, it could have been a bigger margin, and the main thing to come out of the game looked to be the black eye Abby Wambach received after being punched by Colombian player Lady Andrade. With their win, the U.S. clinched a trip to the quarter-finals with a game to spare.

But after the match, Solo took to Twitter to express her anger with former star Brandi Chastain, who is currently in the announcers’ booth as a commentator. Solo called Chastain out for saying one of Solo’s teammates was “the worst defender” (Solo’s words), for not keeping up with the times (“Lay off commentating about defending and gking until you get more educated @brandichastain the game has changed from a decade ago”), and for not “helping 2 grow the sport”.

I love Hope Solo, and one reason for that is her tendency to say what she thinks. It strikes me as a bit odd that she wishes Chastain would quit commenting about defense, given that Brandi was a top defender herself in her playing days. Sticking up for her teammate, on the other hand, is a good idea, especially since Solo has gotten into trouble in the past for speaking poorly of teammates. Basically, I don’t have to agree with her points (and, as I noted, I didn’t watch the game in question) to find Solo refreshing.

But that last part, about “helping 2 grow the sport”, hits on something that has bothered me for a long time. Ever since MLS arrived, San Jose Earthquakes fans have complained about the media … not what the media says, but what they don’t say. The Earthquakes are ignored, according to this thinking, as if the Quakes/soccer/San Jose meant nothing. The San Jose Mercury News was often singled out, and I can’t count the number of times someone would state that it was the job of the local media, like the Merc, to be supportive of local businesses.

This is, to be brief, horseshit. It is, perhaps, how the world really works. But the ideal of a free press is that they exist to tell the public what is happening (“news”). It is dangerous when the press becomes a publicity arm of local businesses (or, if the scale is larger, national or international businesses). It isn’t the job of the New York Times to convince us that the banks, or the President, or the Knicks, are good. It isn’t their job to convince us to buy tickets to the NBA, to vote for the President (except on the opinion pages), to bend over for the banking industry. Yet somehow, Quakes fans wanted the Mercury News and other local media to support the team, as if that was their true function.

This is exactly what Hope Solo gets wrong, as well. It is not Brandi Chastain’s job, when she is working as an analyst during a soccer match at the Olympics, to “help grow the sport”. Chastain has plenty of venues for that kind of work, and, at least to this outsider, it seems like she works hard in that regard. But her job in the broadcast booth is to tell us what is going on. If she’s wrong about a particular defender, well then, she’s a poor analyst. But if she resorts to cheerleading, then she’s just as bad as all the other jingoistic announcers in all the countries participating in the Olympics.

As is often the case, Jennifer Doyle does a good job on this one (“Solo thoughtz”). While Doyle wasn’t all that happy with Chastain’s work during the match (“humorless … She sounds irritated with the game. She sounds annoyed. It just is not fun to listen to.”), she did point out the problem with at least some of Solo’s take. Conveniently for me, it’s the same problem I have: “A commentator is supposed to offer criticism of the match - Chastain is not being paid to be a cheerleader for the team (this is where Solo is wrong).”

Doyle concludes, “I love that we have players who are not totally controlled by the team's handlers.” I’m with her on that, 100%.

Comments

[Tomas]

I don't now shit about soccer. I watched some of the match and, for my money, I liked Brandi Chastain's work behind the mic. It seems NBC matches up an actual sports announcer (who is familiar with calling the sport or similar sports on some level) with a former competitor. The competitors are either eyeing the broadcast booth or, in the case of folk's like Chastain or the women's cycler working this morning, just there to lend their passion and expertise to help us newcomers understand a sport well enough to understand what is at stake. She does that great. Her passion for the sport is serious, to be sure. She's like a Kirk Gibson. She isn't cracking jokes but she is helping me like the game. Maybe that's not much for experienced soccer fans, I don't know. But the writer in the link you gave was a little harsh about it, again for my money.

[Steven Rubio]

That pairing (announcer w/ex-jock) is pretty standard in most sports, it seems. I listened to Chastain during the first U.S. match, and didn't have a problem with her. The key for me is Arlo White, the play-by-play guy, who impresses me every time I hear him. To be honest, though, I switch to Telemundo whenever the match is on over there.

[Steven Rubio]

Plus, I stood next to Brandi once, so I get protective of her. Although, let's face it, if there was trouble, she would be the one saving my ass, not the other way around :-).

[Nondisposable Johnny]

I agree with you all around as to the appropriateness/inappropriateness of Solo's actual comments (love her, too, by the way). What I found strange was that I watched the entire match and I didn't hear Chastain say anything other than the usual bread and butter commentary. Nothing that would prompt any response at all frankly, let alone one as vehement as Solo's. Since there's no way Solo was watching and listening to the broadcast (I mean there wasn't much action in her end but she wasn't THAT lonely), I wondered if this was one of those things that got passed along from ear to ear and ended up sounding a lot worse than it really was by the time it got to her....Several ESPN pundits actually made your points about the merits of avoiding homerism and cheer-leading btw. I have to say it sounded a lot more hilariously disingenuous coming from people who work for the network that has made a science of the art of cheer-leading.

[Steven Rubio]

The timing of Solo's rant was definitely odd, as if she had an audio feed hidden in her ear.