I'm really sorry, this is one of those things that gets categorized under "impossible to translate", but I thought it was too hilarious to not at least introduce on the blog.
>>Click to download video
In Japan, more and more football fans who watch the NT games are starting to ridicule the network tv announcers' performances during matches. Networks are less concerned with the actual content of what the commentators say with regard to accuracy and informative/illuminating content. This really and truly pisses the true football watchers off. Not only is it irritating to listen to the commentators misidentify players or getting so excited anytime the ball gets near either goals that all we hear is a mumbo jumbo of garbled names and words screamed, but it's not enriching our viewing experience by listening to them either. It may be all very well to grab the interest of those who don't normally watch football (for the networks the numbers are the most important), but it also propagates the lack of understanding of football in the country.
As an alternative, most football people watch the NT games on NHK broadcasts when it is available. NHK is like the BBC (if you are in the UK) or PBS (if you are in the US), a public channel that is more straight-laced. Their commentary is very professional though often lacking in panache. But most of all the commentator tells us stuff that we can't see because of the limitations of the tv screen (the areas of the pitch that are cut off from our screens). They also study a lot harder to get all the names straight and scatter bits of good info throughout, and don't scream into the mikes everytime something remotely exciting happens.
The people at Goalura.com blog were so fed up by the Asahi tv football announcer who's been responsible for the qualifiers, and after the hilariously pathetic performance by this announcer (Kakuzawa) in the Iran/Japan game last week, they put together a video (produced in a mocking but playful style) of all the annoying and unbelievably wrong commentary scenes, along with subtitles (so you can catch what is being said). The clip only covers the first half, as the creators said they got so fed up that they couldn't wade through his commentary for the last 45 mins.
He repeats the same factoids over and over for lack of any fresh angle on things, and often just simply repeats what the other commentator interjects (in Japan they always have two or three commentators; one is supposed to be the serious play-by-play man and the other is often an ex-footballer who now works in the industry and provides extra insight and color so there's a conversational tone to the commentary). He also has the bad habit of not finishing his phrases. For instance, he'll say: "Nakazawa jumps high...." or "For Japan, Daei has continued to be..." and then that's it, because he's so distracted by what's going on that he forgets he's even started a sentence. Obviously he comes without studying up, and also cannot maintain a professional demeanor while watching. It may be too much to ask, since Kakuzawa doesn't normally do football commentary anyway, so the question is why did the network give him the gig?
The video includes the same footage (of the Tamada→Kaji goal) taken from the NHK broadcast so you can compare the two and see how different the level of professionalism is.
Unfortunately, if you don't understand Japanese this video will probably be meaningless for you, but for those of you who do understand some Japanese I highly recommend it as a fun way to start your Monday with a good chuckle.
>>Click to download video
In Japan, more and more football fans who watch the NT games are starting to ridicule the network tv announcers' performances during matches. Networks are less concerned with the actual content of what the commentators say with regard to accuracy and informative/illuminating content. This really and truly pisses the true football watchers off. Not only is it irritating to listen to the commentators misidentify players or getting so excited anytime the ball gets near either goals that all we hear is a mumbo jumbo of garbled names and words screamed, but it's not enriching our viewing experience by listening to them either. It may be all very well to grab the interest of those who don't normally watch football (for the networks the numbers are the most important), but it also propagates the lack of understanding of football in the country.
As an alternative, most football people watch the NT games on NHK broadcasts when it is available. NHK is like the BBC (if you are in the UK) or PBS (if you are in the US), a public channel that is more straight-laced. Their commentary is very professional though often lacking in panache. But most of all the commentator tells us stuff that we can't see because of the limitations of the tv screen (the areas of the pitch that are cut off from our screens). They also study a lot harder to get all the names straight and scatter bits of good info throughout, and don't scream into the mikes everytime something remotely exciting happens.
The people at Goalura.com blog were so fed up by the Asahi tv football announcer who's been responsible for the qualifiers, and after the hilariously pathetic performance by this announcer (Kakuzawa) in the Iran/Japan game last week, they put together a video (produced in a mocking but playful style) of all the annoying and unbelievably wrong commentary scenes, along with subtitles (so you can catch what is being said). The clip only covers the first half, as the creators said they got so fed up that they couldn't wade through his commentary for the last 45 mins.
He repeats the same factoids over and over for lack of any fresh angle on things, and often just simply repeats what the other commentator interjects (in Japan they always have two or three commentators; one is supposed to be the serious play-by-play man and the other is often an ex-footballer who now works in the industry and provides extra insight and color so there's a conversational tone to the commentary). He also has the bad habit of not finishing his phrases. For instance, he'll say: "Nakazawa jumps high...." or "For Japan, Daei has continued to be..." and then that's it, because he's so distracted by what's going on that he forgets he's even started a sentence. Obviously he comes without studying up, and also cannot maintain a professional demeanor while watching. It may be too much to ask, since Kakuzawa doesn't normally do football commentary anyway, so the question is why did the network give him the gig?
The video includes the same footage (of the Tamada→Kaji goal) taken from the NHK broadcast so you can compare the two and see how different the level of professionalism is.
Unfortunately, if you don't understand Japanese this video will probably be meaningless for you, but for those of you who do understand some Japanese I highly recommend it as a fun way to start your Monday with a good chuckle.
For those of you curious about what I meant when I talked about the Nakata Bolton press conference where he spoke only English >>Click for the previous entry about this:
..here is a >>Video clip of the press conference you can download.
The download was provided by >>Soccer Underground blog.
..here is a >>Video clip of the press conference you can download.
The download was provided by >>Soccer Underground blog.
If you want to see the two Sota Hirayama goals, download from the two links below.
>>Hirayama goal 1
>>Hirayama goal 2
Since Hirayama went straight from university to the Netherlands, this is also his first two goals as a pro footballer in his debut game as a pro footballer.
>>Hirayama goal 1
>>Hirayama goal 2
Since Hirayama went straight from university to the Netherlands, this is also his first two goals as a pro footballer in his debut game as a pro footballer.
For those of you who had difficulty seeing the video clips I posted links to earlier >>Click for the previous video clip entry, here are much cleaner footage of all three goals from this game.
>> Kaji's goal 1-0
>> Oguro header for Mirzapour own goal 2-0
>> Daei's penalty kick 2-1
>> Kaji's goal 1-0
>> Oguro header for Mirzapour own goal 2-0
>> Daei's penalty kick 2-1
Kashima Antlers 1-2 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Ouch, a really bad way to lose for the current frontrunners. I had a bad feeling going into this game, as Alex Mineiro and Mitsuo Ogasawara were both missing from the starting eleven. Mineiro because he was just returning from injury (the forwards who started were Suzuki and Nozawa).
And Ogasawara had taken himself out of the game because of the problems he's had with the club regarding his transfer opportunity. Ogasawara had gotten an offer from Serie A's Lecce, but Kashima were quite quick and emphatic with their "no" response. Ogasawara objected, and things have been getting weird ever since. The story is that Kashima had said to Ogasawara from months and months ago that if he were to get an offer they would look into it and discuss it; however when the time came, they did not make enough of an effort to study the offer, at least not to the satisfaction of Ogasawara. continues
Ouch, a really bad way to lose for the current frontrunners. I had a bad feeling going into this game, as Alex Mineiro and Mitsuo Ogasawara were both missing from the starting eleven. Mineiro because he was just returning from injury (the forwards who started were Suzuki and Nozawa).
And Ogasawara had taken himself out of the game because of the problems he's had with the club regarding his transfer opportunity. Ogasawara had gotten an offer from Serie A's Lecce, but Kashima were quite quick and emphatic with their "no" response. Ogasawara objected, and things have been getting weird ever since. The story is that Kashima had said to Ogasawara from months and months ago that if he were to get an offer they would look into it and discuss it; however when the time came, they did not make enough of an effort to study the offer, at least not to the satisfaction of Ogasawara. continues
| HOME |
