Soccer from this guy?
One of the more noteworthy things about this World Cup is the amount of resources American media outlets have committed to covering the tournament. From TV to print and online, domestic interest in the world's biggest sporting event has hit a new high water mark; this is only a good thing, even if some of the names and voices that will be on the ground in South Africa can seem a bit odd.
I decided to do a quick look at four names that might either seem questionable to soccer fans or are not usually part of the fairly small soccer-focused media we have in the U.S.; American soccer fans are very possessive about the game, and any hint that a talking head or writer doesn't have a verifiable soccer background inevitably leads to grousing. Sometimes it's warranted, sometimes it's not.
We know all about ESPN's massive investment on the TV side, and all of their usual soccer suspects will be in-country to give framing to the images beamed back home. There are two names that might seem outside of that group.
Bob Ley
Only mentioned because he is not usually on the soccer beat, there's no questioning Ley's qualifications. He worked for the Cosmos in the 70's before moving to ESPN, and has been part of the network's soccer coverage for decades. As the host of ESPN's investigative news magazine "Outside the Lines", Ley is one of the more respectable voices in Bristol, giving balance to the shtick that is so prevalent in their programming. If new fans of the game aren't familiar with Ley's soccer work, don't worry - he's legit.
Jeremy Schaap
Jeremy Schaap is simply a reporter, and an accomplished one at that. There's no reason to believe he's necessarily a soccer fan, though it's impossible to definitively prove he isn't either. He has some World Cup experience ('94), though his soccer qualifications might be a little questionable. For the stories he'll be doing, though, it's almost irrelevant; Schaap's assignments are almost certain to run in the "human interest" and "cultural" realm than in anything having to do with the game itself. When he is involved in a soccer story, expect it to be profile pieces on the lives and backgrounds of players and coaches.
Sports Illustrated has also picked up their game, and while the Grant Wahl's of the world are there to provide the quality soccer coverage we expect, America's leading sports magazine has also sent two of their better known talents.
Peter King
On the surface, this is among the more questionable choices for soccer temp in South Africa. King is an NFL writer, and only an NFL writer; it's not often that those two worlds crossover in the sportswriting world. What we can expect from King is anyone's guess; even if he treats the sport with the respect it deserves (which we would assume his bosses have indicated to him he should), it's hard to conceive of ready-made story lines for a guy who it's fairly safe to assume has little to no knowledge of the game. King is a big name in the American sports world. What else he brings to the party is questionable at best.
Joe Posnanski
Posnanski is a fantastic writer. Almost peerless, in fact. Yes, he's usually very wrapped up in baseball, but he's already proven that his abilities transfer well to soccer. His feature piece on Landon Donovan was excellent, and while the day-to-day action of the World Cup is a little different than telling the story of a player's career, I expect Posnanski will have no trouble finding stories. Perhaps the best news for soccer fans who doubt Posnanski's chops is that he can deftly avoid outing himself as a soccer neophyte because he's such a good writer. Posnanski is a supreme story-teller, and the coverage will benefit from having him in South Africa.
