I should start a blog that refutes everything Jamie Trecker writes. For once, I took a look at the comments section of his asinine review of Euro 2008 and was overjoyed to find zero positive comments along with these gems:
* The Greeks proved that 2006 was a fluke = Err… I didn’t realize that the Greeks won the world cup in 2006… I always thought they won the Euro in 2004. Silly me.
* Shut up Trecker. Just shut up.
* Even as the celebrations finish up from La Coruña to Alicante and all Spanish points in between, soccer doesn’t stop. = Too obvious: WIKIPEDIA!
* WARNING: Posting on this thread will only encourage Trekker to post more, and encourage Fox to actually PAY him to do so!
* IMO, the only way we can REALLY show our objections to this Trekker dou-che, is to ignore him and not post on his threads.
* trecker needs to get fired…netherlands didn’t show up? i could have sworn they smoked italy and france, world cup 2006 winners and runners up, without a blink. they looked unorganized and unready for russia, but then again, they had no clue what to expect.
* As usual, Trecker is an ####.
* There he goes again… “…even the Spaniards didn’t believe they’d ever win another title…” = What qualifies this commentator to tell us what Spaniards believe?
Trecker also seems to have conveniently forgotten that he downplayed Spain’s chances from day one and had been cheering on the Germans all the while. And that things could have played out very differently had Spain lost to Italy on penalties, and that the Netherlands played their worst game of the tournament against Russia, who played their best. So back to weak generalizations—Spain shook off their ghosts and the Netherlands never gets the job done. Is it not imaginable that things could have turned out where Spain never gets the job done and the Netherlands exorcised their demons? (erm, the answer is yes.)
“[Croatia went into the tournament without] Eduardo, potentially one of the best attackers in Europe.” Well, with this rationale I guess I could be called potentially one of the best attackers in Europe too. Let’s get this straight: Eduardo is Brazilian who has elected to play for his adopted country of Croatia because he knew he wouldn’t get a look in on Brazil’s national team. In addition, the fellow found it hard going breaking into Ars*nal’s team, and scored 4 goals in 17 Premier League outings. Look, I won’t deny that the guy is an awfully handy striker, but I might suggest that it’s a wee bit of hyperbole to call him one of the best attackers in football’s most competitive continent.
“The Portuguese have flattered to deceive for almost a decade … so much individual talent and so little to show for it.” Again, break out the crack cocaine. Portugal made it to the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup, the final of Euro 2004, and the semifinals of Euro 2000. One could just as easily argue that Portugal have been a few lucky breaks away from being European or World champions. Considering that they currently possess the best player in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo and the always-improving Nani who are both under the age of 25, one could also easily argue that the sun has not yet set on Portugal’s footballing aspirations…
Ironically, it’s that above logic that Trecker uses in praising the Turks: “their presence in a World Cup semifinal in 2002 and a Euro semifinal in 2008 should remove any notion that the team’s performances have been a fluke.” So Portugal have flattered to deceive while the Turks “shaken the ‘outsider’ tag for good.” (This from the same man who spent three weeks doubting Spain’s pedigree and also considered them outside football’s elite.) Look, I loved the Turks fight backs as much as anyone, but they were a kick of a ball out of the tournament in what, four games out of five? Contrary to popular (or perhaps moronic) opinion, that doesn’t point to great gains in the quality of their football, it points to a lot of heart and a boatload of luck.
I could keep going on and on, and apparently so could many of the fine folks leaving comments on the Fox site. I keep asking myself, “How does this guy get paid to write this crap?” And then I keep answering myself, “It’s not what you know but who you know…”
Current Mood: Can This Odious Person Please Go Away? | 
2 Comments
What, no comments on his idiotic lookahead to South Africa? Saying England is the best bet to make it of a group that also consists of Denmark, Ireland and Scotland is like saying they’re the lepers in the colony with the most skin. It’s true, but things still suck for them. Laying it all on Wayne Rooney’s shoulders is conveniently ignoring the fact that there is no creativity at midfield and only Terry and Ferdinand in defense, whereafter quality falls off a cliff. (Wes Brown? Really?)
Ah, good point. Trecker is the breed of idiot who thinks he knows the sport well but is a shocking Johnny-come-lately when it comes to the bigger picture of how things are changing. While it is indeed true that Germany/France/Italy/England along with Brazil/Argentina formed the old guard of world football and are still potent forces, he seems blissfully unaware that a paradigm shift has been underway for the better part of 20 years as third-world footballing countries (like the US) have made up massive amounts of ground where others, like England, have regressed. Calling Croatia a revelation reveals his blindness–they won the group with both England and Russia. The only one who expected Croatia to be weak was Trecker, apparently.
What I can’t for the life of me figure out is why Trecker is so stupid. I met him briefly in 1997 at US Soccer’s AGM when he was working as a journo, so he’s been professionally covering the game for more than a decade. I can forgive the US fan (albeit sometimes grudgingly in case of Man Ure and Ars* supporter) who has only gotten into the game in the last five years for not knowing a lot of football history or to be able to see how the game has changed more in the last 15 years than it had in the 50 before it, but this guy gets paid to know this stuff. The fact that @#$!ers like him and Tommy Smyth still have jobs just shows how little network execs know about this game.
FSC’s Fox Football Fone in features opinionated (albeit sometimes boneheaded) commentary from Nick Webster and Steven Cohen, but I consider these guys to be knowledgeable even when I disagree. The difference is that Trecker and Smyth are just flat-out, ignorantly wrong on points that aren’t even really debatable. Which is why it’s ironic that Trecker had a go at “lazy media” recently when his picture would accompany that entry in the dictionary.