ESPN Getting In Touch With Their Darke Side

Some circles have known this bit of news for quite a while, but now it has been made official. Ian Darke is leaving Sky Sports to join ESPN. But, not only is he joining ESPN, he is taking over their soccer coverage in a massive, massive way. Via ESPN press release: (bold emphasis is mine)

Ian Darke will be the primary play-by-play voice on ESPN’s U.S. networks for Barclays Premier League matches, the U.S. National Teams (Men’s and Women’s), marquee Major League Soccer events, 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He joins ESPN after commentating on Premier League and UEFA Champions League matches for the past 18 years. Darke was widely praised for his work on ESPN during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, especially for his commentating on the U.S. Men’s National Team matches vs. Slovenia, Algeria and Ghana.

“Having Ian Darke as our year-round signature voice for soccer programming reaffirms ESPN’s commitment to elevate our overall coverage of the sport in the U.S.,” said Drake. “Ian’s experience, authenticity and passion for the sport, which were evident throughout the World Cup, will resonate with our viewers, who have come to expect top-quality soccer commentary from ESPN.”

Darke added: "I am delighted and excited to be joining such a polished and talented team as ESPN. It was wonderful to be calling the USA’s dramatic World Cup campaign for American audiences – and I am flattered to be asked back on a permanent basis.”

Darke’s debut as ESPN’s signature voice for soccer will be Saturday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 a.m. ET, when he’ll provide play-by-play commentary for Manchester City vs. Chelsea, live from the City of Manchester Stadium. In his new role, Darke will be in the booth live from Barclays Premier League match sites each week for ESPN’s U.S. audience – a first for the network. His co-commentators (analysts) for each ESPN soccer programming series will be announced at a later date.

Holy amazing awesomeness, Batman! ESPN was blasted almost universally for their piss poor, deplorable coverage of the 2006 World Cup. And now, 4 years later, their 2010 World Cup coverage has been almost universally praised and now they have hired one of Britain's top voices to be their lead for every major soccer event they cover. Talk about a tremendous transformation. On a personal level, Ian Darke quickly became one of my favorite all time announcers during the 2010 World Cup, and now I will be able to hear him again on American airwaves, starting tomorrow as I wake up at 7:30 AM to see Chelsea take on the New York Mets of the EPL, Manchester City.

Eight Is Great As Chelsea Wins Their 4th EPL Championship

London must now me immersed in a sea of Blue as Chelsea clinched the English Premier League championship with a beyond emphatic 8-0 stomping of Wigan. Chelsea took control of the game from the beginning and Wigan never threatened to score until late in the game when Chelsea already had a touchdown advantage on their lesser adversary.

The game was essentially over in the 31' minute when Caldwell of Wigan committed a penalty on Frank Lampard. Lombard converted the penalty kick to make it 2-0 Chelsea and that would essentially be the end of it. Chelsea would not be through with Wigan though as they added 6-second half goals, including 3 from Didier Drogba that clinched the golden boot for him, to emphatically proclaim that they are the EPL Champions. And when you go unbeaten in a year against the rest of the EPL Big 4, chances are you darn well deserve it. Here is the video of the clinching penalty kick that gave them the 2-0 comfort zone that would never be threatened.



It was a stunning offensive performance all the way around for Chelsea consisting of several beautiful goals and I eagerly anticipate returning from London this August with a Chelsea blue Didier Drogba jersey. Despite his occasional selfishness, he is an extremely entertaining player to watch. I first saw him in the 2006 World Cup, and it is nice to see that he has not changed since (FYI, before anyone starts calling me a bandwagoner and leveling me with the same insults I hurl at Washington Capitals fans, I have all sorts of soccer jerseys because frankly, in the summer, I hate the heat and these jerseys are nice and light, not to mention they are comfortable as hell to wear; I have a Peru jersey, France jersey, FC Barcelona jersey Zlaton Ibrahimovic Inter Milan jersey, and a Tunisia jersey among others).

Aspeaking of the World Cup, we are currently a month and 2 days away from the 2010 FIFA World Cup and even though I probably could not name a single player on some of these teams now, I am stoked nonetheless.

Because honestly, I do not know a whole lot about some of these teams, I will take a different route to preview the World Cup and look at each of the cities and venues in South Africa hosting the World Cup games complete with some prose, facts, and pictures.

The 2006 World Cup was the first time I ever watched soccer and I could not have been more pleased or entertained with the result, and now that I have beyond a firm grasp of the basic rules of the sport (something I did not as I tuned into to see Germany host Costa Rica in Munich), I am sure that I will enjoy this year's even more.