World Cup 2010 TV coverage

I liked the World Cup. The best team won in the end. One of the best things for me was that it was easy to watch. ESPN/ABC made some great decisions:

• Relegating Tommy Smythe to the radio
• Hiring British commentators like Martin Tyler (who was born in Chester)
• Having good colour commentators. I especially liked "Super" Ally McCoist and Efan Ekoku. Even John Harkes was OK, though he does somewhat overdo the jargon.
• Making deals with ISPs so that (for me at least) the matches could be watched online with no hassle. The result of this was that all the games were either on terrestrial TV or available to watch online

In the studio were several famous ex-footballers. Intelligent guys like Ruud Gullit and Jürgen Klinsmann were generally informative, if a little bland. I liked Roberto Martínez who they used to discuss Spain. By the time of the final however he had inexplicably returned to Wigan and had to appear on a TV link. Perhaps someone did not think Spain would reach the final.

The only true failure was the presence of Steven McManaman who spouted an endless stream of platitudes. And was the final boring as he said? I don't think so, it was not beautiful, but fascinating to anyone who follows the game. To me McManaman treats his TV work in the same was he did his playing career, as a good joke which he will get away with for as long as he can.

I watched some shows from the BBC and ITV. I did like the BBC studio in Cape Town. And I do like the look of Colin Murray.