I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Tommy Smyth. He was one of ESPN’s soccer regulars before the network really made an effort to put all of their possible resources to covering the sport. The Irishman was in many ways the face of ESPN’s soccer coverage, whether it be on the Champions League or appearances across different platforms as the one soccer guy. Basically, he was the Barry Melrose of soccer.
Smyth is still at ESPN, but now he hasn’t been seen as much with the wealth of commentators and analysts brought in from around the globe. He’s calling games on ESPN Radio at this World Cup alongside veteran play by play man J.P. Dellacamera.
During the Costa Rica-Italy game on Friday, they had one of the most humorous exchanges I’ve heard in a long time. Smyth talked about Andrea Pirlo’s quiet first half and said that he “didn’t have that little bit of jizz in him today.”
Yep, that happened…
The momentary pause by JP Dellacamera, like he just did a spit take in the booth, is just terrific. Thank goodness Tommy Smyth came back to explain the Irish meaning of the word or else we would have had to ask some very serious questions. Who knew Irish slang and vocabulary was so colorful…
H/T @rpsean
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