Soccer talk? On the radio? In the U.S.? By Americans?

Yes. You read correctly or heard correctly, if you, like me, listened to ’Celo Balboa and Dino Costa talk soccer last night on the live webcast of the duo’s Denver-area radio show, “From the Pitch with Marcelo Balboa.” Finally, Americans have a voice on the radio that discusses soccer in the U.S. beyond the contractual box-score read or the fraternity-boy bullying that the worldwide leader in baseball (ESPN) occasionally does on its stations.

Sure, there have been other programs, specifically on television, that covered the world of professional soccer, the first incarnation of MLS Extratime and a few MLS city-specific shows on local sports networks come to mind. But for the most part these programs were extended commercials for the league, with puff pieces on how Landon Donovan was giving back to the community and how Carlos Valderrama let a homeless family live in his ’fro. The local programs were full of softball questions to coaches and GMs and player-reporter love fests in the wake of humiliating defeats. And there have been other internet radio programs, usually hosted by Brits or Irishmen or Scotsmen or some guy that they pulled out of an Irish pub in South Florida who happened to have the right sound (read: accent) to cover this “foreign” sport. I tied to listen to a few of them, but had a difficult time, discerning my argy-bargy from my bugger-all. These blotto berks with their daft and dodgy comments left me scatty and in a strop. Know what I mean? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more.

Which is why Costa and Balboa were so refreshing. Some highlights of the program included Dino and Balboa letting Colorado vp and managing director twist in the wind when a caller did his best impression of the Bobs in Office Space and asked the Rapids exec, “What is it, you would say, ya do here?” Costa, although he sounds a bit like Rush Limbaugh, managed to sound informed and knowledgeable, which is more than you can say about most sports talk radio hosts. He is a self-described soccer guy (likely the only one working in terrestrial radio) and if I lived in Denver I would make his daily radio program, appointment listening. As for Balboa, I have been critical of his color commentary during some MLS matches, but he seems to be coming into his own. At times during MLS match broadcasts, he seemed a bit too much the company man, but last night he let rip comments on the piss-poor referring in the first five weeks, the need to improve the production quality of the match broadcasts and challenged Fernando Clavijo’s utilization of Herculez Gomez and Brandon Prideaux (while the coach was on the phone).

The show was great, but there’s certainly room for improvement. First, they need to hire better screeners to weed out the morons who call and ask questions like, “How do you learn when you lose?” Second, they need to know when to cut off callers or to interrupt guests, like when Clavijo begins to ramble in that accent that makes him sound like a 12-year-old Antonio Banderas. That reminds me of another funny moment, when they dropped Clavijo accidentally right before the question of Conor Casey came up. In all though, it was an enjoyable two-hours, and I believe each MLS fan deserves to have a similar program in his or her city. The scattered podcasts by supporter’s groups are better than nothing, but now that we have caught a glimpse (or a listen) to what could be, MLS fans deserve more.

Odds & Ends
Jimmy Conrad out minimum nine days with a fractured jaw.

Juan Pablo Angel scores in his debut, but NY loses to Galaxy 3-1 in U.S. Open Cup play-in game. Only 10,774 on hand at The Home Depot Center to see Angel’s debut.