Dirty TackleFox Sports' Gus Johnson experiment comes to a merciful end
Gus Johnson, the most criticized soccer commentator in the United States, has told Sports Illustrated that he has decided to step down as Fox's top commentator for the sport, citing his busy schedule covering basketball and American football and a desire to spend time with his new wife.
From SI:
Johnson told Sports Illustrated on Sunday that he called Fox Sports president Eric Shanks last week and explained that with a full schedule of college football and college basketball, he could not give soccer the attention it deserved and that viewers demanded of a lead broadcaster. Shanks agreed to pull Johnson off the assignment.
"I think that it was a mutual decision, but maybe I was the guy who came to it first," Johnson said.
Johnson was well known for his shouty style of broadcasting before Fox decided to try and fit his square peg into a round hole in an apparent effort to Americanize UEFA Champions League broadcasts and appeal to non-fans of the game. The hope was that he would lead their coverage for the 2018 World Cup, but all he actually did was enrage fans with mispronounced names, ill-timed shrieks and an inadequate base of knowledge while making no discernible inroads in attracting new viewers.
Though he's been the target of endless scorn and a tiresome amount of coverage, Johnson wasn't the bad guy here. Yes, he made too many mistakes for the platform he was given, but he made it clear that he respected the game — this decision demonstrates that — and tried his best to learn as much about it as he could and as fast as possible. It just wasn't good enough. But now he returns his focus to what he knows best and Fox is given another chance to make everyone angry.
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is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter! Follow @BrooksDT
