- Tommy Smyth
Tommy Michael Smyth (pronounced Smith) (born in
Knockbridge ,County Louth ,Republic of Ireland in 1933) is one of the most recognized soccer commentators in the USA . He is acolor commentator forESPN , which he joined in February 1993 as afootball analyst. He provides co-commentary or in-studio analysis for most major soccer events. He also commentates onGaelic games ,horse racing , andharness racing for ESPN.Smyth moved to the United States in 1963 following a brief football career with a local Scottish team. In America, he played with the Shamrock Club in the German American Soccer League.
Smyth was the voice of the
MetroStars ofMajor League Soccer from the team's inception in 1996 to the early 2000s, when his ESPN contract prohibited him from working for theMSG Network .Smyth's trademark is analysis adding color commentary to
Derek Rae . Smyth is known for signing off when commentating as "Tommy Smyth... with a "Y" and for his description of a ball flying into the net when a goal is scored as "a bulge in the auld onion bag."He currently commentates regularly for
ESPN International covering matches weekly forLa Liga ,Serie A , International matches and theFA Cup and is one of the regular panelist on ESPNSoccernetPressPass which is hosted byDerek Rae . He also commentates matches from theUEFA Champions League which coverage is taken up by ESPN stations around the world includingESPN2 in theUnited States . In 2007 he joined ESPN's MLS broadcast team and has also done a few World Cups for ESPN, including the2006 FIFA World Cup , where he partnered withAdrian Healey . He commentates on theUEFA Highlight show on Thursdays and Fridays. Mr. Smyth will occasionally be a phone-in guest pundit mostly during theUEFA Champions League campaigns on theCSRN radio programme,The 2 G's , sharing his opinion regarding the upcoming matches.During ESPN's coverage of Euro 2008, Smyth was relegated from game commentary to post-game analysis thanks to the arrival of commentator Andy Gray. The rationale for this demotion seems to be that Gray, having played the game at its highest level, has a firmer grasp on the nuances of a football match than Smyth does, who was never a professional player.
Tommy M. Smyth was the 2008 Grand Marshal of the 247th St. Patrick's Day Parade in
New York City . He is also the co-host for WNBC coverage of the New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade from 1998-Present.His affections for the Gotham area were apparent on a June 12 episode of
ESPN First Take , where Smyth stated that he was a New York Knicks fan.External links
* [http://www.ainewoods.com Listen online a song about Tommy Smyth by Irish Country Artist Aine Woods.]
* [http://epltalk.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=206464 BME Talk Podcast interview]
* [http://www.revolutionrecap.com/archives/Revolution%20Recap%20(9-9-07).mp3 Revolution Recap radio interview]
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