Sign the ESPN Petition!

Now that we've witnessed the full reality of the travesty that is ABC/ESPN coverage of the world's greatest sporting event, I thought I'd post the address for a petition that the lads from World Soccer Daily initiated.

How do we hate the coverage? - let me count the ways:

1) No pre-game coverage whatsoever. Yesterday they started five minutes before Germany and Costa Rica kicked off, ignoring the entire opening ceremonies. Literally seconds before the England match kicked off this morning, they were still wading through the local police blotter and hurricane alerts. Before the Sweden match, they showed an inane kiddie cartoon right up until kick-off.

2) Half-time chat today with the Belmont Park racetrack in the background. It's bad enough to suffer through Lexi and Julie Foudy, but do they really have to stick the knife in as if to yell at us, "We're just humoring you soccer fags for the next month, but don't think that we aren't going to feature real American sports?"

3) Constant references to American sports from all of the commentators. My favorite example: during the Sweden match, a tussle between Olaf Mellberg and Stern John in the box was described by Dave O'Brien as "jockeying for position in the paint."

4) Shep Messing - the man is an utter disgrace. I had never really paid much attention to him before this afternoon's match. Nick and Steven have been mocking him for donkey's years, but I had no idea how accurate they were. Constant screaming for "The P.K.!" Obligatory references to "my time playing with Pele at the Cosmos." And any time an exciting moment passes he morphs into Dick Vitale's crazy cousin, bellowing "Oh baby, we've gotta game here!" Someone please strangle him in his sleep.

So, please, sign the petition. You'll find at:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/World_Cup_Announcers