By alex kotler

Maybe I’m delusional, and maybe it’s just my sugar high from the 14 miniature Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups and the 17 miniature Kit-Kat bars that I ingested in rapid succession, but I think Monday night Tim McCarver showed me what is vitally missing in the broadcast – and ultimately the spread – of soccer in America.

For those unfamiliar with America’s pastime, Tim McCarver is a retired catcher, a two-time world champion with the St. Louis Cardinals and currently a color commentator for Major League Baseball on Fox Sports.

Like any loyal NY Yankees fan I tuned in to Monday’s television broadcast of our possible World Series title-clinching game against the Philadelphia Phillies. However, unlike many of my fellow Yankee supporters, I do not have television so I parked myself on a friend’s couch to watch in high definition on his plasma screen.

The Yanks had AJ Burnett on the mound and he wasn’t up to the task. His curve ball wasn’t breaking and his fastball wasn’t burning and Chase Utley, the Phillies’ second baseman, figured him out early and drilled a three-run home run over the right field fence to give Philadelphia a lead that they never relinquished.

My epiphany, if it’s fair to call the realization such, happened when McCarver made a distinction between Burnett and his Phillies’ counterpart Cliff Lee’s grip on the baseball. Using still-frame footage, McCarver showed how both pitchers’ mechanics differed in the delivery of their pitches and effectively conveyed why Lee was having more success. It was educational and provided the enrichment – the smallest of lessons – that brought me closer to the game of baseball for the shortest of moments.

Perhaps what I see in baseball and American football – where color analysts literally draw on screen and use graphics to illustrate points - is already happening in soccer and the highlights I catch on Footytube simply omit these teaching moments. Maybe the color commentators on ESPN or Fox Soccer Channel or Setanta or GolTV are freeze-framing Cristiano Ronaldo’s free kicks and pointing out – and using physics to explain – why the combination of his placement of the still ball, his approach, and the movement of his body and point of impact lead to the deceitful trajectory that fools keepers and makes fans and foes respect his talent equally.

Or maybe not.

Rather than critiquing the broadcast of the sport, because networks are only now learning how to build and retain soccer-devoted audiences, I am merely suggesting that on-camera talent consider incorporating these type of teaching moments into their repertoires.

But soccer doesn’t have long periods of inactivity like American football, baseball, basketball or hockey.

True. These sports have commercial breaks and huddles and timeouts and referee/umpire evaluations during which to make these instructive demonstrations. There are, however, pauses in the action, injuries and altercations, during which time audiences would be better served by showing how and why the sweeping motion of David Beckham’s right leg launched a perfectly-placed swirling cross onto the head of one of his LA Galaxy teammates.

And, if not in the midst of the action, then during the intermission when proper analysis is taking place. If marketed properly, it could even represent a sponsorship opportunity for global brands (ie, “This teaching moment brought to you by…”).

Regardless of the commercial impact, I am of the opinion that the implementation of such practices could lead to a more educated consumer who not only knows which players and teams are the best, but why. More, it’s an American broadcasting technique that fans are accustomed to, enjoy and could help communicate the subtleties of the beautiful game to those that have never played it or don’t quite get it.

To borrow lingo from our friends who play on the diamond (instead in such a formation), such an idea – to me – would be a home run.