In a comment on one of our earlier updates, one of our readers pointed out that the announcers calling the game, Ian Darke and John Harkes, have not mentioned the words "Red Bull" or "Red Bulls" when referring to Tim Ream and Juan Agudelo of the United States, who play for the New York franchise in Major League Soccer. The full name of this team is, of course, Red Bull New York, more commonly referred to as the New York Red Bulls. After watching the halftime show where the host and both analysts, Bob Ley, Alexi Lalas, and Steve McManaman, all refused to use the term "Red Bull" in any context.
USA vs. South Africa: Energy Drink And Striker Wars
Regular ESPN watchers might be familiar with ESPN’s incessant NASCAR advertisements. I’m not a NASCAR fan or basher, but they do seem to promote the product heavily. Along with promoting the races that they have, they also promote Amp, one of Red Bull’s direct competitors. Is it possible that ESPN producers have explicitly told their soccer staff not to mention the Austrian drink that tastes like carbonated, liquefied Sweet Tarts? Yes or no, it’s funny to speculate about.
For those of you who are actually interested in football, I've been keeping track of what Robbie Findley and Teal Bunbury are producing, as Richard mentioned in a previous update. At the time of this posting, 62 minutes into the game, Teal Bunbury has not had an uncontested turnover and has had two positive touches. That is the same number of positive touches that Robbie Findley, who had six uncontested giveaways, had in 45 minutes. I'm classifying a positive touch as a touch that led to an advancement of an attack. Bunbury's second positive touch came in the 54th minute, meaning it took the debutant nine minutes to equal Findley's 45 minute output
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