I'm sure most of you have had those nights... There's no reason why you shouldn't be tired and ready for a good night's rest, you've wound down, headed to bed at a decent time, light's out, eyes shut but... sleep evades you... I was in and out of bed, back and forth to the bathroom, opening windows, closing them again, trying to read, checking emails... until 4am or thereabouts last night! For some reason, there are nights when I just can't switch off. I must have gone over the lyrics of 'Stone Free' (Hendrix) about a million times - and I bet I still muck it up on Saturday. And yes, calling one night of not being able to sleep 'insomnia' might be going a bit far.
I'm just listening to 'The Outside View' (K-League podcast) online now, and it's kind of annoying me today, to be honest. It certainly has it's good points. It has a good layout, some informative features, the hosts are personable and entertaining and it seems to be professionally put together. Unfortunately, too often I don't get much more from it than I could from just looking at the weekly scores, fixtures, league table, reading through people's posts online, etc. Ok, it's not easy to find K-League information in English but surely with so many knowledgeable fans on the forum at rokfootball.com, there's an opportunity to pool that expertise and put it together to benefit fans from all the different teams. I certainly feel as though I know more about Suwon Bluewings, because the guys definitely know their stuff on that front. However, the likes of Gyeongnam and Jeonbuk... still pretty much just names to me. At the minute, it's good but perhaps has the potential to be a lot better. Matt not being there this week didn't help - I'm not sure what the football puns for each of this week's upcoming fixtures were all about... In fairness, it should be said that these guys are putting in their free-time voluntarily and providing a service to the ex-pat community that doesn't exist elsewhere. It's certainly more positive than negative.
Staying with the K-League, FC Seoul play our game-in-hand over Jeju (currently ahead of us top of the league) tonight, away against Seongnam. Winning the match puts us in pole position to the the table and secure our place in the play-off final, with the second leg in Sangam World Cup Stadium. Seongnam have been a traditionally strong team in my time in Korea (owned by the Moonies, but the most successful team in the country in terms of league victories) and are having a strong season again this year. What's making me nervous is that FC Seoul have been missing a few key players of late (Adi, most notably) and our strength in depth is being stretched. However, we have been scoring quite a few from different areas of the pitch and, although not as solid at the back as we had been, are still leaking relatively few goals. In fact, 22-year-old Kim Dong Woo has come in at the back and looked quite assured on the ball, if not as positionally aware as I'd like for a centre-back. I'll be watching the first-half at Gerry's (Shamrock n' Roll in Hongdae) before having to tear myself away to go to band practice at 9. The sacrifices I make for my 'art'...
Well Brian...I think that the reason why you don't get much more from the podcast than what you could find online...is because that's where we get our knowledge!
ReplyDeleteWe've had a few interviews with people and we've tried to broaden things a bit...but it's difficult (at this stage) to give a heap of insight when we don't have any special access or insight.
I think that we'll do a better job with the new season because we started after the top six were kind of set...and Seoul and Jeju look set to take things to their logical conclusion...so we havn't had a lot to talk about really.
Hopefully we'll be able to do a bit of research over the break, get some good interviews and make it a bit more exciting next season.
We're all enjoying making it...and I've certainly discovered a lot of K-League stuff that I didn't know before. Especially because I generally cover the Seoul games.
As for the Suwon thing...we're aware of it...but...it's a double edged sword. We either can't give ANY insight at all...or we can give some insight into Suwon and nothing about the rest.
In conclusion...my advice would be to come on the show some time soon. As you'd know from rokfootball...there's an open invite for all and sundry to come and be on the pod (either in person or on Skype) and you're more than welcome.
I know that there isn't a lot available online but what I'm saying is that the podcast tends not to go beyond scores, scorers and league position. I think there's a good opportunity to have weekly written input from supporters from each club, perhaps sending match reports to aid the detail of your coverage. There have been reports of FC Seoul games that haven't mentioned game-turning red cards or disallowed goals, for example. I would certainly volunteer to do that, as would Jim or Stephen I'm sure. Having people on the show can seem a bit tokenistic at times. What would really enhance the show is in-depth information about the games and clubs. I think making better use of the people who actually watch the games on a regular basis is a no-brainer. In saying that, let me repeat that I think there are a lot of people who appreciate what you're doing - as do I! You are the guys putting the work in, and it must be frustrating having criticism from people who aren't. I suppose that goes with the territory though. I think there's a chance someone might decide they can offer an alternative, and I'd rather you guys continued to progress rather than the service you're providing being diluted.
ReplyDeleteWell...I am halfway through this weeks show and it's really flat. Not sure why. I'm sure it's nothing to do with me (I hate hearing the ones with me on it).
ReplyDeleteI don't mind criticism because it's a new show...and we need ideas and energy to take it forward. I like the idea of getting your notes on the Seoul games...if you want to do that you'll need to send them to me before 5 each Monday...I'll read through your notes and give proper attribution. I know that there was one Seoul game where one of your players was red carded but we didn't get into it...it was my first show and I skimmed my notes when I read about the game because I was nervous. That's my fault.
The interviews are generally done on an "we're going to an away game" basis...and I think that there will be a few more trips to neutral games in future...but there's always gonna be a geographical bias...if only because we can't find any foreigners who support Jeju!
Our biggest problem is time...we can only do a 30 minute pod at the minute due to hosting constraints...if we had more time...we could put in more detail. Again...it's something we're looking into.
Alright I'll start emailing you highlights/talking points. I'm not worried about attribution or anything like that. It's just offering small insights to benefit all. I appreciate it coming from elsewhere too. I think if you had people emailing from as many clubs as possible, perhaps even opposing fans' reports from the same game, it could add a lot to match coverage.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about missing details wasn't a one-off. I'm guessing it's because the reports are based on highlights, which often omit big events for some bizarre reason. Away at Ulsan, for example, we had two disallowed goals which were VERY close calls and they had a man sent off. I still don't know why, and it wasn't repeated on the FC Seoul or K-League highlights.
Anyhow, it's still a good podcast and, like I said, your hard work is appreciated.
I really like the ideas you've given us. Like I said...it's a new pod...and we are kind of slaves to the highlights that we see...so anyhting that gives our coverage some scope beyond that is well appreciated.
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