A few thoughts on the ESPN/ABC crew who are studio hosts for the World Cup:

Chris Fowler appears the happiest and most comfortable with his assignment. Fowler, the longtime anchor of "College Football Gameday," exudes the same level of enthusiasm and enjoyment in South Africa as he does in Tuscaloosa, Ala., or Austin, Texas. His command of the game is solid as is his interplay with the former players who sit with him.

On the other hand Mike Tirico, ABC's lead golf announcer, would clearly rather be at Pebble Beach calling the U.S. Open. At best, Tirico gives off a sense of above-it-all bemusement, not really embracing why this is the biggest sporting event on the planet. He lost credibility early, referring to Netherlands striker Dirk Kuyt as "Koyt." This was heresy for soccer followers who know full well that Kuyt, an established star at Liverpool pronounces his last name as "Kout." This would be like an NFL announcer calling the quarterback of the Vikings "Fav-ray."

Bob Ley is an ESPN pioneer and helped sign on the channel 30 years ago. He has done solid work on "SportsCenter" and "Outside the Lines" and has been the face of the network's soccer coverage for decades. Bob knows his stuff and gets it, but appears to have lost a few miles-per-hour off his fastball.

Meanwhile, the English play-by-play announcers continue to provide a joyous articulation of events. In today's wild, back and forth battle between Denmark and Cameroon, Ian Dark said, "Who thought of the defensive strategy, Evel Knievel? It is really Keystone Cops stuff here." And on Denmark's chances after losing their first match to the Netherlands, "They do come from the country of Hans Christian Andersen. Maybe they do believe in fairy tales!"

And the venerable Martin Tyler earlier this week described the exploits of one striker approaching the goal whose kick was too inaccurate to be a shot but too much on target to be a cross as simply, "Neither one nor the other."

Soccer fans in the audience understood that call instantly. It was just another example of Tyler summing up the action perfectly without wasting a word. I encourage not just soccer fans, but anyone who loves the language to tune in to these broadcasts for a true linguistic feast.