Gus Johnson's First Day- By a Soccer Nerd

If you were watching the Real Madrid-Manchester United Champions League tie from Madrid on FOX Soccer, you may have heard a familiar voice. "RISE AND FIRE" is now calling soccer, and the soccer community on the internet was about to do the same when they heard the news. Gus Johnson's voice is forever tied with March Madness, and other crazy sports moments, but never has he done something like this. In preparation for him to become FOX's soccer voice, he needed to call big games, and a Champions League tie at the Santiago Bernabeu is certainly that. The vociferous soccer community on the internet was worried that the GuJo experiment would go the way of Dave O'Brien (Trust me that's not a compliment). So... did it?

He was surprisingly contained for his calls, especially the goals by Danny Welbeck and Ronaldo. He was on point in identifying players... most of the time... and maintained a good flow with the progression of the game. He didn't interact very much with Warren Barton, who helped him out by providing good analysis, even if the terminology both used was different. Speaking of that...

The one complaint I do have was that Gus doesn't yet know a lot in the soccer lexicon, meaning that his vocabulary and terminology was pretty static and not varied. For instance, he said "in the area" often, but not phrases like "penalty area" or "inside the 18", but that will come with time. The difference in the terminology between the play-by-play guy and the color commentator was a bit jarring at times, but considering this was one of the first times Warren Barton ever did this, and Gus Johnson in calling a live match with tons of ears perked, it could have been far worse.

Was it perfect? No. The best announcers for soccer, like Martin Tyler, Ian Darke, Arlo White, etc. have a certain familiarity with the game that takes time to form, and Gus Johnson does not have that yet. He'll certainly develop it, but it could take awhile. Interactions with his color commentator also need to be developed, since it did sound at times that he and Warren Barton weren't really in the same both.

GuJo's next game is at the Emirates for Arsenal- Bayern Munich, and hopefully this game will be a step up for both Barton and Johnson. Expect to hear this duo call more Champions League games this season on the way to the Final at Wembley, and I expect to hear Johnson call one or two Premier League games before the season is out.

2018 in Russia is a long time away, but for Gus Johnson, the learning process began with a baptism by fire. He performed admirably, and the soccer community should (hopefully) back off a bit as a result.

Did You See That: What Caused the Lights to go Out

If you were watching the Super Bowl last night (and if you weren't, you have a stronger stomach than most), you noticed a hilarious power outage during the middle of a San Francisco drive during the 3rd quarter. There have been many theories coming out as to why power went out in half of the stadium, but know one right now knows the real answer. But that doesn't mean we can't postulate here. The Matt's Sports Musings spies have been hard at work to find out why the power went out, and here are a few theories they have:

1. In supremely bad taste, some of the electricians that had to stay in the Superdome during Katrina wanted to let the rest of the country know what its like to be trapped in that dome in the dark.

2. It seems the football gods hate Phil Simms just as much as normal football fans do, which is why they cut off his mic in mid-sentence.

3. Beyonce's performance was so amazing, why continue with the game considering it was 28-6 at the time?

4. The NFL wanted to channel the NHL in something that isn't related to lockouts, so they directly ripped off the problems from Game 4 of the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals at the Boston Garden.

5. Bane just has a really sick sense of humor.

6. Chris Culliver wanted to get away with touching other men in the dark so no would notice, since he clearly didn't do much of that during the game.

7. Despite not paying for an ad, Buffalo Wild Wings had to have the best Super Bowl ad anyway.

8. Searching for Manti Te'o's girlfriend in the dark is far easier than searching for her in the light.

9. The electricians must be Fulham fans, but even they got the lights back on quickly.

10. Why not go find out the real electrical reason as to why the lights went out instead of recycling jokes you saw last night on Twitter. (Editor's Note: The Spies might not be getting paid this week)

It might not be quality journalism, but at least we're trying.