Podcast: The Football Ramble
by Matt on 15 January 2010
thefootballramble.com Hoooooo! It’s a podcast about football (obviously) but a good one that doesn’t feature an abundance of journalists. It’s for all us mugs who think of ourselves as genuine fans of the game.
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Pros
Hat trick!
This is more or less our favourite podcast here in WebGun world and since discovering it towards the end of the 08/09 season, we’ve not missed an episode. In fact it was one of the factors that encouraged us to venture into podcasting (the new rock and roll) after hearing what great results can come from a fairly simple setup.
So it’s four guys talking about football but they’ve rather geniusly managed to pitch themselves above the ramblings of guys down the pub and just below the predictable waffle of TV pundits. And they’re knowledgeable too: not just covering the English game as they have a genuine interest in football from around the globe. Also if you’re around your mid-twenties you’ll get all the references and won’t have to pretend to agree that Dixie Dean was the greatest goalscorer this country has had (we all know it was Andy Cole).
They’ve got their show structure down: it’s news and topical stuff first before emails and funny stories. Not groundbreaking but usually guarantees you several real life LOLs. They read out my email once, so that’s the high high standards we’re talking here. The show wraps up with the Dean Windass Hall Of Fame (DWHOF) where they pay tribute to a figure (or figures, or trophy or match even – it’s pretty loose) involved in the beautiful game. Watch out, because in this bit you might just learn something too.
So yeah, talking about football, having fun and learning? Whoa!
Cons
Disallowed goal
We’d be nitpicking if we were to criticize because this is a podcast of a consistently high standard. But we’ll have a go…
There’s only one area that we can see room for improvement: the DWHOF part of the show can go on a bit and follows the same formulaic (wikipedia fueled) timeline style – might be nice just to focus in on key events that made them great and discuss that. So very occasionally we turn off before the end. But this only stands out because the rest of the show is such a ruddy laugh.
There’s an easy way for them to remedy this though: put some kind of bonus item (you know, like 2 Good 2 Bad - joke) at the climax and we’ll stay hooked like an air raid warden to the Home Service during the Blitz.
Oh and a word of warning: if you ever meet them in real life they will keep attempting to give you a look-a-like nickname until one sticks… seriously they don’t give up.
Agree or not? Give us your opinion. Or don't (no-one will make you).
Love the Ramble, Hoooooooooooo!
It sounds like a football discussion should - you and your mates sitting around talking sense, talking passion and talking the downright surreal. ‘Cos football’s more than just the 3 points and the formations - it’s the silly haircuts and the terrace chants; it’s your favourite goal and your all-time hero; it’s the pies and the crazy celebrations. Football Ramble we salute you: hoooooooo!!
Great point, Chelseagirl. That’s what people who don’t ‘get’ football (or sport) don’t realise. The 90mins is only a small part of it. It’s the soap opera around the game that keeps people coming back for more. And the Ramble boys seem to understand that…