Show to me cool highlights

November 19, 2024 7:03 AM

A few years ago, I asked for the best way to summarize everything that happened in baseball the last night and got a great answer. But for other sports I follow—primarily soccer and basketball—I want more video highlights so I can see cool plays breakout without watching 15 minute summaries of each game or seeking them out one-by-one. Is anyone still doing 20-30 minute highlight shows that cover the action of a whole league or sport?

My preference is for something that I can stream on demand. YouTube is preferred, but if there's something good on a streaming service—or even if it's live on a streaming service—please do not hesitate to recommend it. (I am in the U.S. so the content needs to be available here.)

The show can be in any language—I'm here for the highlights!—but English or Spanish is preferred. I'm primarily interested in the NBA, the Champions League, and the English and Spanish top flights, but also would happily watch summaries for the MLS, ice hockey, other basketball leagues (including U.S. college) or other national soccer leagues. I'm uninterested in American football, at either the professional or college level.

The focus should be on highlights rather than analysis, but my biggest requirement is that there be effectively NO betting content: Showing a betting line on a chyron is okay; discussing the betting line is not.

(I'm also open to multi-sport shows, like old-school Sportscenter, but I think that most of those focus more on football than futból, so they probably aren't right for me.)

posted by thecaddy to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

For soccer, may I please recommend the VERY millennial-coded "Football This Week" from YouTube creator FNG. It's absolutely not a comprehensive highlights show, but this 50-year-old watches every week to get his fix of great goals and all the memeable weird stuff. You know how some TikToks have a split screen with a video game on one half and the content on the other? FNG's FTW uses video game soccer onscreen for the voiceover parts where he's not showing highlights, and that might take some getting used to.

I've also been enjoying American YouTuber Zealand Shannon's Zealandism, which are short Moistcritical-esque commentaries (if that means anything to you) about world soccer. Very useful to keep on top of things with a very minimal amount of highlight video to support the commentary. (James Lawrence Allcott and The Athletic are also great for commentary, though not highlights)

None of this is gambling-related content.

Highlight shows tend to be problematic on free streaming. For example, you can often find randos posting their uploads of "Match of the Day" from England, but all the highlights will be stripped out for copyright reasons. I've not really found good content on Youtube for highlights, save what you're trying to avoid in those single-match ten-minute-recap videos.
posted by GamblingBlues at 8:54 AM on November 19

NHL.com posts a daily "All of Today's Goals" video as well as a five-minute recap of every game. Both feature only the live game calls, with no additional commentary or analysis.
posted by bgrebs at 9:23 AM on November 19

If you have ESPN+, I watch ESPN FC many days. They have a YouTube channel with a lot of material if you don’t have the streaming service. They tend to spend 15-25 minutes on the top two stories but reliably show EPL, La Liga, and Bundesliga highlights, or national team games when those are happening. Warning: some of the pundit—Craig Burley for me—can get on people’s nerves.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:12 PM on November 19