re: Alexi Lalas: why is he so controversial?

I loathe his typical message but recognize that he is very intelligent for what he is doing. He plays a character and is purposefully controversial in order to stir discussion.

His character is one who goes out of his way to try and push the companies that his employer represents. He is a national team pundit who also does commentary for MLS. Therefore, he tries to push the merits of MLS as much as he can to get it into the discussion and to have it respected by more people. In trying to do this, he purposefully puts down the EPL, La Liga, and the Bundesliga because those are the leagues that most people watch.

He says absolutely outlandish things in order to try and push the MLS agenda. For instance, when Arsenal were losing to New York Red Bulls in a preseason friendly, Ian Darke stated that the scoreline was surprising because Arsenal were losing. Lalas rebuked him by stating something along the lines that MLS teams can compete with top of the EPL teams. It's simply untrue, but it's the sort of thing that might get a less cultured soccer watcher to buy into MLS more.

He's a smart guy. He plays the role of controversy and plays it to perfection, so people hate him, but they keep watching.