Line #4 Website/MenInBlazers


1	[[quoteright:334:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/men_in_blazers_2.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:334:'''LEFT TO RIGHT:''' Michael Davies, ''[[Series/GameOfThrones The Raven]]'' and tiny Brazilian bananas, Roger Bennett, and courage.]]
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4	->''"Soccer is America’s Sport of the Future. As it has been since 1972."''
5	-->--Practically the Men in Blazers philosophy
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7	'''''Men in Blazers''''' is the combined creation of Michael Davies (born March 3rd 1966) and Roger Bennett (born September 19th 1970) — two British men that live in New York, who hope to spread the English footballing culture all over the United States. They have a [[http://www.soundcloud.com/meninblazers weekly podcast]], an [[http://www.meninblazers.com official website]], and a late-night TV series on NBCSN that began in 2014.
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9	They mostly talk about international teams from UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball outside of America, but mostly the UsefulNotes/EnglishPremierLeague. They were made a household name to some after their coverage of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, and their popularity has increased from there, probably being one of the biggest reasons why soccer is becoming the new football in the country.
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11	Outside of Men in Blazers, the two men are often behind the scenes of TV products. Michael is a TV producer that is responsible for US versions of the British shows ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' and ''Series/WifeSwap'', and Roger is a journalist, documentary producer and narrator, and research author.
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13	But when the two men come together, it’s kind of like Radio/CarTalk, but without the cars.
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15	!!Tropes include:
16	* ADayInTheLimelight: Mostly on Twitter, there is often a mention in the tweets about England teams outside of Premier League. During the final weeks of the League Two final in May 2016, there was occasionally tweets about Plymouth Argyle FC, and even an interview with the New Jersey-born manager.
17	* ArcWords: “Courage”.
18	* AudienceParticipation: The franchise often asks their fans to take part in memes, activities, and there's also the annual [=BlazerCon=] where the fans meet up.
19	* BigBrotherIsWatchingYou: Be careful what you say when you notify them on Twitter. They won’t be afraid to retweet your message or even respond to it.
20	* TheCameo: Often television presenters from NBC Sports who specialise in football (all friends of the two men) made cameos in the franchise, such as Rebecca Lowe, Ian Darke and Arlo White.
21	* CatchPhrase:
22	** "The crap part of [=SoHo=]",[[note]]referring to [=SoHo=] in Manhattan[[/note]] which is where their TV show is filmed.
23	** "Courage."
24	* CelebrityResemblance: Often happens to Roger on Twitter with fans.
25	* ChristmasEpisode: A pod special from 2013 took place in a pub in New York that featured a {{pantomime}}, special guests and carol singers.
26	* {{Crossover}}:
27	** With The 2 Robbies in the final episode of the 2015/16 season.
28	** Katie Nolan from ''Garbage Time with Katie Nolan'' became a co-presenter during the 2015 [=BlazerCon=].
29	* CurrentEventsBlog: The franchise talks about the world of English Premier League football, as well as UsefulNotes/TheFACup, La Liga, UsefulNotes/UEFAChampionsLeague and what's going on in the MLS.
30	* DeadpanSnarker:
31	** Both men have their moments.
32	** Before their TV show airs, the Men in Blazers Twitter page releases the official leaderboard of the Premier League, in which the names of the teams reflect the men’s reactions to how said team have performed that week.
33	** The Twitter page itself during liveblogs of matches.
34	* DiscoDan: Roger. He often talks about music and musicians from the 1980s, as well as other things from the '80s like the government back when he was in England, and movies at the time (there's one instance in a podcast when he and Michael cannot believe that ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is over thirty years old).
35	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The term Men in Blazers is a nickname for EPL pundits during the matches, but the uniform looks more like a school uniform.
36	* {{Eagleland}}: Roger often talks about The USA in an “America the Beautiful” way. When he eventually got his American citizenship, [[ImmigrantPatriotism this became exaggerated to the max]].
37	* EnemiesList: Roger apparently has one. People featuring on it include Music/PhilCollins and Music/JustinBieber.
38	* EvenHeroesHaveHeroes: When Michael and Roger often meet EPL soccer players, whether former or retired, or other media personalities, such as a producer behind ''Series/MadMen''.
39	* FanConvention: [=BlazerCon=] is an annual Men in Blazers convention that is held in New York, which is sponsored by Mini cars. Michael and Roger honour a special personality every year with the Golden Blazer for their work in the world of football. Some of the winners have been US women's national team veteran Julie Foudy, and US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
40	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: In the TV series, special guest Guy Richie and Rog have a twenty-second conversation in Hebrew. Rog and Michael are amazed with how fluent Richie is.
41	* GreatestHitsAlbum: For 2014 and 15, Men in Blazers has released a compilation album full of edited pod specials, titling them as "The Best of".
42	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Michael and Roger.
43	* HiddenDepths: Most of their guests on their show -- mostly the American ones that aren't soccer stars -- practically down to some of their expertise on players and EPL and UEFA teams.
44	* InformedJudaism: Roger sometimes talks about his Jewish heritage in interviews and pod specials.
45	* InSeriesNickname:
46	** Michael’s nicknamed "Davo" and Roger’s nicknamed "Rog". Special guests are nicknamed "GFOP" (Great Friend of the Pod”), and the fans are called this too.
47	** Roger's also nicknamed "Toilet".
48	** The Capital One Cup is nicknamed as the "Cuppity Cup Cup".
49	** Ian Darke is often called "[[UsefulNotes/KnightFever Sir]] Ian".
50	* IrishmanAndAJew: Michael (although he's English) and Roger.
51	* LemonyNarrator: Both men when they're talking about football.
52	* NiceJewishBoy: Roger.
53	* NostalgiaFilter: Roger often talks about musicians and bands from the 1980s or earlier. Most of the British bands he refers to are from that era, which is understandable because he left the UK in the early 1990s.
54	* OopNorth: Roger is from Liverpool. He was a teen during the controversial leadership of UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher and became inspired to emigrate to the US after watching Creator/JohnHughes movies and Series/MiamiVice because they created a saccharine world that was nothing like the dreary unemployment atmosphere in his area.
55	* ProductPlacement: Even though they probably drink it casually, the two men are sponsored by Guinness beer, as well as MINI cars.
56	* RecurringCharacter: Some of their guests have often appeared more than once in their television shows and on their podcasts.
57	* RunningGag:
58	** The "Curse of Rog" (#[=CurseOfRog=] on Twitter), in which an event in sport occurs after Roger has interacted with it. A good example is the sacking of Jose Mourinho from Chelsea soon after Rog interviewed him.
59	*** In April 2016, it was assumed by fans on Twitter that it'd died after Roger interviewed Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp, whose team managed to beat Everton FC a few days after. It probably has because a month later, Roger interviewed midfielder Dax [=McCarty=] from New York Red Bulls FC, whose team won the New York derby hours after the interview aired online.
60	** During their TV debut during the 2014 World Cup, the two men often point out how small Brazilian bananas are.
61	** Leicester City player Jamie Vardy's phrase "Chat shit, get banged" is sometimes referenced, but it's mostly from the [=MiB=] fans on Twitter.
62	* SelfDeprecation:
63	** When the 2Freestylers had a guest appearance, Michael and Rog point out that they try and make their show "as crap as possible" so that it would look much more "artistic".
64	** The men often call where they live "crap" and their own TV show "crap". When talking about themselves, Michael and Rog often call themselves "immigrants", even though many people find that phrase offensive.
65	* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: Occasionally {{discussed}}, whether it be about British and American accents, or phrases, or British customs. For example, an American fan wrote to the men about how confused they were over British nicknames, recalling a time at university abroad when he knew British students with nicknames like "Gazza", saying that it took them a long time to realise that so-called "Gazza" was Gary, they ask that would their nickname be "Cassa" because their name is Carson. Roger and Michael reply that it would actually be "Carsy", and then apologise immediately between laughs.[[note]]"Khasi" is British slang for "toilet".[[/note]]
66	* SoccerHatingAmericans: The series often plays on this. There was one feature in which a UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball player tried to "translate" how soccer works into baseball.
67	* SpecialGuest: In their TV series, they would occasionally interview UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer players (and the [[DistaffCounterpart NWSL players]]), and other sports players (UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague quarterback Andrew Luck and Brandon [=McCarthy=] from the New York Yankees), as well as celebrities (such as Creator/WillFerrell, Creator/MollyRingwald and fellow Brit Creator/JohnOliver).
68	* ThoseTwoGuys: Again, Michael and Roger.
69	* ThreePlusTwo: Inverted. Whereas this ensemble trope begins with a trio that are joined by two other members, Rog and Michael are occasionally joined by Ian Darke, Rebecca Lowe and Arlo White.
70	* TrademarkFavouriteFood: Michael and Roger drink Guinness beer. They also make special guests eat pukka pies to make predictions over the outcomes of football matches.
71	* YoungerThanTheyLook: It’s hard to believe that Michael’s in his fifties and Roger is almost there too.
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Context Website / MenInBlazers