Chris Fowler=Idiot tennis commentator

[Deleted member 25923]

I was so annoyed by this dude at the AO. He was constantly pointing out the obvious and trying to act like he knowed $h1t about tennis. It really annoyed me when he was talking about the Superbowl and said to Darren Cahill

Fowler: "Now its not footy ball as you Australians call it"

that really annoyed me, seeing as how Cahill is way more worldly than Fowler


/rant

 

[fantom]

I was so annoyed by this dude at the AO. He was constantly pointing out the obvious and trying to act like he knowed $h1t about tennis. It really annoyed me when he was talking about the Superbowl and said to Darren Cahill

Fowler: "Now its not footy ball as you Australians call it"

that really annoyed me, seeing as how Cahill is way more worldly than Fowler


/rant

I don't think he's that bad. Over the past few years he's seemed to really take to tennis. I've seen clips of him on numerous occasions sitting courtside watching matches in street clothes when he's off duty.

He's way better than Al Trautwig and Sean Mcdonough

 

[Deleted member 25923]

I don't think he's that bad. Over the past few years he's seemed to really take to tennis. I've seen clips of him on numerous occasions sitting courtside watching matches in street clothes when he's off duty.

He's way better than Al Trautwig and Sean Mcdonough

i'd much rather listen to Cahill and P-Mac than Fowler though lol

 

[Rickson]

Fowler's pretty bad, but he's not as bad as that NBA announcer who said that Steve Nash didn't get an assist. Nash made a great pass, but his teammate got blocked on the play. That NBA announcer makes Fowler look like a tennis genius in comparison.

 

[saram]

I can't stand Fowler. I'd rather listen to Bud Collins talk about the Black Plague any day...that is a good chuckle. Fowler is a bad chuckle...

 

[splink779]

Fowler is the man as far as I'm concerned. People here should embrace him. He's does so much non-tennis stuff for ESPN, that when the majors roll around, he's there to be a good anchor. Sometimes he tries to say too much in order to try and keep the audience involved and ends up talking out of his @ss, but mostly he knows when to leave it to others.

He is an actual fan of tennis, not just some lackey ESPN has hired. He's the hardest worker on the team of commentators by far. If you can't stand him thats fine, but I think he deserves respect.

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

Fowler is the man as far as I'm concerned. People here should embrace him. He's does so much non-tennis stuff for ESPN, that when the majors roll around, he's there to be a good anchor. Sometimes he tries to say too much in order to try and keep the audience involved and ends up talking out of his @ss, but mostly he knows when to leave it to others.

He is an actual fan of tennis, not just some lackey ESPN has hired. He's the hardest worker on the team of commentators by far. If you can't stand him thats fine, but I think he deserves respect.

Exactly, he is one of the most versatile commentators out there, from College Game day for Football, NASCAR, Horseracing to Tennis, he is very knowledgeable. I have no problem with the guy.

 

[tennisfan78]

I dont mind him at all. He loves Tennis and I believe he does a great job of hosting/commenting. I am glad that ESPN has him on board for Tennis.

 

[Ripster]

i'd much rather listen to Cahill and P-Mac than Fowler though lol

P-mac?? *shudders* .... the only commentator worse than him is Mary Carillo. Bring back John McEnroe and Cliff Drysdale, that's a commentary match made in heaven

 

[FEDEXP]

Please, please do not bring back John McEnroe.

 

[welcome2petrkordaland]

fowler is a talented commentator due to his versatility alone. and as someone just said, he seems to be a very hard worker.

i'm not going to say that he knows anything tennis-wise that I haven't already been well aware of for some time, but as a communicator and a promoter of tennis, he's a smooth cat. when you can be fairly knowledgeable in things as vastly different as college football and tennis, that's a sign.

sure espn makes me wanna cry with its "USA agenda" approach with tennis coverage, but fowler does well for the sport of tennis.

al troutwig, michael berchamp, katrina adams, the "old" bud collins, and patrick mcenroe are, to my mind, absolute nightmares as commentators.

I've said it once and i'll say it again, the tennis channel dudes-doug adler (US) , jason goodall (British) , and the aussie robbie koenig are on another level and if you're a true tennis fan (fortunate enough to have the tennis channel), it's obvious.

 

[vsbabolat]

I've said it once and i'll say it again, the tennis channel dudes-doug adler (US) , jason goodall (British) , and the aussie robbie koenig are on another level and if you're a true tennis fan (fortunate enough to have the tennis channel), it's obvious.

^^^
They are head and shoulders above everybody else. Robbie Koenig is from South Africa. I miss John Barrett. He was part of that team until he retired at the end of 2006. I wish he would come out of retirement. I thought he was very insightful, intelligent and focused on the match.

 

[leon505]

Please, please do not bring back John McEnroe.

R u kidding?!?!?!? Johnny Mac is probably the most hilarious commentator in the world, because no matter who hes commentating on, hes always trying to pick a fight. I find it hysterical when he did AO 07 and said that he was surprised tiger woods kept his word and showed up at the US 06. see, always trying to pick a fight... LOL

 

[Tshooter]

I agree that the TTC dudes are heads and shoulders above the rest. Though I like Fowler a lot.

 

[stormholloway]

Funny, I like Chris Fowler by far more than any other commentator. He's smart, professional, and has a really good sense of humor. My favorite commentator duo is Fowler and Gilbert. They were great at Wimbledon a couple years back before Gilbert worked with Murray.

This thread is idiotic, not Fowler.

 

[Soundbyte]

I love Chris Folwer. What makes him great is that he is a great HOST...not the best commentator, but he's still pretty good. He understands that not everyone watching the match is a tennis fanatic (we all fall under the latter). He simplifies things and relates them to a larger audience. It's the same reason why he does so well in other duties for ESPN.

The other thing to note is that he LOVES tennis. He hangs around the tournaments to watch matches even when he is off duty...he follows Davis Cup even during the crazy college football season. I think he is far more amiable to the general public than the other announcers.

 

[cknobman]

P-mac?? *shudders* .... the only commentator worse than him is Mary Carillo. Bring back John McEnroe and Cliff Drysdale, that's a commentary match made in heaven

Cliff Drysdale? Where you high when you posted this?

That guy is so annoying I dont see how anyone in a booth with him can resist judo chopping him in the throat just to get him to shut up!

 

[splink779]

Just to give credit where its due, those three "TTC" commentators as we're calling them don't work for TTC, but instead the company that produces that ATP Masters Series international feed.

Though I have noticed Doug Adler working directly for ESPN at times and more recently TTC directly.

 

[NamRanger]

Chris Fowler is the reason why tennis still has non-tennis fanatic fans, so I wouldn't say he sucks. He does a pretty good job of relating tennis to "non-tennis" people.

 

[shwetty[tennis]balls]

to act like he knowed $h1t about tennis./rant

It looks like some needs to know how to speak English.

 

[timeisonmyside]

Fowler's pretty bad, but he's not as bad as that NBA announcer who said that Steve Nash didn't get an assist. Nash made a great pass, but his teammate got blocked on the play. That NBA announcer makes Fowler look like a tennis genius in comparison.

Which announcer are you referring to? If Nash passes to someone who consequently gets their shot blocked, then that isn't an assist. No comprendo.

 

[Shaolin]

Fowler is a real tennis fan which is nice but he THINKS he knows more about tennis than he actually does. That gets annoying. He is a little too opinionated for how much he actually knows. He frequently makes dumb remarks which make me cringe. Does anyone know which match it was at this years AO where Pmac owned him for saying...so and so should have hit a winner on that short ball approach shot, and the ball was like a foot off the ground? Patrick was like, uh,,,,no. That was as good as you can hit that shot. Unless youre Federer.

 

[Babb]

I usually ignore the commentators... lol.

 

[Coaching]

I like Martina in TTC, she is very insightful and helpfull with her analysis of the game. Fowler is not bad imho.

 

[Nadal_Freak]

Chris Fowler is one of the guys I actually like of the commentators. Stop hating.

 

[jlan]

OP prefers Mary Carillo and Pam Shriver.

 

[Dank314]

It looks like some needs to know how to speak English.

holy crap that was funmy!! Oh wait that weren't meant to be ironic?

 

[naffi]

I totally agree with you. He obviously didn't start out out as a tennis commentator, and there are a lot of those guys out there. The difference is that he actually made it his business to get a tennis education. There are those who have sucked for years and will continue to suck for many years more. Ted Robinson comes to mind.

http://www.tenniswithattitude.blogspot.com

Fowler is the man as far as I'm concerned. People here should embrace him. He's does so much non-tennis stuff for ESPN, that when the majors roll around, he's there to be a good anchor. Sometimes he tries to say too much in order to try and keep the audience involved and ends up talking out of his @ss, but mostly he knows when to leave it to others.

He is an actual fan of tennis, not just some lackey ESPN has hired. He's the hardest worker on the team of commentators by far. If you can't stand him thats fine, but I think he deserves respect.

 

[aramis]

Fowler is a cool guy. He does his job well, and like someone said, he's supposed to be the host, not necessarily the commentator. That's what the second guy is there for. Fowler and Cahill make a good team. I used to like Drysdale for this reason, but he's starting to get stale. Pmac is just a weirdo. But I will say it was great when Pmac and Cliff did the commentating while Gilbert was courtside. That was pure comedy. You could feel how irritated Cliff would get with Gilbert.

 

[surrealfx]

Thanks very much for stating this. Fowler is absolutely horrible. He insults tennis players' fitness, strokes, etc. He has no authority to trash these players. He has no tennis credibility. I'd love to see him try to hit some balls. I can't stand the guy. Then again, I am not a fan of most tennis commentary.

 

[Gaudio's Backhand]

I like Fowler because it's clear to any real tennis fan that he's one too. He's not some schmoe put in the box by the suits to fill the void. You can tell that he genuinely loves the came and anchors because he WANTS to be there. It's clear he loves the game and is pretty darn knowledgeable too. (he was praising a little known French teen named Tsonga on air three years ago-predicting he'd be a top player some day. I thought he was nuts). All you can ask for is someone he loves the game and cares about it enough to do well and I think Fowler fits the bill completely.

 

[Vision84]

Which announcer is this? He is the worst I have ever heard. All he does is state what is going on as if I am listening to the radio and not watching it. He offers no insight at all.
http://www.stage6.com/Tennis-Channel/video/1794569/Tokyo2007-QF-Gasquet-vs-Sela-1st-set

 

[Steven87]

Brad Gilbert and Agassi...boy would that be an entertaining team

 

[Enlightened Coelacanth]

He isn't Bud Collins so leave him alone.
He isn't that bad.

 

[equinox]

Since he's a member of these boards. I'm sure he'll take your criticisms on board.

 

[Deleted member 25923]

Ok, so maybe I was a bit too harsh. I apologize to those I offended. But as others have said, Fowler is great for relating tennis to the commoners, but its just when he acts like he knows more than he does that annoys me.

I like Martina in TTC, she is very insightful and helpfull with her analysis of the game. Fowler is not bad imho.

Oh god no! I hated her at the Hopman Cup final. All she said teh whole time is
"Jelena, stop stepping back on that shot!" It got so annoying after a while. If she was a coach, then ok, but you're a commentator that the players can't hear!

 

[aceroberts13]

I think chris fowler does a very good job with tennis considering the schedule he keeps with the sport and with others. He does speak outside of his bundaries sometimes but what announcer doesn't?

 

[dschwa00]

Fowler is an incompetent tennis announcer who should stick to College Football. He is the anchor of a team that represents the network that really has no interest in tennis. Fowler is the Casey Kasem of Tennis Broadcasting!!!!

 

[bobby]

Fowler is a great commentator. He will occasionally show that he is lacking in some areas of tennis knowledge, but don't we then just get to feel superior for knowing how it really is?

Daren Cahill is the best commentator. Also, Brad Gilbert has exceeded all expectations and is actually a pretty decent commentator. He really knows the game of tennis and his antics are actually pretty amusing if you don't have to listen to them all of the time.

 

[jdubbs]

I guess I'm weird, but here are my impressions:

Like Brad Gilbert -Probably the best analyst right now, who knows more about strategy than Brad?
Like Justin Gimlestob (I know, I'm crazy, but I like his knowledge and earnestness and he's entertaining)
Like Martina Navratilova (she's so crabby, and yet so insightful. She trashed the Addidas brand of shoes on-air a while back, which was awesome)
Like John McEnroe (getting a little tired of him, but come on, he's a great announcer, if slightly overrated)
Ok with Chris Fowler
Hate Chris Evert -damn, girl, drop the niceness and let your inner b!tch come out sometimes.

LOVE Andre Agassi. His guest spot a few years ago at the US Open was all time, and wish we'd hear more from him.

That being said, there's been some entertaining interviews lately, Roger Federer is really well spoken and comes of as intelligent, and Lendl's interview was a lot of fun.

 

[cknobman]

^^^^
I agree with jdubbs (as long as he dislikes Fowler as well)

 

[gramdacious]

Chris Fowler is the reason why tennis still has non-tennis fanatic fans, so I wouldn't say he sucks. He does a pretty good job of relating tennis to "non-tennis" people.

wow, he is THE REASON huh? Bit of an overstatement there. I don't think you have college gameday fans switching to tennis because they see Fowler. Obviously it's a personal preference if you love him or hate him but to say that he alone is the reason why tennis still has non-tennis fanatic fans is off-base and factually unprovable.

 

[totaleclipseoftheheart]

Chris Fowler is fine. He is upbeat and knows quite a bit about tennis. Considering he's a football guy he's done a darn good job commentating tennis. Now the blond girl is a Kelly Bundy through and through...

 

[Defcon]

I'd rather listen to Fowler than any of the women commentators. Or Bud Collins/Ted Robinson/Dick Emberg.

For someone who isn't a tennis player, Fowler does a damn good job and he knows when to ask the experts and when to shut up. The women (esp Pam and Chris) talk nonstop about themselves and are a real pain.

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

I also like to say if it weren't for Chris Fowler, that in-studio interview with Ivan Lendl would have ended in 2minutes.

 

[beast of mallorca]

I'd take Chris Fowler rather than that Pam Shrivel....the most annoying one in ESPN.

 

[JGads]

I love Chris Folwer. What makes him great is that he is a great HOST...not the best commentator, but he's still pretty good. He understands that not everyone watching the match is a tennis fanatic (we all fall under the latter). He simplifies things and relates them to a larger audience. It's the same reason why he does so well in other duties for ESPN.

The other thing to note is that he LOVES tennis. He hangs around the tournaments to watch matches even when he is off duty...he follows Davis Cup even during the crazy college football season. I think he is far more amiable to the general public than the other announcers.

Spot on.

I like Fowler. His job is to steer the ship, ask questions of the 'experts' beside him, etc., and not necessarily be the expert himself. The dude loves tennis and speaks for the casual fan and isn't so buttoned up. I like him a lot. Give him a break. That job is not as easy as you would think.

 

[Winner_DownTheLine]

Spot on.

I like Fowler. His job is to steer the ship, ask questions of the 'experts' beside him, etc., and not necessarily be the expert himself. The dude loves tennis and speaks for the casual fan and isn't so buttoned up. I like him a lot. Give him a break. That job is not as easy as you would think.

Agree, he is doing a great job out there.

 

[Carsomyr]

Chris Fowler is the reason why tennis still has non-tennis fanatic fans, so I wouldn't say he sucks. He does a pretty good job of relating tennis to "non-tennis" people.

Exactly.

I really don't understand the Fowler hate. He's not as knowledgeable about the game as Cahill or Gilbert, but he definitely shows interest, which is admirable for someone with a background in more traditional American sports. I also find his playful jock camaraderie with Gilbert to be pretty entertaining.

 

[stormholloway]

Never understood the Fowler hate. The Fowler-P. Mac-Gilbert trio is the best thing going in tennis commentary (in the States anyway).