Chris Fowler makes my head hurt.
- Thread starter KYHacker
- Start date
Omega_7000
Legend
Didn't think he could go any lower
tennis tom
Legend
We need to initiate a petition campaign to have Raul_SJ replace him--TWTT needs representation at the slams.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Who is that?
I believe he is referring to Chris McKendry
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Only Americans are subjected to ESPN announcers. Who are the English-speaking announcers in foreign broadcasts? What are people in England and India listening to? OP might well be advised to try to pick up foreign broadcasts, if possible.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Brad Gilbert is not great, but much better than Johnny Mac. Darren Cahill is pretty good.
Federer and Del Potro
Talk Tennis Guru
Fowler seems to be someone people either really like or really dislike. Not a fan of him myself. Don’t really enjoy him in college football either. Not my style I guess.
Aabye5
G.O.A.T.
Eh, I can understand people really not like Johnny Mac, but the thing I like best about him is that he talks about how think about the game and the right shots to play. He's not afraid to criticize players when he doesn't like something (when was he ever afraid to criticize, after all) which can be refreshing.
Gilbert is a loudmouth of the highest order, but he's fine.
Darren Cahill is one of the best, imo. Tries to understand why player's make certain decisions.
tennis tom
Legend
But she's hot!
Jack the Hack
Hall of Fame
My favorite ESPN announcers right now are Darren Cahill and Jason Goodall. Both are professional and know what they are talking about. I also find Johnny Mac and Brad Gilbert to be entertaining, even though not everything they say is correct and I understand how they can be irritating to some viewers. To me, Fowler is OK. He has a good announcer voice, but he's not a tennis guy. I think his job is mostly to set up Mac or BG with softball questions. I could do without Patrick McEnroe and his "the droppa!"
On the women's announcer side, Lindsey (who is not on the ESPN team right now) and Mary Joe are the best in my opinion. McKendry comes off as a little air-headed and she's not a tennis person. Martina and Chrissy are terrible, and I really don't like Carillo. Shriver and Stubbs are decent at courtside reporting. Stevenson's voice bugs me for some reason.
On the women's announcer side, Lindsey (who is not on the ESPN team right now) and Mary Joe are the best in my opinion. McKendry comes off as a little air-headed and she's not a tennis person. Martina and Chrissy are terrible, and I really don't like Carillo. Shriver and Stubbs are decent at courtside reporting. Stevenson's voice bugs me for some reason.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
Fowler isn't a tennis analyst, so don't expect him to be. He's the host/play-by-play guy that they pair up with former players to be the analysts/color commentators.
It's not that complicated. It's basically how every sports booth is run here.
It's not that complicated. It's basically how every sports booth is run here.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
Intercepted out of nowhere!
NoleFam
Bionic Poster
Yea and he has no dog in any race so there's no bias which is why Iike listening to him, plus he just sounds like somebody cool to have a beer with or something. Pretty laid back and cool dude to me.
Federer and Del Potro
Talk Tennis Guru
He is just an SEC shill in CFB. Which is really just redundant as they don’t need to be shilled. He’s better at that than in tennis though in my opinion.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
He's always seemed very upfront to me about being a guy who isn't an expert on tennis but just loves the game. He doesn't pretend to know what the players "should" be doing out there. Which honestly I'll take over someone like McEnroe constantly spouting 50 year old advice on what to do.
Kralingen
Talk Tennis Guru
My complaint with Fowler is that he plays up the everyman persona. Like, you've done this for over 15 years, surely you don't have to act so obtuse about things and surely there's no need to be asking this many questions.
I'm sure that this is actually pretty helpful to casual fans though.
I'm sure that this is actually pretty helpful to casual fans though.
Sephiroth
Hall of Fame
D
Deleted member 771911
Guest
Early rounds are great as a lot of matches are commentator free.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Chris Fowler didn't make my head hurt when he made this call:
NoleFam
Bionic Poster
I think he downplays his knowledge because he's usually sharing the booth with guys who played professionally so I don't think he wants to step on their toes and step too much out of his lane. At least that's how it comes across to me.
Rickenbacker4003
Hall of Fame
Alexandra Stevenson entered the chat. She's horrible.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
I would be curious to see him paired with someone besides the McEnroe Brothers and BG for once.
Rickenbacker4003
Hall of Fame
Agreed. You didn't see her when she was younger. Oh lord. But she still swings it though.
NoleFam
Bionic Poster
Same but the only time I can listen to Jon Mac without being too much annoyed is when he's paired with Fowler. Mac usually talks and rambles too much for me.
tennis tom
Legend
Fowler's a more polished professional old school deep voiced announcer than let's say a Brett Haber--shows up, turns on the lights and makes the coffee. Fowler knows his job as the sidekick straight man--actually when he works alone he displays a good knowledge of the game.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Mac is good on the rare instances he actually talks tennis shots and strategy. The problem is he often drifts off into tabloid land. What the players had for dinner, whom they are dating, celebs in the crowd...
Nobody cares Mac.
Stick to tennis like Darren Cahill does.
Bhagi Katbamna
Legend
Please cut them some slack, they've been suicidal after finding out that Serena had withdrawn.
Get Amazon Prime. Courier-Henman-Koenig.
TopspintheTerrible
Hall of Fame
Not available in the US for tennis.
TopspintheTerrible
Hall of Fame
Pay $7 & you can watch the ESPN3/ESPN+ streams with different commentators.
Just figured out that I get ESPN3 on Roku app and my computer if I use the ESPN app instead of my normal cable streaming app. It was SO much better!!!!! No commercials either. WIN WIN WIN
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
why does ESPN3 have different announcers? according to other post.
Moon Shooter
Hall of Fame
I can watch amateur players comment on a tennis game on youtube and it is usually enjoyable and interesting. Why can't the professionals find more decent commentators? I don't understand.
TennisDawg
Hall of Fame
Brad Gilbert, Darren Cahill and Cliff Richey are not bad. They’ve learned to keep their egos out of their commentary. Don’t get a lot of snarky comments and continual worship and praise favoring one player.
Please go away from tennis and now pickleball!! Ugh!!
ollinger
G.O.A.T.
Haven't heard Cliff Richey yet. Do you enjoy Cliff Drysdale?
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
McEnroe brothers and Chris Evert are insufferable for me. They never say anything that is of interest or entertaining to me. John McEnroe in particular never talks about what is happening on court in terms of actual strategy/tactics - it’s all about the player’s emotions for him.
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