Chris Fowler please shut up

I

IvanYentl

Rookie
Is there any way to shut Chris fowler up? I'm growing tired of his jack-of-all-trades approach to sports anchoring. He carries over the same delivery he uses on college football gameday. I'm sick of his velvet-tongued jackass anchoring technique. Can't ESPN put someone else in that chair?
 
hes got the best job in the world. he was calling the BCS championship game last week, now hes in Melbourne. awesome job!!
 
I really like Chris Fowler... he's a lot easier to listen to than P. McEnroe, and i think he defers well to the analysts and questions them well. He's come a long way from Scholastic Sports America! To me, him and Ted Robinson are the best non-tennis tennis guys.

What do you want from an anchor? Some kind of sarcastic banter? No thanks... Abrasive personality? No thanks... A tennis know-it-all? That's what the analysts are for. His style fits well with his position.
 
Fowler's a good guy and doesn't get in the way. His role is not to be an expert, it's to move the event along logistically (and there's a lot of stuff going on in the earpiece during a lengthy live broadcast such as the AO).

Jet
 
Fowler needs to be fired from doing tennis. He knows nothing about tennis and is overly critical of everybody. I think I would rather listen to Dick Endberg and that is saying a lot.
 
I don't like Fowler at all, especially when he is trying to be macho, and making disparaging comments about journeyman players. As long as Cahill was there, it all seemed like a nice discussion. Fowler is clearly the weak point in the box, since tennis is not his area of expertise. He is miles better than the awful Suzy Kolber (I am dreading the next time I see her calling the highlights of a Slam), and preferable to the nearly senile Dick Enberg, but I wish they could do better.

Of course, tennis with Fowler is better than no tennis at all, so the above thoughts are just wishful thinking on part of a tennis fan.
 
i personally think EPSN should get rid of Cliff Drysdale. He's got very minimal knowledge of professional tennis. Might of been a great player in his days but has no idea what he's talking about
 
ferocious4hand said:
i personally think EPSN should get rid of Cliff Drysdale. He's got very minimal knowledge of professional tennis. Might of been a great player in his days but has no idea what he's talking about
Click to expand...

Dude he was the founder and first president of the ATP! He certainly knows a ton about professional tennis, but he tries too hard to be an "everyman" and not sound haughty. I like Cliffy.
 
IvanYentl said:
Is there any way to shut Chris fowler up? I'm growing tired of his jack-of-all-trades approach to sports anchoring. He carries over the same delivery he uses on college football gameday. I'm sick of his velvet-tongued jackass anchoring technique.Can't ESPN put someone else in that chair?
Click to expand...
Unwise. Fowler is popular and has won a Sportscasting award recently.
 
Fowler doesn't really bother me either on Tennis or College gameday.

On college gameday Corso and Herbstreit were much worse.

Fowler is pretty good as the general sports reporter of all the nontennis ones I have seen doing it so far.
 
Craig Sheppard said:
I really like Chris Fowler... he's a lot easier to listen to than P. McEnroe, and i think he defers well to the analysts and questions them well. He's come a long way from Scholastic Sports America! To me, him and Ted Robinson are the best non-tennis tennis guys.

What do you want from an anchor? Some kind of sarcastic banter? No thanks... Abrasive personality? No thanks... A tennis know-it-all? That's what the analysts are for. His style fits well with his position.
Click to expand...
You said it all here, Craig. Couldn't agree more.

And if having Fowler opens the tennis audience to more general sports fans on ESPN, that's a nice bonus, too. We need the ratings, folks.
 
Cliff is just getting old - the brain just doesn't work as fast. He should walk away before they tell him he's not invited back.

I like Fowler on College Gameday - that threesome has a nice act. But on tennis he's starting to get a little full of himself and act like he really knows tennis - which we know he doesn't. And smooching all the US players' rears doesn't help - PMac does enough of that already.

But I don't let any of them ruin my viewing - real easy to zone them out.
 
This isn't directly on topic, but let me say this: Darren Cahill was at least 100x better than Brad Gilbert in the same position. Hope they keep him on staff... probably not all year though :-/
 
I dig Chris Fowler's commentaries. For a non tennis specific announcer I think he does pretty well. If tennis wanted more crackhead/trailer trash types to be attracted to the tennis commentaries then that's when Brad Gilbert steps in.
 
He made one mistake - said that Gilles Simon was the guy that beat Roddick in the 2005 USO, instead of Gilles Muller.

He's alright, though. But yeah, I prefer commentating by people who have actually been tennis pros, preferably GREAT pros (John McEnroe).
 
Craig Sheppard said:
This isn't directly on topic, but let me say this: Darren Cahill was at least 100x better than Brad Gilbert in the same position. Hope they keep him on staff... probably not all year though :-/
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think Cahill is just an AO pickup. Or maybe just at the Slams.

I liked Gilbert - sort of the Charles Barkley of tennis commentary - 'frequently wrong but never in doubt' - his rap is enjoyable if you didn't take it too seriously. The all black was ridiculous - someone needs to tell him the Raiders suck - and I suspect he was a Niner fan as a kid...
 
I don't like Fowler. He says some stupid things sometimes and thinks he's right, which is my problem with him. Then he's like ooops. He's horrible at interviewing the players. I just remember watching some and thinking, "what an idiot". Plus, I would much rather watch the tennis that's on, rather than watch Fowler talk, as I think any of us would. They showed him at least ten minutes when they could've showed tennis. Fowler should be thankful that I can't watch tennis except while working out and that I have headphones and an iPod to listen to when he's talking so I won't rip on him more. I like McEnroe and Cliff. They might suck up to some people, but otherwise, I think they're pretty good.
 
IvanYentl said:
Is there any way to shut Chris fowler up? I'm growing tired of his jack-of-all-trades approach to sports anchoring. He carries over the same delivery he uses on college football gameday. I'm sick of his velvet-tongued jackass anchoring technique. Can't ESPN put someone else in that chair?
Click to expand...

So happy to see someone else share this thought, I can't stand Fowler. Watching him in the past argue tennis points with Brad Gilbert was a total joke. I mean, what can Fowler possibly know about tennis compared to Gilbert!?!
 
Wow, some of you guys are tough. There are many commentators I dislike but I think Fowler is a real pro. I can't think of anyone else who does that job better.
 
Craig Sheppard said:
This isn't directly on topic, but let me say this: Darren Cahill was at least 100x better than Brad Gilbert in the same position. Hope they keep him on staff... probably not all year though :-/
Click to expand...

Craig - I concur with all your assessments here: Fowler, Cliff and Cahill.

Now, granted, Cahill's not as fun as Gilbert, but he's a gentleman and is very astute in his observations.

This plus your reviews recently have you in my Hall of Fame!

Jet
 
Verbal diarrhea legend of idiocy...

It's that time of year...

we are going to have to keep an ear out for his shenanigans...

espnjpg-a3d1277c245562ec.jpg
 
Fowler's great! Say it every year. He loves tennis and tennis would be nowhere without his backing. Who's going to fly halfway around the world to sit outside in 100 degree weather when they could be living it up elsewhere? Fowler!
Give him a break.
 
I like Fowler. I think he injects the the right amount of "reality" into TPTB-driven BS. Like when he commentated for the championship game: he remarked (or rather heavily implied) about how the rematch was just as boring as the first one. The other commentators obviously have to pretend that the defense was exciting, but honestly people were falling asleep.
 
I think he's terrible. He's another Trey Wingo/Ryan Seacrest effeminate dick studio host/announcer type clone that is en vogue at ESPN this century.

Did anyone else cringe when he tried to compare Dolgopolov and his AO run to Kudryavtsev and his first time qualifying this year?

Much prefer Drysdale/McEnroe...at least it feels like tennis when they call a match. And Cahill's the best thing ESPN has going for them tennis-wise.
 
IvanYentl said:
Is there any way to shut Chris fowler up? I'm growing tired of his jack-of-all-trades approach to sports anchoring. He carries over the same delivery he uses on college football gameday. I'm sick of his velvet-tongued jackass anchoring technique. Can't ESPN put someone else in that chair?
Click to expand...

The mute button. ;)

Sorry that was too tempting!
 
Craig Sheppard said:
This isn't directly on topic, but let me say this: Darren Cahill was at least 100x better than Brad Gilbert in the same position. Hope they keep him on staff... probably not all year though :-/
Click to expand...

I think Darren Cahill is a regular member of the announcing team but because of his other job with Adidas, he can't do any matches involving any players signed to Adidas.
 
I think it was this time last year I posted something to the words of...
Chris Fowler is why tv manufacturers put a mute button on their remotes.
After last night's telecast, I remembered why I said that.
 
I cant wait for the day Fowler says the wrong smart@ss thing to someone one too many times and they leap across the desk and knock his stupid arse out on live TV!!!
 
IvanYentl said:
Is there any way to shut Chris fowler up? I'm growing tired of his jack-of-all-trades approach to sports anchoring. He carries over the same delivery he uses on college football gameday. I'm sick of his velvet-tongued jackass anchoring technique. Can't ESPN put someone else in that chair?
Click to expand...

He's the company kissass, so he's got the best built-in career protection of anyone covering ESPN tennis....short of Patrick McEnroe.
 
Fowler should stick to College Football. He has no idea what he is watching. When someone lacks the necessary knowledge to perform on the job, she/he is fired.... Also, ESPN should get rid of Chris Evert. Every time she opens her mouth, you get an idea of why her marriage to the "Shark" lasted a few hours!!! She is completely annoying and I make it a habit to mute her each and ever time I hear or see her!!!!
 
Fowler is actually pretty good, it's Patrick McEnroe who really sucks. Shriver and Evert aren't great either..

BG and Cahill are excellent.
 
President said:
Fowler is actually pretty good, it's Patrick McEnroe who really sucks. Shriver and Evert aren't great either..

BG and Cahill are excellent.
Click to expand...

Agreed. There is also the arrogance in human form that is Cliff Drysdale. What a joke he is. Chrissie Evert sucks too.
 
It's tennis, do you really need the sound on to watch it??? Is it too difficult to follow? I almost never have the sound on, allows my wife to stay in the room and read, virtually never learn anything useful from the commentary.
 
ollinger said:
It's tennis, do you really need the sound on to watch it??? Is it too difficult to follow? I almost never have the sound on, allows my wife to stay in the room and read, virtually never learn anything useful from the commentary.
Click to expand...


I mute a lot too, but I like the cracking sound of the ball and just the sounds of the game in general. It's the screaming and the know-nothing, indecisive commentators just force me to mute more often than not. I would pay extra if I could watch the matches commmentator free.
 
not a fan of american commentators in general for tennis, but gilbert is very, very good. pat mcenroe is not bad either.

not a fan of chris fowler. get a specialist who knows the game and doesn't ask only the basic hollywood-type questions in interviews.

in most countries the commentators used to play the sport at some level.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TennisFan3
ESPN’s Chris Fowler calls Rafael Nadal ‘most admired athlete’ he’s ever covered
Replies
30
Views
734
SonnyT
S
Back
Top