I Miss Brent

I think if you are an announcer who has a distinctive style and lasts a long time they become iconic. Normally this happens locally but I think Musberger at the end of his career with Herbstriet inadvertently pulled it off.

 

At least Fowler isn't Berman.

 

The version of Brent I miss is the college football one, not the "you looking live" NBA version.

Game last night screamed out for a big time play by play guy. Fowler is so bland he makes
Herby look bland also. Guilt by association. Brent and Herby complimented each other.

Keith Jackson will always be the gold standard. I spent a lot of autum Saturday afternoons
listening to Jackson and Bud Wilkinson and then Jackson and Frank "that was a sensational
catch" Broyles.

 

Brad Nessler and Todd Blackledge are the best college football announcing team going now and it's not even close. They should be on the ABC primetime game.

 

Michaels also called the epic Hagler-Hearns fight.

 

Another vote for the Brad Nessler-Todd Blackledge team.

Those guys are great.

 

Musberger once interviewed Apollo Creed, then asked the burning question,"WHERE is Rocky Balboa?"

 

Fowler is a pleasant guy, but has no gravitas.

 

Someone earlier brought up the point that Fowler had been on the air for 15 hours by the time Notre Dame-FSU ended.

As one in the "TV side", that is an incredibly exhausting day -- even when you only have to be "the talent". He's probably up at 6 am, working through the GameDay, perhaps some downtime for the first half of the 11 AM CT/Noon ET kickoffs.

On top of this, Fowler probably does a thick slice of "promo work" on Friday in whatever town he's in. Radio interviews, print/online interviews, student paper interviews. For those, he has to be "on".

Then, fly back on Sunday and pick it up two days later.

I think he's just spent by midnight on Saturday night. However, and it's a big however, Fowler doesn't have the background of a guy with a distinctive style. Most of the play-by-play with a "distinctive style" honed it from years of working on radio, often in minor-leagues or in the backwoods. Those early years are when you craft everything. It's how you develop those stories for a blowout, how you turn a phrase, go through your trial and error for what works on jokes, timing, stories, etc.

One of my favorite play by play guys is Matt Vasgersian. He's an odd cat and, when he joined the Brewers 20 years ago, he was a young guy throwing out pop culture references. Yet... and this is big... he had done his time in the minor-leagues and, on those dreadful Brewers teams of the late 1990's, he was magnificent during garbage time late. Had a million stories and funny observations.

Fowler, like so many, came from a studio background where he has been tightly scripted on GameDay for all these years. It's hard to, all of a sudden, have a style that is different yet also comfortable to listen to. It's why the tightly-scripted guys are awful when they get a radio show. I think of Mike Tirico, Tim Brando, James Brown and even Dan Patrick to an extent. Awful to mediocre radio shows. (Patrick is only listenable when he incorporates the other guys on there).

There are so many different skill sets in TV sports. A TV sideline reporter doesn't make a great anchor without putting in the time (Erin Andrews). A solid TV pregame host doesn't make a superb PBP guy (Fowler).

This is where I some of the feel the "old guys" still have it (Michaels, even Musberger at his age). They have enough equity built up but it was clear they still gave/give a damn about the broadcast.

 

If exhaustion is a contributing factor to Fowler's mediocre play by play abilities
then that's on ESPN.

It was a stupid move on part of ESPN to downgrade Brent until they had a top
notch replacement set.

 

You know who is really good? Tim Tebow. He's kind of stuck though. Herbstreit isn't going anywhere and I don't know if CBS would pay him what ABC/ESPN are for one game a week and some CBS Sports Network work. Amazed how strong he is as an analyst this early into his career.
I figure Rece Davis will takeover Game Day at some point for Fowler, perhaps when Corso retires.