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| Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler (ESPN) |
I enjoy reading sports media columnists. I read a ton of Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News "back in the day."
I always found that stuff to be useful to learn what criticisms exist along with news and notes about the industry.
To be clear, that didn't mean I always agreed with Raissman and, to be honest, I criticized him extensively at times, including the fact that he'd never called a game and wouldn't know how to.
Moments ago, I saw a tweet with a video from Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. Again, he's a must-read for me.
He has a podcast (like everyone) and the basis of his rant was about Chris Fowler, the ESPN lead broadcaster for college football. Fowler, on his Instagram page, posted a video discussing the process of calling four games in 11 days.
Marchand took umbrage.
"People work every day," he said. "Some people work seven days a week. Nobody wants to hear how it's tough and hard..."
OK. Fair enough. Or is it?
WHO'S DOWN: Chris Fowler for Instagramming how difficult it will be to call four big games in 11 days.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 6, 2022
🍎https://t.co/3wY0p1DTKA
🟢 https://t.co/ktUCUgRjkS pic.twitter.com/p89cAwSHYQ
On the other hand, I watched Fowler's video and found no place where he was complaining about four games in 11 days.
If anything, I found it interesting to go behind the scenes and, frankly, found it comparable to posts I've written here night after night, where I've detailed my runs of 15 games in five days or whatever.
To me, it's part of the progress.
So, sure, while Marchand isn't totally wrong, he certainly isn't right. Because, like so much in life, he could just not watch the video at all.
No, I think Marchand -- aka, "Clicker" -- gets just one click in my review here.
Maybe it's a personal thing for me. Like I said, I've written at length about those fun runs in Trumbull and the brutal heat of Stamford in 2019's baseball tourney and other weather events and travel-related things from my play-by-play adventures. I sometimes wish I had written more consistently during the height of the HAN days.
Then again, maybe not.
Yes, I certainly get that I don't have ESPN standing behind me and I'm not flying across the country and I'm not doing national games.
I'm the smallest drop of water in the ocean. I drive to most of my broadcasts and do all kinds of grassroots things. I have minimal information to prep with.
I'm not comparing what I do to what Chris Fowler does.
I mean, Fowler looks a little weary in the video but also excited and overwhelmed to get to do what he does.
How's that any different from what I write here?
I just watch Fowler's video again. He's explaining the process of the 11-day stretch and, if that's "complaining," well, I simply disagree.
Beyond that, another way that Marchand is wrong is that Fowler IS working, and working throughout the 11-day stretch. If you paid attention to the video, it's clear he was doing prep for each game, including Zoom meetings and whatever else.
Granted some of that prep might be on luxury planes (compared to what I would be flying).
No, while Marchand is certainly entitled to his opinion, of course, this feels like he takes an "L" here.
It's a huge nitpick.
It made for good content, I suppose.
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