Sports & Health

Inside the broadcast booth: A Chat with Chris Fowler, legendary sportscaster

August 23, 2023

Inside the broadcast booth: A Chat with Chris Fowler, legendary sportscaster

Chris Fowler

Sportscaster

Catch this conversation between Willy Walker and Chris Fowler, legendary sportscaster.

I recently sat down with the legendary sportscaster, Chris Fowler. Chris is one of the most well-known sports broadcasters on ESPN, where he is the play-by-play announcer for Saturday Night Football. During our time together, we had the chance to talk about everything from his annual visit to the Himalayas to his feelings on the PAC-12 reshuffling.

Overcoming anxiety over public speaking

Although you may find it hard to imagine, there was a time when public speaking gave Chris anxiety. Chris was able to overcome this fear and convert public speaking from one of his fears to one of the most powerful tools in his toolbelt. Luckily, his father was a professional theater director, which meant that he began working on a set from a young age. Over time, this helped him loosen up a bit. Coupled with the fact that there is a tremendous amount of money to be made as a broadcaster, Chris said he felt that he had no other choice than to become comfortable speaking in front of large crowds and cameras.

Chris’ infamous tiff with Burt Reynolds

One night, while Chris was backstage at the ESPY awards, he felt a punch in the arm. When he turned toward the punch, he was shocked when he saw an angry Burt Reynolds. Chris could not figure out why Burt was so angry with him. He later found out through their mutual friend, Lee Corso, that Burt was under the mistaken impression that Chris made comments about his divorce from Loni Anderson. Chris thinks that Burt confused him with one of the many “generic-looking white guys with dark hair” on TV. Unfortunately, Chris was never able to clear the air with Burt.

The PAC-12 reshuffling NCAA champion predictions

There has been a lot of shuffling of leagues within the NCAA recently, which has led to much uncertainty and concern that the NCAA itself is becoming superfluous. Chris largely agrees with this, as many of the larger, more prominent schools would prefer it that way. The schools themselves are bringing much more to the table than the NCAA is. This makes the consolidation of teams into two powerful conferences almost inevitable, and Chris believes we are seeing the beginning of this phenomenon now.

NCAA champion predictions

This year, Chris will be covering some of the most important games in college football, so I had to get his opinion on who he thinks is in the running for the championship. While he would have liked to have some “out of the box” picks, the college football scene is very top-heavy, which makes it tough to bet on the underdogs. With that being said, he’s got his money on Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Michigan.

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