One response to “Novak Djokovic Destroys Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4 To Win The Italian Open!!!”
Skip Dallas says :
Protest Mary Carillo’s Hiring by the Tennis Channel as Lead Commentator for the French and US Opens!!!!
The Tennis Channel seemed to be the last Carillo-free zone when it came to Network and Cable Tennis Grand Slam coverage. Now it seems we’ve been denied even that small luxury. The following is a recent email I sent to the Tennis Channel Executive Producing Staff in protest. I urge everyone else who is as offended as I am by Carillo’s incendiary and incompetent commentary to do the same!
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, TENNIS CHANNEL, WHEN YOU HIRED MARY CARILLO????
I’ve already sent in an email with my negative, first impression response to Tennis Channel’s hiring of Mary Carillo and her inclusion in TC’s French Open coverage.
I now have had an opportunity to read the full TC press release about Carillo’s hiring and am even more concerned by the extensive role that it outlines for Carillo. The press release demonstrates a disturbing “make believe” denial of the downward spiral of Carillo’s commentating career in recent years attributal to CARILLO’S OWN MAKING! After a further review of Carillo’s recent career mishaps, her firing from ESPN, her bizarre charges against Serena Williams of “threatening murder,” and on and on and on, it becomes clear that Ms. Carillo has some severe professional and personal problems for which she needs to seek treatment.
Does Tennis Channel really want to take on this ticking time bomb Carillo, who, despite what the fairly incredible TC press release says, would hardly be welcomed by every “executive producer … to add … to their broadcast team.” Just ask the executive producers at ESPN and the other networks where Carillo has wreaked havoc. Indeed, there appears to be plenty of executive producers of sports programming who are RUNNING away from Mary Carillo, not embracing her increasingly unstable on air personality. Over the past few years, Carillo’s commentary has become more and more inappropriate, unprofessional, and has alienated both devoted tennis fans and tennis professionals. What were TC executives thinking when they hired this aging third rate diva of sorts who saw her best days of tennis commentary (if there ever truly were any) fade away decades ago? If the major goal was increasing Tennis Channel brand loyalty among players and viewers, I think you’ve missed the mark………..by a lot!!!
What were TC executives thinking by hiring Carillo to stand equal with (and perhaps inexplicably even above in terms of TV sports commentator pecking orders) the likes of Davenport, Navratilova and Corina Morariu? While Davenport and Navratilova certainly are household names that speak volumes to every tennis fan, anyone who watches TC regularly should also have come to respect immensely the brilliant analysis of Morariu. Her recent play by plays of the Italian Semis and Finals were some of the best tennis commentary I’ve ever heard. Morariu knows the top players’ games inside and out. She understands their technical and strategic strengths and weaknesses. And most importantly, Morariu does a brilliant job of synthesizing all these dynamic factors to assess what is happening real time between any two particular competitors in a particular match. I learned an immense amount of information about the games and strategies of Sharapova, Wozniacki, Li and Stosur in a couple of hours of listening to Morariu that I will look for in their matches for years to come.
MORARIU’S BRILLIANT COMMENTARY IS WORTHY OF A GLOWING TENNIS CHANNEL PRESS RELEASE, not the hiring of an unstable, increasingly bizarre Carillo. And as for human interest, what better story is there than Morariu’s, with all her life challenges that she has successfully overcome? She’s the Tennis Channel star, not the likes of Carillo. In fact, there is something very diminishing of TC’s integrity by hiring Carillo and the prospect of her presence on air next to such luminaries of the highest character like Davenport, Morariu and Navatrilova.
I always felt that TC’s unwavering “brand” was as the “tennis professional’s ‘go to’ destination for top tier analysis and news.” That’s why die hard tennis fans love the Tennis Channel so much, as well. To assess the real value of Carillo’s tennis commentary, I think all you need to to do is ask yourself, if a current playing professional wanted to gain constructively useful information about a competitor’s game, and they were given the options of listening to the play by play of Morariu, Davenport, Navratilova or Mary Carillo, who would they choose? I can’t imagine that Carillo would appear anywhere but in LAST PLACE by a huge margin on any current playing professional’s list of respected commentators.
The strength of Tennis Channel’s brand is its authenticity to the game of tennis. That authenticity is why I pay more on my cable bill to get TC and not have to rely on insipid Network and ESPN coverage. TC is all about the players, amateur and professional, and the greatness of playing the sport of tennis. TC is not about intrigues emerging at the ATP and WTA, or Grand Slam and Davis Cup political controversies. TC doesn’t obsess on players’ personal lives, their eccentricities and embarrassments. TC respects the players and the integrity of the game itself, without all the other media bullshit you see on the other networks.
I believed that this unwavering authenticity was the true culture of Tennis Channel, which I had great respect for. That is, until you hired Mary Carillo, who represents everything about tennis that I thought TC was not.
Carillo is not a distinguished tennis player, but rather a flash in the pan tied to John McEnroe’s shoe strings of decades ago. Carillo has not played or coached tennis in decades. Carillo has not the slightest clue about the nuts and bolts technique of today’s top players or how the intricacies of their games dynamically stand up to one another in head to head matches. Simply put, she is grossly incompetent to call play by play in any professional tennis match.
Further, Carillo does not put the players first. She puts herself, her opinions, and her overinflated ego first. She puts political intrigue playing out at the ATP and WTA first. She revels in Grand Slam and Davis Cup controversy. For her, the actual action on the court is the least compelling aspect of the “industry” of tennis. It’s simply the pretext that gives rise to all the back alley intrigue “news” that she manages to fabricate. It’s very sad, really. And now TC is inviting this degredation of the sport of tennis named Carillo into its hallowed halls, undermining the integrity of its player centered culture and its authenticity to loyal viewers.
Finally, I truly believe that Carillo has mental problems. As I was reading about her outrageous, inappropriate and obscenely unprofessional comments over the past few years, it became quite apparent that Carillo has had some massive psychotic break with “TV commentator reality.” Carillo is not writing a blog. As a TV sports announcer, she’s not paid to manufacture personal opinion editorial pieces sua sponte on air. She is not a 60 Minutes investigative reporter. As a sports commentator, Carillo is appearing on international television as an objective sports analyst, most often as a play by play announcer, representing distinguished TV/Cable Network brands to millions of viewing fans.
In this role as a Network/Cable television sports analyst, it is not Carillo’s job to deliver bald, naked opinion on any topic that pops into her aging mind. It is not her job in this role to opine on what she thinks the ATP, WTA, or any other tennis organization should or should not be doing. It is not Carillo’s job to put her two cents worth in on how a player should or should not be living his or her life. As a sports analyst, Carillo is supposed to be objectively calling a match, analyzing each tennis shot, one play at a time.
Quite frighteningly, Carillo has lost her cognitive ability to do precisely this, to distinguish between her separate roles as documentarian, newsprint opinion columnist, objective sports analyst, blog provocateur, or whatever else role Carillo has dreamed up to pursue in her relentless quest for media recognition. Carillo has lost her ability to “filter” speech appropriate to the venue and medium. She is now incapable of perceiving what is professional and appropriate in the role of objective sports analyst and interviewer versus opinion provocateur. And perhaps, as Carillo ages, this is not particularly surprising.
Carillo, quite clearly, is growing crumudgeonly, set in her ways, and cranky. She tries to justify her inappropriate and unprofessional behavior under the aegis of “objective, hard hitting journalism.” But the issue is not that Carillo shouldn’t be free to express her opinions. Rather, the problem is that Carillo has become unable to control her urges to speak anything and everything that pops into her head no matter the venue or medium. She is now suffering from a kind of TV Sports Commentator Tourrette’s Syndrome.
And Tennis Channel wants to take on this increasingly unstable and unpredictable Carillo???? TC wants to invite this problematic personality into its studios to negatively impact its already stellar and brilliantly functioning broadcasting team? TC wants to alienate viewers and players with Carillo’s inappropriate and unprofessional behavior and commentary?
I ask again: “What were you thinking, Tennis Channel, when you hired Mary Carillo????”
Gayblackcanada 
Protest Mary Carillo’s Hiring by the Tennis Channel as Lead Commentator for the French and US Opens!!!!
The Tennis Channel seemed to be the last Carillo-free zone when it came to Network and Cable Tennis Grand Slam coverage. Now it seems we’ve been denied even that small luxury. The following is a recent email I sent to the Tennis Channel Executive Producing Staff in protest. I urge everyone else who is as offended as I am by Carillo’s incendiary and incompetent commentary to do the same!
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, TENNIS CHANNEL, WHEN YOU HIRED MARY CARILLO????
I’ve already sent in an email with my negative, first impression response to Tennis Channel’s hiring of Mary Carillo and her inclusion in TC’s French Open coverage.
I now have had an opportunity to read the full TC press release about Carillo’s hiring and am even more concerned by the extensive role that it outlines for Carillo. The press release demonstrates a disturbing “make believe” denial of the downward spiral of Carillo’s commentating career in recent years attributal to CARILLO’S OWN MAKING! After a further review of Carillo’s recent career mishaps, her firing from ESPN, her bizarre charges against Serena Williams of “threatening murder,” and on and on and on, it becomes clear that Ms. Carillo has some severe professional and personal problems for which she needs to seek treatment.
Does Tennis Channel really want to take on this ticking time bomb Carillo, who, despite what the fairly incredible TC press release says, would hardly be welcomed by every “executive producer … to add … to their broadcast team.” Just ask the executive producers at ESPN and the other networks where Carillo has wreaked havoc. Indeed, there appears to be plenty of executive producers of sports programming who are RUNNING away from Mary Carillo, not embracing her increasingly unstable on air personality. Over the past few years, Carillo’s commentary has become more and more inappropriate, unprofessional, and has alienated both devoted tennis fans and tennis professionals. What were TC executives thinking when they hired this aging third rate diva of sorts who saw her best days of tennis commentary (if there ever truly were any) fade away decades ago? If the major goal was increasing Tennis Channel brand loyalty among players and viewers, I think you’ve missed the mark………..by a lot!!!
What were TC executives thinking by hiring Carillo to stand equal with (and perhaps inexplicably even above in terms of TV sports commentator pecking orders) the likes of Davenport, Navratilova and Corina Morariu? While Davenport and Navratilova certainly are household names that speak volumes to every tennis fan, anyone who watches TC regularly should also have come to respect immensely the brilliant analysis of Morariu. Her recent play by plays of the Italian Semis and Finals were some of the best tennis commentary I’ve ever heard. Morariu knows the top players’ games inside and out. She understands their technical and strategic strengths and weaknesses. And most importantly, Morariu does a brilliant job of synthesizing all these dynamic factors to assess what is happening real time between any two particular competitors in a particular match. I learned an immense amount of information about the games and strategies of Sharapova, Wozniacki, Li and Stosur in a couple of hours of listening to Morariu that I will look for in their matches for years to come.
MORARIU’S BRILLIANT COMMENTARY IS WORTHY OF A GLOWING TENNIS CHANNEL PRESS RELEASE, not the hiring of an unstable, increasingly bizarre Carillo. And as for human interest, what better story is there than Morariu’s, with all her life challenges that she has successfully overcome? She’s the Tennis Channel star, not the likes of Carillo. In fact, there is something very diminishing of TC’s integrity by hiring Carillo and the prospect of her presence on air next to such luminaries of the highest character like Davenport, Morariu and Navatrilova.
I always felt that TC’s unwavering “brand” was as the “tennis professional’s ‘go to’ destination for top tier analysis and news.” That’s why die hard tennis fans love the Tennis Channel so much, as well. To assess the real value of Carillo’s tennis commentary, I think all you need to to do is ask yourself, if a current playing professional wanted to gain constructively useful information about a competitor’s game, and they were given the options of listening to the play by play of Morariu, Davenport, Navratilova or Mary Carillo, who would they choose? I can’t imagine that Carillo would appear anywhere but in LAST PLACE by a huge margin on any current playing professional’s list of respected commentators.
The strength of Tennis Channel’s brand is its authenticity to the game of tennis. That authenticity is why I pay more on my cable bill to get TC and not have to rely on insipid Network and ESPN coverage. TC is all about the players, amateur and professional, and the greatness of playing the sport of tennis. TC is not about intrigues emerging at the ATP and WTA, or Grand Slam and Davis Cup political controversies. TC doesn’t obsess on players’ personal lives, their eccentricities and embarrassments. TC respects the players and the integrity of the game itself, without all the other media bullshit you see on the other networks.
I believed that this unwavering authenticity was the true culture of Tennis Channel, which I had great respect for. That is, until you hired Mary Carillo, who represents everything about tennis that I thought TC was not.
Carillo is not a distinguished tennis player, but rather a flash in the pan tied to John McEnroe’s shoe strings of decades ago. Carillo has not played or coached tennis in decades. Carillo has not the slightest clue about the nuts and bolts technique of today’s top players or how the intricacies of their games dynamically stand up to one another in head to head matches. Simply put, she is grossly incompetent to call play by play in any professional tennis match.
Further, Carillo does not put the players first. She puts herself, her opinions, and her overinflated ego first. She puts political intrigue playing out at the ATP and WTA first. She revels in Grand Slam and Davis Cup controversy. For her, the actual action on the court is the least compelling aspect of the “industry” of tennis. It’s simply the pretext that gives rise to all the back alley intrigue “news” that she manages to fabricate. It’s very sad, really. And now TC is inviting this degredation of the sport of tennis named Carillo into its hallowed halls, undermining the integrity of its player centered culture and its authenticity to loyal viewers.
Finally, I truly believe that Carillo has mental problems. As I was reading about her outrageous, inappropriate and obscenely unprofessional comments over the past few years, it became quite apparent that Carillo has had some massive psychotic break with “TV commentator reality.” Carillo is not writing a blog. As a TV sports announcer, she’s not paid to manufacture personal opinion editorial pieces sua sponte on air. She is not a 60 Minutes investigative reporter. As a sports commentator, Carillo is appearing on international television as an objective sports analyst, most often as a play by play announcer, representing distinguished TV/Cable Network brands to millions of viewing fans.
In this role as a Network/Cable television sports analyst, it is not Carillo’s job to deliver bald, naked opinion on any topic that pops into her aging mind. It is not her job in this role to opine on what she thinks the ATP, WTA, or any other tennis organization should or should not be doing. It is not Carillo’s job to put her two cents worth in on how a player should or should not be living his or her life. As a sports analyst, Carillo is supposed to be objectively calling a match, analyzing each tennis shot, one play at a time.
Quite frighteningly, Carillo has lost her cognitive ability to do precisely this, to distinguish between her separate roles as documentarian, newsprint opinion columnist, objective sports analyst, blog provocateur, or whatever else role Carillo has dreamed up to pursue in her relentless quest for media recognition. Carillo has lost her ability to “filter” speech appropriate to the venue and medium. She is now incapable of perceiving what is professional and appropriate in the role of objective sports analyst and interviewer versus opinion provocateur. And perhaps, as Carillo ages, this is not particularly surprising.
Carillo, quite clearly, is growing crumudgeonly, set in her ways, and cranky. She tries to justify her inappropriate and unprofessional behavior under the aegis of “objective, hard hitting journalism.” But the issue is not that Carillo shouldn’t be free to express her opinions. Rather, the problem is that Carillo has become unable to control her urges to speak anything and everything that pops into her head no matter the venue or medium. She is now suffering from a kind of TV Sports Commentator Tourrette’s Syndrome.
And Tennis Channel wants to take on this increasingly unstable and unpredictable Carillo???? TC wants to invite this problematic personality into its studios to negatively impact its already stellar and brilliantly functioning broadcasting team? TC wants to alienate viewers and players with Carillo’s inappropriate and unprofessional behavior and commentary?
I ask again: “What were you thinking, Tennis Channel, when you hired Mary Carillo????”
Skip in Dallas