Mauricio Codocea
05/07/2021 16:30
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 05/07/2021 4:53 PM
For the thousands of Argentines who paid for the League Pass, the platform through which all NBA games can be seen, and made the country the ninth with the most subscribers in the world without counting the US, their voice it is already characteristic.
Also his references in Spanish to Facundo Campazzo.
This is
Chris Marlowe
, the presenter of the Altitude network that broadcasts the Denver Nuggets games.
He is a character as charismatic as he is multifaceted.
In addition to basketball, during his career he has related sports as varied as football, boxing, swimming, volleyball, gymnastics, water polo, American football, poker and ornamental jumps.
On the historic
NBC
network,
eight consecutive Olympic Games have been reported.
But not only that: he has also been an athlete, and he has stood out.
He practiced volleyball, in the seventies he was twice chosen as
the best player in the United States
and it was not all: he competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and
won the gold medal
with his team.
He
was
even an
actor,
participating in films such as
Look who speaks too
(1989),
Side Out
(1990) and
Sexto hombre
(1997).
"But I never felt completely comfortable," he surprises.
"There I played to be another person; the story allows me to
play to be myself
," he completes.
He has followed the Nuggets campaign for 17 years, but acknowledges that he
never experienced a fever like this
from the fans.
The Argentines have changed his life, making him a celebrity thousands of miles away, in a country he only visited briefly when he played the 1982 volleyball World Cup.
Chris Marlowe celebrates with the American flag the Olympic gold in volleyball from the 1984 Olympic Games. Photo San Diego Tribune / USA Volleyball
"They have invited me to parties, to barbecues, to the beach, they have told me that they are going to look for me at the airport. It is wonderfully crazy.
I'm not sure why it has become so big, but I am very happy that it happens
" He tells
Clarín
from his home, via Zoom, during Denver noon.
With hoses like
"One, two, three for Facu!"
when Campazzo hits a triple, or the nickname
"El Bandido"
that he gave to the Cordovan for his ability to steal balls; or even presenting a game talking about the team as
"Facu y sus compadres"
, his style of narrating the games became very close to the Argentines.
"In broadcasts in the past I used phrases to describe other players. When we had Timofey Mozgov, he would
yell things in Russian
; when he put a lid on, I would say" niet, niet! "(" No, no! "). When I played
Juancho
Hernángomez also used some Spanish ", he remembers about those attempts to get closer to the culture of the team's players.
"When (Campazzo) came I tried to think of a phrase that would honor him in his language.
And I think it came out quite well
with the" one, two, three for Facu, "he reflects with a smile and the results in sight.
It is that beyond highlighting the relationship he maintains with the Serbian fans who follow Nikola Jokic, Chris says: "The reaction I have found in Argentina
has been overwhelming, incredible
. It is a roller coaster. The fans have been so generous. 99 , 9% of the things they say are good, it is so fun to relate the games ".
Particularly on Twitter, the social network that Marlowe uses the most and in which most Argentine fans turn to talk about
campazzescas
nights
, he
began a round trip
with Facu's compatriots that to this day continues to surprise him.
Friends pic.twitter.com/9nTdVbHdWU
- Chris Marlowe (@ChrisMarlowe) May 4, 2021
"Part of being a rapporteur is reaching out to the fans, is that they react to what you say - he thinks aloud -.
I feel that there is a connection with the people of Argentina.
Every day I open Twitter and I see that there are 50 new followers, and 45 They are Argentines, you know? It's hard to describe. "
"What I enjoy the most about this is the people who show me their children, boys saying 'one, two, three for Facu!' They have sent me four or five videos and it is the most beautiful thing. I would love for you to follow me sending, I love that they do it, that they shout that phrase.
When I saw that I almost cried
, because it was wonderful, "adds the rapporteur.
In his eyes, which travel to some inaccurate point in his room while he remembers those little faces, a real emotion is reflected.
An emotion that transforms into joy when Chris, in the middle of a talk that led to questions of Argentine-Codovan tradition, hears about
the greatest icon
of Mediterranean music: the quarterer Carlos La Mona Jiménez, an unavoidable cultural representative of the Campazzo lands.
With his journalistic rigor on the surface, he takes a pencil and paper, writes down the singer's name and lends himself to hear the popular artist's "hymn".
An unmissable moment.
The magnifying glass on Campazzo
Of course, what led Chris Marlowe to this relationship with the Argentine public is closely related to what Campazzo has achieved since his arrival at the Nuggets: to
settle in great shape
in a team in which he started somewhat "passively" to take advantage of the opportunities just appeared.
The rapporteur acknowledges that he did not know too much about Cordoba until his hiring in the franchise was confirmed and immediately, when he began to watch videos and read about him, he
noticed something.
Facundo Campazzo in action.
AP Photo / David Zalubowski
"I think his tenacity, his aggressiveness, his game with passion and emotion are things that I anticipated that could happen based on what I studied about him.
But I didn't see that he could be such a good defender.
I think that's what surprised me the most, that he is more than a capable defender, he is very good ", acknowledges the experienced journalist.
In fact, beyond that US is said to be "a pest" ( "a plague") about how drowns rival attackers, says Marlowe: "I think it's more than that
. It is a very complete defender
was For good in front of his man, he avoids the curtains well, he takes offensive fouls, he is very, very good. I am impressed by what he has been doing. "
Denver Nuggets campaign rapporteur Chris Marlowe, right.
Along with his partner, former NBA player Scott Hastings.
Photo The Denver Post
Campazzo, at first, was seen in the corners of the court, sporadically waiting for some chance to shoot a triple.
Seeing how the situation declined, with transfers that gave him
more room in the rotation
and injuries that ended up
catapulting him to the starting position
, a question arises.
Could the plan be to keep him off the ball
so he can get used
to the system and then eventually get him more involved, like now?
"I think they
have learned to appreciate the many talents that
Facu
has,"
says Chris without hesitation. "I think at first they thought he was a kind of 'one trick' player, can I explain it? being a player who is only a good passer. But as time went by we learned that he is much more than that. Yes, he is a tremendous passer, but his defense is top and his shot, although with ups and downs, is better than expected ".
And he finishes: "It has been very interesting for (coach Michael) Malone to meet him and see what
Facu
can
really
do
. Because yes, he can play a bit without the ball, but
I want him to have it in his hands, all the time.
I think the Nuggets are more powerful as a team when he's doing his thing, when he's in control of the ball and the game. "