Hardly niggardly in his praise, he was fired anyway

Venus Williams. Looks GORGEOUS to me but then, I'm not a New York Times subscriber

Retired tennis player turned broadcaster Doug Adler is suing ESPN for wrongful termination after he was fired over a remark he made about Venus Williams during the Australian Open

'She misses a first serve and Venus is all over her,' Adler said. 'You see Venus move in and put the guerrilla effect on. Charging."

ESPN viewers went nuts over the word they heard, and ESPN immediately fired Adler.

Court papers ... point out that 'Guerrilla Tennis' was the name of a Nike TV ad from the 1990s featuring Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.

'Obviously, (Adler) saw that commercial many times and the phrase became widely used by those who actually understood tennis vernacular and followed the sport closely,' the lawsuit claimed.

In a statement emailed in January to The Associated Press, ESPN said it had pulled Adler from broadcasts.

'During an Australian Open stream on ESPN3, Doug Adler should have been more careful in his word selection. He apologized and we have removed him from his remaining assignments,' the statement read.

"You might understand that 'guerilla tactics' refers to sudden feints or ambushes," ESPN spokesman Kenneth Boarsuck told FWIW, "but our core tennis audience is comprised of country club liberals who consider their domestics to resemble gorillas, so when they hear the word, they go batshit crazy; in their minds, they're not supposed to think that, and so, naturally, neither should ESPN commentators. Adler had to go - that simple."