Nantz: Sportscaster of Year...Again

Sunday night the best sportscasters and sportswriters in the country got together for the 50th time to honor their own. And Jim Nantz was named National Sportscaster of the Year. Again.

There has never been a more popular decision.

When Jim Nantz first came to CBS I mistook his graceful approach to play-by-play as one who had a lack of enthusiasm for what he was watching, and I mistakenly referred to him as dull. But I was wrong. Nantz needed to be experienced and cultivated for us at home to appreciate him.

He never yells, which just about every other play-by-play man thinks is the only way to communicate. Instead, Nantz serenades us with storylines and anecdotes. Analysts take to him like flowers to a rain shower. He always seems to get the most out of them, while never pushing himself to the front.

He also has a great sense of history, getting close with former CBS great Jack Whitaker, and several others who paved the way for him. A near scratch golfer, Nantz has played with several presidents and has been friends with the Bush family for years, but he’d never let that friendship influence his work.

Jim Nantz is so good covering the NFL, NCAA Basketball and the PGA for CBS, that you couldn’t imagine what TV would be like without him.

This marks the fourth time in 11 years Nantz has won the honor and when you think back you have to wonder who could have possibly been better the other seven years.




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