As everyone knows, this weekend will be the last Final Four that Jim Nantz calls in his legendary career. It is not the end of his broadcasting career, but it closes a chapter on what has been 30+ great years. Since 2015, Nantz has been joined in the broadcast booth by Bill Raftery and Grant Hill.
Nantz was a guest this week on Mad Dog’s Daily Bite with Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo and he told Russo that being a part of a three-man booth has been easy for him because he wants to allow his analysts every chance to shine.
“We’ve been doing it since 2015. It’s a very easy dance step. There is actually nothing coordinated like a dance step. I give them the space to be able to really carry on a running dialogue between the two of them talking strategy. I don’t like broadcasts that are overly talkative, to begin with. I’m going to give them a lot of room. It’s not necessary for me to call every rebound, every dribble. It’s not a radio broadcast and they are just great guys.”
During the interview, Nantz mentioned a conversation that he had with a friend of his who reminded him that during his first basketball game he called as the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS, Hill made the first basket. Four years prior, Raftery was the analyst on the first NCAA Tournament he called. He got the chance to reflect on that a little bit and said how hard it will be to leave guys that he has shared many memories with.
“All these little parallels early in your life, you never know what stuff comes back to you full circle. Somebody is in your life, they come, they go, you never know down the road you are actually going to maybe be re-united and share some really important time with these folks. I’ve just loved their friendship. Raft and Grant, that’s one of the hardest things about saying goodbye, but it’s the right time.”
While Nantz will feel nostalgia this weekend, he said he will try to not get over-sentimental because it isn’t the end of his broadcasting career. Yes, he will feel some sadness due to some people he has been with for years not being there. However, he said that this is a happy occasion for him.
“I’m committed to absorbing it all and not getting over the top sentimental. I’m not retiring from broadcasting. I hope to be continuing on with it for many years to come with the NFL and with golf. I’m going to be retiring to about a 40-week-a-year schedule on the road….It’s a rich schedule.
“I am nostalgic. In my heart, Billy Packer is not here. Pat McGrath, my stats guy, died of a heart attack on the eve of the tournament. 30 years doing the NCAA Tournament together with Pat. Those are definitely thoughts I’m going to be carrying with me, but this is a happy, joyous occasion.
“My nostalgia or sentimentality is usually born out of gratitude as opposed to a feeling of sadness. This is a feeling of just gratitude of having had so many fond, wonderful memories and working with many great people and getting to know generations of players and coaches, and trying to somehow lend the right tone to it all, tell proper stories, and allow America to get to know them a little bit better. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Nantz did have an idea earlier this year of being able to hug Packer after his last game. Unfortunately, Packer died in January, but Nantz mentioned the bond that the two of them had on and off the basketball court.
“I wanted to be able to walk off the court and be able to give him a hug. I am a nostalgic person. Billy is the exact opposite. Billy is the least nostalgic person maybe you would ever know, but I thought he might do it. But, staying in touch with the family, I knew that Billy’s health had taken a really bad turn in October and November and that was just not going to happen. On January 25, he passed away.
“I’m thinking about him a lot. I’m not going to kid you. It was a special bond and friendship and it went well beyond the years of 2008 when he called his last game. It was always there.”
