Jim Nantz has concluded his tenure announcing the NCAA Tournament with CBS Sports and departed the assignment with much fanfare. 670 The Score’s Danny Parkins wondered what Nantz is really giving up.
While Nantz is leaving the Tournament coverage, he admitted recently that he is only reducing his commitments to a “40-week a year travel schedule”.
“He’s literally giving up three weeks a year of broadcasting, but one of those three weeks, he’s still gonna go to the Final Four because he’s not turning over the trophy presentation duties to Ian Eagle,” Parkins said during Parkins & Spiegel Tuesday. “I love Nantz, and I would say this to him if he were on the show: what an ego move.”
“What a weirdo,” joked Matt Spiegel. “He stood there and he watched ‘One Shining Moment’ on the jumbo screen.”
“Sure, he’s a little corny. He scripts his final calls. But that guy…he was able to pick anywhere in the country that he wanted to live because he was doing national (games),” Parkins continued. “He almost picked Chicago…but then he realized ‘Wait, I love golf and good weather’. So he picked Pebble Beach. He is a sports dork. I think he’s great. I think Jim Nantz is a cornball, but in an endearing sort of way.”
Parkins continued by mentioning that the final moments of the National Championship Game were slightly awkward because of the give-and-take with Nantz and his analysts.
“It was weird because (Bill) Raftery and Grant Hill kept wanting to make it about Nantz and then Nantz was like ‘It’s their moment, not mine‘, but then he couldn’t help but talk about it at the end,” said Parkins. “As CBS was going to break, he was getting played off by his own network. The whole scene was very bizarre. He’s giving up literally three weekends of broadcasting and two weekends of travel. Nothing is really changing in Jim Nantz’s world, and frankly, Ian Eagle will probably do a better job.”