Jim Nantz isn’t throwing himself a Masters pity party with a side of pimento cheese

CBS’s Jim Nantz knows he should’ve been broadcasting the NCAA men’s basketball title game and Masters this week, the best week of his year.

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Jim Nantz doesn’t want your pity.

He’s heard from so many people who are wondering how he is coping with not playing a vital role in how we experience March Madness and what would have been the 84th playing of the Masters this week at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

It would have been Nantz’s 35th straight year calling the action at the Masters. He usually goes straight from calling the NCAA men’s title game on Monday night to the grounds of Augusta, where he traditionally makes a pilgrimage to the 12th hole and has one of his “board of director meetings” and takes stock of his life.

Hoops on Monday to hosting the green jacket ceremony in Butler Cabin on Sunday evening is arguably the best back-to-back sporting event lineup a play-by-play commentator could hope to do, and it has become part of the fabric of Nantz’s life as the longtime voice of CBS Sports. But not this year due to the events being canceled – March Sadness – and postponed – what’s April without the Masters?

“This has got to be killing you, right?” I asked.

“You know what?” he said. “I’ve got perspective. So many people have it much, much worse than I do. Of course, I’m missing calling some of the games I love. As a sports fan, we all long for those days and waiting for it to get back to normal. But no one should be feeling sorry for me right now. I’m at home and surrounded by my family and we’re all healthy. We sit back and we’re much more concerned about bigger things going on in the world right now.”

Nantz, 60, had to know this question was coming, but somehow it didn’t feel like a canned answer. For one, he is a voracious reader and an astute observer of current events. He understands how the coronavirus pandemic has dug its tentacles into the world we live in and reshaped life as we know it. He’s been sheltered in place at his home in Pebble Beach, California, going for long walks where he doesn’t see another soul, past the construction at the Peter Hay Par-3 course, where Tiger Woods’ design company is re-imagining the layout, and got to share daughter Finley’s sixth birthday at home on March 14 rather than miss it while calling the action at the Big 10 Championship.

But the more we talked, the more you could hear the pain in his voice rise to the surface.

“Do I find myself going through a little bit of a time warp thinking about where I’d be at this very moment? Yes. I struggled with it hard during the NCAA Tournament, especially early, the concept of this is where I would be at this moment instead of being in the present,” he said. “I realized pretty quickly into this lockdown, which began for us on March 19, that my family needs me to be present and not being mentally somewhere I cannot be.”

Yes, Nantz wonders who would’ve had their one shining moment and what unforgettable script the golf gods had in store for us at Augusta, but he’s also convinced that this too shall pass and the games we love will return.

“We’ll see them again and it will be a wonderful and glorious thing when we can,” he said. “Right now, I’m more concerned how can we get through this, how soon can we get through this and how is our world being affected? Our hearts are heavy for those who have suffered losses.”

And what will a Masters in November be like?

“I think it will be so uplifting for people,” he said. “Just having it up there on the schedule brings us hope and that’s what we need right now.”

I joked with Nantz that if he has a conflict with calling an NFL game on Nov. 15, the re-scheduled date for Sunday’s final round of the Masters, that I’d be happy to fill in.

His voice assumed the tone of a man who wished he could reach over, put me in a headlock and give me a noogie for even proposing such a preposterous thing. His response left no doubt: “I’ll be in Augusta,” he said. “Don’t you worry.”

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