Jim Nantz

The Masters is poetry to me.

My father was very athletic. He was a life-of-the-party kind of guy - walked into the room and there was a presence about him. He was a great storyteller, just a terrific sense of humor. Having said that, he never put all of those talents or abilities into some public arena. He was never interviewed, never on television. His family was everything.

Someone pointed out that Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy are the only two ever to call a Super Bowl and a Final Four. So I'll be the third. I get a kick out of putting my name in the same sentence as those other two giants.

If you want to say that I am vanilla, then I can give you a long list of broadcasting giants who fall into that same category because all of them always had the same goal that is my goal to this day: It is not about me.

I have always been true to the people who have influenced me as a young boy.

If there is only one event you could work the rest of your life, it would be Augusta.

The job I wanted before I was in college was to work for CBS.

I wake up every day and give my thanks.

I live every day the job that I dreamed of as a boy.

I just enjoy seeing people break through those ceilings when people press them down and say, 'He can't do this or that.' It's always fun to document those types of stories when someone breaks through.

When I tell people that I get interviewed five or six times more than I will interview players or coaches leading up to the game that comes as a surprise. That's part of it and it just goes with being part of a Super Bowl broadcast team. I enjoy it.

I see so many people in our industry, in my own network, who throw little tantrums about things that they can't control.

Any time you factor in the enthusiasm that comes with college sports, it comes with a whole new level. It is less corporate, it's more of an unharnessed kidlike enthusiasm.

My father is truly always by my side.

The Masters runs deep in my heart; it's a love affair that I've had since I was a little boy with that tournament, that club.

The Super Bowl is the biggest event in America, the biggest event in television. The preparation and all of the behind-the-scenes detail is immense. The Final Four is just a fraction behind that in terms of the preparation.

Chemistry's a word that people who make hires and decisions say, 'Hey, you guys go out and work on your chemistry!'

I can't imagine anybody who showed up at Firestone for the first time who felt like they knew it better than I did. For me to travel to Akron the first time, 'Oh, my gosh, I can't wait, I know every hole on this golf course. I know the big water tower with the Firestone ball on top, I grew up with this. Here it is! It's real!'

I got to live through the Tiger Woods era and who knows who's still to come.

I don't want anything to disrupt my routine or make people uncomfortable in meetings during the NCAA Tournament or leading up to the Super Bowl.

I like parades.

You know, my father used to look at people and he treated everyone with such respect, and he always believed that he would rather trust you face on and be disappointed perhaps down the road, be disappointed some of the time rather than never to trust someone, never to believe in someone, and alas, be disappointed all the time.

I treasure all my friendships.

I'm not an agate type ESPN Sports Center highlight, in-your-face kind of a sports fan.

I was raised in just about as perfect a home environment as you could ever imagine.

I used to write letters to Jim McKay in college. 'Wide World of Sports' was this travelogue, really, that introduced us to sports and it introduced us to parts of the world that we had never seen before. And no one was a bigger tour guide than Mr. McKay.

To me, I'm a storyteller.

I love what I do. Every show is it's own challenge and I love it.

I would like to work 50 Masters Tournaments.

I wanted to work for CBS because I loved the way CBS broadcast the Masters and I loved the way CBS presented the NFL. I loved the voices I heard.

No matter the event, a Super Bowl, an NFL game, a rank-and-file golf tournament, there is a demand when you are live and exposed to try to get it right and do justice to the event. That's the way I have always approached it.

I never practice calls. Everything you hear is reactionary. The way I look at it is that broadcasters are just paid observers, just there to tell you what we see.

I actually went to the first game in Saints history. We were living in New Orleans at the time. I was eight. They opened against the L.A. Rams in 1976. I went with my dad, and we bought standing-room only seats at Tulane Stadium. We actually sat in the aisle.

I have a pretty good memory.

I have, compartmentalized in my head, one file for the NFL, one for college basketball and one for golf. They contain everything I've ever read, watched and learned.

Super Bowl V was the Colts against the Cowboys and Jim O'Brien kicked a 32 yard field goal to beat the Cowboys. I was traumatized by it. Everyone at school knew I was the only Cowboy fan in the area. I didn't want to go to school and I begged and pleaded with my parents. Those are indelible memories when you are a kid.

I loved Tom Landry and Roger Staubach.

The Masters is always at the front and center of my mind, and not because I'm the only one thinking about it. Other people associate me with this great event, and that's an honor.

I want Alzheimer's. I want Lou Gehrig's disease. I want Parkinson's. I want Huntington's. I want to be the face and voice of all these neurological traumas. I want them all.

I love stone crabs. And I love popcorn.

I'm loyal to CBS. They have been loyal to me.

I love being a part of CBS.

I could care less about identifying who the MVP is in a championship game.

I think when you have a National Championship Game, a Super Bowl, a Final Four, a World Series, I don't see why there is any reason to pick out one individual as the MVP because it is about a team winning a championship. Maybe that best explains what I believe in at the core in my work as a broadcaster.

People think I can just walk out and shoot 75 without taking a warm-up shot. But believe me, it's not that easy.

I think I shot 78 one time. My golf game is so overrated.

People think I can really play golf, but it's actually been almost an albatross for me. I really struggle not only to break 80, but sometimes to break 90.

Every little crazy dream that I had has come true, and more. And I'm always mindful that this is not a birthright, that one day I would have the chance to come to Augusta every year. Just a crazy, really, almost obsession for me.

I had first-hand experience watching my father's health decline over the stretch of 13 years.

As my father went through a really, really long and dark period of his health declining and falling deeper into the abyss, I knew I was never going to let my family and my children experience this without any long-term care.