Jim Nantz Is in Midst of Crazy 9-Week Stretch, Even Without the Peyton Manning Speculation

Jim Nantz is in the midst of a demanding nine-week stretch that will see him call the Super Bowl, the Final Four and the Masters. All three pulse with specific and tangible energy.

But what about the 12:15 p.m. opener of an NCAA Tournament quadruple-header where indifferent fans and empty seats attack the host’s atmosphere like a virus. How does one bring gravitas and enthusiasm to that moment?

“One thing that’s a little bit of a hard thing to adjust to is that college basketball is about energy and about excitement,” Nantz says. He’ll embark on his 31st NCAA Tournament behind the microphone next week after calling the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis this weekend. “It’s about the pulsating vibe in the stands. You get to the tournament and it’s like, in early games in particular, a studio game. It’s like they’re playing over at the broadcast center and we’ve set up cameras and baskets because sometimes it’s just this vacuous backdrop. I’ve done it a lot of years. I really don’t think I change my approach to doing the games. The stories, to me, are paramount in what I observe and what I see and where this fits in this giant puzzle known as The Road to the Final Four. There’s enough there for me to fixate on.”

Such a perfect three-sport storm happens every three years for the 56-year-old. This go-around, however, will undoubtedly be unique with the added factor of a newborn. He and wife Courtney welcomed son Jameson on Feb. 4.

“I’m ready to peak,” Nantz says. “I’m really ready for these 23 days starting on Saturday, 15 games in 23 days, that’s a lot of preparation which I relish. That’s a lot of travel, that’s a lot of energy. I’m really looking forward to it again.”

He has a one-word answer for how much sleep he’s been getting recently.

“Enough.”

“The rest thing is big, I’m not going to lie,” he continues. We came off of football — and I have to be so careful because it’s such a blessing to do these games and there are people working other jobs that are significantly more difficult than what I’m doing sitting courtside calling a basketball or football game. Having said that, spending the football season doing Thursdays and Sundays and then getting to the epic 50th Super Bowl for [my] 30th football game of the year, which is an all-time record, I needed a little bit of a chance to get fresh.”

Nantz’s place in rarefied play-by-play air does not come without its own cavalcade of detractors. He’s been accused of being too free with sanctimonious commentary and coming off as elitist. A certain Sports Guy finds the combination of he and Phil Simms especially grating. The negative voices were perhaps never louder than in the last few months, when he’s been perceived by many as giving Peyton Manning a free pass on the Al-Jazeera’s HGH story.

Nantz addressed the situation during an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch at length back in January. He declined to comment on Manning’s alleged sexual assault incident while at Tennessee outside of saying he’s reading a wide array of sources on the the topic, from Shaun King to Robert Klemko to Clay Travis.

The Manning-Nantz relationship is subjected to more scrutiny than most involving broadcasters and players– rightly so due to their shared agent, Sandy Montag. They’ve also appeared in Papa John’s commercials together. Such an off-the-field connection opened up another layer for skepticism regarding Nantz’s reticence to paint Manning in a negative light. The perceived conflict of interest doesn’t require a long walk. Whether it played out in the real world is open to interpretation.

When you meet Nantz, it’s impossible to ignore his engaging and charismatic persona. His words come quick–but are carefully selected. He radiates traditional Presidential qualities. It’s tough to gauge if it’s all genuine. It’s easier to see several coats of polish on everything he says and does.

It may come as a surprise to some that he didn’t see any of the Manning’s retirement coverage on Monday due to meetings. He insists he doesn’t have an inside track on handicapping the future Hall of Fame quarterback’s next career move.

“That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it,” he says. “I really don’t know. I truly have no insight on that. The two things you always hear: maybe he gets involved in some sort of executive position with a chance to own down the road — the Elway model – where he just had a front-row seat to witness it or maybe he goes into broadcasting. I don’t know.”

“I wish him well. Nothing in Peyton’s world happens accidentally. He thinks through so I’m sure he’s giving a lot of thought.”

Speculation about Manning’s post-playing career has been rampant. He seems a natural fit to transition to the booth. His camp has made it clear that he prefers this option to studio work.

The most logical network for his next chapter would seem to be CBS with its AFC rights. Such a splashy acquisition would require a suitable platform. One doesn’t bring a shiny new tractor to the second-biggest tractor pull in town. Assigning Manning to anything other than the No. 1 team would take some of the pizzazz out of the whole deal.

If Manning does eventually land at CBS in a broadcasting role, he’ll find himself in a similar situation as the one Grant Hill, an admitted television neophyte, faced last March.

“I was a rookie last year,” Hill says. “I was a rookie as a broadcaster. People don’t realize that at this time last year I only had four or five games under my belt as a broadcaster. One college and four pro games. I had a lot of growing to do.”

The former Duke star and current Turner analyst will join Nantz, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson on coverage of the NCAA Tournament, including the Final Four airing on TBS. He comes in armed with the experience of last year, when he replaced Greg Anthony in early February after Anthony’s suspension.

“I feel like I have grown as a broadcaster — in part from this experience last year. The volume of games in a short period of time. I had Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery — who I call great teachers like Coach K and Tom Izzo. I feel better. There’s still a nervousness, especially as we get close to the games. I think that’s common. It’s a nervous excitement energy, similar to the kind you get when you play. I think that will always be there.”

If Manning wants to follow Hill’s blueprint and land a place next to Nantz at the broadcast table, he’ll come in with similar traits.

They are both quick learners. The both were attuned to the media side of sports while playing.

Speaking generally, Nantz cautions the public not to make snap judgement about announcers while working off a small sample size. He wonders aloud if John Madden was exceptional during his first few games. It’s also fair to suggest he made people forget any growing pains with decades of memorable coverage.

But that doesn’t come easy.

“I got a lot of joy out of the grind,” Hill says of his first year cramming for upcoming broadcasts like a college student during exam week. “I got a lot of joy out of gathering information and scrambling. Look, obviously, I’m primarily in the NBA and a lot of the guys [working tournament games] are too. So I don’t live the college game much. I keep up with it. Some of the folks here do and I think that’s great. Because of that we have diversity of perspective. But I really want to do this tournament justice. It’s sacred and you have to be prepared.”

Preparation is also a talking point for Nantz, who has seen players become colleagues in his three decades of covering the event.

“I have enough years of experience,” he says. “This is my 31st ‘Road to the Final Four.’ They guys that I was covering in my first tournament are now in their fifties. I covered Grant Hill for four years. It’s going to sound self-serving, but it’s amazing how many times the kids come back and thank you for taking the time to get to know who they are. It’s not about averaging 12 points and six rebounds. Numbers put me to sleep. I never deal on stats. I deal on stories.”

And there we get the answer to how one makes a 2-seed vs. 15-seed in the opening day of the NCAA Tournament seem like the Super Bowl. Nantz rightly points out that there are always stories.

This one is simple.

For one of the teams playing, it is their Super Bowl.

“That’s something that I am totally, totally dialed into,” he says. “When you’ve got a 15 against a 2 then you know you have the next game, too. You have the winner playing in the next game. Last year I had Robert Morris against Duke. For Robert Morris, that’s their moment. That’s a tape that those kids are going to pop in and show their grandkids. These are kids, they are not professionals. I want to do them justice. I am entrusted to tell the story. I’ve been given that responsibility to tell the story.”

[Images via USAT]