Masters over, Jim Nantz tees off on Tiger
By LARRY HARTSTEIN
Cox Newspapers
April 14, 2010, 2:52PM
ATLANTA — This wasn't the Jim Nantz you hear on Masters telecasts.
That Nantz — the soothing, restrained voice full of deference to the majesty of Augusta National — termed Tiger Woods' outburst early in Saturday's round “disappointing.”
But CBS's lead golf announcer went much further in a radio interview Monday.
“If I said what he said on the air, I would be fired,” Nantz, told Mike Francesa on New York's WFAN. “I read in the USA Today and it was called ‘mild language.' Someone on my broadcast dismissed it as him having a camera in his face.
“Well, guess what? Phil Mickelson had a camera in his face all week and did you even hear him come close to approaching that? He didn't hit every shot the way he wanted. Have you ever heard Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus use that kind of language? What are the parameters between what's right or wrong?”
While Nantz said his forgiving side salutes Woods for trying to improve his on-course behavior, he called Woods' expletive-laced reaction to his 6th-hole tee shot “a bit jarring.”
“How about the father and son who are standing right there by the tee?” Nantz said. “How about the hundreds of people who are around that tee who hear that? How about the hundreds of letters I've gotten through the years from people who have been outraged at the language they've heard there and have written me and said, ‘Why don't you guys ever say something about that?'”
Nantz continued: “People can say, ‘Oh, but that's Tiger, that's his competitive fire.' Everybody on the leaderboard, you don't think they want a victory as much as he does?
“You don't think they have the same kind of internal anger? But they have some sort of self-control where they're able to not make a fool of themselves in those situations. You think Phil Mickelson has never hit a shot off-line?”
By LARRY HARTSTEIN
Cox Newspapers
April 14, 2010, 2:52PM
ATLANTA — This wasn't the Jim Nantz you hear on Masters telecasts.
That Nantz — the soothing, restrained voice full of deference to the majesty of Augusta National — termed Tiger Woods' outburst early in Saturday's round “disappointing.”
But CBS's lead golf announcer went much further in a radio interview Monday.
“If I said what he said on the air, I would be fired,” Nantz, told Mike Francesa on New York's WFAN. “I read in the USA Today and it was called ‘mild language.' Someone on my broadcast dismissed it as him having a camera in his face.
“Well, guess what? Phil Mickelson had a camera in his face all week and did you even hear him come close to approaching that? He didn't hit every shot the way he wanted. Have you ever heard Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus use that kind of language? What are the parameters between what's right or wrong?”
While Nantz said his forgiving side salutes Woods for trying to improve his on-course behavior, he called Woods' expletive-laced reaction to his 6th-hole tee shot “a bit jarring.”
“How about the father and son who are standing right there by the tee?” Nantz said. “How about the hundreds of people who are around that tee who hear that? How about the hundreds of letters I've gotten through the years from people who have been outraged at the language they've heard there and have written me and said, ‘Why don't you guys ever say something about that?'”
Nantz continued: “People can say, ‘Oh, but that's Tiger, that's his competitive fire.' Everybody on the leaderboard, you don't think they want a victory as much as he does?
“You don't think they have the same kind of internal anger? But they have some sort of self-control where they're able to not make a fool of themselves in those situations. You think Phil Mickelson has never hit a shot off-line?”
@)
hno: ITS THESE F-CKING HACKERS WHO SUCK SWEARING AND THROWING CLUBS THEY ARE THE ONES WHO BOTHER ME .
