CBS Sports lead play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz concluded his illustrious run of NCAA Tournament broadcasts with last night’s National Championship Game, and many took time to reflect on his accomplishments, including WFAN’s Boomer Esiason.
During Boomer & Gio Tuesday, the show discussed the UConn victory over San Diego State, and the topic of Nantz’s departure came up.
As the show played Nantz’s final moments on the broadcast, assembled members began to mockingly laugh as Nantz said “thank you for being my friend”, which he insisted was not a play on his traditional greeting of “Hello, friends” at the start of each broadcast.
“You guys are awful,” Boomer Esiason said. “The guy’s been around for 37 years doing this!”
“Yes, and he’ll be there this week at Augusta National,” replied update anchor Jerry Recco, noting Nantz wasn’t retiring but simply leaving CBS Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Tournament.
“It will be a different set of emotions. I’ve been here for 16 years. He’s been doing that for 37 years,” Esiason added. “It’s incredible.”
Producers then played a portion of The Golden Girls theme song — “Thank You For Being A Friend” — in sync with Nantz’s goodbye message.
“The ‘thank you for being my friend’ was a bit much,” co-host Gregg Giannotti joked.
Esiason also took the time to note that should Ian Eagle — the broadcaster who will replace Nantz as the lead play-by-play voice of the tournament for CBS Sports — wish to broadcast the event until he is 84 years old, he will still only have 30 tournaments under his belt compared to Nantz’s 37.
