{"id":51058,"date":"2025-07-31T22:25:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T22:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51058\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T22:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T22:25:18","slug":"verne-lundquist-still-cringes-over-jim-nantzs-2004-uconn-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51058\/","title":{"rendered":"Verne Lundquist still cringes over Jim Nantz’s 2004 UConn call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Verne Lundquist has never, ever scripted a call.<\/p>\n

The 86-year-old Lundquist may have read off a script for his critically acclaimed<\/a> \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d cameo, but when it came to his day job, he didn\u2019t tempt fate. During an appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast<\/a>, Lundquist told host Brandon Contes that broadcasting is a \u201creactive craft\u201d and you have to react to what\u2019s going on in front of you.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I do know some guys who will force fit something in,\u201d Lundquist said. \u201cBut, no, I never have. I\u2019ve always trusted my instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lundquist trusted his instincts when it came to calling Tiger Woods\u2019 legendary chip-in at 16 during the 2005 Masters.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I\u2019ll say this about Tiger\u2019s call. I was 65 years old. And had I been 35, without a lot of experience, I might\u2019ve totally called it differently,\u201d Verne explained. \u201cI might\u2019ve been screaming at the top of my lungs. But I had, you know, a lot of experience by then. And so, silence is the most overlooked talent a broadcaster can bring. Just shut up. I don\u2019t want to hear you talk at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t a shot at anyone in particular. Lundquist is aware that everyone in the business approaches their craft differently. But scripting out calls works for some people. Take Jim Nantz, for example. The voice of the NFL on CBS has considered calls, predetermined them, and executed them flawlessly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there have also been times when he hasn\u2019t executed them well at all, at least in Lundquist\u2019s opinion. And being that they\u2019re close, Verne can punctuate his friendship with Nantz while leaning on the fact that he hated Nantz\u2019s call of UConn winning the 2004 National Championship, particularly because he used Emeka Okafor\u2019s name as a double entendre. Well, sort of.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen UConn was winning a national championship and they had a wonderfully gifted player named Emeka Okafor,\u201d Lundquist began. \u201cThey win the NCAAs, and Jim goes off the air by saying, \u2018You must admit that UConn is a mecca for basketball. He hit the wall with that one. And he knows that I tell that story.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The best part about this is that Lundquist audibly groaned when recalling Nantz\u2019s call, and his disdain for it remains palpable two decades later.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, Jim Nantz is the greatest golf host we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Verne admitted. \u201cI so admire his ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

He just doesn\u2019t admire the scripted calls. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Verne Lundquist has never, ever scripted a call. The 86-year-old Lundquist may have read off a script for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,39391,32289,398,400,401,99,31478,39392],"class_list":{"0":"post-51058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-emeka-okafor","10":"tag-jim-nantz","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaabasketball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uconn-huskies","16":"tag-verne-lundquist"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}