Jim Nantz Still Plays Fantasy Football

You rarely hear about broadcasters playing fantasy sports, but there are a few that are willing to share their thoughts with you. One of those people is Jim Nantz, and the CBS announcer even attributes the game to helping him in his play-by-play role. Via NFL.com....

Fabiano: So was your friend right in that playing fantasy football helped you become a more knowledgeable sportscaster?

Nantz: Well, it's certainly opened up a whole new perspective on the NFL for me. It's really been a great way to find out even more about players around the league. And my participation in fantasy sports has grown since that first league back in 2001. When Jay Glazer, who used to work for us at CBS, told me about this young kid named Fabiano who wanted to start a flagship fantasy football league, I was really open to the idea. That became the Gridiron Guru League, which I won in the inaugural year.

Fabiano: What do you attribute to your fantasy success?

Nantz: It took me a season to understand how to compete and how to build a team, how to watch the waiver wire. I also monitor player trends. It might just start out with two carries in a week, but maybe the next week a running back gets four carries and his long run is 18 yards. That must have gotten the coaches' attention. I'm looking for a trend that shows me a player could be a few weeks away from seeing a more prominent role at his position. I've seen it happen where a player is trending on seeing more playing time. I'm not talking about just one week when a back rushes for 96 yards on 21 carries, because everyone can see that. I've been in three leagues and I've won each league at least once. I think that watching these trends has really helped me take home a few titles.

I never really thought about it helping broadcasters, but honestly think how much better Joe Morgan would be if he played Fantasy Baseball. He would actually know that there was a team in San Diego, and might even know some of the players!

Nantz is not only the voice of CBS Sports, he's also a fantasy fan (NFL.com)