CBS' Jim Nantz Takes Tiger Woods to Task for His "Course" Language

You knew the national networks couldn't make it all the way through their coverage without saying something. You had to know that they couldn't stay quiet for the entire four rounds, right?

Tiger Woods was making his return after a long break that saw him get dragged through the mud, a car crash on Thanksgiving night, one woman after another came forward to say they slept with Tiger, and explicit texts messages released from a jealous porn star. You knew they had to slip at some point.

Leave it to long time CBS analyst Jim Nantz to be the one to speak up and take his own shots at Tiger. Come on, it was going to happen at some point and who better than Jim Nantz who's used to talking and for no other reason than he likes to hear himself talk.

Nantz went on WFAN on Monday and talked to Mike Francesa about the Masters and was asked about Tiger Woods. While Nantz kept quiet during the Masters, he didn't pull any punches this time around.

When asked about Tiger Woods' outbursts after a few of his errant shots Nantz said, "If I said what he said on the air, I would be fired. 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?"

Just imagine both Jim Nantz and Tiger Woods in a boxing ring. If you have that vision in your mind, just imagine Tiger getting three jabs and an upper cut in the very first round and is already on his heels.

If you thought Nantz was done, you thought wrong. Nantz cocked back and attempted his knockout punch.

"How about the father and son who are standing right there by the tee? 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?’ "

If that was Nantz's knockout punch that sent Tiger Woods to the mat, Nantz decided to go MMA on Woods, tossed off the gloves and decided to hit him while he was down.

While Tiger did have a few outbursts on the course, apparently I missed all but one or two; did Jim Nantz or anyone else think he wasn't going to be the least bit emotional on the course?

Is there a reason that this is just now coming up? Have we not heard outbursts like this from Tiger in the past or is Jim just bringing it up now because he wants to look like a hero to those watching CBS and any other golf tournaments from here until he retires?

While I don't disagree with Jim's thoughts or opinions of Tiger's outbursts in front of the galleries at Augusta, I'm just curious of the timing of Mr. Nantz's comments. Can someone name all of the golf tournaments that Jim Nantz has done and how many of those that Tiger has appeared?

Jim, it's not the fact that you made the comments; it's the fact that it looks to me as if you've never heard Tiger make outbursts like this in his career. I know Tiger said he was going to respect the game more than he has in the past but knowing how competitive he is, I'm not sure why you're so shocked after this many years of watching him.

I don't know when we'll see Tiger Woods again but when we do, Nantz can't expect anything to change. He's been this way for a while and it's not shocking to those of us that have followed his career.

It doesn't make it right, but it shouldn't be surprising either.