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CBS' Jim Nantz Gets Emotional During Divorce Trial

10/19/2009 11:30 AM ET By Ryan Wilson

    • Ryan Wilson
    • Ryan Wilson is FanHouse's Back Porch Editor
I watched part of the Titans-Patriots game Sunday, a lopsided affair that saw Tom Brady throw six touchdowns (five in the second quarter), and Tennessee lose by 59 points. CBS, as the network usually does for its marquee NFL matchups, had Jim Nantz and Phil Simms calling the action. And aside from the on-field beatdown taking place, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Except that Nantz, just a few days before, had been in court for his divorce trial.
Nantz, the premier sportscaster for CBS television, was embroiled last week in a divorce trial in a small fifth floor Main Street courtroom with his wife of 26 years, Lorrie. And while the rules of civility and Superior Court Judge Howard Owens prevented it from becoming a knockdown, drag-out fight, there have been plenty of moments of drama. ...

Clutching a pair of reading glasses in his hands, the 50-year-old Nantz teared up at times as he described his wife's foibles that he claims led up to the breakdown of their marriage. ...

"In 2004, I got the Man of the Year award from the New York Athletic Club. Rudy Giuliani had been the previous year's winner and it really meant a lot to me," he said, his eyes welling with tears. "My mother flew in from Houston, but Lorrie wasn't there." Nantz said he was given an oil portrait of himself at the dinner, but Lorrie wouldn't let him hang it in their Westport home.. "It ended up in a warehouse,"he said.
It's hard to imagine Nantz as anything other than the "Hello, friends" guy who welcomes us to the Masters, or introduces "One Shining Moment" to conclude the NCAA Tournament coverage, or shows up alongside Simms every Sunday during the NFL season. He's always well prepared, and more than that, exceedingly nice. The cognitive dissonance is off the charts on this one; the thought of Nantz's home life being something other than the inspiration for Pleasantville is odd. But I guess that's what makes him so good at his job.

Nantz admitted that he now has a 29-year-old girlfriend, although he contended that "he only started dating his girlfriend because the marriage had died' more than 10 years ago," according to the Stamford Advocate, which ended with this:
The trial over, Lorrie Nantz stood in the lobby of the courthouse sobbing. Stepping from the elevator, her husband saw her standing there alone and walked over and put his arms around her. Together they stood, arms wrapped around each other, sobbing.
Sometimes real life sucks. Even if it might not appear that way on the surface.

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