Someday ... At Least That's Johnson's Dream

Just hours before the tip of the men's college basketball championship game, with Jim Nantz set to call the action as usual for CBS Sports, the man some consider Nantz's heir apparent (or even a sooner-than-that successor for the lead play-by-play position) admitted working the Final Four was his dream job.

Gus Johnson, annually the subject of what seems to be Gus Johnson Appreciation Month during the NCAA Tournament, told the "Scott Van Pelt Show" on ESPN Radio that he would love the gig.

When asked about his dream job on the radio show, Johnson did not hesitate.

"It would be the Final Four, national championship game," he said. "That's what I think I'm built for. That would be it for me."

Some fellow media members and an unrelenting cadre of supporters online regularly champion Johnson's emotional approach to calling games during the NCAA Tournament -- and he does bring an added life to those seemingly always tight games. He sounds like a fan, albeit a talented and well-informed fan, when describing game action. People like that.

In some ways, he's a perfect fit for the tournament.

In other ways, he's a perfect fit for the portion of the tournament he works -- because Nantz does the big event quite well.

He's more subdued, and at his worst he can be preachy, but he does bring the championship an air of dignity and importance. Maybe that's just another whitewash job that CBS and the NCAA appreciate, a falsehood perpetuated on fans, but Nantz does his job well.

Unless Turner Sports wants to make a change when it begins broadcasting the Final Four in alternating years as part of the 2016 tournament, it seems unlikely Nantz will lose his seat -- nor should he -- any time soon.

March appropriately remains Gus Johnson Appreciation Month, so people can experience and enjoy a bit more emotion than usual on a game broadcast. However, picking the right times to tone that down should be a required skill as well -- and that might be one criticism of Johnson's work.

So, we move from Johnson's month to an annual fortnight with Nantz as the lead voice of major sporting events in the United States. That includes the Final Four and extends this weekend through the Masters ("A tradition unlike any other," as Nantz and the CBS will repeatedly remind us). And that's not a bad thing.