Jim Nantz’s Always By My Side: A Father’s Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other, written with Eli Spielman, takes the reader on a compelling journey. Part autobiography, part reminiscence, Always By My Side was inspired by CBS commentator Nantz’s 2007 broadcast triple play of calling three of sports’ grandest events–the Super Bowl, the Final Four and the Masters–in a 63-day period. The sweetness of that triumph was tempered by the fact that his father and namesake was succumbing to Alzheimer’s and could not share or even know of his son’s success. But Nantz discovered a truth that resonated throughout his life: no matter what the circumstance, his father was "always by his side." Moving and easily readable, Nantz’s story offers inside moments that will delight sports fans, while touching the heart of anyone who has watched a loved one slip into the deep fog of Alzheimer’s.
(This review was originally published in June 2008.)
