Jim Nantz Always Carries A Picture Of Burnt Toast For This Simple Reason

The Masters are right around the corner, and we all know what that means: time for another Jim Nantz story.

The longtime CBS announcer and future work partner of Tony Romo is set to host the network’s Masters coverage for the 28th consecutive year. You don’t work in the business that long without picking up a few quirks along the way, and now is as good a time as any to revisit one of Nantz’s more bizarre habits.

It’s quite bizarre, too: Nantz carries a picture of burnt toast in his wallet everywhere he goes.

We know what you’re thinking: This is some grand metaphor for a time he got “burned” as a young broadcaster and came back stronger than ever. Nope. It turns out his reasoning is pretty practical, if a bit strange.

“I’m a breakfast guy: three eggs scrambled, with bacon and wheat toast, burnt,” Nantz explained in a March 2016 interview with Golf Digest. “The problem is, it never came back burnt. For years it would arrive limp and tan, which brought breakfast to a standstill when I sent the toast back. It was costing me 10 minutes a day, which, multiplied by six days a week, is four hours a month. That’s 48 hours — two full days — per year. My friends, time is currency.”

“My wife, Courtney, got tired of hearing me complain about it. She found a photograph on the internet of a kitchen toaster ejecting two slices of burnt toast. She minimized it, printed it out and had it laminated. She insisted I put it in my wallet. When I order, I present the photo to my server. I get some strange looks, but I can assure you, the toast now arrives black and scary, just the way I like it.”

There you have it: Nantz was tired of getting un-burnt toast, so he printed out a photo of burnt toast to show to future servers. You can do anything you set your mind to, kids.