I was surprised to know that one of sports' more iconic phrases has Minnesota roots, so to speak. Jim Nantz, CBS Sports' number 1 play-by-play television announcer, recently shared on a podcast the story behind two of the most iconic and now powerful words on a CBS Sports broadcast: "Hello Friends."

It All Started With Jim's Father

Jim Nantz's father lived with alzheimers for several years, and it was during this time that while Jim was visiting him in Houston, he told his dad that he was going to open up the broadcast with the phrase 'Hello Friends' while broadcasting from the 2002 U.S. Open at Halzeltine.

He told his dad that everyone was his friend and that it would be a way for his dad to know he was thinking about him. Well, that welcome was so different. Jim was asked by someone at CBS.

Get our free mobile app

The CBS employee encouraged Jim to continue to use that phrase, and he did it again on Sunday at the U.S. Open, and I guess you can say the rest is history.

A Phrase That Has Been Imitated By Many, But Never Replicated

I know a couple of guys that will open up meetings with the "Hello Friends" line, and you'll hear Tony Romo offer that up once in a while, but anyone else doing it is simply in homage to a guy that has defined sportsbroadcasting over the last 3 decades.

Several broadcasters have had catchphrases, starting back with Halsey Hall and the Minnesota Twins. Halsey coined the broadcast phrase, "Holy cow!"

Some other sports broadcasting phrases that come to mind that are distinctly Minnesotan are Dick Bremer's homerun calls that featured some semblance of the words "Up... Back... Gone!"

An honorable mention, as it wasn't a broadcast line, but Bob Casey's "No Smoking In The Metrodome" still lives rent-free in my head.

You can watch the brief reel with Jim Nantz talking about his "Hello Friends" moment below.