1. During Saturday’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby, NBC officially announced that “Roundball Rock” would return as the NBA on NBC’s theme song when the network begins airing NBA games again in the 2025-26 season.

The high-intensity instrumental was NBC’s theme song from 1990 to 2002.

The composer of “Roundball Rock” John Tesh, joined me on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina to talk about the massive popularity of the song, being back in business with NBC and how the song came about way back in 1989.

“You talk about humbling,” Tesh says, “I’ve written hundreds of songs, and people just latched onto that.”

Tesh is well aware that “Roundball Rock” actually became more popular after NBC lost the rights to the NBA to ABC/ESPN and the theme song disappeared from the lives of basketball fans.

“When I turned it in in 1989, it was just another theme,” Tesh says. “And even when it was playing all those years during the ‘Showtime Era,’ it was just another theme. People weren’t going crazy for it. It was just like, ‘Oh, here comes basketball.’

“And then all of a sudden, Saturday Night Live [in 2013] comes along and does their bit, and people, of course, always are comparing what’s happening now to the ‘good old days,’ and then the theme comes back around.

“It has literally, and this is a hackneyed phrase, taken on a life of its own, and so I’m just here for the ride, if you will.”

Amazingly, Tesh almost made the misstep of tinkering with the original song, but quickly reversed course after social media backlash.

“The thing that was odd for me early on, when I made an announcement back in August that we were going to Nashville to record a different version of the song, I got pounded on by people who just said, ‘No we just want the original version. Don’t mess with this, dude.’”

Tesh also revealed during the interview that his deal to license “Roundball Rock” to NBC is for all 11 years of NBC’s new television contract with the league.

In addition to talking about “Roundball Rock”, Tesh also reminisced about his 10-year run as host of Entertainment Tonight, becoming a local television reporter for CBS’s New York affiliate at just 22 years old and dating Oprah Winfrey in the 1970s.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

2. I despise it when people aren’t respectful of service workers. I abhor it when people aren’t nice to service workers. I get disgusted any time someone doesn’t treat a service worker properly.

Having said all that, I did laugh out loud when I saw this video from last night’s wild comeback win from the New York Knicks over the Boston Celtics.

I was clearly in a good mood after the Knicks’ stunning win because I also laughed at this line from Shaq.

And this was how the final seconds sounded (and looked) on the Knicks local radio outlet.

3. Here are some eye-opening stats from this year’s bonkers NBA playoffs.

4. SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, who prides himself on never cursing during his show, was so mad about Sovereignty not running in the Preakness, that he dropped an F-bomb on Wednesday’s show. He caught himself on the “ing” part of the F-bomb, but the damage was done.

5. Another day, another, You’ve never seen this before moment in Major League Baseball.

6. AppleTV+ released the trailer for its upcoming comedy series, Stick, which centers around golf and features a solid cast.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This is my new favorite Instagram account. It’s so simple, yet so effective. The husband starts taking selfie videos, unbeknown to his wife, in hopes of becoming an influencer. The wife reacts to the husband and it’s perfection every time.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as John Tesh Talks Return of ‘Roundball Rock’ to NBC’s NBA Coverage.

Test hyperlink for boilerplate