"Roundball Rock" is a musical score composed by

John Tesh John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. He hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 2014, he has hosted ''Intelligen ...

and used for '' The NBA on NBC'' from

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

until 2002.

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

played the theme 12,000 times during their run. Tesh came up with the melody while at a hotel and called his answering machine at home to sing a preliminary version of the melody so he would not forget it. A more rock-oriented variant was introduced in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to coincide with the debut of the WNBA. That theme was also used until 2002, and on NBC's WNBA telecasts only. Since 2018, it has been used as the theme song for '' CBB on FOX''.

Appearances after 2002

When

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

took over broadcasting rights for the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) from NBC, Tesh offered them the rights to also use his theme, but they declined and chose to compose their own theme music instead. The theme is still memorable three decades later, especially because of its association with the NBA's ascendance in the 1990s. Tesh released a free MP3 version on his website to commemorate the

2008 NBA Finals The 2008 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2007–08 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics def ...

. The tune was revived for NBC's coverage of basketball at the Summer Olympics in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

as it was used in

commercial bumper In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper, or break-bumper (often shortened to bump) is a brief announcement, usually two to fifteen seconds in length that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercia ...

s and starting lineup announcements. The theme was sampled by Nelly for his song " Heart of a Champion" from his studio album, ''

Sweat Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals. Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distrib ...

'', and compilation album '' Sweatsuit''. "Roundball Rock" was also used in ''

The Boondocks Boondocks are remote, usually brushy areas. Boondocks may also refer to: * The Boondocks (band), an Estonian rock band * ''The Boondocks'' (comic strip), a comic strip by Aaron McGruder ** ''The Boondocks'' (2005 TV series), the television ser ...

'' episode " Ballin'". On April 13, 2013, ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' parodied John Tesh pitching the theme to NBC Sports executives. In this sketch, the tune featured comical lyrics sung by John's fictional brother Dave. A re-recording of the tune is used by Tesh as theme music for his

syndicated radio show Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

, as well as for the television series '' Intelligence for Your Life'' that Tesh co-hosts with his wife

Connie Sellecca Connie Sellecca (born Concetta Sellecchia; May 25, 1955) is an American actress, producer, and former model, best known for her roles on the television series '' Flying High'', ''The Greatest American Hero'', and ''Hotel'', for which she was nomi ...

. On September 17, 2017, NBC briefly played the tune heading into a commercial break during a '' Sunday Night Football'' game, over a replay of a jump shot-themed touchdown celebration by Atlanta Falcons players

Devonta Freeman Devonta Cornellius Freeman ( ; born March 15, 1992) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Florida State and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. High ...

and

Andy Levitre Andrew Steven Levitre ( ; born May 15, 1986) is a former American football offensive guard. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round, 51st overall in the 2009 NFL Draft, and has also played for the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta F ...

. On September 11, 2020,

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

played "Heart of a Champion" going into a commercial break, during Game 7 of an Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

and Boston Celtics. On April 6, 2022, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the NBA,

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broadcast the

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and New York Knicks game in a throwback-style telecast dubbed the "RetroCast", in which each quarter was shown in a different style of visuals and sounds from decades past beginning with the 1960s. The tune played in the fourth quarter, which focused on the 1990s, during commercial breaks and timeouts. In December 2022 the song was used for promotion for

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, ...

(AEW)'s

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television special after AEW secured the rights to the song. AEW president

Tony Khan Antony Rafiq Khan (born October 10, 1982) is an American businessman, promoter, and sports executive. He is known for his involvement in American football, professional wrestling and soccer. He is best known as the founder and co-owner of All E ...

was reported to be a major fan of the theme.

Usage by Fox Sports

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

announced in December 2018 that it had acquired the rights to "Roundball Rock", which it will play for '' CBB on FOX''. ''CBB on FS1'' had used their old theme (a "marching band" variant of the '' NFL on FOX'' theme), the same one as ''CFB on FOX/FS1'', but switched to this theme for the 2019-20 college basketball season.

References

External links

Roundball Rock
on teshmedia.com * {{Authority control Sports television theme songs Basketball on NBC 1990 songs

Appearances after 2002

Usage by Fox Sports

See also

References

Further reading

External links