“Roundball Rock” is the greatest sports theme song of all-time. The former theme for NBC’s coverage of the NBA is beloved by basketball fans, even if they never got the chance to hear the song during its heyday. It’s been parodied on Saturday Night Live, was sampled on a Nelly song, and has still managed to pop up on television every now and then.
The man behind the song, John Tesh, let it be known earlier this year that ABC had the chance to use the track when it took over broadcast rights for the NBA, but decided to go in a different direction. It was an unfortunate bit of news, but on Friday, we learned that “Roundball Rock” is making a comeback.
No, ESPN isn’t suddenly going to start using the song, and no, NBA broadcast rights aren’t going anywhere. Fox Sports announced on Friday morning that it is taking the song and will use it for college hoops. Here’s the video of their version of the track, which unfortunately, does not include the lyrics “Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba basketball, gimme gimme gimme the ball, because I’m gonna dunk it.”
Keep your 👀 and 👂 open tomorrow during our @CBBONFOX tripleheader for more of this iconic @JohnTesh basketball anthem 🔊#RoundballRock pic.twitter.com/SSDHHklXMu
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) December 7, 2018
There’s no word on whether or not this is a one-time thing or if Fox Sports is doing the morally correct thing and using this as its full-time college hoops music, but we here at Dime strongly endorse the latter. We’ve reached out to Fox Sports for clarification, and we’ll be sure to let you know when we hear back.
UPDATE: Fox Sports has confirmed to Dime that “Roundball Rock” will be used during select games throughout its coverage of college basketball this season, beginning this weekend.
