Get Up Eight Times

As we lurch past the wreckage of another broadcasting craptacular on ABC and the gloomy prospect of eight more years of viewing their maudlin vaudeville, I decided to look back at a time when basketball meant more to TV executives than drawing attentions to their Sunday night lineup (what, not tired of gratuitous Eva shots yet?). Of course, I’m referring to the Golden Age of Basketball, aka the NBA on NBC years. Over the next few posts I’ll be going over the differences between how those networks covered basketball so I don’t go completely insane at the thought of Stephen A. Smith destroying my eardrums the next five years.

First, I’ve decided to take a look into the past at what the NBA on NBC did right, what they had going, what made it so great to watch. Later on I’ll go over how ABC managed to screw up all of this. Finally, I’ll examine how the NBA on ABC can vastly improve their product, drive up ratings and revenue, and slowly breathe back life into this marginalized sport.

The Roundball Rock Era (as I like to call the time the NBA spent on NBC) was the apex of the NBA, not just in terms of gameplay and physicality, but also in terms of coverage and . Here are some of the things the Showtime crew consistently nailed in getting ready for the big games.

Setting the stage. Simple enough—provide the recent history, set the platform for the teams, make the series seem like a grand championship. Not hard at all. Although I guess it’s easier for Bob Costas than that stiff Dan Patrick. Can’t even imagine what Patrick would sound like doing this. Listening to him talk during last year’s Finals was like being slowly stabbed to death by icepicks.

Speaking of Costas…

Perspective. Some people may despise Bob Costas for his sometimes holier-than thou attitude at how he discusses athletes and teams. But in terms of providing a larger context to an NBA game (especially in the playoffs), no one was better. He gave you history, provided the emotional resonance to get you pumped up for a game. It made you literally giddy to watch basketball.

By contrast, everything displayed on ESPN has to be great or terrible. LeBron is the greatest player in NBA history. No one passes the ball like Steve Nash. No one breaks people’s ankles better than Bruce Bowen. The league needs to be saved. Tim Duncan is the most charismatic player in the league because of his ability to cast spells on goblins and drink goblets of wine.

Coolness. There was a certain hipness that went with NBC’s coverage. When they used music, it was always appropriate, didn’t detract from the experience. Always got you pumped up and ready for the game at hand, made the audience feel like. Metallica? Miami Vice? The Iron Chef theme (yeah, sorry, that’s the only place I remember it from)? Not too ghetto, not too white bread.

This is unlike ABC’s disastrous music selection, whose target demographic seems to be teenage girls (Pussycat Dolls, Black Eyed Peas) and lonely housewives (Tom Petty? Rob Thomas?). I half expect Cowboy Troy to show up next year, which might simultaneously be the greatest and worst music cover ever. Keep up the demographic mishaps, ESPN. Maybe by 2010 you’ll have Carrie Underwood laying down ballads of ballers blazing by in pickup trucks. Somewhere Karl Malone is gleefully nodding.

Historical Resonance. When there isn’t anything remotely great about an NBA series or playoff, NBC didn’t mail it in like the folks at Bristol do. Somehow they managed to make the game seem even greater than it really was by providing something out of the past, harkening to the greatest matchups in NBA history to make things seem bigger than they were. Bird-Magic, Pistons-Lakers, Russell’s 11^th, Willis Reed, etc. etc.

As for ESPN…wait, there was an NBA before 1991? Really?

Honesty. Although execs could be less than pleased at Houston’s success, the team got its due from the Peacock; after all their Rocket-snubbing all season long (partly in thanks to the dip in ratings in their victory the year before), NBC finally gave them the appreciation that had rightly deserved for their clutch play (although as a Magic fan that year, this appreciation seemed more like dental surgery). Bob played it straight.

ABC (or more specifically, ESPN) always seems to be trying to find reasons to be watching, as if somehow their ridiculous lists (LeBron James will break out! He will amaze you!) will convince more people to tune in. The only honesty they show is how reluctant they are to be broadcasting basketball instead of talking about Roger Clemens’s pitch counts. And Jon Barry tossing out predictions left and right, like we ever cared about what he had to say back when he was clanging 3s for T-Mac’s benefit.

Chills:

One of the NBA on NBC’s greatest strengths was its ability to elevate great performances in the moment, or provide the right themes and history behind the current matchup. Get the right song, get the right moves, and let the performance speak for itself. And it does, boy it does.

(I’m not going to back away from the fact that NBC benefitted from MJ and the Bulls, but I’m sure they’d have found a way to make Tim Duncan exciting. Someway, somehow. ESPN just labels him boring and stays away from developing him. Whatever.)

I’ll lay off the slack on ABC for great performances–there’ve been only a few, and the level of play is more the NBA’s fault than anything (more on that later). But you know if there was a great something going on, they’d say you’d be lovin’ it with Justin Timberlake and Beyonce jiggling in the background through some fast-action cutaway highlights.

Awesome

Add in some modern cultural context, and the final product is something like this.

I think we can simplify our high-minded analysis of the best NBA on NBC intro to one word: SICK.

Next: Fixing Coverage on the Worldwide Leader, And I Don’t Mean Tim Donaghy.