Sports Publications

Reflecting on NBA 2003

Sporting News, The, May 13, 2002 by Fritz Quindt

It's May 13, 2003--time to look back on Year 1 of the NBA's brave new TV world. It was an improvement over 2002, but it took some getting used to.

Scheduling was the big change after a decade of status quo. The NBA is playing on five channels, four of them on cable (that's why David Stern bought TV Guide). ESPN replaced NBC as the prime carrier, with games on Wednesdays and Fridays; ABC showed some Sunday games; TNT, Thursday doubleheaders; plus there were Sunday-Monday-Tuesday exposures on the NBA/AOL Time Warner channel, winch never made it to my cable system, so the expected glut of games never occurred.

Not even in the best-of-seven first-round playoffs. All those channels doomed tripleheaders and four-day layoffs, still, the '03 first round took as long as '02's, which ran 16 days, just like the Olympics; same ol' song. Speaking of music: ESPN killed John Tesh's NBC theme for one by John Colby, who wrote SportsC2mer's da-da-da! da-da-da! Backed by Disney promotion, "Bricked Free Throw Boogie" topped Billboard and Muzak charts.

In ESPN's studio, John Saunders-Mike Tirico was an upgrade over the Hannah Storm-Ahmad Rashad platoon (the NBA kept Rashad on Inside Stuff). Tom Tolbert continued his rise--he wouldn't be on TV if Jayson Williams didn't own a shotgun--when Magic Johnson, a guest for the 2002 playoffs, excused himself to become a mayor. Still, no formula could touch TNT's Inside the NBA, which displaced The Osbournes as cable's highest-rated series.

Bully for ESPN for refusing to recycle analysts. Instead of Hubie Brown or Doug Collins (who forsook coaching the nanosecond Michael Jordan re-retired), The Worldwide Leader took a flier on Brad Daugherty, who won a rookie-of-the-year Emmy. Fred Carter was as refreshing and surprising as today's $1-a-gallon gasoline.

But ESPN/ABC had to import Bill Walton. His enthusiasm was genuine and eternal, and he didn't need Steve Jones as a safety net. But who knew Waltonmania would be bigger than Spidermania? Or that he'd wear the same "Love It Live" tie-dyed T-shirt for 370 days? Febreze, please.

At press time, no one knew who'd be Voice of the Finals on ABC. We assumed Al Michaels, but he didn't want to add to his workload any more than Bob Costas. It ought to be Mary Albert, but exclusivity clauses in his TNT contract keep him off ESPN. So it'll be Brant Musburger, already on Disney's payroll. Or Gary Bender, Pat Summerall or some other play-by-play blast from the NBNs past.