"Roundball Rock" is a theme song composed by John Tesh

John Tesh

John Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...

 and used for The NBA on NBC from 1990

1990-91 NBA season

-Statistics leaders:-NBA awards:*Most Valuable Player: Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls*Rookie of the Year: Derrick Coleman, New Jersey Nets*Defensive Player of the Year: Dennis Rodman, Detroit Pistons...

-2002

2001-02 NBA season

-Statistics leaders:-Yearly awards:*Most Valuable Player: Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs*Rookie of the Year: Pau Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies*Defensive Player of the Year: Ben Wallace, Detroit Pistons...

. NBC played the song 12,000 times during their run. Tesh came up with the melody while at a hotel and called his answering machine at home to play a preliminary version of the melody so he would not forget it.

When ABC took over broadcasting rights for the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

, they chose to compose their own theme music instead.

The song was revived in two ways in 2008, with NBC using the music for commercial bumper

Commercial bumper

In broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper or break-bumper is a brief announcement, usually two to 15 seconds that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercial break, and vice versa...

s during their coverage of basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Basketball contests at the 2008 Olympic Games were held from August 9, 2008 to August 24, 2008. Competitions were held at the Wukesong Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China...

 that featured NBA players and Tesh releasing a free MP3 version on his website to commemorate the 2008 NBA Finals. This song was sampled by Nelly

Nelly

Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...

 for his song "Heart of a Champion" from his studio album, Sweat, and compilation album Sweatsuit

Sweatsuit (album)

Sweatsuit is a compilation album by American rapper Nelly, released on November 22, 2005. The album consisting of tracks from the 2004 albums Sweat and Suit...

. "Roundball Rock" was also used in the Boondocks

The Boondocks (TV series)

The Boondocks is an American animated series created by Aaron McGruder on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim, based on McGruder's comic strip of the same name...

episode "Ballin'

Ballin' (The Boondocks)

"Ballin" is the eighth episode of the second season of the Adult Swim animated television series The Boondocks and the twenty-third episode overall...

".

With Versus

Versus (TV channel)

Versus is a sports-oriented cable television channel in the United States. It was previously known as Outdoor Life Network and was launched on July 1, 1995, focusing on fishing, hunting, and other outdoor sports...

 now part of the NBC Sports Group, becoming NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2, 2012, and holding rights to the NBA D-League, it is also widely considered that NBC may take the theme with them for the 2011-12 season should Versus renew its deal.

A variation of the tune is used by Tesh as theme music for his syndicated radio show.

External links

• Roundball Rock on teshmedia.com