NBC Bringing Back The Vintage Bob Costas Monologue Intro For Their NBA Coverage Is Yet Another Homerun Idea

Andy Hayt. Getty Images.

As I've blogged before, everything about the NBA on NBC has been a homerun to start the NBA season. The presentation, the production, the broadcasts, all of it has been everything I was hoping it would be and more. I even got over my boomer annoyance of having to download Peacock last night just to watch those games, and maybe I'm alone here but there's something about listening to Ian Eagle call games on NBC that makes me think of the Olympics back when he was the play by play guy for those games, which I also enjoyed.

But if there was one thing that I thought was missing with the return of the NBA on NBC, it was the Bob Costas monologue leading into a game. Anyone who was around in the 90s knows what I'm talking about. It's part of what made everything feel like such an event, even if it was just a random regular season game.

Well, what if I told you NBC has also brought that back as well

Listen, I don't want it to come off like I'm going all Heather Brooke on NBC right now, but I nearly passed out after watching that promo. It was like an overdose of nostalgia directly to my brain. For any younger stoolies who weren't around for this kind of thing in the 90s, now maybe you understand why we older folks are so pants off about this whole thing. That monologue was EVERYTHING to a basketball fan 30 years ago.

I mean just look at this shit!

Last summer, Costas himself spoke about these monologues/intros, and he couldn't have been more right

Dick (Ebersol) brought a storytelling perspective to almost everything,” Costas explained. “The idea was to take an already good product and amplify everything that was appealing about it and to tell stories in dramatic ways. I think what exemplified that was the opening not to every game but to the biggest games. We had this sort of dramatic opening that was the signature of the coverage of the NBA on NBC.

To frame the league in the most dramatic fashion, to make stars out of not just Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson … but everybody, that whole constellation of stars around the biggest star, Michael Jordan,” Costas said of NBC’s approach. “We did that effectively with everything we covered: the Olympics, baseball, the NFL. But I think maybe basketball, in its own way, was the signature property for that kind of approach.

It was to be dramatic without being cliche, without being over the top,” Costas told host Bryan Curtis. “The producers did such a great job of the cuts, the way the thing was edited, the music that would accompany it. I think it was an amplification of the drama, the legitimate drama, the legitimate stakes, the legitimate narrative. It was an amplification of that, and I can’t tell you how many people have told me over the years, I’m sure it’s thousands by now, ‘those openings gave me goosebumps

Let me ask you this. Is that not what you felt watching that promo for the Knicks/Bucks game tonight? This is an early season game that, in the grand scheme of the season, may not mean much. But watching that promo and hearing Costas' monologue, it feels different. It feels like a big deal. You had storytelling, you had a history of the rivalry, you had anticipation, just like we were back in the 90s. 

I said it the other day, but between how incredible both NBC and Amazon have been to start their new NBA coverage, ESPN better keep their head on a goddamn swivel. Not only is real basketball talk back, but we're also getting the FULL 90s experience from NBC, which for my money, has always been the best NBA coverage in existence. Something tells me Stephen A screaming at me through my television about some bullshit isn't going to cut it any longer.