It’s rare for a sports theme song to become part of the culture, but the moment the first notes of Roundball Rock hit, I’m transported back in time to the 1990s on the couch with my family, waiting for Jordan, Shaq, Barkley, and Ewing to break the rules of gravity.
The song was the overture for the NBA from 1990 to 2002. It set the tone as Marv Albert let us in on the earth-shattering game that was about to unfold right in front of our faces. That’s how powerful this theme became. Without it, it feels like watching an old episode of Cheers without “Where Everybody Knows Your Name.” You need it. It sets the scene.
For many years now, though, Roundball Rock was riding the bench as the TV rights to the NBA moved from NBC to TNT. That all changes this year, and the composer of that theme is back with brand-new tracks to motivate and inspire you to keep going and win!
To my generation, John Tesh was the host of Entertainment Tonight, the coolest guy in the room who your Mom clearly had a crush on. The connection between the TV host and the music of our basketball memories didn’t mesh for many of us until the rise of YouTube. A clip from his Live at Red Rocks (1995) concert went viral — the now-legendary moment where he explains leaving himself a voicemail with the melody, before tearing through the song to a packed house. A whole new wave of fans discovered the truth. That guy wrote Roundball Rock?! And that song has a title?!
John put it plainly: “The song is 35 years old. Saturday Night Live did a spoof on it… and at the same time, YouTube came out, and so YouTube generated [the nostalgia].”
That Saturday Night Live sketch with Jason Sudeikis as John Tesh and Tim Robinson as his fictional brother Dave Tesh further cemented the theme’s place in pop culture.
And now, it’s back. NBC has brought it home for the NBA, with a full advertising campaign featuring WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Michael Bublé, the Minions, and the stars of the NBC universe all humming the iconic theme. It ends with the perfect one-line of dialogue delivered by Tracy Morgan: “John Tesh still got it!”
But here’s the bigger news. John himself is back, too. After more than 20 years away from releasing original music, he has returned with SPORTS. Eleven brand-new tracks inspired by great moments in athletics and two versions of Roundball Rock. All of it unmistakably Tesh.
John explained how he built the sound: “I brought it back into my studio with all the vintage stuff.” The album came together like a cinematic score. “I don’t normally write in five-four… or seven-eight. But you have to do it because [sports cues] are only 14 seconds long. It’s not going to finish the phrase. You can’t dance to that. An orchestra can’t play it. But it works for sports.”
He smiled, telling me how fans describe their connection to it. “At the All-Star Game this year… One guy told me, ‘I was eight, and every time I heard it in the kitchen, I had to run to the TV.’ Another said, ‘That was family time. That was when we gathered.’ That’s when you realize it’s bigger than a song. One writer called it the Hallelujah Chorus for basketball.”
Those stories bring us back, but the music itself still has the power to move forward. SPORTS is filled with bold new pieces designed to sound timeless. John said, “My son Gib said to me, ‘When you’re in the studio, you’re just alive. You need to get back in there.’ And that’s the way he was able to convince me. The glory of God is man fully alive.”
For John, this record became more than just a nostalgia play. SPORTS is also about survival and testimony. “In 2015, I walked into a doctor’s office and I walked out with 18 months to live and told to get my affairs in order,” he recalled. “It was a rare form of cancer. Connie — my wife — said, ‘No, we’re not getting affairs in order. We’re going to fight this.’ And so with a combination of scriptures like Mark 11:23 and Proverbs 18:21… and using techniques I had seen high-level athletes use… we fought back.”
At one point, fearing the end, he even considered selling his music catalog, including Roundball Rock. “I went to my business manager… I said we should sell my music catalog. At the last minute, my granddaughter — she was ten at the time — said, ‘Pop-Pop, you cannot sell that song. That’s my favorite song.’ And she knows how to play it on the piano. Thank God I didn’t sell it. Because all of a sudden, the NBA comes back on NBC, and I wouldn’t have had any rights at all to the song.”
Today, healed and energized, John is more passionate than ever about telling his story. “I had a total revelation in 2015 when we were still touring and I was going through the cancer journey that we’re called, whatever our testimony… to tell the story. After the show, we’d have 100 people at the foot of the stage saying, ‘Tell me again about Mark 11:23.”
“The true nature of God, which is the true nature of Jesus, and also the Holy Spirit, is that he wants us well. Yes, we’re going to run our course, but we have to recognize the fact that, as in John 10:10, the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus has always been about life.”
Though fully instrumental, this album serves as a guide to perseverance, healing, and joy. It’s about celebrating the sound of victory, whether on the court or in life.
I can tell you this: SPORTS is an experience. Put it on in the background at your 9 to 5 and make your desk life feel like Shaq shattering a backboard. It’s that familiar rush of adrenaline that once had us glued to our couches as kids, and now we get to re-live it with our own kids.
Our full conversation—me, John, and the keys walking us through his story, his process, and even a live breakdown of Roundball Rock—is available now on YouTube. Watch it, and you’ll see what I saw: a man who has lived a thousand lives, beaten the odds, and still knows how to bring the house down.
At 73, John Tesh’s music is back once again to be the soundtrack of our lives. To quote Tracy Morgan, “John Tesh still got it!”