24th July 2009

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john tesh: most indirectly important sports figure of the 90’s?

I was forwarded the following video a couple months back, which is maybe one of the best things I’ve ever seen on youtube. If you watched any NBA Playoffs in the 1990’s, you will (or had better) instantly recognize and appreciate the following song. Also John Tesh’s brief “VH1 storytellers”-esque background about the song beforehand is hilarious:

Simply astounding. Take note of the three following things:
1) Just after the story (at about 1:17), John starts pumping his hand to the bass drum (awesome by itself), and then RUNS to his piano JUST in time to start playing the iconic theme (doubly awesome). What an entertainer.
2) The violin player in the awesome medieval tunic appearing dramatically at 1:58 in the video? DEAD RINGER for old-school Joey Lawrence (thanks for the heads-up on this one, Blake). He also appears at 2:46, in the MOST EPIC VIOLIN AND ELECTRIC GUITAR SOLO DUEL EVER MADE. Yes, that’s a category.
3) Just look at John’s silky blond mop.

“Roundball Rock” (<— act like you didn’t get chills watching that just now) is hands down the best sports theme of all time, closely edging out the original Monday Night Football theme. Yeah, I said it. Hard to believe this iconic song came from JTesh, Mr. Adult Christian Contemporary himself, who strangely enough seems to be BFF with Conan O’Brien.

P.S. The pre-song story about the answering machine has an even more special place in my heart ever since my buddy Blake left me a voicemail recently: a completely deadpan, word-for-word recreation of the voice message played by Tesh. Complete with vocals. I still have the voicemail saved; an instant classic.