The Inside guys are back and I’m so happy! I love that NBA on TNT crew so I have been very sad and vocal about the possibility of losing all of it. I’m very sad to see the NBA on TNT go away as my preferred broadcast partners would be TNT and NBC as I just do not like the dry ESPN/ABC coverage of the NBA. TNT is gone but Inside The NBA remains! But the question all summer has been, ok, what is it going to be? A question we all had. A question even the Inside guys had with Charles Barkley speaking on The Dan Patrick Show saying they didn’t even know what it was going to be or when they were going to work. Not a great start obviously. They did release the Inside schedule so we do know when they will be on including two nights this week. The first night was opening night last night. The show comes on with the same music, graphics, studio, and look. The only thing different was the TNT logo was replaced by the ESPN logo. Then, Shaq goes into the this is opening night hype speech. They go into joking about their sponsor, Popeye’s, and being over the top silly with that. I said, we’re back! LOL. The show felt good. Everything was there. The funny banter and analysis. The highlights of games. There was a point earlier this year where we didn’t even know if the show would have permission to show NBA highlight from the TNT studios. We have the Twitter comments on screen for them to interact with. The night concluded with “Who He Broadcast For” which was a spin off the legendary annual game of “Who He Play For”. I laughed and had fun all night. The show felt like it always did on opening night. The guys weren’t pulling back on comments and they were just themselves. You could tell that Ernie, Charles, Kenny, and Shaq were having fun and it just felt relaxed. You could tell they had settled in and we as fans did as well of ok, this can work cause ESPN is just letting them be the show that we all know and love. Even at the end of the night for EJ’s Neato Stat Of The Night, no usual sponsor and I laughed saying, yep, same show, and I love it. LOL. First night of Inside The NBA gets a relieved thumbs up from me!
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