Sports fans love nostalgia. It’s why they’re often arguing why their generation of fandom is better than the past and the next. It’s also why sports fans are better at looking back on careers than they are focusing on the moment.
The NBA has been on TNT for more than three decades and one basketball fan looked back on the past quarter-century, compiling a variety of in-game ads and promos for network programming that aired each year. It’s a fun mashup created by the YouTube page Velodus and one that will be appreciated by fans of basketball and TV.
“Part of being an NBA fan in the 2000s was becoming intimately familiar with whatever program TNT was advertising the hell out of during both the regular season and postseason,” the video is captioned. “Being an NBA fan meant knowing what shows like Animal Kingdom and The Closer and Leverage and The Last Ship and so on.”
Among the highlights is an ad for the Sports Illustrated Special ‘99 presented by Heidi Klum, which the TNT promo categorized as a “really interesting documentary about television and film.”
And who can forget the 2001 Turner holiday original Call Me Claus starring Whoopi Goldberg. She’s been offering hot takes on The View for so long that I almost forgot Goldberg is a decorated actress, although I’m not sure her talents were fully harnessed by Call Me Claus.
Usually, ad reads and promos are in the background of the game broadcast. But it’s kind of cool to reverse that, putting the promos in the spotlight and seeing the various games serve as a backdrop with a multitude of logo and jersey changes.
And in case there was any doubt, this video cements Kevin Harlan as the best ad-reading broadcaster in sports.
[Velodus]
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com